I live and work in New York City, and when I'm not at my "real job," I spend most of my time exploring the varied and fascinating food scene the city offers. While it can be tough being a vegetarian in a city of sushi and steak, I love discovering veggie-friendly food in both vegetarian and non-vegetarian restaurants and blogging about my experiences on lifewithfoodanddrink. Should you ever find yourself in the food mecca that is the Big Apple, I hope my recommendations can point you towards satisfying and delightful veggie destinations!
Isn’t it interesting how certain ingredients seem to come in and out of popularity as time goes by? There are certainly carnivorous examples of this phenomenon—think bacon or pork belly—but vegetables get the star treatment now and again too. Last winter I mentioned that squash was having its day; this winter, it seems that Brussels sprouts are the veggie du jour.
I’ve had absolutely fantastic Brussels sprouts at restaurants all over New York City. Otto, Mario Batali’s casual pizzeria, is justly known for its sprouts with vin cotto, a deeply caramelized, decadently oily, and mildly yet intriguingly sweet treat. They’re so good I recently had them twice in one weekend, once on Friday, once on Sunday. But Mario has a competitor in Danny—Danny Meyer, that is, owner of Union Square Hospitality Group. When I got to visit his new Maialino restaurant, a Roman trattoria perched on picturesque Gramercy Park, I was treated to an order of Brussels sprouts, pecorino, and chestnuts. These sprouts were so outlandishly delicious, I swear they tasted just like potato chips.
Restaurant chefs are on to something, since sprouts are easy to cook at home as well. Quarter them and throw them in the oven for a quick roasted treat; halve or quarter them and put them in a stir fry; or, my personal favorite, slice off the ends, peel apart the leaves, and sauté them like winter greens. Watch as they get appealingly and irresistibly caramelized, then pop them in your mouth while they’re still warm. While bacon is a classical pairing with Brussels sprouts, I find them incredibly tasty with hard cheeses like parmesan or even just a bit of oil and a sprinkling of salt.
So next time you see Brussels sprouts either in a restaurant or in your local grocery store, give them a chance—they’ll be a far cry from the overcooked steamed specimens you might remember from childhood. Here’s to the ingredient of the moment, and here’s to next season’s star, whatever that may be…
One of the best things about the change of seasons is that NYC restaurant menus subtly shift from incorporating last season’s ingredients to featuring the bounty of the months to come. As I reflect back to this past summer, I remember how chock-full menus were of salads featuring summery ingredients: a particularly memorable peach-and-frisee concoction at Perry Street; a watermelon, ricotta salata, and arugula medley at 24 Prince. But with the coming of crisp air, shorter days, and turtlenecks comes a whole new wave of restaurant delights to look forward to.
This fall, I’m eager to see what restaurants will do with the winter squashes that featured so prominently last fall and winter. Moreover, this year I’m especially excited for mushrooms in all their glory. Recently, I’ve had some particularly delicious mushroom-centric plates—a sauteed mushroom and arugula salad at Riposo 46; a genius wok-stirred maitake mushroom masterpiece at Blue Ginger in Wellesley, Massachusetts—and I get the sense that mushrooms will be the next umami powerhouse to become ubiquitous on menus across town.
But the greatest thing about NYC as a restaurant town is that, ultimately, I haven’t a clue what fall will bring. Perhaps it will be savory uses of the dozens of varieties of apples grown nearby; perhaps it will be a resurgence of healthy leafy greens like kale and swiss chard. The possibilities are endless, and I’m looking forward to discovering how chefs around town interpret fall in New York.
How about you? What are you most looking forward to with the arrival of autumn?
More and more, I’ve found myself going to wine bars, not only for an evening drink but for my evening meal as well. In the past, whenever I’ve been to a wine bar late in the evening, I’ve frequently noticed their menus and wished I hadn’t yet eaten dinner. Often chock-full of tasty, shareable vegetarian bites, wine bar menus can offer high-quality, reasonably priced meals for a vegetarian in search of something other than pasta.
Consider Riposo 46, one of my favorite wine bars in New York City, conveniently located a couple of blocks away from my apartment in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood. In addition to a convivial, friendly atmosphere and several good wines by the glass, Riposo 46 has a delicious, vegetarian-friendly menu. From tiny snacks like marinated olives to sumptuous cheese plates piled high with condiments (grapes, jellies, stewed figs, and much more), I’ve had several enviable meals for reasonable prices there. And I haven’t even yet tackled their creative salads and veggie-topped flatbreads, which are always enticing when I’m there.
On a recent trip to Washington, D.C., I found similar success at a wine bar/restaurant called Proof. Wine-friendly bites like a beet and aged goat cheese salad, a shaved asparagus and parmesan salad, salt-studded flatbread, and a generous bowl of mixed olives made for a memorable meal (set off expertly by their tasty wines, of course).
