Archive for the ‘New York’ Category
V Rating: Super V After a beautiful first week of marriage, we reached our last day in New York. Determined to pack as much in as possible, we went on a fascinating and funny Greenwich Village Literary Pub Crawl run by the very talented Bakerloo Theatre company. It was a highlight of our trip, combining both our loves: books (me) and beer (Andy). Actually, I also love beer, so I was a double winner! As we had a pressing date with books and pubs, we had to rush to our lunchspot, Counter an organic wine and martini bar, and vegetarian bistro.
We got off near NYU and negotiated the East Village streets, jumping over mounds of greying snow and ice water puddles, rushing past shops selling Russian clothes and record stores until we hit the modern storefront of Counter, all sans serif fonts and no capitals here please. The decor was promising. The front quarter of the room had large, circular bar and (faux?) leather armchairs cosily arranged around small wooden tables. Out the back, Counter became more 50s diner, with fancy laminated green tables, banquettes, and art on the wall. Counter is vegetarian, not vegan, which sets it apart from many of its upmarket competitors. There are some dishes with cheese, albeit rennet free. All the food is organic.
We were only after a quick lunch, and I felt soaked in calories after a week of the New York high life, so I ordered the vegetable white bean soup with basil pesto. Andy went for the veggie burger with a side of seasoned wedges. My soup came without bread, and was light and reshreshing. The pesto was mixed through the soup, rather than served on the top, and so it flavoured it with the slightly sweet, slightly bitter basil. I was a little disappointed by the lack of flavour - I like my soups to have a strong, distinctive base, and thought it needed more salt.
Andy’s burger was a generously sized, and served as a large, white bread roll, cut in halves, with a meaty pattie of mushrooms and seitan and some salad on the side. It seemed the ideas was to put the burger together yourself, then squeeze it with a vice-like grip and hope, vainly, that it would fit into your mouth. I was a bit disappointed by the burger. White bread just does not do it for me, and the burger could have done with more salad to make it less dry. The seasoned wedges were the highlight of the meal, however, and came with a yummy sour cream.
Counter is a gorgeous venue, but in the late afternoon it didn’t have the easy chic of Gobo, or the bohemian charm of Candle 79 or Caravan of Dreams. However, in Counter is famous for being an organic wine bar and I have no doubt that it at night it would make a fantastic bar and bistro. Sadly, our time in New York was at an end and there was no time to go back.
V Rating: Super V We had heard a little about the “raw food” movement before visiting New York but, it not having put down roots in Sydney, we had no direct experence of it. We chose to visit Pure Food and Wine in the Gramercy district for dinner as it offered a menu entirely centred in the “raw food” tradition. It also came highly recommended by our waitress at Candle 79.
Put simply, proponents of “raw” or “live” food do not serve food that is cooked in any way. In the food preparation process, nothing is raised beyond the temperature of 118 degrees fahrenheit or about 45 degrees celcius (agreement about the temperature may vary slightly). The raw food movement is underpinned by the philosophy that cooking destroys or otherwise interferes with enzymes, minerals and vitamins in food and that food is on the whole healthier served raw.
The distinctive thing about Pure Food and Wine’s founder and raw foodist pin-up girl, Sarma Meingallis, is that she wanted to lift raw food out of the underground and show that it could be gourmet, fun and sexy. Pure Food and Wine epitomises this ethos. The restaurant is ultra sophisticated and hip - in fact, the most hip of the all the places we visited in New York - with a luscious red interior lit by flickering candles and a gorgeous bar (and, perhaps more importantly, gorgeous bar staff). The menu is imaginative, challenging pre-conceptions about the limititations of raw food by offering dishes which are traditionally cooked, like biryani, ravioli, and lasange. Proving that raw foodists can be civilised and savvy, there are also a range of organic wines and cocktails on offer.
