Dirt Candy - a Vegetarian Culinary Experience

My husband and I had a random date night last Tuesday just because ;) We went to a place I've been meaning to check out ever since I read about them in VegNews, Dirt Candy! This place is now one of my favorite spots in NYC. Great food! Beautiful presentation! Be warned though, it’s very popular and extremely small so reservations are a must.

"What is dirt candy? Vegetables, of course. When you eat a vegetable you’re eating little more than dirt that’s been transformed by plenty of sunshine and rain into something that’s full of flavor: Dirt Candy" ~ Amanda Cohen

 All their food is vegetarian but a few things on their menu include diary. The first question they ask you when you sit down is “Are you a vegan?” because they can make 95% of the menu options vegan by request. We started with the sweet and spicy Jalapeno Hush Puppies. Then my husband ordered Cucumber (coconut poached tofu, shiso, galangal sauce, salsify & hearts of palm) and I had Chard  (chard gnocchi, grilled chard, garlic granola & drunken fig jam).  I would have never guessed gnocchi made of chard would taste so delicious.

Dirt Candy
(t) 212.228.7732
430 East 9th Street
NY, NY 10009
http://www.dirtcandynyc.com/

Whole Foods - vegan asparagus and caramelized onions pizza

Dear Whole Foods,

Thank you for introducing the vegan asparagus and caramelized onions pizza in your ready to eat food section. This pizza tastes absolutely great. Yes, it's slightly over priced as $4 a slice but it's NYC and daiya cheese is expensive.

Love,
Look 2 Beauty

PS Congrats on making the "100 best companies to work for" list again this year.

Sacred Chow - a vegan fast breaking date

My husband took me out for a dinner and movie date yesterday. The Baha'i fast is still going on so we arrived at 5:45 pm so our food would appear at sunset. These pictures don't do the food justice (the lighting was so dim). Sacred Chow is now on my top 3 vegan restaurants in NYC. They never disappoint (brunch write up).

My excellent meal: pumpkin bisque, vegan sausage with sauerkraut and apple berry crisp with vegan ice-cream.


My husband's great meal: Vegan Sausage with sauerkraut, Indonesian Roasted Tempeh and Baby Root Vegetable Latkes w/Indonesian
Date Butter.












Sacred Chow
227 Sullivan Street, NYC 10012 (b/w W3 & Bleecker)

Brunch at The V-spot!

My husband and I met with 3 non-vegetarian friends for a great Saturday brunch at V-spot earlier this month. I've had great dinners there before and now a lovely brunch....V-spot is officially on my top 5 vegan places in NYC.

One of my friends and I both ordered the fruit empanadas that came with veggie sausages. You could tell the fruit jam/spread was homemade and deliciously fresh.












My husband got the protein pancakes (also with veggie sausages). They tasted awesome as well. And it's no easy thing making delicious hearty/healthy pancakes.












Another friend ordered the tempeh bacon burger. And she gave good reviews as well.

The Whole Earth Bakery and Kitchen

My husband and I tried out The Whole Earth Bakery and Kitchen this past weekend. It's a cute little place in the East Village, run sort of like a Mom and Pop shop and all the employees make you feel at home.

My husband ordered the vegan chili. It was good and spicy. The shop owner walked by, saw us eating it and said "you should try that with the flax seed crackers". Next thing we know, the waiter gave us flax seeds crackers for free :)

I ordered the vegan eggplant parmigiana. It was pretty good. Whole Earth Kitchen is the first place I've eaten this where they didn't try to replace the cheese with a vegan variety. They just left it out and included tofu slabs in the middle.

For dessert, my husband shocked me and actually ordered more than I did (I tend to have the sweet tooth in the relationship). He ordered a vegan brownie and a chocolate covered brown rice crispy. I liked the crispy but didn't care for the vegan brownie.

The Whole Earth Bakery and Kitchen
130 Saint Marks Pl # 2
New York, NY 10009-5843
(212) 677-7597
http://www.wholeearthbakery.com/

A vegan birthday: Waffles and Candle Cafe

My birthday was this week. And I celebrated in a truly vegan fashion :)

Starting with vegan waffles for breakfast that my husband made me (recipe here).



Then dinner at the famous Candle Cafe (same
owners as Candle 79 - more expensive version) with my mommie dearest and husband.

I had the vegan lasagna, which I didn't like as much as I loved the V-spot's. I think it's because V-spot used a better substitute for the meat and less "cheese" for the ricotta part. At Candle cafe they used tofu and lots of "ricotta cheese"

My mom got their famous Paradise Casserole, consisting of layers of sweet potato, black beans and millet over steamed greens with country gravy. She loved it (and she's not vegan).