So the next time you’re searching for an inexpensive destination with options for vegetarians and carnivores alike, give a wine bar a try. You might be surprised at what you find there.
This week I visited a vegetarian restaurant I’ve been meaning to go to for a while. Actually, I haven’t every truly wanted to go, and I’ve been feeling guilty about not going for a while. But I dutifully corralled a friend and checked it out, and lo and behold, I left vaguely disappointed.
It started me thinking about why I tend to enjoy non-veggie restaurants more than vegan or vegetarian places. As I left the restaurant feeling slightly sick, despite having had only a salad and a couple bites of my dining companion’s risotto, I realized that that’s one of the reasons why I tend to eschew veggie restaurants: I usually don’t feel so great when I leave. Perhaps it’s the unfamiliar ingredients, perhaps it’s the elaborate preparations, but I actually think it’s because food at vegetarian restaurants tends to be so darn heavy. It’s as though many vegetarian chefs try to overcompensate for the lack of meat in a dish by making their food “hearty”—perhaps TOO hearty—in other ways. And so as those three bites of risotto sat like a rock in my stomach, I realized that’s why I tend to prefer non-vegetarian restaurants: their food is often much “cleaner,” lighter, and more enjoyable for me.
I realize that not all veggie places operate this way and that there are plenty of delicious vegetarian restaurants out there. I also realize that if you’re a vegetarian craving truly hearty food, a veggie restaurant may be right up your alley. But it may be helpful to keep in mind that meatless dishes at non-vegetarian restaurants can, at times, be superior to what you’d find on an all-vegetarian menu, simply because the chef doesn’t feel he or she has to compensate for lack of meat. At the very least, it’s something to think about.
Most New Yorkers agree that one of the best things about NYC is the fact that any hungry resident or visitor can get pretty much any type of food he’d like any time the craving strikes. And it’s true—whether you’re craving Lebanese or Thai, Korean or Israeli, New York has an authentic restaurant to satisfy your yen. While I like to take advantage of this extraordinary breadth of offerings by trying out new restaurants and new styles of cuisine as often as I can, one of my favorite ways to make the most of New York is by focusing on one dish and attempting to find the best example the city has to offer.
Most recently, my dish has been vegetable dumplings. I’ve had an insatiable craving of late, and I’ve made it my mission to locate New York City’s best veggie dumplings. I’ve had soft, pillowy parcels at Chiam in Midtown East; half-moon-shaped packets at Heng 2 Thai Bistro in Hell’s Kitchen; and pan-fried jade morsels at Ging on the Upper East Side. And while each was tasty in its own way, I don’t feel I’ve yet encountered the absolute pinnacle of veggie-dumpling-dom. Soon, I may venture to Chinatown to see what Canal Street has to offer.
So the next time you’re in NYC (or try it now if you happen to live in a place with a wide enough selection of restaurants), pick your favorite food or your latest craving and try to find the best version you can. Whether that’s pizza, tacos, sushi, or cupcakes, I promise your search for the best will be a most rewarding journey.
In my humble opinion, one of the greatest things about eating vegetarian food is that you’re not often left uncomfortably full at the end of a meal—which means there’s always room for dessert! I have a raging sweet tooth, and I love traveling around New York discovering the best desserts the city has to offer.
Sometimes, those desserts are found in restaurants. I’ve had a scrumptious olive oil cake at Bar Stuzzichini and an ethereal maple panna cotta at Mia Dona. The giant chocolate mousse-stuffed fortune cookie at Tao is a meal in itself, and the gelato at Otto is worth going out of your way for. Most good restaurants in New York have dedicated pastry chefs, and the quality of the sweets you find in places around town is incredibly high.
But if you’re not in the mood for a fancy plated dessert, or if you’re simply not in a restaurant at all, the city’s innumerable delicious bakeries offer another option. My favorite cupcakery is Billy’s Bakery, which offers incredible banana cake, carrot cake, and classic cupcakes. If you’re in the mood for something French, try the mini fruit tart at Ceci-Cela—you won’t be disappointed. Or grab a chocolate chip cookie from Levain Bakery, a cookie so massive and rich few people can tackle the whole thing at once. If you’re vegan, try the sweets at Babycakes—you won’t miss the dairy and eggs one bit.
While the dessert course is not exclusively the privilege of vegetarians, I find that since I tend to eat lighter than my carnivorous friends, I’m almost always up for a sweet treat after dinner. And I just happen to live in a city where there are delectable sweet treats on nearly every corner. How lucky am I?
