restaurant

You Had Me At Cornbread

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This past Saturday we finally made it to Angelica Kitchen, a restaurant that has been on my “To Try” list for years. We met up with my girlfriend Cate for lunch at noon which was perfect timing because the place filled up quickly and within 20 minutes there was a long waiting list. It took a while or us to make a decision as to what we wanted to get because there are so many really yummy sounding dishes on the menu.

To start the Hubz and I ordered the Angelica Cornbread, a wheat free cornbread that I have heard raving reviews about on a number of blogs. Now this is not your traditionally fluffy cornbread, it is dense and filled with whole grains. It is really delicious and worth the raving about. We also ordered a side of the miso tahini spread to go with it; it was good but the cornbread would have been fine on it’s own.

For my main dish I decided to go with the special of the day which was tofu with a chickpea miso sauce, veggies, quinoa pilaf and an Asian guacamole. I thought that the dish was really good and I loved the Asian guacamole; then again I love anything with avocado. Although the dish was really tasty and made with high quality ingredients I have to say at $16 the dish was a little pricey for what I got but oh well it was still delicious and (almost) worth it.

The Hubz went with the Thai Me Up entree which is An All Raw Entree – delicate strands of daikon radish, butternut squash & carrot, on a bed of garlic-lemon marinated kale, dressed with Thai tahini sauce. This dish was absolutely incredible and I am so jealous that I didn’t get it. We both really loved the noodles and the sauce but the star was the garlic-lemon marinated kale; it was incredible. This is a dish that I would recommend you order whether as the entree or the smaller appetizer version.

Cate ordered the Warm Roasted Vegetable Salad A seasonal selection of roasted vegetables tossed with arugula
in a balsamic vinaigrette and garnished with garlic crostini spread with creamy hummus. I only tried a small bite of one of the veggies which was really tasty so I can’t really tell you overall how the dish was but lets just say there wasn’t anything left when Cate was done. Cate also got a soy chai tea which she raved about and went back for seconds.

Overall this has easily become one of my favorite restaurants in NYC; I think that the price can be a little high for everyday eating but it is a great spot to visit when you are in the city. I am ready to head back and try everything else on the menu.

Go Nuts Dough Nuts!

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The first time I ever went to Babycakes NYC I was disappointed by the cupcakes, finding them dry and just not as exciting as I had hoped they would be.  Since then I haven’t had much of an interest in visiting Babycakes until I heard about their donuts.  Since  you don’t come across vegan donuts everyday the Hubz and I decided since we were already in the neighbourhood that we would stop in and try a few.

After much debate and a little help from the girl behind the counter we decided on the french toast and the salted caramel along with one their heart shaped chocolate covered coconut mound.  Immediately after we walked out the door we decided to dive right in and started with the french toast donut.  The donut was out of this world! It tasted just like french toast! It was warm and mapley and caramely and oh so good.  Next we tried the salted caramel which was also super sticky and delicious.  We both agreed though that the french toast was the better of the two.

We held out on the chocolate coconut mound until the next day after a three hour trip to Ikea.  It was the perfect treat after a crazy shopping trip.  It honestly tasted just like a Mounds Bar but better. Unfortunately I didn’t get a photo, oh well.

All in all Babycakes redeemed themselves and we will be back!

Teany Brunch

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On Saturday morning after a rocky start at the hotel we finally got to the train in Stamford and headed into the city for the day. We debated over just getting bagels for breakfast but then decided that we wanted to find a nice place to sit down and enjoy the morning together. We headed to the Lower East Side and decided to give Teany a try since they have a weekend brunch. We arrived and headed into the restaurant which was surprisingly “teany” but luckily there was only one other group there so it wasn’t so crowded. We took a look over the brunch menu and I was disappointed that the vegan options were really limited; I guess I assumed that since Moby is vegan and one of the owners that there would be a number of vegan options- but there weren’t compared to the vegetarian. I also was surprised that there was no real kitchen but rather just a small counter and a microwave and toaster.
Although apprehensive we decided to just enjoy ourselves and the nice window seat that we had acquired. We started with morning cocktails, hey it’s brunch! as well as a small pot of tea each (both included in the brunch). For our meals I ordered the Vegan BLT and Neil got the Tofu Scramble and “steak” both with greens.
Overall I thought that the meal was meh, just okay. I mean it was Fakin’ Bacon on really good bread with tomato and vegan mayo and Neil’s was warm tofu with heated up packaged seitan steak. I thought that although a nice spot I couldn’t imagine trying to go there when it was busy, you would basically be sitting on top of other people. As for the cost you are basically paying for nice tea and a drink with the brunch, the meal was pretty lame but at least it tasted fine. Needless to say we won’t return except for maybe a quick tea to go.

Post Ball Game Antics

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After the game we were all feeling a little hungry and loopy but no one as much as Ma….