Our appetisers comprised a “ironbound island sea vegetable salad” with hatcho miso dressing, wild atlantic wakame, avocado, and chimichurri sauce, and raw cauliflower “samosas” in which the wrappings were made from dehydrated whole wheat served with a tamarind sauce and chutney. The combination of wakame and avocado is a real favourite of mine - I think their textures and flavour are great complements - but given both ingredients are usually served “raw” this dish didn’t showcase the ingenuity of raw food to the same degree as the samosas. I thought the samosas were the best dish of the night, and intuituvely made the best case for the health benefits of raw food. It was certainly a pleasant change to have a samosa with a fresh, light outer casing, rather than the usual, comparatively greasy exterior.
For mains, we had a very rich lasagne in which thin-cut zucchini slices substituted for pasta and filling was a mix of tomato sauce, basil pesto, and pureed vegan ricotta which had a hummus like texture and nutty flavour. We also had a chef’s special which featured shitaake mushrooms mixed with other ingredients I didn’t catch (but which sounded delicious when recounted by our efficient waitress), wrapped in paper and dehydrated and served with raw endive slices and figs.
Years ago I read Anthony Bourdain’s celebrated culinary-gonzo work “Kitchen Confidential”, set largely in New York City. The author writes about the tricks and traps of the cut-throat Manhattan restaurant trade and the extremes behind the scenes that diners never lay eyes on. Bourdain himself is an exponent of the French school of cooking that depends on rich flavours, most notably truffles, plenty of butter and cream and pate prepared from goose liver. Unforgettably, Bourdain also makes clear his own loathing of vegetarians, vegetarianism and all vaguely associated follies. Ironically, out of all the vegetarian restaurants that we visited, Bourdain would probably have been most at home at this one. The food was so infused with rich flavours that even Bourdain may have felt comfortable tucking in there. Our food was so full of pungent flavours – of superconcentrated mushrooms, truffles, pesto and tomato, among others – that at times it bordered on the overwhelming. Was this overcompsensation of a kind? That would be a harsh judgement. However lovers of food that is light would find it harder going. I came away intrigued by the possibilities inherent in this peculiar art form, but not entirely convinced. It certainly stands out as unique among our dining experiences on our honeymoon. Kate was less convinced, but for me for the sheer originality and the enterprise in popularising a new and confronting style of vegetarian cuisine, it was another New York Super-V experience.
V Rating: Super V With our time in New York drawing to a close, we made a beeline to the East Village. Home to NYU, the area is filled with everything the young, urbane student needs, like (relatively) cheap restaurants, dingily lit bars, and small shops spruiking everything from socks to records.
In amongst this carnival of learning and poseurs, is a quiet oasis called Caravan of Dreams. It’s a small kosher, vegan restaurant, tucked slightly off the main drag, which also dabbles in organic and raw (or “live”) food.
Caravan of Dreams is the kind of place where I want to write my first novel. It’s offbeat, quiet, and warm-hearted, filled with the comfortable silence you fall into when your among close friends. The decorations have a gypsy touch, and because the restaurant is just below street level, it has a homey cave-live feel. Not only does Caravan of Dreams have atmosphere in spades, it also has great food. Choosing from the brunch special, Andy had the macrobiotic plate, but I had the good sense to know that the breakfast burrito was the real business.
Brunch started with a surprise green salad with a lime, tamari and ginger dressing. I’m not usually one for lettuce, but with the delicious, non-oily house dressing I lapped it up.
The burrito was magnificent. It was filled with scrambled tofu, grilled vegetables, and black beans in a whole wheat tortilla, and topped with guacamole, salsa and vegan sour cream. Every other time I’ve had scrambled tofu I’ve been disappointed - there’s too much tamari and it overpowers the rest of the dish. Here, the scrambled tofu was only lightly flavoured so it had the consistency and (in a good way) blandness of egg. Kudos also for the authentic guacamole and sour cream.
Andy’s plate came with grilled tofu, tahini, pinto beans, brown rice, and blanched vegetables. It was light and healthy, but I think my burrito won hands down.
