Miss Rachel's Lunch Club

It's summertime, which means life is a little crazy. The weather is great, we're doing lots of traveling, many weekend trips out of town, and hey, no complaints here. However, this cuts down on weekend social events, so we've had quite a few midweek get-togethers over dinner. It's great to catch up with friends and they involve some fancier meals than we typically make. However, the only downside is we don't end up with any extras- which is what we always eat for lunch the following day. This week, in lieu of our standard leftovers, we decided to try out Miss Rachel's Lunch Club- a vegan lunch delivery service made by Rachel Klein, a local vegan chef and caterer.

Instead of buying unhealthy Chinese from a cart or a subpar salad from Au Bon Pain, Miss Rachel's Lunch Club offers a healthy vegan lunch brought right to your workplace. Deliveries are made to University City every Wednesday, and to Center City locations on Wednesday and Friday. A & I both chose a meal (three options each week) and I placed the order online on Tuesday evening. Lunches are $10 plus tax, which includes delivery- maybe a dollar or two more than the average lunch, but it's homemade. With real ingredients. And delivered to your office. Rachel herself gave me a call around 11:15 and I met her in the lobby of my building to collect our lunches- neatly packed in individual paper bags. Her bubbly personality was quite evident even in our brief exchange.



A chose "The Crabbie"- a "crab cake" made from hearts of palm, served on a big, fluffy round roll with a smear of Old Bay-tinted mayo, a slice of tomato, and a leaf of romaine. Though the actual crab cake was a little on the small side, it was full of flavor. The Old Bay gave it that general seafoody-ness, and bits of red pepper and a bit of lemon juice rounded out the typical crab cake profile. Even the texture of heart of palm seems a little like crab- overall a great vegan rendition. The roll was pillowy and helped bulk up the sandwich.




My sandwich choice was "The Wingman"- advertised as hot-wing style seitan with cool slaw and lettuce. The cool slaw and lettuce were accurate, but the "meat" of the sandwich was more like BBQ chicken- more sweet than spicy with a good dose of smokiness. No complaints though, the sandwich was demolished. The slaw was creamy and full of crunch, the vinegar giving a good contrast to the sweet seitan- which by the way, surprisingly looked and felt exactly like shredded chicken. I had the same chewy roll as A, which is perfectly sized for the portions of sandwich components packed within.



During the summer, each of the lunches comes with a fruit salad (I believe winter lunches include a cup of soup as a side), which was chock full of seasonal fruit- watermelon, cantaloupe, and blueberries, as well as some super sweet pineapple and a few green grapes. Refreshing and light- perfect for a summertime lunch.



We also each received an oatmeal raisin cookie which was a sweet and cinnamon-y end to our meal. Quite thin but a good four or five inches in diameter, the cookie was chewy and definitely on the softer side of crispy, just how we like them. A doesn't love raisins in her baked goods, so she picked them out as we slowly ate our way through the cookies- making mine twice as good! The cookies had that shiny caramelized look, reflecting the sweet goodness holding the oats together.



Overall the lunch was great- not too much food but enough to satisfy any mid-day hunger- and the mid-day sweet tooth! There is also a gluten-free option each week if you have dietary restrictions. It's great to know that such a service exists when we're in need of an easy, healthy, delicious lunch.

Miss Rachel's Pantry