NYC Day 5: Roots, Cowgirl's Baking, Stogo and Pala Pizza

Toby insisted on taking the hip hop hour walking tour in Harlem and despite not being into hip hop I went along with him. It was surprisingly interesting, particularly the graffiti and seeing the gorgeous old buildings in Harlem which really surprised me.

Afterwards we went to Strictly Roots- a small vegetarian restaurant in Harlem, you could order off the menu or make up a meal from the ready made dishes for $5.95, we chose to do this. Unfortunately we didn't realise that it cost more if you could more than 4 dishes, so it ended up costing us $27 between the two of us. The woman was quite knowledgeable about gf stuff and informed me that the plantains were cooked in the same oil as the fried tofu which was coated in flour so I shouldn't order them. Here is my meal plate which included beans and rice, greens, BBQ mock chicken, scrambled tofu and pumpkin. I loved the BBQ mock chicken and the scrambled tofu. I also got some yummy blueberry ice cream for $2.50.


On the way to stogo, we come across a small vegan bakery called Cowgirl's Baking and discovered that it was vegan. We went in and they explained that a few varieties of gluten free cupcakes but only had one gf cupcake left so I had to order it. It was also Taco Tuesday so Tacos were $2 each so we also got one each. I got a bean taco (the only gf variety) and  Toby got a chorizo one. The bean one was fine but I think i'm starting to dislike daiya cheese, it's got a bit of weird butter type flavour which is too strong in my opinion. The vanilla cupcake had a great texture and taste, but I think it had too much frosting which I think is an American thing.


I was still curious about Stogo, so we walked the short distance just to look at the store but then I went in and asked about their gf flavours of ice cream and they explained that the whole store is gf and vegan!!!! Stogo is an ice cream store which also sells some baked goods from baby cakes and some raw chocolates. I couldn't resist ordering their choc chip cookie flavour ice cream and their chocolate brownie flavour ice cream and Toby agreed to share it with me since I was quite full by this stage. Both flavours were perfect, the choc brownie was rich and I loved the bits of cookie dough in the other flavour. Toby asked which store I preferred between Stogo and Lulas and I explained that they were both equally awesome. But since Stogo also offers ice cream sandwiches with baby cakes cookies, it means that I don't need to decide whether I want baked goods or ice cream because I can have both.




After both desserts, I commented on facebook that NY had so many amazing desserts but the savoury gf options appeared to be a bit average but that all changed at dinner time when I returned to pala pizza. Here is a picture inside as promised:

For entree we had the crostini, which consisted of gf toast covered in tomatoes, daiya cheese, bechamel sauce and herbs. It was pretty damn tasty.


But this pizza was definitely the star of the show, I forgot the name of the pizza but the toppings were cherry tomatoes, basil, follow your heart cheese, and carmelised onions on their gf pizza base. The base was so so so so so wonderful, it was slightly crunchy at the crust and spongy throughout the rest, it was so fantastic that I had to check with the waiter that it was gf and it was. I declared to Toby that it was by far the best gf pizza I have ever had but was also quite possibly the best pizza (gluteny, non vegan etc) I have ever had. Unlike daiya follow your heart had a much more subtle flavour which I prefer too. I still can't believe that a regular pizza places does such amazing gf and vegan pizzas, Pala I frigging love you!

NYC Day 4: Baby Cakes, Candle Cafe and Kate's Joint

Yesterday we went to Babycakes!!!!!! I was so excited about this vegan bakery which is mostly gluten free. I ordered a mini lemon coconut donut, choc chip cupcake (this had another name but I forgot) and a cinnamon roll. This donut was delicious although more cakey than I remember donuts to be but I'm not complaining! The cupcake was amazing, I loved that there was choc chips both in the batter and the frosting. By the time I got to the cinnamon roll though I couldn't finish it. It was too sweet and I had already had enough sugar (or agave or whatever) but I will be back to try some other things!


Moo shoes was just around the corner so I also got a pair of shoes.




We then hired some bikes and cycled around central park, it was so gorgeous, it was so big that we only got to see a tiny amount and didn't get to see strawberry fields but we did see a squirrel, it was so cute:

We went to candle cafe for lunch, I ordered the ginger miso stir fry, it was delicious and healthy and just what I needed after the sugar in the morning although quite pricey at $16.


Toby got the plate with carrot ginger sauce and wasabi dressing, tofu, coconut rice, home fries and beans. I loved the wasabi dressing, I was expecting it to be spicey but it was mild but was also expensive for what it was, although I now can't find the price on the menu.




By the time the taxi dropped us off at home we were super tired to decided to go to kates joint because it's the closest to our apartment. Kate's joint is like a laidback bar and cafe with a slightly grunge type feel.  It's got a typical american style menu but is vegetarian, so there is hot dogs, burgers etc on the menu.


