During our final morning in New York, we couldn't help but breakfast at our now-belovedChamps. We loved the '80s pop soundtrack they'd selected for the morning (that's Michael above bopping along to Madonna's 'Like a Prayer') and our waiter's Luke Perry 90210 T-shirt. Michael went all out and doused maple syrup over the formidable pancake bowl (US$13 ~ AU$13.80) - yep, that's a big bowl lined with a large fluffy pancake then filled with home fries, tofu scramble, soysage and tempeh bacon.
I wanted one more biscuit - this one sandwiched around a thick piece of breaded chick'n with mayonnaise, a pickle slice and a slug of sweetener (listed as honey, though I'd bet it was a vegan alternative; US$7 ~ AU$7.40). Both meals were testament to what this vegan diner does so well (and why no-one should really be eating there four times in a week).
Momofuku Milkbar was on our walk back to our apartment, and I stopped in to grab a couple of cookies (US$2 ~ AU$2.10 each) for our plane trip. I'd made the compost cookies at home once before and was keen to compare with the commercial product (pictured left); the cornflake chocolate chip marshmallow cookie (pictured right) was just a punt.
These little numbers didn't end up distinguishing themselves from your average chewy choc-chip cookie at all. I was disappointed. Having enjoyed the milkshakes well enough and flicked through the Milk Bar cookbook, my fascination with this franchise was done. The recipes are centred around nostalgia for processed junk foods - froot loops, potato chips, M&Ms, etc - and augmented with extra milk, sugar, eggs and whatever additives are needed to shift or stabilise the texture.
I reckon we can do better - we certainly did better eating our way around New York City. While plenty of our meals had their junky elements, the offerings at Champs and Seasoned Vegan felt uniquely American and memorable, and offered welcoming, friendly atmospheres. We received more formal hospitality and meticulously presented food at Kajitsu and Hangawi. And I've felt inspired to try new things with corn and veganicecream in my kitchen at home (...maybe even simultaneously).
The apartment we were staying at in Brooklyn was booked partly to ensure we'd be close to Williamsburg's weekly food market Smorgasburg. On Saturday it pops up in the East River State Park, with about a hundred food stalls and swarms of people enjoying too much food and some fine views of Manhattan.
It's all pretty overwhelming - I got sucked in and was eating a chocolate croissant and drinking an iced coffee before we'd walked 50 metres. There is so much goddamn delicious food. Vegans are brilliantly catered for - we started up with a visit to Dunwell Doughnuts, Brooklyn's all vegan doughnut store (they've got a permanent store in East Williamsburg). We tried a sweet butter and rosemary one (US$2.50 ~ AU$2.70, top right in the photo below). It was ridiculously good, with the rosemary adding some complexity to a sweet and flaky doughnut.
Cindy got lured into some white yam fries (US$6 ~ AU$6.40) from WOÉZÕ West African. They came with a tasty garlic, onion and tomato confit but were a little on the starchy side for my tastes. I couldn't resist a stop at Chickpea and Olive's stall, which was serving up phatty beet sliders made with fresh tempeh, beetroot, brown rice and lentils. I went with the bacon ranch option, which came with eggplant bacon, melted Daiya cheddar, a slice of lettuce and a housemade ranch sauce, all served on a vegan brioche bun. It was very, very messy and very, very good - I wish I'd had the food space to sample their other flavours, particularly the avocado and jalapeno burger.
We each grabbed another savoury dish on our wander around - a vegan taco from the Japanese/Mexican fusion stall Takumi Taco for Cindy (charred corn, shishito peppers, cilantro, edamame, avocade and wasabi citrus, US$5 ~ AU$5.30) and a vegan hotdog from the Japanese/hot dog fusion stall AsiaDog for me (veggie sausage with sweet 'n' spicy ketchup, jalapeno mustard and crushed potato chips, US$5 ~ AU$5.30). I only had one hot dog in NYC, which seems like a pretty poor hit rate, but at least this one was a good one. I couldn't leave without another visit to Dunwell, trying out the raspberry pistachio (US$2.50 ~ AU$2.70), which was tangy and sweet but fell just short of the benchmark set by the sweet butter and rosemary. Cindy bid the stalls farewell with a refreshing jasmine bubble tea with lychee jelly (US$4 ~ AU$4.30) from ThirsTea.
Smorgasburg is really a must-do if you're focussing on food during your New York trip - there were so many more stalls that we'd definitely have tried if we'd had the room and time. You could easily go twice and not double up (although I'm pretty sure we'd be going to Dunwell every time).
