Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare: #foodporn² in low-carb, luxe tasting menu on Manhattan

The Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare has entered a legendary status on the New York culinary scene. The whispers of the hedonistic tongues have tipped the heavily Japan-inspired, in French-cuisine-trained chef Cesar Ramirez as the gastronomic revelation of the metropolis for years.

three Michelin star NYC

Chef Cesar Ramirez and Head Sommelier of the Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare

Many firsts filed the tasting menu only gastronomic restaurant into the golden stash of the Big Apple. Not the counter concept since Robuchon had already coined that joyful affair with L’Atelier, and Momofuku ko took more affordably further, but as a fine dining staged inside a deli, the signature trait of New York, and being the first three Michelin star restaurant in Brooklyn.

Either changed though three years ago. The Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare relocated to Manhattan where the gastronomic competition is rife. The once intimate counter does not square around the kitchen any more, it is larger and there are also regular tables in the second line along the wall. Hell’s Kitchen is not far from the high-earning offices of Midtown, the media giants around Times Square, the residences in Chelsea, and a dart drive to both Upper Sides. More money can pour into its pockets (menu excluding beverages comes at $400 per head, plus tax).

Were the Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare in Tokyo, the experience would be less eye banging. Counter restaurants serving about the same quality of seafood and meat, are tossed around like rice grains at a sushi joint there (whereas you hardly find any carbs on the menu at the BF). To par his three Michelin star tasting menu with Tokyo’s Kanda, Sushi Saito or Yoshitake is unthinkable for the regulars at either.

three Michelin star NYCThree Michelin chef Cesar Ramirez

Low-carb, ultra-luxe tasting menu on Manhattan

“Won’t I get even a small bread roll or a sliver sourdough?” I asked the waiter, my stomach overwhelmed with the fat and high protein sixth course at the Chef’s Table.  The restaurant will not accommodate seafood allergies, vegetarian or vegan diets. We found the tasting menu off balance. Dining twice in the new Hell’s Kitchen location, the highest echelon of gourmet hedonism in Manhattan served a vitamix of animal, mainly seafood flesh, full stop. “We do not serve bread, madam”, was the answer. It seems that the pricey restaurant keeps some business for its namesake deli that in a speakeasy fashion ushers the well-heeled diners into its fancy troves. As after the previous four digit meal for three, we roamed the grocery aisles of tortilla chips and glutenous crackers to balance the fatty affair. I wished there was a great pizza joint next door, any carb would do. Owned by Moe Isa from Kazakhstan who also runs the three namesake delis, the Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare is a savvy deal as each time we spent extra $$ buying snacks to fill in for our no bread, rice or pasta dinner. It was fun though, and getting a breakfast ahead without going off your way is practical. 

The Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare is the exemplary embodiment of the #foodporn tag on social media. The orchids decorating the tables, caviar, sea urchin, even the langoustine plating, all resemble human reproductive organs. Galloping along the frantic pace of New Yorkers, the entire meal is faster than at most three star establishments. Over just two-hours the meal is over. Two seatings, first at 5 pm. Our 7:30 booth for four diners was the last layover wiping the plates at 10:30pm. The counter seats face the open kitchen, and additional low chair tables are less discrete than the two booths.

Japanese influence

Chef Ramirez was the right hand at David Bouley for eight years, where the food is strongly influenced by Japanese cuisine. Then he went to Osaka in Japan to exchange culinary ideas. He came back creating a rich, simple, yet high-profile ingredients listing tasting menu. The presentation is not Instagram-friendly, but orgasmic on the foodie terms. High in cholesterol (seafood and red meat), vegetables barely feature on the overwhelmingly in Asia-sourced menu (up to 90 percent in some seasons).

Starting with ovations, the signature Tartlet of saba (Japanese mackerel) was at both meals my favourite bite. It’s oily quality is balanced with a sour flesh of a lemon segment – extraordinary!

