Last summer, we received a strangely mysterious email from our friend, chef, and Mud Hen Tavern co-owner, Kajsa Alger about a new venture they were all embarking on—Blue Window, “a take-out window like you’ve never seen before.”
The concept was relatively simple, but innovative at the same time—they use a kitchen-adjacent take-out window to supplement the dinner-only tavern during the weekdays with a totally different, themed menu that’d last only 6 months before turning over to a new theme. Our main take away was that they further Mud Hen’s already vegan-friendly leanings, offering that “all items can be made vegan—just ask!”
The first iteration was an Asian themed menu, featuring some amazing items like a BBQ jackfruit-filled bao, vegan gochujang hot sauce wings, a vegan bahn mi, and many more craveable selections. We wrote the whole thing up last year when Kajsa + co. invited us to Blue Window’s preview tasting event.
This past Saturday, Blue Window successfully retired their first menu and again invited friends of the restaurant to a tasting of their new menu—Blue Window: Junk, celebrating…well, junk food—decadent deliciousness; the street-est of street food; the opposite of kale. And again, all can be made vegan—just ask! And some menu items are even vegan as are.
You can view the full menu on Blue Window’s site, but our favorites were the vegan braised beef cheddar melt (which stacks carmelized onion, really great housemade pickles, braised, saucy vegan beef-style soy meat from VeriSoy, and superbly melted Daiya onto a vegan mayo-slathered, amazing soft sandwich bun) and falafel battered onion rings with black olive honey (actually agave, so, vegan) and richly spicy tahini hot sauce.
Blue Window: Junk officially opens for business today at noon. So fair warning to all those who missed out on or didn’t quite get their fill of Blue Window: Asia—you’ve got sixth months, friends.
Below, the vegan braised beef cheddar melt; the by-default vegan fried artichoke po’ boy with cornmeal-crusted artichokes and oyster mushrooms, housemade remoulade, and pickled lettuce + tomato; the falafel onion rings; a nacho baked potato topped with housemade vegan nacho cheese, broccoli, guacamole, vegan sour cream, and pickled jalapeños; the vegan chili cheese Frito tamale with Fritos, 3-bean chili, vegan sour cream, and pickled jalapeños; and a special we hope they make a regular—chocolate whoopee pies (or gobs if you’re from PA) filled with peanut butter-banana meringue made from (wait for it) chickpea brine. So very good. To the right, Super Team Blue Window, shot by Kajsa via BW’s Instagram.