Out of curiosity, we ordered a serve of live bread. Because raw foodists believe that you shouldn’t heat food above about 110 degrees Fahrenheit, “live bread” is dehydrated rather than baked. It emerged in quite thin slices, and because of the dehydration tasted like toast. It was best with hummus because this countered the dryness. Caravan of Dreams is an eclectic restaurant, from its design down to its menu, but somehow everything comes together to create a lovely, comfortable experience. If I were a New Yorker, this is the place I’d come to while away time and give thanks for living in such a great city.
V Rating: Super V Sometimes you walk into a restaurant and fall in love. It doesn’t matter what the food tastes like, the atmosphere alone is sustenance enough. That was my first reaction to Candle 79.
Candle 79 is the upmarket sister restaurant of the famous Candle Cafe. It’s a vegan restaurant, which may seems out of place on New York’s ritzy Upper East Side. But Candle 79 holds its own. It’s accolades include being voted “best vegetarian” restaurant in New York, plus it was recommended to me by Jim at Vegan Friendly NYC as the best place for a romantic dinner. Jim had the good oil, because of all the restaurants we visited in New York, Candle 79 was the most romantic. The downstairs area of the two storey townhouse hosts a long bar and booths, but upstairs is where it’s at. A large window looks out onto the street below. The night we were there, a large bouquet of flowers sprayed out in the centre of the window, adding a touch of colour and life to the snowy scene outside.
Our good first impression was cemented by the waiting staff, and the manager Francesca, who were friendly, attentive and good fun. As Candle 79 came a few days into our New York festival of eating, we just couldn’t squeeze in an appetiser. To compensate, we ordered a main each (I refuse to call this an entrée, as Americans do), and two side dishes of mashed garlic potatos and broccoli. Apparently Candle 79’s chef, Angel Ramos, is famous for his seitan. The only reason we didn’t try this as we’d been eating a lot of seitan over the last couple of days. Instead, I had the cumin crusted tofu served on saffron harissa couscous, eggplant-spinach-tomato ratatouille with preserved lemon. The dish was interesting - the tofu came served in two large pieces atop the what was otherwise a Middle Eastern / mediterranean themed dish. I liked the tofu - it had a light slightly spicy crust which contrasted nicely with the soft and smooth texture of the tofu. People who aren’t used to, or dislike tofu, may have been a little confronted to get such a large piece. Then again, those people probably wouldn’t have ordered this dish in the first place. My favourite part was the cous cous (large beads) and (drum roll please) preserved lemon. This is a real love it or hate it ingredient, but I’m firmly in the gimme all you got camp and thought it added a lovely bite to the soft, mellow taste of the cous cous and vegetables.
Andy ordered the glamourous sounding Ancho Seared Tempeh with a roasted sweet potato purée, sautéed kale, leeks, fennel salad, pomegranate reduction, and mole sauce. By all accounts, it was delicious. If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you might note that I have a fondness for potatoes, particularly of the mashed variety. You could even say they are the yardstick by which I measure a restaurant. On this count, Candle 79 stacked up – the potatoes were creamy and soft, and had a lovely flavour thanks to the garlic.
Although the dishes were large, and we were quite full, we couldn’t resist the dessert menu. I had a pumpkin crème brulee with ginger ice cream, while Andy had the ice cream sampler, which included chocolate and peanut flavours.
The impressive thing about dessert was that it was all vegan, but you wouldn’t have known that from the taste. I was a bit dubious about a pumpkin dessert, but pumpkin gave the dish sweetness without going overboard. The ginger ice cream set it off perfectly, adding a spicy, fresh touch.
Towards the end of the evening we got talking to a waitress and mentioned that we were in New York on our honeymoon. Next time we saw her, she brought out two glasses of champagne and delicious strawberries in a chocolate dipping sauce. Adding to the generosity, as we were leaving, the manager of Candle 79, Francesca gave us a copy of the popular Candle Cafe cook book as a wedding gift. It’s the only cookbook I picked up in the US, so in addition to its tasty recipes it’s also nice to have a memento of our vegetarian tour of duty. Of all the restaurants we visited in New York, Candle 79 was the winner for atmosphere and service. Its nearest competitor for food was Blossom, which I thought it easily trumped. Whether you have a couple of days, or a couple of years in New York, Candle 79 should be on your list.
