I’m going to turn dining back into eating

I have been ingesting far more calories than I need these days, in light of my sedentary lifestyle. Weekends of horrendous weather don’t help either. Catching up…

I headed to the East Village’s cramped lil’ Kosher counter staple, B&H Vegetarian Restaurant, after the person who answered the phone earlier told me their veggie burger was vegan. A bit obsessed with my veggie burger field reporting, I was quite disappointed to learn it contained eggs from the informed friendly counter guy who then pointed out the only vegan option in the place, besides soup. Ok, the vegetable soup is below. But wait, back to the counter guy. The next best thing to getting a vegan meal is finding a waiter who knows what’s vegan, declaratively, who saves you an upset stomach. That’s my silver lining.  

So the soup was okay, even though I couldn’t enjoy any bread dipping like my friend across from me did with her stack of soft challah. My entree was just eh. It was veggie chili over brown rice, something I could have made ten times better at home. But B&H isn’t fine dining! And had it not have been for my hope for thorough burger reporting, I wouldn’t have gone in, like I hadn’t during the 17+ years prior of perusing the East Village’s eateries. The vegans and the Kosher folk have some common ground when it comes to food. Especially in the cream cheese department, thank you very much New York City bagel joints. But it would be against spiritual law to mix meat up with all B&H’s dairy however, it has a ton of poultry (egg).

I have sung grand praises of Bone Shakers before. Okay, like a million times before… but I can’t stop. Bone Shakers, In the words of David Cassidy, in fact, while he was still with the Partridge Family – I think I love you. You’re my kind of eatery. And now you have cheddar and sage biscuits?! I… uh.. made cheddar biscuits too (look here). Don’t we have a lot in common?

And here is their delicious French Toast. They do what they do perfectly. Quality from stern to bow. Fresh, thick crusty bread that’s innards are soft and “eggy”, subtle cinnamon, real maple syrup, EB, topped with fresh fruit: an ample portion at a good price served with a smile by gals with beautiful forearm tattoos. My only suggestion starts with a “B” and ends with an “A”. Not Beatlemania but banana!

I did make some things on my own too. Finally perfecting an olive-infused French bread with a mix of whole wheat, dark rye and bread flours, my bread machine did me good. He fizzled and popped; he rattled and knocked; finally he just stopped. I sliced my 2 lb loaf and dipped it in some olive oil and fine fig balsamic vinegar . Ah, I was transported from Olive street to a balcony off the Mediterranean somewhere. 

Having a ton of ripe bananas to use, CandyPenny and I whipped up some of my intestine-scraper muffins with the remains of my neglected pantry. Said bananas, pecans from when I intended to make molasses-pecan rolls, frozen black cherries from when I made the pineapple upside-down cake, golden raisins from when I made the golden raisin semolina bread, and sliced almonds back from when I made my Christmas cookies. If only I could have added the arugula.