We had made Smorgasburg an early lunch so we had plenty of spare afternoon time for a bit more exploring. We decided to suss out The New Museum, a contemporary art gallery on the Lower East Side. After being slightly disappointed by MoMA, it was great to go somewhere filled with adventurous and unconventional exhibitions - not everything worked, but it all felt fresh and exciting.
Our last dinner in New York was booked in at Candle 79, another upmarket vegan place with a big reputation. It's definitely one to book - there was barely a spare table when we turned up for our 7:30 booking. There's something a bit old fashioned about the fit out, but the atmosphere is relaxed and comfortable. The menu is extensive - ten starters, ten mains, a handful of salads and a bunch of sides to choose from (plus dessert of course). We decided to go for a conventional three courses: starter, main and dessert, which meant ignoring sides like onion rings with chipotle aioli and seitan meatballs with tomato-basil-truffle sauce (US$8 ~ AU$8.50 each). We had:
a cute little noodle and vegetable amuse bouche
crispy fried cornmeal poppers with spring vegetables and ancho chilli aioli (US$12 ~ AU$12.80)
thick chunks of skewered and grilled seitan with chimichurri spice paste, horseradish cream and red pepper coulis (US$12 ~ AU$12.80)
wild mushroom and spring vegetable fricassee with a small swirl of soft polenta and a dollop of excellent truffled almond cheese (US$21 ~ AU$22.40)
seitan piccata with grilled potato cake, oyster mushrooms and lemon caper sauce (US$23 ~ AU$24.50), which was reminiscent of the seitan dish at Blossom, but even more impressive.
berry shortcake with vanilla cashew cream and rhubarb ice cream (US$13 ~ AU$13.80)
a hugely indulgent Mexican chocolate brownie, with caramelised banana, French vanilla ice cream, candied pecans and chocolate ancho sauce (US$13 ~ AU$13.80)
It was a lovely meal - similar in many ways to Blossom, but a bit fancier and slightly more impressive. The seitan piccata was my highlight - we really need to learn how to make fancy sauces now we're back at home.
We booked into a Hush hip-hop tour on Friday, so breakfast was a quick stop for bagels and tofu cream cheese, juice and coffee on Bedford Ave. The tour took us through Harlem and South Bronx, covering historic moments in the development of MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti. The tour wound up at Manna's Restaurant for a soul food buffet lunch, where you pay by weight and there are surprisingly plentiful vegetarian options.
For dinner we crossed to the lower east side for pizza and pasta at Pala, one of the Moody Noodles' favouriteNYCeateries. This smart-casual restaurant is actually omni, but for every mention of lamb chops or meatballs on the menu, you'll find two vegetarian pizza and pasta dishes and a further three vegan ones, not to mention numerous gluten-free substitutes. I ordered the potato gnocchi with cherry tomato sauce, basil and Daiya cheese (US$16 ~ AU$17.10), picturing summery tomato halves and whole basil leaves. Thus I was a mite underwhelmed by the homogenous sauce I was served. Michael fared much better with the fungi e salsiccia pizza (US$18 ~ AU$19.30), with a large wood-fired base and generous layers of veggie sausage, mushrooms and Daiya cheese.
We found room for dessert at Lula's Sweet Apothecary, a small vegan icecreamery a few blocks' walk from Pala. The modest queue running out the door gave us a little time to figure out our options. The sundaes, shakes, flurries and floats were too much for us to contemplate, and we couldn't imagine what an egg cream was, much less a vegan version. This still left us with one soft serve flavour and a dozen scoops, plus a range of sauces, sprinkles and candy. Michael chose blackberry and coffee icecream scoops and had them scattered with sugar cone pieces, while I paired cookies and cream with a lavender icecream and ordered Ginger-O's on top (US$5.96 ~ AU$6.40 for two scoops + US$1 ~ AU$1.10 for toppings).
I was deeply impressed by the firm creamy texture of these icecreams, which would give any dairy-based version stiff competition in a blind taste test. The flavour range is a smart spectrum of good ol' vanilla/strawberry/chocolate through to cake batter and the aforementioned lavender. I think Australia's vegan icecream options - whether at scoop stands, supermarkets or in our own kitchens - have some room to improve.