One of the more interesting trends I’ve noticed around New York City this fall and winter is the creative use of winter squash in unconventional dishes. While squash has always had a place in soups (butternut squash bisques, for example) and rich braises and stews, this year I’ve found it appearing in hearty winter salads. This new trend is a boon for vegetarians, because the inclusion of sweet-and-savory roasted winter squash in an appetizer salad can turn a light bite into the basis of a full-blown vegetarian meal.
Two recent meals demonstrate this delightful trend perfectly. A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of dining at Beppe, an upscale Italian restaurant in the Gramercy neighborhood. The menu offered a roasted squash salad, which was complemented by a few leaves bitter radicchio, a handful of crunchy spiced pumpkin seeds, and a blanket of gooey stracciatella cheese. This salad was flavorful and incredibly filling, the squash and the cheese providing an ample winter meal for the price of an appetizer.
Last week I dined at Bar Blanc, a new fine-dining destination in the West Village. I selected the fall squash salad, which came with baby arugula, a tiny bit of goat cheese, two buttery croutons, and chunks of creamy roasted squash. This salad was incredibly delicious—one of the best restaurant dishes I’ve had in a while—and once again the filling squash allowed the small salad to become a full meal (with the addition of dessert, of course).
While not every restaurant has jumped on the squash bandwagon, winter squash is one of those key ingredients any vegetarian should have on his or her “watch” list. It’s a keyword that stands for filling, delicious, healthy dishes, and it will lead you in the direction of creative and comforting winter delights.
Recently, a new restaurant opened up in my neighborhood of Hell’s Kitchen in New York City. Named simply “Hummus Kitchen,” it specializes (not surprisingly) in hummus and other Mediterranean food. Hummus Kitchen is one of a recent explosion of similar restaurants in New York City, including Hummus Place, Maoz Vegetarian, and others. And vegetarians have greeted them with open arms.
I’ll use Hummus Kitchen as a great example of why Mediterranean food is perfect for vegetarians. Sure, it’s easy to get a salad or a veggie side at a non-veggie-focused restaurant, but sometimes we all crave hearty, filling, flavorful food. And that’s where savory, delicious dishes like hummus, falafel, and baba ghanouj come in. Because they’re based on healthy beans, veggies like eggplant, and olive oil, these foods are filling without being heavy. They warm the stomach, heart, and soul of the good-food-seeking vegetarian.
And as demonstrated ably by Hummus Kitchen, Mediterranean food is often quite cheap. It’s easy to make a full meal out of hummus and pita (the knock-out specialty of Hummus Kitchen), but even if one orders extravagantly and samples all the menu has to offer, a Mediterranean feast can often be had for under ten or fifteen dollars. My meal at Hummus Kitchen was spectacular, and I left feeling full and happy, without the all-too-common restaurant-goer’s buyer’s remorse. If you’ve yet to discover the joys of hummus, keep your local Mediterranean restaurant in mind for your next meal; and if you make it to NYC, give Hummus Kitchen a try for yourself!
As a vegetarian who regularly dines out in non-vegetarian restaurants, I’ve mastered the art of creatively composing meals from non-traditional areas of the menu. By that I mean rather than going the appetizer-entrée route—which is often difficult, as many restaurants offer limited or no vegetarian entrée selections - I stray to the outer corners of the menu to find the building blocks of my meal.
Take a recent excursion to Mario Batali’s Otto, for example. Otto is a fantastic casual pizzeria-enoteca in Manhattan’s West Village; it’s often packed with diners seeking the trademark pizza, delightful pastas, and sumptuous gelato (sometimes purported to be the best in the city). The menu offers several vegetarian selections, including a large list of salads, pastas, and veggie-topped pizzas. But rather than make my selection from those offerings, I stuck entirely to the realm of vegetable antipasto, ordering a mélange of three veggies (vin cotto-glazed Brussels sprouts, broccoli with pecorino, and roasted mushrooms). For much less than the cost of a salad and pasta or pizza, I enjoyed a large and quite filling amount of food and got to taste several different dishes in small-bite format. It was a spectacular and memorable meal.
While Otto, or really any Italian or tapas restaurant, is particularly well suited to this dining strategy, it can work in almost any restaurant. Consider ordering two or three vegetable sides as your meal, or order two salads as an appetizer or entrée. Don’t feel you necessarily have to follow the “traditional” meal progression, something that’s often difficult and confining for a vegetarian. If you look, can find delicious and often low-cost vegetarian gems hiding on the outskirts of the menu.
Oftentimes, it’s easy for a vegetarian to feel excluded in a fine-dining town. After all, so much of “fine dining” is meat-centric: foie gras, kobe beef, lobster. But my recent experience at Eleven Madison Park, one of New York City’s most highly acclaimed restaurants, is a lesson in why vegetarians don’t have to skip the best places when eating out—and an instruction in the most important thing we can do to make our experience the best it can be.
