During the first week of January, Chris and I were fortunate enough to be able to spend a week in New York City. We had so much fun and enjoyed so much great vegan food! New York City, without a doubt, has Los Angeles beat when it comes to incredible vegan food. We were just blown away with the quality of vegan eats in this city, and I can’t wait to tell you all about them in this series, “Vegan Travel: NYC.”
Imagine a line splitting the island of Manhattan in half, ignoring all of the cute neighborhoods, beautiful parks parks and incredible landmarks- today I'm sharing with you "Part 2" of what we did/ate on the western side of that line. Be sure to check out what we did in Part 1 and please pardon some of the not-so-great iphone photography!
One day, we found ourselves wondering through the Upper West Side. We'd had a light breakfast of coffee at 30 Rock (which is across the street from Radio City Music Hall) and shared a donut, leftover from explorations the day prior (more on that in a future post). Once we left 30 Rock, we headed up the west side, stopping to take pictures of the famous Seinfeld Diner and more or less, just see the Upper West Side. My favorite thing to do when visiting a city is to wander around, exploring the various neighborhoods, so these little walks are always my favorite. Once our tummies started to growl for lunch, we were conveniently close to Peacefood Cafe.
PEACEFOOD CAFE
460 Amsterdam Ave, at 82nd St., Upper West Side
Once we entered this adorable, light-filled cafe, we could see that it was absolutely packed. We love seeing vegan businesses thriving so we had no problem when they told us it would be a 15 minute wait. It got even better when they let us wait in front of their dessert case.
We were seated quickly and given menus. The menus was filled with healthy, yet delicious-sounding plant-based dishes. We had a hard time choosing, but finally narrowed it down. We chose the Chickpea Fries as a starter. Lightly seasoned with Indian spices and served with a light and creamy ranch-style sauce, this was definitely an instant favorite. I vowed to teach myself how to make these at home.
Chris ordered the Fried Seitan Medallion Panini. It was exactly what it sounds like. There was a big slab of fried seitan, which Chris likened to "Chicken Fried Steak" (a dish I've never tasted), as well as cashew cheese, arugula, tomatoes, and pesto. He liked it, but said he had other sandwiches he liked more while on this trip (see next eatery).
I ordered the Roasted Japanese Pumpkin Sandwich, filled with none other than roasted japanese pumpkin, along with caramelized onions, crushed walnuts, cashew cheese, and greens. This was a close runner-up for the best sandwich I had on this trip. The roasted squash was perfectly seasoned, the cashew cheese, was just cheesy and salty enough to balance out the sweetness from the squash. The crushed walnuts added a great texture to what would otherwise be a pretty deliciously mushy sandwich. I savored every bite, though I was only able to finish one half. I saved the other half for later in the afternoon since I knew we were having a late dinner.
We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around. At one point, we turned a corner and found a gorgeous cathedral with a beautiful little park where we spent some time exploring.
We continued through Central Park and then headed back down the Upper East Side, taking our time, enjoying every moment.
TERRI
60 West 23rd Street, between 5th & 6th, Chelsea
As I mentioned in Part 1, the day we landed in NYC, we were extremely exhausted, jetlagged and slightly delirious. After having breakfast at Blossom du Jour, we walked through Central Park for awhile until we found ourselves on 5th Ave, around 80-something street, when we got the call that our hotel room was ready. We decided to walk 5th Ave all the way back to our hotel (44th street). We looked at all the fancy shops, people watched, and basically just enjoyed the exercise. By the time we got to our room, though, I wanted to pass out. After watching some crappy TV (we never watch TV, ever, so when we're in hotels, we marvel at how terrible it all is. Though we did find TV Land later and watched The Cosby Show until we fell asleep), we decided to head to Whole Foods in Chelsea and pick up a few snack items to keep in our room (nuts, crackers, pretzels, fruit, etc.) and then pick up some dinner to bring back as well.