I got up early on Thursday to hit Central Park for a few hours of birding - it's a world renowned birding site, although mainly during spring and fall migration, when it's the largest blob of green space for miles around and tired birds flop into it for a break. In June it's pretty quiet, but for an out of towner like me there's still a few exciting things to see. The slideshow below has my highlights, including:
Black-crowned night-heron
Northern cardinal
Gray catbird
Red-bellied woodpecker
Juvenile blue jay
American robin
Grackle
Double crested cormorant
Not a bad morning out.
Cindy came in on the subway a few hours later and we met nearby for breakfast - the upper east side isn't loaded with vegan options in the morning, so we settled on Alice's Tea Cup, mostly due to its location, but also because I had a vague memory of hearing something positive about it.
It's a slightly twee place, with a heavy focus on tea and Alice in Wonderland paraphrenalia. The savoury breakfast menu is very eggy and there are pancakes and crepes for the more sweet-toothed among us. But Alice's specialty is scones, so we both made sure to order appropriately. Cindy went for the two scone + tea deal (US$12 ~ AU$12.80), ordering pumpkin scones and a white/rooibos tea blend. The pumpkin scones were nothing like Flo's, coming with a thick sweet glaze and a cakey, gingerbready flavour. I went with the scones benedict, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce on plain scones, served with potato hash (US$13 ~ AU$13.90). It was fine, but had me craving some of the previous few days' more extravagant breakfasts. Alice's is a handy option if you're after an early bite on the Upper East Side, but with so much else to hit up in New York I wouldn't make it a priority.
After a bit of a stroll around Central Park we headed for our main goal for the day, the Guggenheim Museum. Which, it turns out, is closed on a Thursday. Bugger. We headed up to Harlem for lunch to figure out a new plan for the afternoon.
I'd been interested to read about Seasoned Vegan during our New York planning - it was just opening as I made my spreadsheet and the idea of vegan soul food seemed pretty fun. It wasn't on our 'must visit' list, but our location and spare time made it a handy option and it turned out to be one of our favourite meals of the trip.
The menu seems to be a regularly rotating one, with a couple of proteins, a handful of sides and a few raw options to choose from. We both did a meal deal - a medium for me (two proteins, two sides, US$13 ~ AU$13.90) and a junior for Cindy (one protein, two sides, AU$8 ~ AU$8.50). I got to sample both the 'meat' dishes - chicken masala and jerked beef - along with some stewed string beans and parsley potatoes, while Cindy had the chicken with sauteed broccoli and vegan mac 'n' cheese. Everything was incredible - the meats were excellent (probably seitan, but we're not totally sure) and the sauces were out of this world. We'll definitely be going home and figuring out how to replicate them. They do a range of smoothies (we split a delicious berry lemonade) and a range of raw and baked desserts (which we were too full to tackle). The staff were super friendly and made us feel very welcome. A definite highlight of the trip - we wanted to get back up there for another round in the few NY days we had left, but we ran out of time.
After lunch we fell back on The Frick Collection, a Manhattan mansion turned gallery stuffed with art collected by industrialist and militant anti-union capitalist Henry Frick. The house was fascinating to explore and the collection was interesting enough (although the more you read about Frick the more you kind of resent his wealth and the whitewashing of his reputation that goes on in the gallery).
We headed back to Williamsburg for a pre-dinner break, but wound up swapping an hour or two on the couch for a couple of cocktails on the rooftop at the Wythe Hotel. The main attraction is the view, although in the late afternoon the view over to Manhattan is also the view into the sun so we limited our photos to the rooftops of Brooklyn. It's a pleasant place to sit for a bit, although it was filling up fast when we headed off at around 6:30.
The dinner plan was Hangawi, a vegetarian Korean place in Midtown that had been recommended to us by Michelle. It's a big venue and was already bustling when we arrived - things stayed pretty full all night, so I'd really recommend booking.We kicked things off with a couple of soju-based cocktails (a reincarnation for Cindy and a mojito for me, $US10 ~ $AU10.70 each). They were light on the booze, but still refreshing enough.
The a la carte menu is overwhelming, with about 20 starters and soups (~US$10-12 each) and even more mains (~US$18-22 each). They've got a separate gluten free menu and everything is vegan. Luckily, they took the decision out of our hands by offering "the emperor's tasting menu," a US$65 (~AU$70) set menu that we were enthused to try out.
The starters were a dumpling soup steamboat and a summer green salad with silky tofu and a citron tofu dressing. The dumplings were great and the soup was filled out with little slices of rice cake. The salad was fresh and sweetly dressed.