V Rating: Super V Valentine’s Day (VD) brought us, by prior appointment, to Blossom, a popular vegetarian restaurant in Chelsea. We landed ourselves a spot in the 8 o’clock sitting, wedged between the early (6.30pm) and late (9.30pm) diners. Clearly, this place didn’t want to let any of its loyal patrons short of a meal. We were lucky to be seated right away when we arrived about 40 minutes before our appointed time, fresh from the “ice storm” outside that had seen temperatures drop to eight below Celsius. The restaurant was romantically decorated with dark wood and sensitive lighting. We ordered from the Valentine’s Day fixed price menu which offered choice of two appetisers, two main dishes and three desserts. To be honest, even adjusting for the high expectations that we had of Blossom, both of our appetisers were underwhelming. I ate a South East Asian lumpia which was described on the menu as curried seitan and potato wrapped in a crispy chickpea crepe served with mango onion sambal. I thought it resembled a Chiko Roll (a ubiqutous Australian fried fast food item for those readers who have not had the pleasure) with a mushy vegetarian filling that was monochromatic in flavour. Kate chose the black-eyed pea cake (”a crispy cake of yukon gold potato and black eyed peas served with chipolte aioli”). This dish had more flavour than my lumpia, helped along by the aioli, but despite its impressive sounding name it was not much more than a pleasant, homely pattie. Mains were slightly better. Both were seitan (the US term for gluten) dishes – mine in the form of seitan scallopini in a creamy white wine caper sauce with basil mashed potatoes and sauteed greens, Kate’s grilled and served over roasted fingerling potatos, buttercream leaks, shitake mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, and asparagus in a light mustard sauce. The seitan was deliciously tender and both meals had a comforting “home cooking” feel to them. Despite being very full, we still found space to try a Blossom sweetheart puff pastry, and cheesecake. These dishes were remarkable for the fact that they were both vegan without any compromise on taste. The meal did not justify its $46 price tag, but, on balance, and taking into account the pressures that the restaurant was under to cater for three sittings of diners on Valentines Day, sneaks in as a Super-V.
V Rating: VVV The day we visited the American Museum of Natural History was windy, cold, and snowing. Perfect weather for contemplating the observable universe. Not so awesome for going outside to hunt for food. Needs must, we took a punt on the Museum’s food court. I was sceptical about the quality of their food (largely because when we’d asked at the ticket counter for somewhere to have lunch we were assured the food court “did donuts). However, I was surprised to find a range of healthy, vegetarian options. Running down the centre of the food court was a large salad bar. There were lots of pre-made, interesting and tasty vegetarian salads and hot dishes, but you could also make up your own with fresh ingredients and dressings. On top of this, there was brown and wholemeal bread, juices, and fresh fruit. When I thought about it, the amount and prominence of healthy food was unsurprising because the Museum must get subwayloads of school children each year and would be under pressure to provide nutritious lunch options. There were still some token deep fried foods, greasy pizzas, and cream topped sundaes tucked away in the corners. Proving you can lead an American to a salad bar, but you can’t make them eat well, all the diners I saw made a bee-line for the artery-clogging food. Fools.
