New York City; food, friends, & fun! Part 1.

New York City was a blast! Everyday was one big meet and greet with friends old and new. I started my trip by landing at JFK & hopping on a train straight to Soy and Sake to meet up with a TON of people for dinner. My old pal Bazu from Where's the Revolution organized the night and some of the attendees included, cookbook authors Fran Costigan & Terry Hope Romero, Melanie from veganfoodism & her husband Mike who live in Vienna, Paula from Semicircular Vegan, Pandacookie, Dayna from SeitanSaidDance, & more! Seriously, I think there were 25 of us there! I ordered some cabbage & jicama filled pan fried gyoza with a soy ginger dipping sauce that were delicious! I also ordered the Spinach with Spicy Garlic sauce from the vegetable entrees, & lo and behold, it was just a giant plate of spinach! Tasty, but I had to share it with other, lest I eat 4 lbs of spinach alone. eep! Soy and Sake's menu is mainly mock meats and sushi, two things that aren't really my bag, but if you like these things, I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

For dessert, Mike, Melanie, Dayna & I raced over to Stogo, despite the 20 degree weather, for some ice cream. We arrived right before they closed & I opted for two flavors, Salted Caramel Pecan & Bananas Foster. They were both pretty tasty, with the Salted Caramel having a deep flavor that seemed to come from brown rice syrup & the Bananas Foster being sweet with a ton of banana flavor. The only downsides were my small scoops of ice cream set me back over $6.00, & the gal working there wasn't exactly nice when 11pm struck & she wanted us out. Thankfully, Stogo isn't the only vegan ice cream game in town.

The next morning, I met my friends & hosts in Vienna, Melanie & Mike for brunch at Curly's Vegetarian Lunch. While Melanie opted for the mock crab cakes, & Mike went with the pancakes with a side of "Sham", I decided on the Tofu Rancheros. This was quite the dish with 2 crispy tortillas, a layer of "sham", slabs of tofu, beans, & ranchero sauce piled high, plus a salad on the side with Creamy Bacon Ranch dressing. While it wasn't bad, the ranchero sauce was a bit over spiced & hot, but not exactly flavorful. I would give Curly's another try, but next time I would go with a lunch or dinner entree, & hope that next time the server wouldn't tell us about how she's "not even vegetarian". Doh!

After enjoying the peanut butter cheesecake by Red Mango at The Bean on my last NYC visit, I knew I had to get another slice to share with Melanie & Mike. Taking a break from the cold weather outside, we settled in to the cozy coffee shop & a slice of cheesecake. Yep, the chocolate cookie crust, bottom layer of peanut butter, layer of plain cheesecake, & ganache topped with peanut butter frosting is still delicious!

After a walk around the Lower East Side to check out Moo Shoes, Economy Candy, & Bluestockings, we headed over to one of my favorite spots in NYC, Lula's Sweet Apothecary, to meet up with Bazu & Evan. I was still pretty stuffed from brunch & cheesecake, but that didn't stop from the a Lula's specialty, Cake Batter soft serve! Better yet, Evan baked some Peanut Butter Caramel bars that went perfectly with my soft serve. Of course, this wouldn't be my last visit to Lula's!

After a breakfast of cupcakes, I headed in to NYC with Dani & Jake from Sweet Avenue Bake Shop to grab lunch. After reading about QuarryGirl's Chipotle fail, then hearing the news that the issue had been remedied, I had to check it out for myself. Chipotle recently introduced a vegan option called Garden Blend at select locations, made with Gardein marinated in spices. I opted for a salad, loaded with Garden Blend, black beans, & corn salsa, plus a side of two types of salsa, as they have no vegan dressing options. The salad actually hit the spot, despite the lack of dressing, & I would be happy to eat this again. Supposedly, if the Garden Blend does well, it will be expanded to other Chipotle locations, so be sure to write them a letter & let them know you want more vegan options at your local location!

This trip also marked my return to Pure Food & Wine, the last time having been in 2007. Once again, I was able to make it a meet up, as VeggieGirl was also in town, & invited me to join her at her favorite restaurant! We enjoyed everything we had, from the complimentary Hazelnut & Cashew Cheese crostini to our selected entrees. I went with the tangy & delicious Saffron Pickled Golden Beet Ravioli filled with herbed cashew cheese filling accompanied by pesto & cauliflower. For dessert, VeggieGirl had her Mint Sundae, while I selected the Chocolate Tahini Semifreddo. Layers of dark chocolate & tahini were sitting in a pool of lemon caramel, & topped with lemon whipped cream & a chocolate curl. I couldn't believe how rich this was! I hope I'll have the chance to return to Pure Food & Wine in the near future & will continue to have positive dining experiences there.

Another fabulous friend I had the chance to meet up with was Hannah Kaminsky from Bittersweet blog & My Sweet Vegan! One of the 1st vegan blogs I read, it was great to finally meet Hannah! We had dinner at classic NYC veg spot Angelica's Kitchen, & chatted for hours about everything under the sun. A bit of a hippie spot, I knew I was in for some healthy vegan fare, but sometimes that's exactly what you want! I opted for the 3 item Pantry Plate with Kimchee, the veg of the day, which was Sweet Potatoes, & the special of the day, a Udon Noodle Tofu Salad. While everything was tasty, I asked the server if the portion were large since I was debating some cornbread & didn't want to order too much. She claimed the portion size was hearty, but I would have been happy to have that cornbread in the end! Luckily, the light dinner gave me room for my next destination!

Ah, back to Lula's Sweet Apothecary with Hannah, this time to meet up with Alyssa, who reminds me of myself at the age she's at now & of course, Evan! Can you say sundae time? I can! I loaded up with a scoop of Peanut Butter Fudge, a scoop of Cookies & Cream, their new homemade Caramel Sauce, Marshmallow Fluff, Coconut Whipped Cream, & a Cherry! It was so good that maybe, just maybe, I had a tiny 2nd serving! I mean really, does it get any better than this? Friends & vegan ice cream. I'm livin' the dream! hehe.

I'll be back next week with more NYC treats & meet ups! In the meantime, I'll be dreaming about that sundae! yum.