Lulu's Sweet Apothecary, New York City

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In New York City we stopped to try some ice cream at Lulu's Sweet Apothecary. We had been eating a lot and trying many different places in a short amount of time so we only got one thing to share. The soft serve flavor was cake batter so we tried that. I remember my friend talking about a place in or near Boston that was very popular and they had cake batter ice cream and it was his all time favorite flavor. Since I had never seen it as a vegan option we jumped on the chance and man am I glad we did! This was incredible!! We really wanted to go back and get one of the flurries I believe they called them - soft serve with choice of topping blended up (so like a blizzard) as I think the addition of chocolate chips would have been out of this world. If you ever see this flavor offered at Lulu's definitely try it! New York definitely have some incredible vegan ice cream options - definitely try them out!

Caravan of Dreams, New York City

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On our tour of New York City we stopped into Caravan of Dreams. This place was amazing! I really wish we would have been hungrier when we stopped by here so we could have tried more food. I loved the atmosphere, the people working there were very nice, all in all a great restaurant. We weren't that hungry so we just tried a couple of the raw appetizers and we were not disappointed. The first thing we tried was the beet ravioli which was so delicious. The beets were sweet and tender, the filling and sauce added a little bit of spice....All together perfect. I love the sweet and spicy combo.

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The other appetizer we tasted was the raw Squash Manicotti. This was also amazing. It was very light and flowery and just perfect.

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Then we asked to see the dessert menu just to see what they had, even though we were not really hungry. What a mistake. How could we not order something? We ordered the warm banana nutella - caramelized banana and vegan nutella wrapped in a crepe with 3 different sauces drizzled over it. It was supposed to come with some ice cream as well, but we knew we would not be able to eat it so we asked to have it left off. This was amazing! Not too sweet, but just spot on. It was also fairly light for a dessert which was good.

Overall I would definitely come back here, though next time I won't eat beforehand and will try more. I spied on the tables next to us and all of the entrees looked amazing! I really wish we had this restaurant in Seattle as we would frequent it often, even though it is on the pricey side. If you want to go out to a nice restaurant or someplace special while in NYC this is the place I would go. I cannot say enough good things about it.

Stogo, New York City

From Food Stogo is an amazing vegan ice cream shop! They had 18 different flavors of ice cream with a few different bases (soy, coconut, etc). The flavors they had were not the standard fair. Sure they did have some chocolate, but they also have green tea, bananas foster, and many more exciting flavors! We sampled just about all of them and they were all incredible! Teh people working there were also super nice. All of the flavors were all so good it was hard to choose which ones we would like to eat more of.

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We ended up getting a large cup with bananas foster, salted caramel pecan, and hemp chocolate. As we were eating Raymond asked me which flavor was my favor...and I was hard pressed to choose. When I tried the bananas foster I thought oh this is the best ice cream ever! Then I tried the salted caramel pecan and thought no this is the best one! Then the hemp chocolate and that was the best! and on and on. Really this is probably the best ice cream, vegan or non, that I have ever had. I wish we had Stogo in Seattle...or maybe I don't because then I would eat way too much of it. If you are in NYC then this is a must stop!

Whole Earth Bakery, New York City

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On our trip to NYC we stopped by Whole Earth Bakery. We walked in and there was a case full of treats for us to try. It was hard trying to decide what we should get. Since we didn't have anywhere else where we were going to get pizza in NYC we decided to try a slice - a whole wheat crust, tofu and veggies. This was...not the best. It was really oily and greasy for no apparent reason. The crust was dry, the flavor wasn't great. I wouldn't get this again.

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The soup of the day was split pea which I love so I had to try this. Skillet corn bread was cheap if you got soup so we said why not and got the corn bread as well. The soup was really good, though Raymond didn't like it much because it was too brothy (he only likes thick soups). I thought it tasted great. The cornbread though...that was dry and flavorless just like the pizza.

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We also tried a sweet treat - the Chocolate chip chewy. This like the other baked items was dry and didn't have much of a flavor. To be honest I am not sure how this place stays open when there are so many amazing bakeries in NYC with vegan good, at least one within walking distance of here. Overall I would not go back here. The soup was the only good item we had. The baked goods were all dry and flavorless and we didn't end up eatting it all. If you want vegan treats go somewhere else.

