NYC 2014: The Food

Seeing as I’m in Tampa this weekend, I thought it was a good time to detail all the amazing eats we had on our trip to NYC!

I may have mentioned this on the blog before, but I actually have a spreadsheet of vegan/vegetarian friendly restaurants in New York City. Whenever someone recommends a place to me or I see a ‘best of’ list, I add new options to the list. It’s also awesome to be able to share with folks when they ask me for recommendations in NYC. In my travels, I love to revisit my tried and true favourites, but also make an effort to dine at new places. On this trip we had great success with a bunch of new places that quickly skyrocketed to the top of my list (and Corbin’s too!)

Brunch

Brunch may easily be one of my favourite meals and I was looking forward to enjoying brunch at Friedman’s Lunch (in Chelsea Market) I ended up eating some of the best pancakes ever! They were fluffy, delicious and served with blueberries and maple syrup. I also loved that they served Harney tea. Corbin enjoyed the brunch special which included grits, bacon and some poached eggs. Our server was lovely and the atmosphere was stellar. They were extremely knowledgeable of gluten free and I was excited to be presented with so many options. Going to Friedman’s Lunch also gave us an excuse to hang out at Chelsea Market which is one of my favourite places in New York (though I was sad that Anthropologie was closed since we were there on Thanksgiving)

Champs is always a favourite when we’re in New York and it was actually our first stop as soon as we arrived! We were surprised to find they had a new location (on Meserole), but once we were there we were in vegan foodie heaven. I had the gluten free tofu benedict, which was absolutely delicious. It was the perfect cure to a morning of traveling and a bit of a hangry Ashley. Corbin had the Loaded Breakfast Burrito which was GINORMOUS and full of all sorts of goodness. We also ran into 2 friends during our brunch, proving that it IS a small world after all! 

The morning before we left we squeezed in a brunch at Sacred Chow, which I enjoyed. I had a delicious gluten free waffle topped with apples, cinnamon and coconut cream, while Corbin opted for a scrambled tofu bowl with tonnes of veggies and squash. It had also been on my list for awhile, so it was great to finally pay a visit and fuel up before a long day of traveling. 

Lunch

Between Black Friday shopping and watching Disenchanted, I needed to grab a quick lunch. I had seen a couple of different Organic Avenue locations throughout New York and decided to check it out. I was happy to find a number of soup, salad and wrap options along with a selection of fresh juices. Everything was labelled whether it was gluten free, vegan etc and the ingredients were also clearly listed. I chose the lunchbox salad collard wrap and kind of lost my mind at how delicious it was!! It was a chickpea salad with cashew ‘mayo’ and a lot of veggies inside a wonderfully fresh collard wrap. I wish we had Organic Avenue in Canada as this would be a stellar option to pick up on the go. 

On Thanksgiving we made reservations at Rockin’ Raw to enjoy a special lunch with our friend Sheryl! I had been to Rockin’ Raw once previously (during the hurricane) and remembered being impressed with their unique flavors and options. They had a special menu for Thanksgiving, so we all chose a few different options between the regular and holiday menus including cauliflower mash, ‘cheesy’ broccoli, pumpkin soup and a cheezy burrito. 

It’s no secret that I love dessert (especially raw ones) so I was delighted by the Thanksgiving options which included an incredible pecan pie. Holy wow, it was divine. Rich, creamy and perfect. The meal was an awesome way to celebrate American Thanksgiving and enjoy a lovely afternoon with Sheryl. 

Dinner

Because we saw a show almost every night we were in New York, our eating schedule got to be a little bit wonky. We ended up finding ourselves eating dinners after shows pretty late at night, but I think our dinners ended up being the best meals we had! 

First up was Otto’s Tacos in the East Village. These were serious tacos!! Otto’s Tacos has lots of options for meat eaters and a delicious mushroom taco for the vegetarian crowd. We grabbed a side of chips and guacamole and were blown away with the HUGE portion of guac along with a bag of chips. The tacos ranged from $3-$3.50 each and they were awesome. Such great flavours, freshly made tortillas and a seriously stellar meal for less than $20. They had a record listed for taco eating and Corbin was seriously considering going back and trying to beat it. Hah! 

Heading home after Pippin’ I was feeling hungry and was hoping to grab a falafel or something quick. We found a falafel place called Mamoun's thinking that it would just be an easy, inexpensive, tasty option. Little did we know that we were entering a well recognized falafel restaurant! I grabbed a falafel plate and Corbin enjoyed a shwarma and for less than $15 enjoyed an incredible meal. Their hummus was outstanding and the falafel was crispy and delicious. Corbin loved his shwarma and thought their hot sauce was awesome. I don’t have any pictures of this meal, but know that if you’re wondering on the east village late at night (or any time of day) looking for a great, cheap meal - this is the place!!

Last but not least, Pala. 

I’ve been telling everyone about Pala because it was hands down, the best gluten free pizza I’ve ever had and Corbin said it was the best (gluten-filled) pizza he’s even eaten. Pretty high praise, but worth every word. 

At Pala they take their topping choices very seriously and you’re unable to make substitutions. That being said, there are a lot of options for meat eaters, vegans and gluten free folks. I chose the Uvetta pizza with butternut squash, red onions, raisins, red pepper rosemary and daiya. After the first bite, I couldn’t stop RAVING about how delicious it was. The toppings were plentiful, but the crust was the real star. It was chewy, flavourful and had a BUBBLE. So many gluten free pizzas have the texture of cardboard or bricks and this pizza was light and airy while still having an amazing texture. I can't remember which one Corbin had, but he has said that it was the best pizza he's ever eaten. The service was outstanding (even though they were close to closing) and I can’t wait to go back!! 