The spring appetizer platter came out next, featuring a pumpkin-stuffed apple, a maitake mushroom croquette in dill sauce, a kabocha pumpkin cake stick and a couple of little cabbage rolls. A visually and texturally satisfying platter of delicious little nibbles. It was followed by the emperor's rolls, a DIY Korean pancake plate, with three different kinds of wrappers and an array of fillings including multiple types of mushrooms, carrot, seaweed and other pickled vegetables.
You have a choice of two dishes for the main meal, so naturally we ordered one of each - a mixed mushroom sizzler and tofu with mixed vegetables, both served with avocado stone bowl rice. The mushrooms were mild and hearty, coming with spicy pickle accompaniments (including some excellent kim chi), while the tofu had a bit more of a kick. The avocado rice bowl was like an egg-free bibimbap, with the bowl turning the rice at the bottom into crisp little chunks. Everything was excellent.
We were really struggling for room at this stage, and were relieved to see a modestly sized dessert turn up: a black rice pudding with cacao nibs and a blob of soy icecream in the middle. I'm often underwhelmed by the bean or rice-based desserts that Japanese, Chinese and Korean places offer up, but the cacao really added something to the standard rice pudding flavour here and the icecream was great.
Hangawi was another of the more memorable meals of our trip. With this banquet under our belts, we had the confidence but sadly not the time to work our way through the rest of the menu.
On Wednesday morning we followed the Cinnamon Snail food truck (which we'd previously intercepted in Brooklyn) to Manhattan for breakfast. We had access to the entire vegan menu - burgers and sandwiches stuffed with all manner of tofu, seitan, tempeh and veges, pastries, a couple of raw dishes, pancakes and breakfast platters - and we were both drawn to the breakfast burritos. My classic burrito (pictured top right) had a dense filling of refried beans, scrambled tofu, a little pico de gallo and some thick slices of avocado (US$9 ~ AU$9.60). Michael's chipotle seitan burrito (pictured bottom left) was bigger and spicier, teaming its seitan with scrambled tofu, jalapenos, kale and chipotle mayonnaise (also US$9 ~ AU$9.60). We ate them on the edge of Central Park, licking our sticky fingers as we forgot to grab napkins.
I spent the next few hours at MOMA while Michael watched the World Cup. I remember being deeply impressed when I visited almost ten years ago and it was freshly renovated. MOMA hosts a range of very famous works in its collection from artists like Picasso, Matisse, Monet, Cezanne, Gaugain, Warhol and Rothko, and it's home to Van Gogh's The Starry Night. This time I didn't connect as enthusiastically with the works; they felt more like a textbook tick-list and I caught myself wishing for some more culturally diverse voices among so many male European and American artists. (There was a nice little Kahlo corner, at least.)
Our burritos fuelled us for many hours, all the way back through a mid-afternoon walk in Brooklyn. We were tracking the Dr-Cow Tree Nut Cheese shop, which Marieke had mentioned to us a month or two earlier. Their small cabinet contains a surprising variety of raw vegan cheeses and a few hand-made sweet treats, and they offered a few to taste as we made our selection.
Once back at our apartment, we dug into a triple-layered wedge of cashew-based saffron/reishi-hemp-sesame/pumpkin-shilajit cheese (~US$10 ~ AU$10.60) and a round of aged macadamia cheese. These were lovely, gentle savoury spreads - I was particularly taken by the saffron layer of the wedge - but friends, they were nothing like dairy cheese. The raw cheesecake (US$5.45 ~ AU$5.80) was much more convincing in its creaminess and its lemony tang.
Some time later we ventured out to dinner at Kajitsu, on our friend Jess H's recommendation. The spartan decor of this vegetarian Japanese restaurant belies the depth of thought and craftsmanship in their cooking. They offer three set menu alternatives: the kaze (four courses, US$55 ~ AU$58.20), the Hana (eight courses, US$95 ~ AU$100.50) and the chef's omakase (an unspecified number of courses, US$195 ~ AU$206.20) with optional sake pairings. We stuck with the four course kaze.
The June vegetable pallet opener was a colourful spread of fruits and vegetables, flowers and leaves in a light vinegar jelly - while I'm not usually keen on savoury jellies, I found this one's texture pleasing. Michael ordered a side of fermented tofu (US$8 ~ AU$8.50), which makes a striking vegan alternative to blue cheese. While its colour is markedly different, this soy curd was dense, creamy and perfectly pungent.