It's not particuarly gluten free friendly, but I could order the nachos. It was covered in two types of daiya cheese, lettuce, salsa, black beans and I guess some sort of sour cream. It was awesome junk food.

NYC Day 3: Brooklyn Flea Market, Bliss Cafe and Angelicas Kitchen

Our holiday posts are going to start getting shorter and shorter as we try to not spend too much time blogging and more time focusing on the holiday, besides we are generally exhausted at the end of the day when it's time to blog. Also, we are already a few days behind.

So 2 days ago we went to Brooklyn and I spent a crazy amount at the Brooklyn flea market where I found vintage clothes, cute handmade jewellry and vegan food of course. It seriously destroyed my budget but I was in heaven.

I got some blackstrap molasses drink with agave and ginger, so refreshing:

and the people who do the 4 course vegan dinner had a stall and I got this tapoica salad and raw ravioli and some choc coconut macrarooons(not pictured). I particuarly loved the creamy raw ravioli and the rich slightly bitter macraroons but wasn't a huge fan of the tapoica salad spices but loved the idea behind a savoury tapoica dish.

We also visited the main street- Bedford Avenue, I got a pair of Melissa shoes for $30 and the renegade craft fair. The fair was masssive, with two large parks surrounded in stalls. There was so much great jewellery, handmade clothes, hats, silkscreen band posters, art etc. It was bloody inspiring because most of it was stuff that I had never seen before with so many great ideas, it made me want to get in touch with my crafty side again. So unlike the time that we to a similar thing in London and I felt like everything was the same as things you can buy in Melbourne. This also didn't help my budget.

For lunch we went to Bliss cafe in Williamsburg, I got the scrambled tofu (minus toast) which comes with home fries. The scrambled tofu was good although not as sausy as the scrambled tofu which is normally served in Australian cafes, it contained lots of tumeric, mushrooms and carrots. The home fries however are quickly becoming a fave thing here, this time they were covered in spices, mostly paprika I think!

For dinner we went to Angelicas kitchen I had the combo bowl with tofu, greens, and 3 grain mix (quinoa, teff and amaranth) with brown rice gravy for $9.50. I smothered everything with gravy and then took a bite and disovered that the gravy had a really strong rosemary flavour. Unfortunately rosemary is one spice that I can't stand it makes me feel sick so I took a few bites and left it.

 So I ordered something else: the walnut lentil pate with rice crackers and can you guess what the one flavor was in the pate? yes rosemary! Arghhhh

The lesson: from now I will ask if rosemary are in dishes that I order!

NYC Day 2: One Luck Duck, Caravan Of Dream, Lula's and Mexican Radio

On our second day of our NYC trip, we went exploring the Chelsea area, including (the outside of the legendary) Chelsea Hotel, Chelsea Market and the stunning High Line Park.  

K was very excited when we saw One Lucky Duck at Chelsea Market.  They sell very healthy (I think they are all raw?) gluten-free vegan sweet treats and interesting juices.  We started with a Mallomar ($6, Chocolate coated peacan cookie with vanilla cream).  We both thought it was awesomely delicious.

 

K asked the friendly girl at the shop what's her favourite and she recommended the Tiramisu ($14, made with almond flour, coconut, cashews and SAKE!!).  It was sensational!  We also got the "Orreo" Cookies ($6 for two), K ate them all and thought they were fine but not as amazing as the previous two.

At lunch, we went to Caravan Of Dream near our apartment. I had a pretty decent gluten-ly Tempeh Rueben sandwich ($13 with free miso soup) and K picked the Cuban Delight ($19, grilled tofu, black bean, rice and grilled banana).  K thought it was really average and over priced.

Ater lunch we went to Lula's for some vegan ice-cream action. We picked the classic sundae ($7 incl tips, forgot how much it was). The staff were very helpful and told us what is gluten-free and suggested we get one scoop of normal ice-cream and one scoop of softserve.  The cashew based chocolate soft serve was very good and the strewberry ice-cream, which was made with real strawberries, was a bit subtle in K's book. In addition to choosing the ice cream, you also get to choose what sauce and what topping. We chose the  excellent hot fudge sauce and caramelised pecans and it was topped with some vegan cream.  She kept saying that she wanted to marry the shop afterward.

For dinner we went to a vegan-friendly Mexican joint Mexican Radio with our fellow travellers Matt  and Jess. Unfortunately, the atmoshphere was ruined by a big tableful of obnoxious alpha male types, who didn't seem to notice that all of their conversations were yelling.

They can make most things on the menu vegan (powered by grilled tofu, gluten-ly seitan and Daiya Cheese) and gluten-free.  We shared some homemade corn chips ($9, yellow, red and blue) and spiced guacamole, which was quite nice.

I had a pretty rad gluten-ly dish and K had the grilled tofu Enchiladas ($16, served with black bean and rice) with both red (roasted tomato jalapeño sauce) and Suiza (tangy tomatillo).  She was blown away by so many delicious flavours in one single dish.  Her Melbourne flavourite Trippy Taco pales in comparison.