Honourable mentions go to the treats we enjoyed at Babycakes, the goodies and fresh juice we picked up at a local market to enjoy for breakfast on a couple of days and the warming lunch we had at Peacefood Cafe before we made the drive to the hockey game. If I wasn’t hungry before, I sure am now after recounting all of the incredible food that we enjoyed on our trip!

Do you have any favourite places to eat in New York City? I’d love to add them to my list!! 

NYC 2014: The Fun

We've been back from New York for almost a week and I am still filled to the brim with the city's infectious energy.

Our trip was wonderful. I mean, I always look forward to visiting and have a lot of fun planning our time there. Corbin managed to get around okay on his crutches and we were able to pack in SO MUCH in just five days. Rather than give a play by play of our days there, I've decided to break down the trip into two posts "the fun" and "the food".

A big part of why I love New York includes the incredible theatre scene. Between Broadway, off Broadway, off off Broadway, amazing concerts & cabarets and classes galore, I always leave feeling inspired and enthusiastic about my job as a performer. There are so many wonderful and intriguing things playing on Broadway right now, it was really tough to choose what we would see! We managed to squeeze in 4 shows in 5 days, which was awesome.

Of the 4 shows that we saw it would be difficult to pick a favourite because they were so vastly different. BUT Honeymoon in Vegas may have taken that spot for me. It was already special to see even before it started because Corbin and I got to hear some of the songs from the show last year when we attended Jason Robert Brown's concert at 54 Below. It was very cool to hear how these songs had evolved and see them in the context of the show. It was really, really funny with a stellar cast and great music. It's only in previews right now, but I would really love to see it do well. So good!!



Since we were there over Thanksgiving, Broadway's schedule was a little different than usual and on Thursday night (Thanksgiving) there were only a few shows playing. Pippin was one of them and I managed to score us some rush tickets in the morning (as we navigated around the parade in a car!) Pippin was visually stunning with a cast who had an amazing set of tricks. Carly Hughes was divine as the Leading Player. Josh Kaufman, less so. He was the winner of The Voice - season 6 so he could sing well... but that was about it. I'm glad that we saw it, but overall I was underwhelmed.

Disenchanted was the reason we chose to go to New York in the last week of November, because my friend Bobby was playing in the band and the show was beginning previews after a run in Orlando. Bobby had been telling me for months how funny the show was and how great the cast was onstage, so I was really stoked to see this one (and him!). It did not disappoint!! Disenchanted tells the untold story of 10 Disney princesses. It's smart, funny and the music is catchy. The 6 gals in the cast were ridiculously talented and each of them had so many great moments in the show. I especially loved Lulu Picart as Hua Mulan Pocahontas and Princess Badroulbador, Alison Burns as Belle, The Little Mermaid and Rapunzel and Becky Gulsvig as Cinderella. The costumes were perfect and the show had a good message. I couldn't help but sit for the duration of the show thinking "Can someone PLEASE do this show in Toronto?!?" They officially opened last night and I really help they have a good long run in New York.

I was having trouble choosing our final show for our visit. There are so many incredible shows and finally I decided on The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. I loved the book when I read it a couple of years ago and I was intrigued by how they would adapt it for the stage.

It was phenomenal.

They did an amazing job with the adaptation, capturing the feeling of the book and giving the audience an inside view into what it could be like to live with autism. The creative team accomplished this with an awesome cast (especially Alex Sharp as Christopher, making his Broadway debut) and an impeccable set, sound and lighting design and incredible choreography. I was seated in the very back row of the balcony (rush tickets again) and I loved that I had a perspective of the entirety of the stage. It's playing both on Broadway and in London's West End and highly recommend that you see it if you have the chance.

NYC tip for tickets: Check out to see if the shows you want to see have a rush ticket policy. You can potentially score great tickets for $35-$40 on the morning of the show at the box office. We did this for both Pippin and Curious Incident. Also check out the TodayTix app for iPhone or Android. Lots of great deals on tickets (same day and a week in advance). Feel free to use the referral code LRLJJ to get $20 off your first order. It's awesome to save money on tickets and both options save you having to wait in line at TKTS!

In addition to all of the time we spent on Broadway, we also navigated to the Nassau Coliseum for a New York Islanders game!

 

 

We had so much fun when we went to the game last year and it's crazy how affordable it is to go to a game in Uniondale vs. going to one in Toronto. For the price we paid for 2 GREAT tickets on Stubhub, a car rental, gas and tolls, we would barely be able to get ONE ticket to see the Leafs play in Toronto. And the Islanders fans are awesome! People can afford to bring their families, they sing songs about their players and when the game was tied with 4 minutes to go, people were on their feet cheering the boys on. The energy in the stadium was ELECTRIC and the Islanders ended up winning with 23 seconds left in overtime with a sweet goal by their captain, John Tavares.

When we weren't navigating New York State freeways or hanging out near Times Square, we spent our time checking out some of our favourite places including some great restaurants (details in my next NYC post), heading to some of my favourite stores (such as Harney and Sons), getting to know the Lower East Side, driving through Central Park and partaking in a little bit of Black Friday shopping. I scored some jeans for $7.80 at Forever 21 on Black Friday eve, some great new bras at Victoria's Secret and we paid a visit to the 24 hour Apple store for Corbin to get a new iPhone. Nothing crazy (like the people who were camped out in tents at Best Buy!!) but fun to splurge a little bit.

NYC remains my very favourite place and this trip certainly satisfied my craving to visit once again. I left feeling inspired, giddy, even more in love and happy about life!!