NYC Restaurants

I thought some people might be interested in checking out some vegetarian and vegan restaurants in NYC. I found a great site that lists them by neighborhood. So, without further ado, check them out!

Dinner and Dessert: Counter and Lula's

Last night I (Suzy) had dinner with my friend, Sarah, at Counter in the East Village. I might say that it was the best meal of the month so far--sorry, Brandt, that you missed it. We feasted on large plates of perfectly cooked and seasoned seasonal vegetables, including Spaghetti Squash Spaghettini, a heavenly cauliflower salad (no, I never thought cauliflower would be described as heavenly, but trust me or try it), and a white bean "hummus" that would make its chickpea namesake cower in inferiority. All this was washed down with a delicious bottle of red wine from their extensive wine list. We also saw some great looking flatbreads and panini sandwiches, as well as cheese platters for any of you dairy lovers, come out of the kitchen.

After dinner, we walked a couple blocks to Lula, where after tasting about 10 of their made fresh daily flavors, I decided to purchase 2 pints: Blueberry and Peanut Butter Fudge. Made from cashews (don't ask me how they make ice cream out of nuts), this was not just "good for vegan". This ice cream was just GOOD. Some of the best I've had in a long time. Even the resident skeptic in this vegan month thought so. I was just proud to have left some to Brandt after a long cab ride home.

Oh Mexico...

This weekend seemed to be particularly fiesta themed. After learning on Friday the history behind James Taylor's song, "Mexico," we still found ourselves oddly drawn to a variety of Mexican-themed fare. Friday night we spent the evening at one of Suzy's family's favorite NYC hangouts--the Willy Wall, an undiscovered gem out in the middle of the Hudson River. Our picnic in hand included Mango-Avocado Salsa and a number of other great snacks. We were one-upped by our Willy Wall neighbors who had the ingenuity to bring pizza out to the booze barge (we finished up the night with a slice ourselves...that mozzarella smell is really intoxicating, and will undoubtedly be a temptation for the vegan month of June).

Saturday continued the Mexican-themed festivities with outdoor brunch at Dos Caminos in Meatpacking. As we ate our meals and sipped our complimentary cocktails with our friends, Julie and Basil, the 4 of us planned dinner for the evening, which ended up consisting of shrimp tacos, micheladas, and fat witch brownies--Brandt's favorite is Caramel. All in all, a nice little Saturday (insert witty Spanish phrase here, because I don't know any).

Meat Head: Brandt's Explanation

Do you see those pictures up there? They look great, don't they. They're my meals from our trip to Miami--bone-in ribeye medium rare with cheesy, creamy potatoes and Macallan 21 from Council Oak; cheeseburger with french fries and Diet Pepsi from Casola's. Now I could write you a paragraph about where the food was sourced from, and I could tell you the fries are fried in organic oil. I could tell you the steak comes from a small farm not 10 miles from the restauraunt and I could tell you the scotch was aged for 21 years (21!). But I don't have to because when you look at those pictures the only thought your brain can put together is "Sweet Baby Jesus, that looks...DELICIOUS." If that beautiful slice of heaven found its way to a table near you, you'd know what to do. Now if on the other hand you were faced with some strange mixture of wild grains and weeds, or "vegan snacks," you would want, no you would NEED a full adjective ladden paragraph before you even considered letting it near your mouth, and you would certainly need the explicit promise of some kind of health benefit before you'd even consider investing in a bite.

I say all of this to give you an idea where I stand on the issue of veganism, lest you be confused by my presence here. I am firmly of the mind set that "I didn't climb all the way up the food chain to eat leaves."

Now frankly I don't have a good reason for why I agreed to do this. I attribute it to whatever genetic defect it is that makes me prone to random road trips, bad ideas, and a general inclination to say "sure, why not" when faced with a unique proposition. I am also so far behind a healthy lifetime level of vegetable intake that this really can't hurt. Plus it will give me a conversation topic while waiting for coffee in the village. Most importantly though, what the hell anyway, "why not."

In the beginning, there was meat...

And it was good.

Today we embarked on one blog-recorded month of meat-allowance prior to our 30-day vegan adventure.

After beginning the conversation of a "month of veganism" in April, the following questions have arisen:

• What will we ever do without cheese and yogurt? We are both skeptical about the commercial animal-free options (for health and taste reasons), so we shall see starting June 1st.
• Is alcohol vegan? To our surprise, it isn't always. Animal products sometimes are a part of processing. Here is the most comprehensive website we found for quickly gathering consumer information: http://www.vegsoc.org/info/alcohol.html
• What about honey and leather? Suzy, the less-meat-eating of the duo, will be giving up her leather bags and shoes starting June 1. As for honey, it's only a month, and since it does come from bees, it's out from June 1-July 1.
• Where will we ever get a good meal out of the house? Luckily, vegan restaurants and cafes are all the rage in NYC, so we (read: Suzy) are not too worried. Luckily, we also eat most meals from our tiny but amazing NYC apt kitchen. More to come in future postings on how we feel about these restaurants.
• Finally, "our" final question: Really, Suzy? Why the hell are we doing this?