I am enjoying our New York experience (3 days in) so far.  I fell in love with Brooklyn (next post) and East Village.  I had good coffee at tiny Abraco Espresso and gigantic Blue Bottle in Brooklyn.  Their cups of joe were as good as Melbourne if not better.  I'll make a separate blog post about coffee in New York later.

One Lucky Duck (Chelsea Market)

425 West 15th St.

New York (Chelsea), NY 10011

Caravan Of Dreams

405 East 6th Street

New York (Manhattan), NY 10009

Lula's Sweet Apothecary

 516 East Sixth St,

New York (Manhattan), NY 10009

Mexican Radio
19 Cleveland Pl, 

New York (SOHO), NY 10012

Pala Pizza- NYC-Day 1

We have arrived in NYC!

I really feel like it was love at first sight, driving into town seeing the Brooklyn bridge, the Empire State Building and dusk in this crazy city. That may change but at the moment, the city skyline, the beautiful old apartments, the wide foot paths andn the beautiful summer weather. The vegan food ALREADY! I was so excited to see luna bars, vegan coconut milk based ice creams, chocolate almond milk, huge varieties of vegan salads etc in one tiny convenience store.

Maybe I just watched too much sleepless in seattle and affair to remember but the empire state building in bloody stunning at night and we have a view from our apartment. We found an affordable apartment through the airbnb and as we drove from the airport the taxi took us past Pala and I announced that we had to go there for our first meal.

Pala is a omni place which mainly sells pizza, pasta and salads. They have a vegan menu which included all of those things and they have gf  pizza and pasta. I really really wanted to get a pizza but my stomach was upset and I didn't want to risk forming a horrible association with gf vegan pizza. So I ordered the pesto fusilli and yellow beet salad. Do we even have yellow beets in Melbourne?

The pesto was perfectly cooked al dente, it's been a while since I had al dente pasta since we tend to over boil it at home and I can't normally order it in Melbourne. It was made from brown rice but I think it competed well with regular pasta in terms of it's texture and taste. The pesto is nut free, and was salty and bursting with flavour although was a tad oily.

This made the salad a perfect pairing, with it's ginger, the yellow beets didn't really taste like red beets, not sure if they are pickled or just taste different and the salad was covered in a generous covering of daiya cheese which has a strong butter type flavour.



 Toby also got a vegetarian sausage entree (not gf) which he said reminded him of the sausages from vegan brunch and my omni brother Matt and his girlfriend Jess loved their omni pizza and pasta. They loved the wholemeal pizza crust and agreed that it was excellent service too. Jess pointed out that it seemed to be a bit of a date place, with several couples appearing to be on their first (or perhaps second) dates.

It's such a cool looking place too, I can't believe we didn't get any photos. But we will be back to sample gf vegan pizza and I promise I will show you.

Pala Pizza
198 Allen St
Lower East Side
NY

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Toby and I leave for our trip to the US this week. If you have any food related tips for New York, San Francisco or Portland please leave it in the comments or email us. Also would love other tips for good but cheap vintage clothes, tours, and anything else interesting. And I need ideas for snacks I can take on the plane since I can't get a gluten free and vegan meal!

We are taking a laptop and may try to blog while we are gone otherwise will be having a break from blogging (after next two posts) for about a month!

Veg Out Time- St Kilda

After eating pizza, lord of the fries and plenty of chocolate it was time for something healthier with our vegan fitness friends. So we suggested Veg Out Time in St Kilda. It's a small vegetarian restaurant with plenty of vegan options. This was my first time to the St Kilda store since going gf, I had already had a good gf experience though at the Chapel St Store. When I inquired about what was gluten free, the staff member explained thay most of the dishes were gluten free. They were kind that they even showed me the bottles of their soy sauce and vegetarian oyster sauce to show that their sauces were gluten free. Rochelle, Toby and I shared some dishes. We had the brown rice and two dish combo which costs roughly $8-$9. We chose the yellow tofu and Tom yum tofu. Rochelle and I both preferred the fried tofu with the lovely tangy tom yum sauce whereas Toby preferred the yellow tofu because of the mushrooms.



The other two dishes we ordered off their 'cooked to order' menu which was only $10.9 is short but cheap and still very quick:


First the lemongrass tofu, this was medium spiced but not too spicey for either of us. We all loved it.


And lastly the pad thai, this was tasty though I don't think it was particularly authentic and think it was missing that fried noodle texture and taste.


Overall it was quick, cheap and incredibly tasty. I'm still touched that they went to the effort to show me the products it means that I will feel safe eating there. Rochelle said that 'it was incredible value, and really clean flavours which I often find lacking in these cheaper end places!' which I completely agree with.

Vegan in Australia blogged about it just a few days ago!

Veg Out Time- St Kilda
63 Fitzroy St
St Kilda