Our second course was surely one of the best dishes of our trip. A study in corn and mushrooms, they were crumbed into two kinds of croquet, sauteed and charred, served with a fried zucchini flower, fried noodle 'cornsilk', natto and dark chocolate, with a refreshing side of shaved pineapple. This may read like a mess or a masterpiece and it was definitely the latter, a gorgeously presented mix of earthiness, lightness, sweetness and crispness.
This was followed by a fried yuba parcel, delicate wheat gluten slices, eggplant and spring onions in a clear broth - simpler but no less satisfying. The final dish ensured that no diner could leave the restaurant hungry - a large bowl of lotus root rice porridge with crisp nori and a selection of pickles to lift the flavour.
These Kajitsu dishes showed a combination of imagination and execution that we hadn't quite experienced at Blossom or Dirt Candy - it's definitely our recommendation for a fancy-schmancy meal in NYC.
Tuesday saw us returning once again to our new favourite place in the world - Champs. Their breakfast menu is ludicrously long and varied and there was nothing else in our neighbourhood that really got us excited, so we decided to try to become regulars.
This time around I went for the all vegan slam, a massive plate with scrambled tofu, facon, home fries, weird (and delicious) little sausage patties, toast and salad (US$12 ~ AU$12.70). I'm still to be won over by home fries for breakfast to be honest, especially when part of such a ludicrously large plate of food. These at least had some nice seasoning to cut through the starch a bit, but I still struggled to make my way through the whole batch. Everything else was great - the 'veggie bacon' a lot more impressive than the tempeh bacon I'd tried earlier in the trip and the scramble living up to Champs' generally high standards.
Cindy moved into the sweet portion of the menu, ordering 3 red velvet pancakes with choc chips and whipped cream (US$9 + US$2 for added strawberries ~ AU$11.70). This is another ginormous dish - hard to believe anyone orders the serve of six and lives to tell the tale. They were impressively fluffy for vegan pancakes and were stuffed with the extra strawberries, which added a bit of freshness to an otherwise pretty sugary dish. Friendly staff, decent bottomless coffee, great music and the entertaining paraphernalia on the walls kept us hanging out happily while we munched our way through all of the food.
Our next stop was the Lower East Side for a bout of op-shopping, shoe-shopping and some more eating. We started off at MooShoes, a vegan shoe shop with a range of faux-leather fancy shoes, sneakers and sandals. Cindy couldn't quite find a pair that she wanted, but I walked out with some stylish MacBeth sneakers. Not pictured: a very cute and friendly store cat.
Just around the corner was the vegan and gluten free bakery BabyCakes, which came highly recommended by In TheMood forNoodles. We ordered an apple churro and Samoa doughnut (US$3.95 ~ AU$4.20 each). Both were excellent - I'd be surprised if anyone could tell they were vegan or gluten free by taste. My iced coffee hit the spot too.
We spent the rest of the afternoon hitting up the op-shops around the East Village - I began my quest to cowboy-ify my wardrobe and we tramped far too many miles in the hot sun before heading home for a pre-dinner rest.
Dinner was at Dirt Candy, a place we'd booked months in advance, having heard loads of great things about it. The restaurant is tiny - they'd be lucky to seat 20 people at a time and the kitchen is in full view. Staff are very friendly and efficient but you do get a slight sense that they've got one eye on the clock to make sure you're clear before the next booking turns up. The menu is all about vegetables - no mock meat on offer here. It's vegetarian rather than vegan, but at least half of the dishes are vegan or veganisable and the first question the staff ask is whether or not you're vegan or have any other dietary requirements. We ordered three courses each (appetiser, main and dessert) and shared the lot (see the slideshow below for photos). This included:
Mushroom (US$13 ~ AU$13.80): a portobello mushroom mousse, a bigger pile of lightly cooked mushrooms, a pear and fennel compote, some toast and a truffle oil based smear.
Potato (US$12 ~ AU$12.80): warm potato salad, crispy Japanese yams, grilled sweet potato, olives, bitter greens and apple.
Beets (US$20 ~ AU$21.20): a variety of salt-roasted beets, Thai green curry, tiny little beet gnocchi and whipped coconut galangal cream.
Broccoli (US$21 ~ AU$21.30): the famous broccoli dogs (which were basically just nicely cooked stems of broccoli) in slightly sweet housemade buns, broccoli kraut, house made mustard, crispy dried out salt and vinegar broccli rabe chips and a big pile of greens.
Popcorn pudding (US$11 ~ AU$11.70): a jar of creamy sweet corn pudding topped with a peanutty caramel sauce and served with a side of salted caramel corn.
