Eating My Way Through NYC Part III

After a nice and super relaxing week I’m back to the grind.  Boy do I have a lot of updates!  First of all, when Dave was here last week for his interview, we knocked down a couple of more vegetarian restaurants.

We checked out Chickpea on 6^th Ave.

His and her falafels

I ordered the falafel on pita with tabbouleh, olives, cucumbers and corn.

Nom Nom Nom

I love that everything they have there is baked and not fried, yum yum!

We also checked out the famous Blossom restaurant!  We went on a Tuesday night and it was PACKED!  The food was absolutely delicious and blew Dave and I’s taste buds out of the water!  The restaurant itself was tiny and dimly lit so I had some trouble with taking pictures.  Later on Dave and I figured out how to take better pictures– we used his cell phone as a light source.  I’m pretty sure that our waiter thought we were crazy but whatever!

Romantic but not conducive for food pictures!

Here’s a picture of the restaurant in broad daylight.

We actually sat right there at the window booth (Source)

We started off with the Ravioli with Cashew Cream, which is “filled with smoked tempeh, spinach, pine nuts, and white mushrooms.”

Sorry for the crappy shot, I had to use flash!

Dave ordered the Rigatoni in Porcini Cream, which is “cooked with shallots, leeks, and broccoli rabe, finished with pistachio gremoulata and truffle oil.”

The truffle oil really added the extra OOMPH in this dish!

So good!

For my entree, I ordered the Pistachio and Pepper Dusted Tofu, which is “served over roasted root vegetable crepe and a lemon truffle emulsion. Finished with frisee salad tossed in red beet vinaigrette.”

Pretty and delicious!

I was comfortably full after our meal and we both loved the experience– I can’t wait to go back!

How was your holiday weekend?  Any good eats?

Eating My Way Through NYC Part II

I’m a little late on posting these great eats but Dave and I managed to hit up 2 additional NYC restaurants last week in addition to revisiting some that we’ve already been to.  We tried out Loving Hut on Seventh, HanGawi in K-town, and went back to Bonobo’s for dessert .

I was VERY exited to try Loving Hut because I had wanted to go there when Dave and I were visiting San Francisco.

It wasn’t open when we went

Fortunately the NYC location was open and we had AWESOME food!  Dave ordered the Loving Hut burger with a side of chips.

Healthy and delicious!

Nom nom nom nom nom

I ordered the mushroom quesadilla with a house salad.

Mmmmm!

Crispy tortilla + yummy veggies = heaven!

I forgot the name of the amazing dressing

I loved that the Loving Hut sandwiches weren’t greasy and that their buns and tortillas were really hearty and fresh.

Going to HanGawi‘s was Dave’s suggestion.  It was deemed Zagat’s Best Vegetarian Restaurant in 2009.  When we went for dinner, the place was packed!  We had made reservations at 8:45 pm but didn’t get seated until 9 ish.  The decor was very cool.  We took off our shoes and sat in little dugouts.  I think the idea was to look like we were sitting on the floor but without the discomfort.

They had very cool chopstick holders

Dave and I ordered spicy kimchi pancakes as an appetizer and drank Korean beer while we waited for our entrees.

We are Han-Ga-Wi!!!!!

The absolutely DELICIOUS kimchi mushroom pancakes:

Very impressed by the presentation!

Dave’s modeling shot for OB beer.

My modeling fail, lol.

They also brought various kimchis to the table.

For my entree, I ordered a kimchi and rice stone bowl.

Pouring in the sauce

Ready to eat!

Dave ordered spicy chili mushrooms.

Soooo yummy!

We demolished our meal .

Overall, the food was really good but pricey!  If you want to impress your date, HanGawi‘s is the place to take him or her!  Note: they have a $18 minimum per person for parties under 6 (after 5:00 pm).  For parties 6 and above, there is a $25 minimum and a 20% gratuity fee added onto the bill.

For dessert, which we ate before dinner , we went back to Bonobo’s and got their banana cinnamon pudding again and tried their mesquite truffles.

I <3 dessert!

Although I liked their mesquite truffles, I liked the sesame balls slightly better

Dave is coming back to NYC in 2 weeks and he’s already made a new list of restaurants he wants to visit .  Thus, there will probably be many more parts to my “Eating My Way Through NYC” series.

Read: “Eating My Way Through NYC Part I“

Eating My Way Through NYC

Since Dave’s arrival to the East Coast, I’ve been in a perpetual food coma.  Yesterday we went to Bonobo’s based on Sophia’s suggestion and also to Terri’s.  I LOVED both places!!!  Both eateries were pretty casual – no waiters or waitresses -  just good food.

We went to Bonobo’s for lunch and both ordered nut “meat” salads.  Dave had the spicy curry veggie nut salad with sweet basil dressing.