So after  a million a few last minute photos were taken we made our way to Candle Cafe for an early dinner.

I have always wanted to go to Candle Cafe, ever since years ago when my mom bought me the cookbook for kitchen. I have made many of the recipes myself but was ready to get the full experience. We all would have liked to visit Candle 79 but considering we had been at a ball game all day and weren’t staying the the city where we could head back to our hotel and shower and change, we decided casual would be better. However, after this visit to Candle Cafe we will for sure be heading to Candle 79 next visit.

After reviewing the menu about 30 times we all finally made decisions, since we couldn’t justify ordering one of everything we all got different things so we could get a little taste of a variety of items.

Mine: INDIAN PLATE tofu spinach saag, black-eyed pea masala, yellow basmati rice, date-raisin chutney, cabbage salad and parata bread.

Hubz: CAJUN SEITAN SANDWICH Pan-seared seitan, steamed greens, caramelized onions and avocado. Served on toasted focaccia with an ancho chili aioli and coleslaw.

Ma: GRILLED SEITAN BURGER Seitan burger on a seeded bun with fried potatoes, lettuce, tomato, onion, coleslaw and pickles.

PA: TUSCAN SEITAN PARMESAN SANDWICH Breaded seitan cutlet with melted tapioca cheese and roasted garlic tomato sauce on a potato onion roll. Served with a mesclun salad drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette and fried potatoes.

Everything was delicious however here is a run down of everyones favorites:

  • Ma: Seitan Burger
  • Pa: Seitan Burger
  • Hubz: Cajun Seitan and Tuscan Parm
  • Me: Cajun Seitan, Tuscan Seitan Parm or the date-chutney

I loved everything and now I am ready to go home and make some more recipes from my cookbook and hope that they taste as good.

You Pick the Dish: Kismet Kitchen

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Today I am meeting up with a friend from my old job for lunch at Kismet Kitchen, a great little spot that prides itself on using local, organic ingredients.  I have been here a few times before and tend to always get the same thing. Today I am giving you a chance to decide which dish I should try today.  So take a look below and let me know by 11:40am today what you think.

Boston Restaurant: Grezzo

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After years of talking about visiting Grezzo (pronounced GRAY-zo and means raw in Italian) we finally went for lunch on our last Boston trip.  The restaurant is located in the North End of Boston and is open for lunch and dinner.  The restaurant is very quaint, filled with large paintings of fruits and vegetables that were beautiful and I just wanted to take them home with me. The very tiny kitchen is located at the back of the restaurant and has no stoves or ovens just prep tables, refrigerators, a dehydrator and other essential appliances for creating raw meals.

We sat and looked over the menu for quiet awhile, not because it was big but because everything sounded amazing and we were having such a hard time deciding on what we wanted to try. We decided to start of with some drinks which can come with or without sake (we went without):

Grezzo Mojito - with kombucha

Chai Mudslide - creamy, spiced concoction, coconut milk

Both were decorated with pretty edible flowers

These drinks were incredible! Neil had the Chai, it tasted like a chai milk shake and was delicious.  I had the Mojito – it was delicious and so refreshing.  For lunch I decided to go with the Gnocchi Carbonara-the gnocchi were so good and the cream sauce was amazing. The hubz went with the BLTA (“Bacon”, Lettuce, Tomato & Avocado)- this was honestly the best sandwich either of us had ever had.  It came with sweet potato chips and pickled vegetables which were also delicious.

Gnocchi Carbonara - house-made dumplings, creamy rawmesan and fresh English peas with pea shoots and crispy eggplant

BLTA Italian Bread Wrap- eggplant bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado and house cheese

Lastly, we decided that we just couldn’t leaved without trying one of the desserts since everyone raves about them. We decided to go with the Cheesecake of the Day which happened to be a New York style and was served with raspberry gelato. Overall we loved our meal and can’t wait to go back again.  I think we will try dinner next time as the dinner options sound amazing as well.

Delicious Dessert

Valentines Dinner at Paul & Elizabeth's

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Finishing up our Valentines Weekend posts we ended our weekend and spent our Valentines at Paul & Elizabeth’s in Northampton MA.  We have visited this restaurant before and loved it last time and were excited to spent our Valentines here.  We had so much good food it was crazy and we brought tons of it home. The food here is fresh and delicious and it is almost all vegetarian (there are a few fish dishes).  My husband was delighted the special for Valentines night was the Vegetarian Platter which has these delicious croquettes that he loved last time.  This is now our staple Northampton restaurant. 

Hummus Appetizer we ended up bringing 1/3 of this home because there was so much delicious hummus

 

Hubby got a Wolaver's Oatmeal Stout and I got a glass of Luzon Verde however I guess I forgot to take a picture of it

 

Noodle and Vegetables in Broth with Vegetable Tempura (so much food I brought most of it home)

 

Vegetable Platter: veggies, tofu and amazing croquettes