Sunday, May 16, 2010

Empire State of Eating

It's been a delicious week!  I got to go to New York City for a co-op marketing conference (a perk of my new position at the co-op), so I tried to make the most of with with exploring, eating out more than necessary and getting lost.

A HUGE excitement during this trip was that I got to meet my "west coast twin."  After about 2 years of emailing each other, Facebook stalking each other and sending care packages, Melissa and I finally met!

And despite our fears that we might actually not like each other after this long-distance, virtual friendship, we loved every minute together!  We took this picture on the subway, after accidentally taking the train to Brooklyn (instead of Manhattan) at around midnight.  Forty minutes, a subway rat and a crazy lady yelling sexual invitations for her dog later we were safely back to our hotel.


I should have gotten a photo of the Westerly Market because this little natural foods store was amazing!  They had tons of grab-n-go vegan sandwiches, vegan knishes and the best selection of raw foods Mel and I had ever seen.  We're talking the full line of Dr. Cow nut cheeses, two whole endcap displays of raw chocolates and an entire aisle of raw crackers and chip-type-things.  Crazy!

I didn't get a photo of the food from our picnic in Times Square, but we had and awesome raw foods snack:   Kimchi crackers and dehydrated onion-y daikon chips with Dr. Cow cashew cheese, nutritional yeast-y kale chips and a naturally fermented ginger beer.


I also got to meet up with my friend Luis who used to work with me at the co-op.  Hooray!  We went out to Sacred Chow for a super yummy meal.  I had the 1/2 Orange Barbecue Seitan Hero with a Caesar Salad and an Original Sin cider (made in NY).  Yep, that hero above was a 1/2 sandwich.  I don't think I could have eaten a whole one!  The sandwich was really filling and the seitan was awesome.  I usually prefer my barbecue sauce to be more tangy, but this one had really great flavor- even if it was on the sweet side.  Melissa's Dijon Marinated Kale was so delicious- I'm going to have to try to replicate that at home!

Hmmm... This post is all out of order, but that's okay.  The first night in NY, Melissa and I went to Hummus Place.  Guess what I had?  Hummus!  This hummus was really something special- Drizzled with olive oil and topped with sautéed mushrooms and served with fluffy, hot pita bread!  I also had some yummy pickles and this "Mediterranean Mojito" that had a ridiculous quantity of mint in it, lime juice and wine instead of hard liquor.  And it was frosty-frozen.  I am definitely making this at home sometime!  The kids would really love a non-wine version.


On my last night in NY I headed to Candle Cafe with my old friend Monica (again, who I used to work with at the co-op) and 3 new friends from west coast co-ops.  We started with some rockin' quesadillas filled with veggies and Daiya cheese- we all agreed that this was the best part of the meal!  I had the Cajun Seitan Sandwich with coleslaw.  The seitan was really crispy and tasted deep-fried.  It had a fantastic texture!  But the flavor of the sandwich overall was really bland.  A little sprinkle of salt on the avocado and greens would have helped.  And some cajun spices on the seitan would have been great.  I was expecting something a little bit spicy.  The ancho chili aioli saved the day with its Veganaise-y goodness, though, and made the sandwich overall pretty good.


After our dinner we took the subway over to Lula's Sweet Apothecary.  I knew that I'd regret it if I didn't make it to this ice cream shop on my trip.  It was close, but we arrived an hour before they closed on my last night in New York!  I tasted the caramel, marshmallow, graham cracker flavor and it rocked my world...but I really wanted a malt without hunks of things in it, so I opted for a classic chocolate malt.  Oh. my. goodness.  I had never met a malt I couldn't finish until this one.  Made from cashews, this ice cream is incredibly rich.  I couldn't make it through this whole shake even after sipping nearly the whole trip back to the hotel!  It was thick, gooey and malt-y.  Yum!


I really enjoyed my time in New York- I got to see tons of landmarks all by accident while exploring and hunting down these restaurants!  But, homebody that I am, I am really happy to be back home right now: just sitting in my kitchen, eating biscuits and sipping decaf while I type to you.

3 comments:

jessy said...

while i love NY, it's a bit much for me after a few days. i'm a homebody as well and there's too much going on for me there sometimes. ah ha ha! i love visiting my brother, but i don't know how he lives there. :)

hooray for so many rock'n eats - and that's SO AWESOME you finally got to meet Melissa and also catch up with Luis. i've yet to visit Sacred Chow, but next time i'm up in NY i'm gonna have to - never made it to Candle 79 either. oh man, i need to branch out next time i go. :) isn't Lula's the BEST!?! their ice creams are super rich, but ooooh-soooooo good...... what a wonderful time you had, Liz - your whole post made me so very happyfaced! thanks!

Anonymous said...

OMG im so glad u liked NY! its my first summer home in the city as a vegan and im so excited to try all these different restaurants! i definitely want to hit up the Sweet Apothecary!!! and now i definitely want to try all these places u mentioned! they look delish! o and ive definitely gone on the wrong subway a bunch of times!
-Lena

Jessica said...

It's so fun to be able to eat out and get all kinds of good food! I think I would do the same thing in a city with so many awesome options, but I agree it might get tiring. Sure makes for a nice (working!) vacation.