Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

NY Vegan Foodie "Safari" Continues (including a trip to Organic Ave)

by Kristen in kim chi, organic avenue, pure food and wine, sarma, sproutcraft

We head back to sunny Arizona tomorrow. It’s been a super fun month in NY. It’s hard to believe that we’ve even been here this long – feels like 7-10 days, tops! Even though the weather has been super crappy the majority of the time, today there is plenty of sunshine, making me quickly forget the rainy days (for the most part – ha!).

Once I return to AZ, it’s back to working on my next book (SUPER excited about the topic!!!) as well as doing some hardcore 100% raw food living. Heaven knows I need it after this trip. Although, I have to admit. I’ve felt pretty darn great in spite of all of the cooked organic vegan food I’ve eaten. It must be the massive amounts of green juices I’ve been drinking. Also… I’ll be making some videos for the blog (fun!), and getting out my next email newsletter (sign up on my website here)! Oh! And, I’m having 2 awesome giveaways for July since I missed June!!! Stay tuned and check back for those.

Tonight we have an exciting night. We’ve been invited to Sarma’s book launch party at Pure Food & Wine. Should be good times! Here is a link to her new book: Living Raw Food: Get the Glow with More Recipes from Pure Food and Wine You know I’m hoping that Mallomar recipe is in it!

Yesterday was a neat day. We ventured into new territory, much farther south than our usual expeditions. We met Gena at SproutCraft for some Raw vegan food (that’s Gena above, she’s SO fun!).

I have to start by saying that I loved the kim-chi. I’m still salivating for it. I had three bowls!!!! It was amazing. The best kim-chi I’ve ever had. It had the perfect level of heat that just barely made me break a little sweat on my brow, yet wasn’t too spicy for my mouth. As many of you know, I LOVE unpasteurized fermented foods. They are so good for you! In fact, I made another batch of organic raw unpasteurized sauerkraut the night before we left for NY. Since it’s been a month now, I can go home and immediately harvest it. Awesome. (Read about my first sauerkraut adventure here.)

I also ordered the taco salad which was so-so although the corn chips served alongside were good. I wouldn’t order it again though. (Instead I’d have 4 bowls of their awesome kim-chi!) Gena ordered two of their Chai drinks and she really liked them.

My husband opted for the burrito wrap. His lunch looked impressive, very pretty wrap. But, I wasn’t crazy about the filling. He thought it was alright, and agreed that the actual wrap was the best part.

The decor of this place was quite cool. It’s probably my favorite raw restaurant as far as that goes. It was spacious with interesting table and seating arrangements (unfortunately, this pic only shows a little bit).

After lunch, we walked to Organic Avenue, a neat little store stocked with Norwalk (type) pressed juices, organic and natural beauty products as well as plenty of raw goodies (both things like lasagna and key lime pie as well as packaged nuts and crackers, etc). What I loved about the juices and water is that they come in these groovy glass bottles. I immediately knew I wanted a couple of the glass bottles to take home so I bought a fresh green juice (very good!) and a large bottle of their alkaline water. The jury is still out for me regarding the science of “alkaline” water, but I admit it was damn refreshing and tasty!

New York Update: Running Over Matt Dillon

by Kristen in cafe blossom, green juice, mallomar, peach cobbler, pure food and wine

I’m still in New York (and loving it!) with plans to get back to sunny Arizona some time next week. Today, though, we had some sun. Yippee! Here’s a brief recap of vegan foodie heaven, NY style.

A couple nights ago we went back to Cafe Blossom (you all know this is my favorite place by now), and this time I went Raw. I had an enormous salad piled high with spring greens, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, carrots, jicama, and avocado (I love that everything there is organic!). It was delish! Then, I also had an order of their Raw Autumn Sweet Potato Rolls. Oh! And, of course, I had a large Field of Greens green juice (spinach, cucumber, apple, lemon, and ginger). I was feeling alive and on cloud 9 with so much organic raw food goodness. The food was fabulous, the atmosphere was wonderful and the staff, as usual, were awesome. (We’re going back there for dinner tonight!)

Another night we ventured out to Pure Food & Wine. I adore Pure. But, this particular dining experience was not our best visit to this great restaurant. I had the taco salad, which was pretty good. I especially like the portion size. I also had a very green juice that caused me to make faces when drinking it (you know, like when you do a shot of vodka or something), but I’m a hard core girl and I appreciate mega green juices so that was good. Bring on the greens! My husband had the lasagna and here is where there was some disappointment. The cheese was hard around the edges and dark yellowish like it had been sitting out or perhaps sitting in the refrigerator uncovered. The overall dish just didn’t look very fresh. Maybe someone who isn’t accustomed to raw nut cheeses might not have noticed this, but I wouldn’t have served it like that. All three of us at the table were quite surprised given Pure’s reputation. When it came time for dessert, I was oh-so tempted to get my favorite thing there: Mallomar! But, I ended up ordering the Peach Cobbler. It was pretty good. The flavors were extremely intense, making the super small portion actually not a bad thing. Overall, my husband and I liked it, the presentation was beautiful, it had unique flavors, and I loved the fresh peaches. But, I wish I had ordered the Mallomars; those are wickedly amazing.

Fast forward to today. My husband and I went for vegan (mostly raw) sandwiches at a little deli near our hotel. These sandwiches are loaded to the gills with fresh veggies, sprouts, avocado, etc. Well, I left my purse there! Doh! We were walking back to the hotel, when we decided to stop into Cafe Blossom for some green juice and raw cookies for dessert. We were there a good 15 minutes before I realized I didn’t have my purse!!! I said to my husband, “OMG! Wait here!” I ran out the door like a bat outta hell, and, in the process, I basically ran over a guy as he was going into Cafe Blossom. I ran like crazy back to the sandwich shop and found my purse – WHEW! – and then headed back to Cafe Blossom. As I was walking in, the guy I ran over was leaving. Apparently though, after I ran him over, he walked into the restaurant and exclaimed in front of my husband, “Did you see that lady running?” Turns out it was Matt Dillon. Ha! But, that’s not the only star enjoying the delectable food of Cafe Blossom. Currently, Ann Hathoway is doing Shakespeare in the Park and she’s been eating there like twice a day. Told you it was awesome!