We took the subway down to Whole Foods, then after we stocked up, we used Yelp again to find a little vegan eatery called Terri. Terri is actually attached to a sports club/gym and serves up vegan sandwiches, salads, smoothies, juices and a few desserts. After grabbing some dinner from Terri, we took our loot back to the hotel and in our exhausted, delirious stupor, took terrible photos (see below), ate, and fell asleep.
Chris chose the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich, which the charming young lady behind the counter said was their most popular. It's filled with a vegan "chicken," buffalo sauce, Vegenaise, lettuce, tomato, onion, and celery. Chris loved it. He thought it was better than any sandwich you could get at Native Foods or the Veggie Grill, which is saying a lot because he loves those places. I took a bite, but all I remember is that I didn't not like it.
After having the small bit of faux meat in my morning meal (though it was pretty fantastic), I was not in the mood for any more, so I chose their Chickpea Tuna Melt with very, very light cheese (they use Daiya). The sandwich was filled with their chickpea salad, daiya, Vegenaise, tomato, and red onions. It was a great sandwich. It wasn't my favorite thing we had on our trip, but definitely enjoyable and filling.
We also got a side order of vegan potato salad. It was very good, though you can definitely tell that Terri likes their Vegenaise.
The lady behind the counter convinced us that we needed dessert and told us that the apple cider doughnuts were their claim to fame. But we were craving chocolate so we chose the brownie. It was, without a doubt, the best part of the meal, but sadly, was eaten too quickly to have it's picture taken.
THE CINNAMON SNAIL
food truck, various locations- see Facebook or Twitter to find their location
There were a few places a knew that I definitely needed/wanted to try when I was in NYC and The Cinnamon Snail was one of them. The Cinnamon Snail received the 2012 Vendy Award for Best Food Truck. Not Best Vegan Food Truck- Best Food Truck. Out of all the Food Trucks. It was also voted Best Vegan Food Cart by VegNews Magazine last year. I have heard nothing but rave reviews about this truck from vegans and non-vegans alike. In fact, their lines during the lunch rush will easily be 20-30 minutes long and the company claims that the majority of their customers aren't even vegetarian! I love the idea of a food truck out there showing the masses that vegan food can be super tasty and delicious.
On our last full day in NYC, we took the subway down to Wall Street to pick up some grub from the Cinnamon Snail. We stood at the end of a very long line of wall street business people. We thought we were going to get breakfast, but alas, when we got to the counter, we were informed they were no longer serving breakfast (understandable as it was, like, noon or something. We found a greatly entertaining Elvis movie on TV that kept us longer than expected had a lazy morning). The owner was super patient with us as we looked over the menu to choose our lunch. They also have an amazing dessert/donut display with cinnamon rolls that were hard for me to tear my eyes from so Chris got us one to have while we waited (we were pretty ravenous since we had waited so long to eat. I blame Elvis.).
The cinnamon roll almost made me cry. My dad used to take me to the donut shop when I was a kid and we would always share a giant cinnamon roll. I haven't had one (the big, old fashioned kind like this) in probably 20 years. It was better than I remember it ever being- softer, doughier, sweeter (but not too sweet), more cinnamony. It was heavenly. We only had a few bites and saved the rest to have later in the day with coffee.
Once we got our food, we walked down to the water and sat on a bench overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge. I got the Smoked Portobello Mushroom Carpaccio with fried caper berries, caramelized onions, truffled olive tapenade, and arugula on grilled herb focaccia. The picture below does not do it justice. This was just the perfect sandwich- all of the flavors worked so well together. The focaccia was perfect. I've never had portobello prepared like this before and it was just magnificent. I wish I had taken a better picture.
Chris chose the Korean Barbecue Seitan. It was served open-face on a grilled tortilla with kimchee, chili butter and greens. He loved this "sandwich." There was a lot of swearing. Chris, weeks later, still talks about this sandwich and how he wishes we could just walk down to the financial district and pick one up again.