Celery cheesecake roll (US$10 ~ AU$10.70): celeriac ice cream served with a scroll of cake and cream-cheesy layers, a couple of candied grapes and a few spots of rich peanut sauce.
There was a lot to like about the Dirt Candy experience: the vegetables are given centre stage, providing much of the flavour of the meal; The dishes are creative without being overloaded with foams and gels; and the bustling vibe of the place is pretty fun. The food didn't quite scale the heights that we were expecting - the broccoli dog for example wasn't that exciting (rabe chips aside) and the desserts sounded a bit more interesting than they turned out being (the veggie flavours didn't really shine through). It's definitely worth a visit, but I don't think Dirt Candy is outstripping the veggie meals at local favourites like Cutler & Co and Attica (although, to be fair, it is quite a bit cheaper).
After starting our trip off with three nights out in a row (music, comedy, theatre), we limited ourselves to a quick post-dinner wander and an early night to rest up for another big day of eating on Wednesday.
We started our fourth day in New York with a Wholefoods breakfast in Union Square and set off to walk the High Line (see slideshow above). This green strip sits a couple of storeys above Manhattan's roads and sidewalks, on a former West Side freight rail line that's been converted and maintained by the community. It was pretty, with abundant flowers at this time of year, and also very hot.
By the time we were done I was craving some shade and a drink, I was lucky to secure both of these at the popular Taim falafel house. These guys are vegetarian by virtue of skipping the kebabs and concentrating on falafel in three flavours: traditional balls of brilliant green with parsley, coriander and mint; spicier harissa fritters; and sweet roasted red pepper morsels. We sampled them all in a mixed platter (US$12 ~ AU$12.70) on a bed of hummus, with thick za'atar-sprinkled pita, tabouli and and Israeli tomato-cucumber salad on the side, trialling different combinations of their spicy S'rug sauce, Amba mango chutney and tahini yoghurt. The sandwiches and salads we saw others ordering looked just as good, and we noticed clearly-marked vegan and gluten-free options.
In my dehydrated state, I was smitten by their pineapple and coconut smoothie (US$5.50 ~ AU$5.80). I daydreamed about its creamy-icy tropical flavour on several later hot days in the city.
We took it easy in the afternoon and visited vegan institution Blossom for dinner. Here we shared:
crab-like Cape Cod cakes (US$11 ~ AU$11.70) with an excellent tartar sauce,
sophisticated seitan scallopini (US$22 ~ AU$23.40) on a bed of mashed potatoes and sauteed kale in a white wine, lemon and caper sauce,
pistachio-crumbed tofu (US$21 ~ AU$22.30) perched between a sweet potato-stuffed crepe parcel and a tangle of frisee lettuce, and
a very sweet coconut-based cup of tiramisu (US$11 ~ AU$11.70).
We really liked their way with sauces, and I mused that I'd like to develop a better intuition for them in my own cooking. Otherwise the food and environment was comfortable but a touch dated - we imagined how exciting and innovative it might have been ten or fifteen years ago.
With dinner done, we set off for an unforgettable theatre experience - Sleep No More. Punchdrunk theatre company have claimed four floors of a former hotel as their stage, decking them out with cobwebbed crucifixes, bedrooms, shop fronts and very little lighting. Actors stalk the rooms, performing an adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth, and the audience are masked voyeurs who wander the hotel at their whim, free to rifle through papers, touch trinkets and chase the action. There's blood and dance, sex, nudity and death. It's utterly immersive, and something we talked about for hours afterwards.
As we approached our apartment, we finished with a midnight snack from Van Leeuwen's icecream truck. Their vegan flavours are a clever splice of coconut and cashew milks, their chocolate and pistachio flavours (totalling US$5.75 ~ AU$6.10) rating amongst my best ever vegan icecream experiences.
We decided to keep things local on our third day in New York, staying in Brooklyn to eat, shop and explore. We started off at Bliss Cafe, a Bedford Avenue spot that was both vegan friendly and open early for breakfast (a lot of the US seems to think that 'brunch' starts at midday or something ridiculous).