My husband ordered spinach linguine with cashew cream sauce. He said it was a little bland but good.






I had such expectations for their dessert since I am in love with the vegan cheesecake they sell to whole foods. However, for some reason they make their restaurant version completely different and it tastes bad. Well bad meaning to me it wasn't worth the calories so I had my husband finish it. The version they sell at whole foods is fluffy almost pudding like with no crust. The restaurant version is tougher/firmer and the crust tastes weird. Alas.


Candle Cafe
1307 3rd Ave (at East 75th st)
New York, NY 10021-3301
(212) 472-0970
http://www.candlecafe.com/

The V-spot = excellent vegan lasagna

After Unit Convention a friend and I met my husband at The V-spot, a 100% vegan restaurant in Brooklyn. I didn't take any pictures because I was starving and dove right into my food. Plus, once I tasted their awesome vegan lasagna I wasn't about to pause and take a pic :) Guess all that consultation and voting from the unit convention worked up my appetite.

My friend, who isn't a vegan also got the vegan lasagna and loved it. I always think the best seal of approval for vegan food is when a non-vegan likes it. My husband got the Hawaiian burger, a combo of veggie burger with tempeh bacon, sauteed green peppers and pineapple. He liked his burger but confessed our vegan lasagna tasted better.

Dessert was a 50/50 experience. Their red velvet cupcake sucked hardcore, I didn't even finish eating it. However, their dead by chocolate cake was excellent. All three of us ending up focusing our forks on the cake :)

The V-spot
156 5th Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11217
http://www.spreadvegan.com/

Sacred Chow - vegan brunch

I love brunch. And this love didn't stop once I became a vegan. Usually my husband and I make our own vegan waffles or pancakes for the weekends. However, in celebration of our 2 month-versary we had brunch at Sacred Chow, a vegan bistro that gets extra points for a kick-ass logo :)

I had the Italian Frittata (with turmeric, mmm) and steamed collard greens. I give it * * * * (out of 5 stars). It was my first vegan frittata experience and I enjoyed it :)

My husband got the Tempeh Hash with fruit. I didn't like it but he did. But I also tend to dislike tempeh in general.

Sacred Chow
227 Sullivan Street, NYC 10012 (b/w W3 & Bleecker)
212.337.0863
Open 11 AM - 10 PM Sun-Th, 11 AM - 11 PM F & Sat

Otarian! This vegetarian fast food chain has me bursting with excitement

Otarian!! A new veggie fast food restaurant opened by Radhika Oswal. "Almost everything in our restaurants ..... is made from recycled materials. Our Zulu chairs use an ancient southern African technique to weave recycled plastic onto recycled aluminum steel frames. Even the ceiling decoration is made from recycled aluminium, and pendant lights are made from formerly broken pieces of glass." Its corporate office is aiming to have a 98% recycling and composting rate. People are calling it the most sustainable restaurant chain in the world.

The menu is getting me OH so excited. Every item has the savings in carbon footprints listed on the menu. I'm already dreaming of my order.... perhaps the vegan chocolate cake and portobello mushroom burgers.

"Recycling, composting, sustainable building materials and no ingredients that are shipped by air are the rules here. The carbon footprints were calculated according to standards set by the World Resources Institute, an environmental organization based in Washington." NYTimes Article

"Every menu item at Otarian has a whole string of numbers after it beyond the price. The carbon content of the item, the amount saved versus a similar meat dish, and the carbon footprint of that meat dish. Planet Green Article

NY Locations:

154 Bleecker Street (open now)

New York, NY 10012

T: 212 614 6834

947 Eighth Ave (opening soon)

New York, NY 10019

T: 212 489 3270

Raw Vegan Food = so good it's confusing

This weekend I finally tried out 'Raw Soul', a raw vegan restaurant within walking distance from my apartment. They have difficult hours (4-9 pm Tu-F, 11-9 Sat, closed Su and Mo) so I kept missing them. Plus, I was a little weary about trying raw food. Raw food means nothing is cooked at higher than 115*F so the food doesn't lose it nutritional value. I went with my meat-eating maid of honor to discuss more wedding details.

I got the Barbeque Burger. I give it * * * * * (out of 5). The texture was like an uncooked bean burger, ie gummy/play-dough like, but the flavor was intensely good. I will definitely eat there again. Although for $12 for a burger, it won't be too often. The raw vegan burger is made from walnuts, carrots, sun-dried tomatoes, red onion, fresh cilantro, red bell pepper, topped with homemade barbeque sauce, onion, tomato and sprouts, served on flax seed bread.

My meat-eating friend got the Pilaf special. I give it * * * * stars. It was spicy goodness.