After sandwiches, we walked up to Battery Park and looked out at the Statue of Liberty. Much of the financial district was being rebuilt due to damage from Hurricane Sandy and it was surreal walking through streets that resembled war grounds. Battery Park was completely empty because no ferries were going to the statue because so much damage had been done to that island. I remember going there with my family and being amazed at all of the street performers in Battery Park. Then my cousin and I climbed to the top of the Statue of Liberty, something that is no longer allowed today. It was an eye-opening realization of how much times have changed in the last twenty years.
We loved the Cinnamon Snail so much that we decided to go to their location on the Upper West Side the next day for breakfast (our flight wasn't until 8:30pm). Chris said we had to get another cinnamon roll because the ones they had that day were a little different and "We never live like this! When do we ever eat cinnamon rolls with reckless abandon? Nice bodies be damned?! Never! And we're on vacation!" So we got a cinnamon roll to share with our post-breakfast coffee. For breakfast, we each got breakfast burritos, which was perhaps the best/worst thing we could have ordered. We walked a couple blocks to Central Park and had breakfast near Columbus Circle.
Chris ordered the Chipotle Seitan Burrito. It was overflowing with chipotle grilled seitan, scrambled tofu, fresh jalapenos, marinated kale, and chipotle mayonnaise. It was very spicy and delicious and full of seitan- all things Chris loves. It was also ridiculously huge, as was my burrito.
I ordered the Classic Breakfast Burrito. This burrito was stuffed to the gills with scrambled tofu, refried beans, pico de gallo, and avocado. My burrito was built in an odd way so that the majority of the scramble was at the top of the burrito. The first several mouthfulls were just straight scramble and I was full after about 6 bites. But I persevered because I don't know why. I wanted avocado? Because I can normally eat way more than that (I can put away quite a bit of food. It's part of my charm.)? Once I got halfway through, I finally got to some refried beans and more flavors but I was just too full to go on. I couldn't do it. And oh my goodness- my stomach stretched to new limits that morning.
Then I went and had coffee and half of a cinnamon roll. Chris and I agreed that we would spend the rest of our day walking this meal off, but not before going to the top of 30 Rock to see the beautiful New York City skyline (because from 30 Rock, you can see the Empire State Building. You kind of miss that when you're actually on top of the Empire State Building. And we'd both already done that.). Fast forward to a couple hours later, when we wondered into Blossom Bakery... Final verdict on The Cinnamon Snail: Incredible food, ridiculous desserts, huge portion sizes and one of the main reasons that I would weigh 10,000 pounds if I lived in New York City.
Please join me next week when I share our explorations of the east side of Manhattan!
Be sure to check out all of the posts in the “Vegan Travel: NYC” series:
Sarah S.
I've been enjoying this series! My husband and I are leaving for NYC today and I've gotten some ideas of new places to try. SO SAD that the Cinnamon Snail is broken down right now, no service for the next week or two. I guess I'll just have to go back to NYC soon!
keepinitkind
I'm so jealous, Sarah! I can't wait to go back to NYC! And I too was bummed to hear about the Cinnamon Snail being broke down- it's too bad that it happened right when you were visiting! But I agree, I think you'll have to go back as soon as their up and running. And send me a cinnamon roll. 🙂
I hope you have a blast! I'll be keeping a lookout on instagram for all the NYC fun.
Annie
Oh what a fun, fun trip! And mighty tasty, too! I would be ALL OVER that cinnamon roll. PS I can totally relate to your bad TV comment. We have no TV in the house so when we travel it's a real eye-opener. We always figure we will "find something" to watch but the truth is we never really find anything that worth giving up an hour of our life for ;-)!
keepinitkind
Thanks, Annie- that cinnamon roll was INCREDIBLE! I still think about it now and again. And yeah- the TV thing. It's so weird when we visit family or we're in a hotel and we see what's on TV these days. It's like watching a train wreck. We did have some luck on TV Land, but that's just because we like watching old shows from the 80's. 🙂
Alex @ Delicious-Knowledge.com
Sounds like a great trip! I don't get to NYC as often as I could like but when I do- I eat with reckless abandonment. It's not cute- they just have so much delicious, vegan food that I want to do nothing but hop from shop to shop! I do the same when I am in LA 🙂 Those cinnamon rolls look amazing! I am sipping coffee right now and really wish I was eating it. Sigh.
keepinitkind
It was such a great trip, Alex! ANd I'm so glad to hear that I'm not the only one who goes crazy when surrounded by so much great vegan food. 🙂 I live in LA, but I guess I've learned to control myself here. Though, if I lived closer to the east side, I think I would go a little crazy- they've got everything over there! 🙂
A month later, I still crave that cinnamon roll. STILL! It's that good.