Gingersnaps. New York City

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I was very excited to stop by Gingersnaps probably because I really like the name. I thought it would be a nice place to just stop and have a small bite to eat since we weren't super hungry. We walked in and..it was odd. There weren't many people there and the people working were just hanging out chatting to their friends. Most everything was already made and in a refrigerated case, which was not what I was expecting. We decided to try the nori rolls even though they were kind of expensive ($10 for 1 sushi roll). The nori rolls were cauliflower "rice", avocado, peppers, and sprouts. This was the first time in a while trying the sushi with the seaweed on the outside and I really just don't like seaweed. If it is the first taste then I can't eat it. Raymond however is a big sushi fan, but even he did not like this. The cauliflower rice was odd and the texture was...just not good. Overall based on this and the fact that everything was pre-made I wouldn't come back here again.

Candle Cafe, New York City

We stopped by Candle Cafe for a late lunch. It was very busy but we were able to get a table right away in the back. I loved the atmosphere in this restaurant.

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We tried the Seitan Chimichurri as an appetizer - citrus herb marinated seitan skewers. I've been veggie for 11 years and these were the first and only thing I have ever eaten that was so much like meat that it kind of freaked me out. The seitan was soo tender and just fell off the skewer in a manner that was a lot like meat. The citrus herb marinade was very light and they were delicious, but I had a hard time getting over the appearance of it.

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For entrees we ordered the Tuscan Lasagna - Grilled zucchini, peppers and onions, tofu basil ricotta, tapioca cheese and seitan ragout topped with tomato sauce. Served with sauteed greens. This was good, but not spectacular. It just tasted like a standard lasagna. Good, but not amazing or anything special.  

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We also tried the Paradise Casserole - Layers of sweet potato, black beans and millet over steamed greens with country gravy. Without the gravy this was just so so. The gravy however tasted like turkey gravy and really pulled the dish together. The sweet potatoes tasted like pumpkin pie - hints of cinnamon and nutmeg. It tasted like a thanksgiving dinner casserole.

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For dessert we tried the Chocolate Mousse Pie. We were pretty full from the other food and the dessert didn't come instantly, but we didn't care. We weren't in a hurry and it really wasn't taking long, but when the waitress brought it over she was so apologetic for the length of time it took to get us our dessert. They ended up giving it to us free of charge because of the wait, which I thought was nice but unnecessary. The pie itself was very good, very rich. It was hard eating much of it because of how rich it was. but man was it good.

Overall if I lived in NYC and wanted to go somewhere different for a special occasion I might come back here. The entrees were all over $15 a piece so it is not somewhere I would go often and I think we had better food at a similar restaurant, but once and a while it would be a nice treat.

Terri, New York City

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We recently spent 36 hours in New York City and ate as much food as we could! Our first stop was Terri, a nice vegan sandwich place in Chelsea. There are only a couple of seats at a counter by the windows and it was incredibly busy while we were there. Everyone working there was friendly and helpful and the food came out very quick (which was good as we were very hungry!) The problem with Terri? Way too many options that sounded amazing! They have sandwiches, wraps, smoothies and juices, shakes and desserts, lots of amazing food. I like that I could get healthy options at this fast food type sandwich place. I also loved the space - high ceilings, very bright from natural light, just very open. We ordered two sandwiches - the first a buffalo chicken sandwich. I don't think I have ever had buffalo sauce before, and it isn't my favorite. This sandwich however was really good and consisted of "chicken", buffalo sauce, vegenaise, lettuce, tomato, onion, and celery. I think the other ingredients on the sandwich helped temper the buffalo sauce for me.

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The second sandwich we ordered was the meatball sandwich - "meatballs", marinara sauce, Daiya mozzarella. One of the few things I miss from my meat eating days is meatball sandwiches. This one came with an extra container of marinara sauce to dip it in which was wonderful. This was definitely one of the better meatball sandwiches I have had. There was a lot of Daiya, but it was not overpowering. I loved dipping the sandwich in the marinara instead of having on the sandwich and making a mess. I wish we would have had more time in NYC - we will definitely be going back to Terri to try some more of their sandwiches.