I made my reservation through Opentable, the online restaurant reservations website. Opentable provides an opportunity for a diner to add special comments to his or her reservation, and when faced with the comment box, I noted that I was a vegetarian. This disclosure allowed the restaurant to prepare for my arrival, and indeed, one of the first things our waiter said after greeting us was, “I understand one of you is a vegetarian?”
Notifying the restaurant of your dining restrictions in advance enables the kitchen to make preparations for your arrival. If the restaurant does not have many vegetarian options, the cooks can brainstorm and collect ingredients before you arrive—and thus not be forced to scramble and throw together something less-than-gourmet (pasta with tomato sauce, anyone?) at the last minute. Furthermore, if the restaurant simply cannot accommodate you—and for some fine restaurants, this is the simple truth—you can spend your dining dollars elsewhere, where you’ll get the truly fine vegetarian meal you deserve.
Eleven Madison Park went out of its way to provide me with a special, vegetarian-friendly meal. The waiter discussed my options at every step in the evening, giving me several choices and allowing me to choose what made me most comfortable. But even restaurants less focused on service can provide you with a top-notch vegetarian meal. All it takes is a little advance notice.
New York is a city of distinct neighborhoods, and each neighborhood offers its own unique set of food-related treats. While part of the fun of visiting or living in New York is discovering these offerings yourself, what follows is a woefully incomplete list of some of the highlights of New York’s most popular neighborhoods:
Union Square (between 14th and 16th Streets, Broadway and Park Avenue South): The star attraction of Union Square is by far the Union Square Greenmarket, which occurs every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. Purveyors from around the region offer a lovely selection of fruits, vegetables, fresh meats and seafood, artisanal cheeses and breads, and everything from maple syrup to dessert wines. Definitely a must-see.
Chelsea: Walk west from Union Square and take an hour to explore Chelsea Market (located between 15th and 16th Streets and 9th and 10th Avenues). The converted warehouse, home of the Food Network studios, offers a wide range of food-related outlets, from a wine shop to a kitchen supply store. Don’t miss Buon Italia, an Italian imported food store (rows and rows of cheese, chocolate, pasta, olive oil, and much more); Manhattan Fruit Exchange (for the best and cheapest selection of dried fruit in the city); and Amy’s Bread for their black-and-white cupcake.
Tribeca: This alluring neighborhood of quaint shops and local bakeries offers the newest Whole Foods in New York City. Check out the incredible salad bar and the rock sugar/rock salt bars!
Greenwich Village: A food lover’s paradise, the winding streets of the West Village offer untold treasures waiting to be discovered. Be sure to stop by Murray’s Cheese on Bleecker Street for more varieties of cheese than you’ve ever seen before.
Midtown East: Chock-full of bland office buildings and apartment high-rises, Midtown East sports a hidden gem inside Grand Central Station: the Grand Central Market. This Harrods-style food hall has outposts of the city’s most popular food vendors, from Zaro’s Bread Basket (breads and pastries) to Dishes (prepared foods). Be sure to stop in if your train is passing through.
So there are a few starter suggestions—while they barely scratch the surface of what Manhattan has to offer, they’ll get your food tour of the city off to a good start!
New York City has an astounding variety of places to eat, from sandwich shops to temples of haute cuisine. But in between the steakhouses, the sushi joints, and the street meat carts, what’s a vegetarian to do?
I’ve lived in NYC for over a year, and I spend most of my free time exploring the city’s food scene and recording my experiences in my food blog (lifewithfoodanddrink.blogspot.com). I’m a vegetarian with a large group of carnivorous friends, so most of my restaurant visits are to non-vegetarian restaurants. But every now and then I rope someone into a trip to a vegetarian place, of which there are several in each neighborhood. This past weekend, I visited Counter, an organic vegetarian restaurant and martini bar in the East Village.
Counter is definitely on the upscale end of the vegetarian-restaurant spectrum. It specializes in organic wines and cocktails and creative, thoughtful vegetarian food. Together, my friend and I sampled the hummus appetizer, which was smoky and flavorful and came with puffy triangles of flatbread; the penne with pesto, broccoli rabe, sun-dried tomatoes, and portabello mushrooms; and the Mediterranean Amuse salad. All the food was solid and made with high-quality ingredients. Counter also thoughtfully notes on its menu which of its dishes are raw and which have cheese, which makes ordering easy and stress-free for vegetarians, vegans, and raw-foodists alike. We were too full to order dessert, although their crème brulee and raw macadamia pistachio tart both looked tempting. Next time, perhaps!
Counter is a friendly and welcoming destination, especially if you’re in the East Village. Stay tuned for more veggie news from the Big Apple!
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