Caitlin
wow! those cinnamon rolls looks otherworldly and the food truck looks phenomenal! something i learned in this post- chris must LOVE seitan! he eats it for every meal. kinda makes me wish i knew what it tasted like, but i guess it's best i'll never know. also CHICKPEA FRIES!!!
keepinitkind
Oh, those cinnamon rolls, Caitlin. They're just incredible. And yes, Chris is a huge seitan fan. I don't make it all that often at home (and I refuse to buy it because it's so easy to make)- so he gets his fill when he's out and about. It's good, but it's heavy. There are so many other great tasting plant-based foods that you're not missing much by not trying seitan.
And I KNOW! Chickpea fries!!! 🙂
Courtney Jones
Oooo! I wanted to try the Cinnamon Snail when I was in NYC, but we did not get a chance. Stupid Courtney had to go and catch the flu while there and we had to skip a bunch of stuff we had planned. Love this post! And love all of the photos. It makes me want to book the next flight back to NYC! 🙂
keepinitkind
Oh, I am so bummed for you that you got the flu! That must've been miserable. I once got food poisoning in Madrid and spent my entire time there in the hotel bathroom. I was so bummed when we left. :-/ I guess this just means you need to go back and check out everything you missed the first time, right? 😉
Goldeelocks
The food looks wonderful! Sorry you got the flu though! 🙁
keepinitkind
Thank you! 🙂
Richa
that cinnamon roll that cinnamon roll! and all those sandwiches and chickpea fries!! man i wish more vegan deliciousness opened up in seattle:)) we end up watching news channels coz there is nothing else to watch on tv:)
keepinitkind
We're pretty lucky here in LA, but I would not complain if The Cinnamon Snail came out here or if a Candle 79 opened up. 😉
Melissa
That cinnamon roll looks ridiculous! Sounds like a very tasty trip. Also I often "persevere because I don’t know why" too, and so I feel your pain. 🙂
keepinitkind
haha! I'm glad I"m not the only one. Thank you, Melissa. 🙂
Nicole
Wow. Thank you so much for all this great information! I'm applying to apartments right now in the UES and can't wait to see your review of it! I've only been to Candle 79 and can't wait to try out all these other great NYC places. Good thing I'm just as obsessed with fitness as I am good veg food because otherwise, like you said, I'll be 10,000lbs!! and poor... haha
Great post. Officially following/liking this blog now!
keepinitkind
I'm so jealous of you right now- I would just love to move to NYC (well, maybe after the storm 😉 )! For now, Chris and I will happily make a trip there at least once a year.
Thank you so much for your support, Nicole, and for stopping by! As a former personal trainer/nutritional consultant, I am looking forward to spending more time on your blog as well! xo
Lauren
OMG! What you said about Rockefeller Center is exactly what I always say! It's totally better because you can actually see the Empire State Building.
I, too, have been to Terri's. I only ordered the soup of the day, but I'd love to return and try one of the sandwiches. It's on my to-do list.
keepinitkind
The view from Rockefeller Center is so much better. I especially loved being so close to Central Park- that view was just astounding!
I imagine if I lived in NYC, Terri's could end up being a regular go-to. It's good stuff. 🙂
heather
Oh man, everything looks so incredible- there should be a cinnamon snail in every city!
