New York City vegan dining is still awesome!

The manuscript for The Vegan Girl's Guide to Life is officially out of my hands and in to the hands of my editor, meaning I can get back to posting regularly! That is, until we make the big move overseas in about 6 to 8 weeks. A few weeks ago I made a trip to New York City to hang with friends, go to the Veggie Prom and Veggie Pride Parade, and shoot photos for The Vegan Girl's Guide to Life with Hannah Kaminsky! So, let's get to it..

The newest spot on the NYC vegan dining scene is Terri, smack dab in the middle of Midtown. I've heard good things, so of course, I had to head there and check it out. I went with the Chicken Bacon Cheddar Ranch sandwich and my sister, who happened to be in town, went with the Buffalo Chicken sandwich. The bread was amazing! Fluffy, perfectly pressed, and they weren't skimpy on the fillings. Terri makes a solid sandwich, but the real star of the show was the Butterfinger shake! I was amazed at how much it tasted like the candy bar, as was my sister. I loved it!

Angelica's Kitchen is a vegan stronghold in the East Village and while it's a crunchy granola hippie joint, they have some damn good food. I went with my good friends Eliana and Jason, after a boxing class I took from Jason Strout himself, an amazing Boxing and Muay Thai fighter who was just named a top trainer in Time Out. We started with the appetizer special which was some sort of fried potato deliciousness. While I went for a pretty solid Market Pantry plate with sweet potatoes, tempeh, and kale, the clear winner was the special of the day. The special had the most amazing tofu ever, quinoa, and asparagus. Next time, I'll get the special, whatever it is!

My heart belongs to Lula's Sweet Apothecary, but I decided to give Stogo another try, since Jason and Eliana love it so much and we wanted a treat after dinner. Yeah, it's pretty good. The Salted Caramel got old for me after awhile, but the Oatmeal Raisin Cookie ice cream was something new that held my interest. Once again, it's not the cheapest place for ice cream, so if you're on a budget, head elsewhere.

VKO from Lifestyles of the Chic and Vegan and I always have a great time together and plenty to talk about with our histories in the fashion industry. We met up at HanGawi for lunch, as we both love Korean food, evidenced by our last meal at Franchia! We started with 3 types of pancakes; Spicy Kimchi, Pumpkin, and Leek. While the Pumpkin was a bit bland, the other two were great. As an entree, I had the Greens and Mountain Vegetables over Brown Rice, a perfect, healthy lunch with a bit of spice from a kicky red sauce they provided. While the service isn't perfect, the food and atmosphere at HanGawi are lovely, which makes it worth a visit, especially if you're with company you enjoy.

Friday night = Vegan Prom! Not sure if the vegan prom would have savory options, Michelle of MyZoeTrope, also the illustrator for my book, and I hit up S'nice in Brooklyn for a bite. I remembered Jason from SuperVegan recommending the Vegan Panini, so I took his advice and dug in. Excellent bread, marinated tofu, sundried tomatoes, and pesto, it was a great sandwich! S'nice recently added a Sushi sandwich that's getting rave reviews, so you may want to check it out, if that's your thing. We headed off to the Vegan Prom, hosted by Veggie Conquest, and did a bit of dancing, ate too many desserts, and mingled with friends, old and new.

After a big night out at the prom, I woke up needing brunch, so I hightailed it to Brooklyn to meet a pack of friends at Boneshakers. Like last time, Terry (do you have her book Viva Vegan yet?!), Deb, and Jason were there, plus this time Emiko from Food Fight Vegan Grocery in Portland was in town, and joined us along with Deb's bike crew. The Rebel Cruiser was once again my poison of choice, I couldn't resist the fluffy kaiser roll, BBQ seitan, and creamy coleslaw piled high in this killer sandwich. I hope to make it for Sunday brunch next time, if it's as good as my sandwich was, I'll be thrilled.

Saturday night, after lounging in Central Park with friends and eating far too many of Evan's danishes, I headed to Lan Cafe to meet Terry and Abby. Surprise! They were so packed and the line was so long, we headed off to Counter instead. None of us being super hungry, we opted for small plates, tapas style. While the Spaghetti Squash Spaghettini was less than exciting, the Pommes Frites were tasty, and the Quinoa with Green Vegetables, and Ravioli were pretty good. I like Counter's brunch better than their dinner, but this was a fine meal.

Of course, there's much more to NYC, so come back next week for more, including LOTS of ice cream!

By the way, have you heard about Soyfucker Comic Zine? It's a comic zine with exclusively vegan writers and artists and Issue #1 is available now for only $2. The proceeds go to rotating animal charities, this time is Berkeley Humane Society, which recently had a fire, so not only do you get a fun comic zine, you're supporting animals too! Also, if you're an artist, Soyfucker is accepting artwork for Issue #2 NOW! fun.