Despite our less than auspicious motives for visiting the Museum, we had a great time exploring the new planetarium and history of human evolution wings, and checking out the older dioramas and American Indian sections. If you do go, make sure you go on a free guided tour. We were taken around by a fantastic guide called Berne, who not only brought the exhibitions to life, she also peppered the tour with fascinating insights about the history of the Museum, and the intellectual debates it had navigated. For example, in 2000 the Museum controversially opened it’s new Rose Centre for Earth and Space with only eight planets. To the chagrin of the Friends of Pluto movement, the Museum had decided that Pluto just didn’t fit the bill. Since then, of course, Pluto has been V Rating: Super V It’s a cliche to observe that small or spontaneous decisions can change your life. But it’s true of my visit to Gobo in New York. Before going to New York I’d meticulously researched and planned our gastronomic itinerary, and even sought the advice of the good folk at Vegan Friendly (NYC). I came across Gobo in my research, and thought it sounded interesting, but somehow it didn’t make my list of ‘must eat here at all costs’ (this was not a small list, you understand). However, after visiting Teany, Moo Shoes, the Empire State Building, Times Square and catching a fun Broadway show, we were in the mood for a good vegetarian snack. Gobo fit the bill, largely for its convenient location in the West Village. My God, I’m glad we went there. Gobo is a smart-looking restaurant, kind of Japan meets Scandanavia, with warm but minimalist design and light wooden tables and walls. It has an elegant informality: you could come here for a special occasion, or slouch in for a quick weekday dinner without feeling out of place. We were not that hungry when we arrived at Gobo thanks to a pit stop at Times Square deli before the show. This was a shame, because there were plenty of interesting dishes to taste. Helpfully, the menu was divided into quick bites, small dishes and large dishes, all of which were good for sharing. We chose four small dishes, and one serve each of rice. The small dishes were not big. But neither were they particularly small. Somehow we still managed to polish all of them off. With the thought of Millenium’s exquisite avocado ceviche still fresh in my mind, I couldn’t resist the avocado tartare with wasabi lime sauce. Mmmm, mmm, mmmmm. Simple as this dish sounds, it was possibly my favourite of our honeymoon. Lime and avocado work beautifully together, and the wasabi flavoured the sauce with a wonderful zing without being overpowering. We also turned our attention to seitan skewers with green tea mustard sauce. Seitan is the US term for gluten, and this was our first taste on American soil. I approved! We also tried the black sesame mushroom rolls with mango chutney and the eggplant & string beans with basil sauce. Gobo further cemented their place in my good books by replacing the ubiquitous side of white rice with a choice of brown rice or coconut whole grain rice with raisins (coconut rice is a staple in the Caribbean). We looked lovingly at the dessert menu, but could not in good faith squeeze in any more food. However, the staff had found out that we were on our honeymoon, and so as a surprise the staff brought out a slice of multi-layered chocolate cake for us to share. The arrival of the cake presented a quandary. We were so full of small bites there was not much room left for chocolate cake. But then again we didn’t want to rude… We each had a small taste and I was hooked. I’m not usually a dessert fan, particularly when the food is rich and sweet, but this chocolate cake was amazing. Firstly, it was really, really moist. So moist that when I decided to eat the leftovers 24 hours later in our hotel room it was still moist and soft. Second, even though the slice was big, and the cake layers were interspersed with chocolate icing, it tasted light. Sweet, you undertand, but not overly rich or heavy, which I think is the holy grail of desserts. The memory of Gobo’s food stayed with me in New York, Jamaica and back in Sydney. But it took me awhile to figure out why. It’s partly because, like Millenium, Gobo pushes the boundary of vegetarian food, creating modern, innovative dishes using a range of ingredients. But it’s also because Gobo specialises in modern and healthy Asian cuisine, with some European twists. I love the flavours of Asian food, and dishes like steamed dumplings, tofu, miso, wasabi, and green tea - but often when I’ve tried them in fusion food the Asian flavour is the ‘exotic’ ingredient added to a European dish to make it more interesting. Gobo turns the tables, with a mostly pan-Asian menu that nods it head at the West in dishes like green tea noodles with vegan bolognese sauce or the aforetomentioned avocado tartare. The genius behind the menu is chef Yuki Chen, who grew up in Taiwan, and has also worked with another popular New York vegetarian restaurant, Zen Palate. I was inspired by my visit to Gobo because, like Millenium, it showed me how original, gourmet and (most importantly) tasty vegetarian food can be. Gobo should definitely be on your “must eat here at all costs” lists if you visit New York (they have a second restaurant in the Upper East Side, which is also supposed to be lovely). If only I weren’t separated from Gobo by an ocean, I would eat there frequently. |
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