I had to reread this part three times
"Battery Park was completely empty because no fairies were going to the statue because so much damage had been done to that island"
I thought to myself- gay men aren't going to Battery Park? wait, that doesn't sound like a term Kristy would use? Then I realized the Ferry! hahaha
Chris does like his Seitan doesn't he 🙂
heather
Oh and you definitely NEED to recreated most if not all of the sandwiches!
keepinitkind
Trust me, they are on my list of things to make! 🙂
keepinitkind
Hahahaha! I am so embarrassed about that typo! Chris does my proofreading, but I guess he missed that one. Thank you sooooooo much for telling me!
I wish so badly that The Cinnamon Snail would just become a franchise and I could spend my free time tracking them down here in LA and eating cinnamon rolls. 🙂
And yes, Chris goes through phases where everything is seitan, and in NYC, he was in one of those phases. He obviously has no sensitivity to gluten. 😉
Cadry
Ha! I noticed that typo earlier too, but I imagined Tinkerbell putting her foot down that she would not be visiting the Statue of Liberty. No way! 😉
keepinitkind
When I'm super deep in thought while writing, I make the weirdest typos. Plus, I'm dyslexic when it comes to writing/typing (not reading, thankfully), so many words are just a jumbled mess. Thank goodness Chris catches most of them, but this one- it had me cracking up to when Heather pointed it out. 🙂
Richgail @AstigVegan
Oh man I wanna go there now! Beautiful photos! Plus, I've always wanted to try the Cinnamon Snail.
keepinitkind
Thank you, Richgail! While writing this post, I wanted to go back so bad! 🙂
Laura
We keep missing Cinnamon Snail every time we're in NY! I think I'll be heading there in April, so this time I'll be diligent about seeking them out. Your description and pics have me looking forward to it already. Looks like you had a wonderful time all around too 🙂
keepinitkind
Thank you, Laura. The Cinnamon Snail is a definite must, but there's so many great choices in NY, it's hard to choose! I hope you have an incredible time in April! 🙂
Cadry
Now this is my kind of trip!! What a great time you had! The cinnamon rolls look insanely good. I can easily have self-control with most sweets, but freshly made cinnamon rolls? Watch out. I can't wait to get to NYC at some point and visit all of your recommendations! I'll remember to pack some pants with draw-string! 😉
keepinitkind
I can't wait to go back. Seriously- Chris and I still talk about this trip daily. And honestly- I ate way more than I usually do on this trip, but my jeans fit more loosely when I got home than they did when I left. The trick is to walk everywhere- you work off all of the extra food and get to see so much more of the city. I can't wait for you to go so I can live vicariously through you as you check all of these places out yourself. 🙂
Anna {Herbivore Triathlete}
All that wonderful vegan food! I would definitely be eating more than my stomach could handle. I live in hunting territory and nothing here is even vegetarian! I'd be 10,000 pounds for sure after a few days in NYC.
keepinitkind
NYC really has just an incredible bounty of vegan food. I can't even imagine living in hunting territory, with no vegetarian food to be found. How do you do it?
Eloise @ Am I Nearly There Yet?
Sooo much delicious food! I think I would weigh 10,000 pounds if I lived in New York City too! My favourite sandwich from your list is the 'Smoked Portobello Mushroom Carpaccio with fried caper berries, caramelized onions, truffled olive tapenade, and arugula on grilled herb focaccia' because I love mushrooms!
keepinitkind
Thanks, Eloise! I loved that sandwich so much, I created a similar pizza! 🙂
AY
Terri is next door to the health club where I swim a few times a week! I've never been in but that will change soon. Perhaps even after my swim tonight?
I've never been a big fan of cinnamon rolls or donuts, but I will be on the lookout for Cinnamon Snail (especially if I have someone with me to eat half!).
Taking notes, looking forward to reading more!
AY
keepinitkind
Thank you, AY! Cinnamon Snail had a much more than just donuts and cinnamon rolls in the dessert case, and their regular food is pretty stellar too. 🙂
Chelsey Crafts
I've wanted to try The Cinnamon Snail for soo long! All of the Instagram posts for their food looks amazing! Only 6 more weeks until my trip to NYC 🙂
Have you tried By Chloe? That's another place I'd like to try too. Although I've heard the wait is crazy.
http://www.chelseycrafts.com