The menu at Bliss is all vegetarian with about half the dishes either vegan or vegan adaptable. I've decided to go crazy for the tofu scramble on this trip, so I ordered a serve of Bliss' version (with home fries, toast and jam, $US7.95 ~ $AU8.45) and a side of tempeh bacon ($US3 ~ $AU3.20). The scramble was quite good, with plenty of greens, onions and mushrooms mixed in, although the tofu mix itself wasn't bursting with flavour (thankfully every cafe in the US seems to offer hot sauce as a default table setting). The tempeh bacon was a bit better than the version at Champs, but basically convinced me that I shouldn't keep ordering it - we make it too well at home to be paying $3 for inadequate imitations. Cindy had the vegan bagel delight ($US6.50 ~ $AU6.90), which involved the same tempeh bacon and tofu scramble served on a bagel with a slice of tomato. It had basically the same strengths and weaknesses as my dish. Don't get me wrong, Bliss is a handy and decent option for a vegan breakfast in Williamsburg, but the food isn't that exciting and the breakfast menu is pretty limited (after 10 the full brunch menu opens up, offering chilli, seitan steak sandwiches and the like). Basically, it's no Champs and with so many more things to try on their menu, we quickly decided that any future Brooklyn brekkies would be there rather than at Bliss.
One of the reasons we were staying in Brooklyn was to check out the Brooklyn Flea (which K and Toby had raved about). It's a nice mix of food, craft, vintage clothes and random odds and ends (plenty of furniture too).
Melbourne readers: check out that weather! NYC was sweltering in the mid-thirties most days, and the Brooklyn Soda Works provided me with a refreshing rhubarb and ginger soda to help me survive the markets.
We took a little break at home and then headed out to explore Park Slope, another Brooklyn neighbourhood. On our way to the subway we stopped off at one of the many Momofuku Milkbars that are dotted around New York. We grabbed a couple of milkshakes - espresso flavoured for me and cereal for Cindy ($US7 ~ $AU7.40 and $US6 ~ $AU6.40, respectively).
They were tasty, but not quite the life changing experience I was hoping for. Maybe that's too much to ask from a milkshake. This weird little crochet alien on a nearby fence made up for any milkshake-related disappointment.
We eventually made it to Park Slope and wandered 5th Avenue looking through op-shops and fancier stores, before stumbling onto The V Spot, a Latin vegan bar and restaurant that had the perfect menu for the small lunch we needed (it's hard going eating even 3 meals a day in the US due to the bonkers portion sizes).
We split a serve of the Jamaican jerk empanadas (tortillas filled with brown rice, pigeon peas, carrots, collard greens and spicy jerk seitan, $US8 ~ $AU8.50) and an arepa con todo (grilled corn patty topped with melted Daiya mozzarella, house made salsa, guacamole and black beans, $US7 ~ $AU7.40). Both were excellent, with the spicy empanada filling and the house made salsa particularly impressive (they sell the salsa in bottles and I'd have been taking a couple home if I didn't imagine them smeared all through our luggage and/or confiscated by customs). The staff were lovely, they've got an outdoor courtyard and a relaxed vibe. V-Spot is one of the many places I was sad not to make a second trip to - maybe schedule it in for dinner so you can really get stuck into the menu.
One of the places we did make a second trip to (and a 3rd and 4th!) was Champs. It was perfectly located between the subway and our evening's entertainment (free Sunday night comedy at the Knitting Factory, well worth a visit if you're in the neighbourhood) and it had a whole lunch/dinner menu we hadn't explored yet.
There are so many options that we sat there paralysed for a while - should we build our own burger (choosing one of three different patty options), grab a banh mi or a Philly cheesesteak or go for a healthier salad option? Eventually Cindy decided on the Buffalo ranch salad ($US11 ~ $AU11.70, crumbed chicken pieces with spicy Buffalo dressing, greens, celery, cucumber, tomato, grated 'cheddar' and a tub of ranch dressing), while I chose the Baja fish burrito ($US9 ~ $AU9.60, crispy fish cutlets with purple cabbage, greens, sour cream, guacamole, salsa fresca and chipotle dressing in a wholewheat tortilla).
These were both excellent - the fish burrito in particular was to die for, crispy and saucy and loaded with fresh avocado, it really takes the vegan burrito to new heights. The salad was no let down either, combining a rare chance to stuff some fresh greens into our faces with still more delicious mock meat. Champs quickly became our go-to option in Williamsburg - it's a total winner.
We spent our first full New York day exploring the Brooklyn neighbourhood that we were staying in. Our breakfast venue, Champs Family Bakery, became one of our favourite eateries in the city. They've got a sweet diner set-up in a residential street and a menu that runs to dozens and dozens of American-style vegan meals: burgers, sandwiches, wraps and burritos; all-day breakfasts of scrambled tofu, biscuits, home fries, pancakes and waffles; bowls and salads; sundaes, cakes and cookies.
