True, I am not in love with Manhattan’s Upper East Side but I am more quoting the hilarious Ma Kelly in Johnny Dangerously when she plainly states, hobbling to her L.E.S. tenement: “The Lower East Side. This really sucks.”
I’m back on the Upper East Side for my fieldwork placement. So making lemon cake out of lemons, I thought I’d scour the area for vegan eats since I won’t soon be returning for leisure purposes. Look for the Upper West Side… This Really Sucks version soon as I acclimate to another semester of higher uptown education.
1413 York Avenue between E. 75th & E. 76th streets
Green Bean is more like a storefront for their menu of
pre-packaged salads and sandwiches than a cafe. Though a cold sandwich from the fridge is always a bit disappointing, it is a cute space with super friendly staff. The nice woman at the counter even took a trip to the basement level to see what kind of vegan cheese they used in their
seitan cheddar sandwich (It was
Follow Your Heart.) I also had to splurge on some fresh juice. I chose the carrot, beet, celery, kale & spinach 16 oz. And a chocolate cupcake to boot
cuz… when there is a vegan cupcake available it will soon be in my mouth.
Breaded
seitan, vegan cheddar, lettuce,
tomato, onion and cucumber with vegan mayo.
My “body fuel”… I
vant to
vite your neck juice.
The cupcake: kinda greasy, not the greatest after taste and too-sugary frosting. Kinda like a non-vegan cupcake!
{—–Gobo—–}
1426 3rd Avenue @ E. 81st street
A satisfying vegetarian meal at an Asian (or Indian, Ethiopian or Middle Eastern) restaurant is kinda easy to find. But often an exclusively vegetarian Asian place’s menu too much relies on the soy protein mock meat stuff, to which I am not the biggest fan. Gobo is certainly a step above with 100% creative, fresh, flavorful and vegetarian fare. In fact, the West Village’s Gobo has long been one of my favorite New York City vegetarian hot spots. I had never visited its Upper East Side location till this grey afternoon. With the lunch crowd, I enjoyed slightly less swank prices at $14 for my entree, the tender sliced seitan in ginger marinade on a bed of asian kale, two heavenly chunks of butternut squash and a bed o’ brown rice. It was a delectable well-rounded dish with a variety of satisfying textures and tastes. The delicious, tender seitan was a bit over-marinaded but so damn good.
{—–Good Health Natural Cafe—–}
1435 1st Avenue between E. 74th and 75th streets
I happened upon this
innocuous cafe en route to the U.E.S. gem
Slice and decided, for the good of blog reporting, to drop in. After all, I
reported on Slice not too long ago. Unless the menu’s
paperstock and font choice is a total coincidence, I am going to make the assumption that Good Health Natural Cafe is related to
Village Natural. Their abridged menu, however, is much less vegan-friendly, the only vegan burger being the black bean. The burger was good but much less than one I could have made at home. With the side of dry tortilla chips and a questionable
cole slaw, I wasn’t very impressed. It did the job, I suppose, but
uninspiringly.
1413 2nd Avenue between E. 73rd & E. 74th streets
Slice calls itself the perfect food. I have to agree that their vegan pizza is, by far, thee best I have ever tried. You would think it wouldn’t be so hard to do yet places like
Viva Herbal have been complicating vegan pizza for years. Most vegans remember pizza; it was never like eating a salad on wet bread. Slice’s slice is
real pizza. This I credit mostly to
Daiya, which they pile on generously and cook to a delicious heat-retaining stretchiness. True, the crust could be a bit thicker and sometimes their service could be a bit more on the ball, but Slice is at the top of the vegan pizza game. And at $20 for an entire pie, the price is right.
12 Park Avenue between E. 34rd & E. 35th streets
So this is not necessarily the Upper east side but I am so rarely on any street off Park Avenue that I’m going to count it. Franchia is unique restaurant with a wide variety of Asian dishes: from kimchi to sushi, to pad thai to Vietnamese rolls. Prices are a bit high but the food–tasty, and the ambiance–warm and relaxed. But $43 is a bit too much for lunch! Especially in light of the portion sizes. Given this, I am going to declare this a “date” spot and probably not return too often. My meal started with a citron tealatta, blended ice and tea topped with non-dairy whipped cream. Yum.
For starters, steamed kimchi bao with soy chicken. So very good. But, again, 9.95 for 2 of these lil buns? Park Avenue prices!
Pumpkin noodles salad. Very tasty buuut… I left hungry. Wait. I’m always hungry.
1307 3rd Avenue at E. 75th street
Though Candle Cafe’s food is exceptionally delicious, braving the UES moms’ clubs that hog the cafe’s cramped space with their strollers during the lunch rush takes away from the experience promised by the prices on the menu. That and I tallied the mommy next to me; she said “No… on your tushy” fourteen times. But the food! Quinoa crusted tempeh: sautéed kale and a brown basmati rice and red kidney bean pilaf served over a roasted garlic tomato sauce. Not being the biggest fan of tempeh, I figured I’d see what they could do with it. The dish was tasty and its height merited the $19 price tag but… I guess it is true–I am not a big fan of the tempeh.
Dessert was a must. I had their banana cake. And it was goddamn good.
Must-eat Day Trip series, Number 4
A blog series featuring the country’s best upscale vegan restaurants.
1307 3rd Avenue at E. 75th street
And this is where it ends. The
UES’s Candle 79. One of the best upscale vegan restaurants in the country, as reported by numerous credible
internet searches. And I, 12-year vegan, native New York-stater, had never been there before. I
thought I had been but that was years ago and it was
really Candle Cafe (above). Candle 79 is the real deal and my new favorite restaurant in New York City. No strollers in there, two spacious levels of dignified seating, soy-cream of the crop service and the food… Oh my goodness.
Foodsparrow had long raved about the
Seitan Piccata. It was a thing of foodie legend and I, having tasted the springs of vegan deliciousness aplenty, should have jumped on her recommendation sooner. The
Seitan Piccata, is a tower of tender and flavorful
seitan, creamed spinach, grilled potato cake, the most delicious oyster mushrooms all drenched in a lemon caper sauce.
The dish could have been thee best dish I’ve ever eaten. Yes, I’m going to say it is.
Dessert was a pretty penny but c’mon. I’m all about When in Rome. Since I am at Candle 79 I might as well pretend money is not an issue. Accordingly, I picked with my taste and not my wallet: the brownie sundae topped with fresh strawberries, bananas, a scoop of french vanilla, candied pecans and chocolate-ancho sauce. It was gorgeous and tasted like a Samoa. The dessert of fantasies.
Related
My “body fuel”… I vant to vite your neck juice.
The cupcake: kinda greasy, not the greatest after taste and too-sugary frosting. Kinda like a non-vegan cupcake!
For starters, steamed kimchi bao with soy chicken. So very good. But, again, 9.95 for 2 of these lil buns? Park Avenue prices!
Pumpkin noodles salad. Very tasty buuut… I left hungry. Wait. I’m always hungry.
Dessert was a must. I had their banana cake. And it was goddamn good.
Dessert was a pretty penny but c’mon. I’m all about When in Rome. Since I am at Candle 79 I might as well pretend money is not an issue. Accordingly, I picked with my taste and not my wallet: the brownie sundae topped with fresh strawberries, bananas, a scoop of french vanilla, candied pecans and chocolate-ancho sauce. It was gorgeous and tasted like a Samoa. The dessert of fantasies.