For dessert I got the raw vegan cheesecake to go (I wanted my fiancee to try it with me). It was so good I was confused and shocked..... No cheese, no eggs and not cooked? How could it taste so good. Both my fiancee and I give it * * * * * stars plus a bonus star.

Raw Soul

348 145th Street

(between St. Nicholas and Edgecombe Ave)

NYC 10039

212-491-5859

Viva Herbal Pizzeria

I love being a vegan in NYC. Yesterday my fiancee and I went to 'Viva Herbal Pizzeria' in the lower east side. It was lovely another * * * * * (out of 5).

I had vegan meatball on whole wheat crust slice. The tomato sauce and sautéed onions tasted so good and the meatballs had a pleasant smokey flavor. I actually prefer vegan pizza -> I often took off most of the cheese for non-vegan pizza thinking it too fattening, plus after eating non-vegan pizza I would feel heavy and tired.

My fiancee tried the vegetarian options. He had the Picante (soy sausage, red peppers and mozzarella cheese on whole wheat crust) and the Vegetale (Grilled veggies, tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese).

Viva Herbal Pizzeria

179 2nd Ave (between 11th and 12th), NYC 10003

212-420-8801

Vegan Pizza! and introducing people to the joys of vegan food

My mom drove in to visit me yesterday. I decided to take the time to try out Peacefood Cafe. My mom was apprehensive and suspicious at first; joking that she might need a hamburger afterwards. But after she saw 'Kale and Lentil Soup' on the menu she cheered up. The food was fantastic, an instant favorite. The cafe is lovely, comforting candlelight setting, excellent staff and great food. Mmmm, I'm still dreaming of the dumplings and mushroom pizza (see the end for details of our meal or my fiancé's yelp review).

I do not understand why some people freak out at the mention of vegan food. To me vegan food is just another genre like Chinese or Mexican food. In America it's common for the average person to try all genres of food. However, mention vegan food and they think the worst. Just like with every other genre of foods there are great vegan restaurants and bad ones; there are extremely strange food items and common ones.

It's been a struggle trying to incorporate vegan items for our wedding in July. Since I will be the only vegan there, it's assumed the food will be all meat/dairy etc. However, I am the bride. If the bride can't eat at her own wedding, there's a problem. I've made many concessions to include BBQ chicken, non-vegan pies etc on the menu. All I want is vegan cake/cupcakes and a small portion of West Indian style vegan food from Strictly Roots. My fiance and I used to go to Strictly Roots every month, it holds great memories. In the end a wedding should represent the bride and groom. I'm so tired of the "consumer driven" and "cookie cutter" wedding industry. But we are standing strong in our goals to plan an environmentally and budget friendly wedding that represent us and our beliefs. For anyone trying to plan an out of the box wedding I recommend you check out OffBeat Bride and The Green Bride Guide.

What we ordered at PeaceFood Cafe:

1. Pan-Seared Shanghai-Style Dumplings (homemade dumplings filled with chinese chives, shitake & wood ear mushrooms, marinated tofu & vegetarian protein, served with a ginger balsamic dipping sauce)

2. Chickpea Fries with dipping sauce

3. Mushroom Duxelle Pizza with roasted sweet peppers, onions & zucchini (I got half with soy cheese and half without)

4. Thai Curry

5. Kale and Lentil Soup

Peacefood Cafe Inc

www.peacefoodcafe.com

460 Amsterdam Ave

New York, NY 10024

(212) 362-2266

Cupcakes!

My first official act as a vegan was to visit BabyCakes in the lower east side (LES) of manhattan. I am OBSESSED with baked goods. I used to visit Magnolia Bakery monthly. I would say at midnight "I want something sweet" and next thing I'm baking a full on production of cakes/pies/cookies. So by far the hardest thing for me and this vegan thing is baked goods. In my mind if I could find great vegan baked goods I'd be ok....My decision would not be so dramatic.

We got there at 10:58 pm and they close at 11 pm. It was fate. I got two cupcakes: red velvet and chocolate, both made using spelt flour. My fiance got a carrot cake cupcake, gluten free variety. I'm not going to lie. Magnolia's cupcakes taste better. They have the "crack factor" on their side ie butter and heavy cream. But the cupcakes were very good. The chocolate cupcake was my favorite. The red velvet one was too heavy. The icing on the red velvet one was lovely though. Mmmm. My goal was achieved, I found cupcakes that made me believe I could make the vegan choice.

Since I don't like trekking it to the LES. I reserved from the library what I think is seen as the "Holy of holies" in vegan cookbooks better known as Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World! After the 30th great review from people on a short name basis with the cookbook (VCTOW). I was convinced. I'll be trying out recipes this weekend :)