Michael tucked into the Tofu Rancheros (US$12 ~ AU$12.80), a large plate piled high with rice and beans, tortilla chips in a cheese sauce, tofu scramble, ranchero sauce, salsa fresca and sour cream, and ordered an utterly unnecessary side of tempeh bacon (US$2 ~ AU$2.10). I dug their hefty biscuits smothered in soysages and country gravy (US$10 ~AU$10.70), grateful for the fresh greens to break up the richness. Even then I couldn't polish off this dense breakfast. We stumbled out groaning, feeling equal parts pleasure and pain.
We walked deeper into Brooklyn for the monthly Vegan Shop-Up (thanks to Anne B for pointing this one out) at Pine Box Rock Shop, a vegan bar. We spent a couple of hours just hanging out, with Michael watching the soccer and eventually working up an appetite to try something from the Cinnamon Snail food truck (which came recommended both by Anne B and Justin M). He happily ploughed through a tortilla-lined box of spicy Korean barbeque seitan (US$9 ~ AU$9.60), and I found room for an Alchemy Creamery gleegan icecream sandwich (it was nice, but better vegan icecream was to follow).
Otherwise I checked out the stalls of clothing, preserves, baked goods and tea, and was delighted to discover a Lagusta's Luscious stall - I've been a reader of Lagusta's blog for years and hadn't imagined that I'd be able to access her chocolates in the city. I bought a corn on the cob bar and a four grain bourbon caramel chile bar, and we rationed them out over later days. They were both absolutely brilliant and based on ethically-sourced, smooth, dark, just-sweet-enough chocolate. The corn bar included bold corn kernel chunks, hints of paprika and sage, plus a good dash of salt; the other had the darkest, most adult caramel I've ever chanced upon. I'd trade all the Caramello Koalas in the world for another.
We spent the evening back closer to our Williamsburg accommodation, where the Northside Festival was being held in the streets and local arts venues (see slideshow below). We ate dinner at Wild Ginger, a vegan pan-Asian restaurant. Service was reserved by American standards and the food was variable: Michael's Thai iced coffee and my iced green tea (US$3 ~ AU$3.20) hit the right notes and the miso-dressed salad was nice; I loved the freshness of the avocado, mountain yam and mango tartar (US$8.50 ~ AU$9.10) though it was overwhelmed by its wasabi-soy sauce; the salt and pepper king oyster mushrooms (US$8.50 ~ AU$9.10) were greasy and underseasoned; and our General Tso's soy protein (US$15 ~ AU$16) was a great mock meat in a sauce too sweet for Michael.
We were more in sync with our evening's entertainment, a live show led by Courtney Barnett (from Melbourne's northside to Brooklyn's) and Benjamin Booker at the Williamsburg Music Hall.
After a few weeks of travellingaroundseparately, Cindy and I rendezvoused in New York City to start a three week where's the beef? tour of NYC, Portland and Tokyo. We're gonna blog it all eventually, but trying to fit some holidaying between all our eating has meant that we're already falling behind.
I got in quite late on a Friday night and met up with Cindy at our apartment in Williamsburg (yes, I know, we're dreadful hipsters). We were both tired and hungry and I knew of the perfect solution - pizza by the slice at Vinnie's Pizzeria. It was just a few blocks from where we were staying, was open late and promised an intriguing range of vegan slices.
They have about a dozen different vegan pizzas on their menu (plus another dozen vegetarian) and seem to rotate the slices pretty regularly - we saw a new batch of flavours come out just while we were eating our slices. There's also a few other vegan meals - chicken drumsticks, eggplant or chicken parmas and a vegan baked ziti. At 9:30pm on a Friday it's busy but not crazy - I suspect by midnight the booths would be much harder to claim. We ordered three slices (US$4 ~ AU$4.20 each). First up the T.HANKS (bbq chicken, bacon, mozzarella, cheddar, bbq sauce) and tiger style (teriyaki chicken, broccoli, mozzarella, cheddar and sesame seeds).
And then the parma initiative (baked breaded eggplant, marinara sauce, cheddar, mozzarella).
These were all great - crispy bases, loads of toppings and a good range of junky flavours. We had very firm intentions to return later in our stay, but somehow filled our dinners up with everything else the city had to offer. I'm a bit sad not to try more of their pizzas, but I'll always remember them fondly. Seriously, what else could make a jetlagged, slightly hungover Michael look like this:
Thanks Vinnie's, you really got the trip off to a solid start.