I had the walnut veggie salad with sesame tahini dressing on the side.

I loved that the salads were light yet filling.  I would recommend having the dressing on the side because your salad might get too watery otherwise (the nut “meats” were of a hummus-ish consistency).

We then shared a sesame ball and banana cinnamon pudding for dessert.

So small yet so tasty!

YUM!

My first time having banana soft serve!

Heaven in my mouth!

I’m not exaggerating when I say that the sesame ball and the banana pudding were some of THE BEST desserts I’ve EVER had!!!  Dave didn’t think they were the BEST he’s ever had, but he says that they were very good and was surprised that both were raw.

For dinner, we went to Terri’s right down the street.

The sandwiches were AWESOME!!!  Dave and I each ordered a sandwich and split them half and half.

We shared a buffalo “chicken” sandwich.

So, so, so yummy!

You MUST try this sandwich!

And a jerk tofu pineapple sandwich.

A perfect sweet and salty combination!

Both sandwiches were delicious but I liked the buffalo “chicken” sandwich slightly better.  The texture of the “chicken” reminded me of real chicken but there was just enough seitan flavor to keep it from being freaky.  The jerk tofu sandwich was also really tasty.  It had a nice sweet flavor from the pineapple that went well with the tofu and peppers in it.

Anyways, right now I am getting ready for a placenta facial at the Dyanna Spa.  If you’re wondering why I, a vegan, am getting a placenta facial, it’s because I’ve heard many good things about using placenta creams on the face and body and I don’t believe that any animals were harmed in the process as placentas are a byproduct of birth.  I told my friend Ally about this and she freaked out.  She seems to think that I am using a dead baby on my face.  Note to Miss Ally: the placenta is the sac that carries the baby during the gestation period, it comes out after the baby .  I’ll let you all know how it goes!  Are you guys freaked out by the idea of a placenta facial?

70 Degrees and Muggy in NYC

Yesterday, and today for that matter, was extremely warm for late October weather over here on the East Coast.  It was above 70 degrees yesterday and very, very humid.  It was a perfect day for walking about outside and sitting around in the city’s various parks.

Dave and I decided to people watch at Greeley Square in the morning.

Dave acting stupid

Dave’s candid picture of me – har har

For lunch, we went to Maoz in Union Square and had yummy falafel and pita sandwiches.  I added hummus, eggplant, tabbouleh, spicy salsa and beets to my sandwich.  It was my first time eating beets (well first time that I remember eating beets lol) and I’m hooked!

The beets were sweet and totally delicious!

You know you want this!

We had planned to go out for dinner but we ended up walking all the way uptown and just decided to go home.  However, tomorrow I’d like to try some of the restaurants my readers had recommended .  Do you guys like to people watch? I unabashedly love it!  I usually wear dark sunglasses when I people watch so that people don’t know that I’m staring .  It may be creepy and wrong, but we all have to get our kicks somewhere right?

Me Want Smush Smush

If you guys haven’t seen it already, South Park’s New Jersey episode was hilarious!  Watch it right now here!  They parodied all of my favorite Jersey shows – RHONJ, Jersey Shore, Jerseylicious!!!

Anyways, on Wednesday night I went out for drinks with Ally and her friend Lauren at Blockheads where they served $3 frozen margaritas!  I’ve been having trouble falling asleep for the past week but after margaritas that night, I slept like a baby!

I had a watermelon flavored one

Same thing on Friday night.  After a nice g & t I slept like a child!

No foundation + Serious sunscreen = My light reflecting face

We also went to a pizza parlor where they refused to make me a pizza without cheese .

On Friday I also doggie-sat the office dog for about 15 minutes during lunch while his owner went out for errands.

Sammy says, “What’s up fools?”

We bonded over veggie wraps .

Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom!!!

Sammy says, “Don’t I look dapper?”

His owner, Ali, dresses him up in the CUTEST outfits!!!

Sammy says, “I’m so glamorous, I piss glitter!”

I also ate a Pure bar in Chocolate Brownie.  After reading about them on Lynn’s blog I HAD to try one.

Pure bar + Veggie wrap = Very satisfying lunch!

The ingredients looked good!

They were pretty tasty too!

I would say that these bars are more like energy bars than Larabars.  This flavor reminded me of chocolate Powerbars but tastier.  I would choose Pure bars before a workout and Larabars for dessert .

Oh and I had asked Dave about the natural frequency technology from the Philip Stein Fruitz watches and he thinks it’s all baloney (I mentioned them in this post).  I’m going to ask a few more people about their opinions on the watches before I post about them again.  I’m still trying to find the original study but no dice.  Part of the reason is that it hasn’t been published in a journal yet, which raises major red flags for me.