October 9, 2009
Vegan Food
After the story you did this week after food safety, I’m not sure that we want to eat anything. I know that lettuce is now on the top of the list, but personally, I still think the meat stories are even scarier. It seems like more people I know are becoming vegetarian and even more radical—vegan. This means no dairy (so no cheese or eggs) and no meat. When a vegan café called the Peacefood Café opened in my neighborhood, I wasn’t so excited. It seemed like a lot of tasteless food and my vegan friends were thrilled. I went grudgingly and was shocked to find it was really delicious.
First the café is very cozy. It’s where the old Ray’s pizza was (which then became a very strange Vital Dent for a brief period). There’s free Wi-Fi, nice big tables and lots of people sitting there hanging out, working and eating delicious food. The soups are outstanding and they change every day but range from bean soup to carrot ginger. They also have dumplings which are a little heavy on the dough, but delicious inside. There are lots of seitan (which is made from gluten), chick peas, yummy sandwiches and also baked goods which are made without eggs.
Down the street is the Blossom Café which is an offshoot of the popular Blossom restaurant in Chelsea—another vegan place. The café is a full blown restaurant with wine list, bar area and nice atmosphere Blossom takes a slightly different approach—they have salads and other strictly vegetarian things but they also try to use Seitan and Tofu to make things that taste like meat. Like Lemon Peppercorn Seitan which kind of tastes like chicken and sloppy joe burgers. Plus they have good sweet potato fries and lots of good gluten-free options too.
Peacefood Café
460 Amsterdam Ave (between 82nd St & 83rd St)
New York, NY 10024
(212) 362-2266
Blossom
187 9th Ave (between 21st St & 22nd St)
New York, NY 10011
(212) 627-1144
Café Blossom
466 Columbus Avenue (82nd and 83rd Street)
Open House NYC
Don’t forget that this weekend is Open House NYC where offices, homes and interesting architectural wonders around NY are open to the public for free. Everything from famous designer’s offices in the Empire State Building to subway tunnels to townhouses in Brooklyn.
For more information go to ohny.org or call the OHNY hotline at 212.991.OHNY.
New York Theatre Workshop
I know that you’ve had a busy week going to the theater, but I wanted to tell you about a show I saw down on the lower east side. It is called Aftermath. It was created by the husband/wife team that did the award-winning show The Exonerated. The show is intense; it is based on interviews that they did with Iraqi refugees living in Jordan. It features 6 peoples’ stories about what happened to them in Iraq. It gives a completely different perspective. You hear about the situation from the voice of Iraqi civilians and how America is perceived.
The show has been extended until Oct.18th, ticket prices are $65 on telecharge, but they also have $20 tickets on Sunday nights. The $20 seats are only available at the box office in person at the theatre.
NY Theatre Workshop
79 East Fourth Street
New York, NY 10003
212-460-5475
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