Uni lovers rejoice, the Hokkaido sea urchins nesting on a two-bite brioche (a little carb insert) topped with marinated Australian black truffle are insanely decadent. This is a Sex in the City dish. Yet, as we are getting extras for our missing companions the second time we dine here, we learned that one is enough. Too much of the super-charged mouth filler.

A Grilled wild trout (Pennsylvania) served with its skin in an oily dressing freshened by enough of grated ginger was nice.

Table service of farmed caviar

Now some show. The server brought a giant box of Kaluga Queen Caviar. Spooning out the farm raised cross of female kaluga with amur sturgeon, the Chinese roe topped a bowl of crab, sansho puree in a wine-based creamy sauce so rich that a pumpernickel bread would make it more palatable for me. Our palate and my stomach started to crave some carbs or neutralising flavours.

An egg custard with foie gras chunks and diced black truffles where acidity and fat again mingled made me hallucinate. I need bread! Sardinian pane-crassau or light crackers at least could be served on the table, I dreamt, or rice please!

The superb Scottish langoustine with root puree (reminded me of Toyo in Paris), blood orange segments and foam (a cliché late in 2018) distracted me more a year before as a morsel of Koshihikari rice was served with it. Stonington Maine Lobster steps in when available and in season.

A Japanese fish chosen according to the season. Agamutsu – red sea perch from the Chiba prefecture in fall. Topped with sliced Matsutake mushrooms, the dish was delicate as in Japan, but in a more salty broth for the American seasoned palates.

Two meat courses continue the paleo gourmet feast. A very fatty, chewy local duck from John Fasio farm Upstate with roasted brussels sprouts, chanterelle mushroom and cabbage confit creamy purée in 2019, while celery root provided a bite-size vegetable fix in fall 2018. The wagyu-like rich duck was not to either of our trio’s liking. On Manhattan, we much prefer the duck served at Momofuku ko and Cosme.

Next, the real thing – the Japanese wagyu beef from Miyazaki Japan, horseradish purée. I much prefer a top yakiniku as well as Kanda’s more meaty and juicy cuts of beef in Japan. At our second meal at Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare, a crisp yet smooth Black Cod with smoked eggplant purée added a mini taste of vegetables into our menu. I prefered the previous version with Oregon Matsutake mushrooms.

three Michelin star diningThree Michelin star diningThree Michelin dessertThree Michelin deserts

Chef Ramirez decides all proposals from the team for the deserts. In the mildly sweet finish of communal creativity a palate-refreshing (much needed) pre-desert of Sea buckthorn ice cream and Komekome sake jelly was superb. Another time Pink Grapefruit with Sake Gelée freshened it up as did another ice-cold treat of Sobacha (roasted buckwheat) Sorbet. The main dessert of Bichontan charcoal burlet pear with pure milk ice cream was not sweet and the sour caramel sauce was interesting.

For the final desert blast a frozen milk Matcha souflé (no eggs) like Japanese shaved ice with powdered matcha all over revealed a three star surprise of salted crisp white chocolate balls hidden inside. A light ‘Japanophobia’ that I loved. Previously my final tea accompanied a soft Chocolate Custard.

Scharzhofberger Riesling Spätlese rare champagneChambolle-Musigny

Tipples at the Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare

To start, a $35 glass of blanc de blancs Grand Cru (Mesnil sur Oger) champagne by Robert Moncuit impressed with its complex and characteristic chalky intensity. Partially (about 30%) aged in oak, the floral and citrus tones of the Chardonnay were preserved. The wine list was successfully curated to the current tastes. A grower champagne out-rules the commercial giants by the glass, off the beaten path producers balance the big names. A rare nod from a seasoned wine drinker lie myself, the cellar at the Brooklyn Fare excites me as much as the Playboy magazine turns on teenage boys. The sommelier (former of Momofuku ko) knows his game so perfectly that he balances trends with the essence.

Natural wines could not escape his attention. Tschida’s Austrian rose, a red Cornas by Auguste Clape, the pioneer of  bottling his own estate wines in Northern Rhone’s Cornas. A great selection of Japanese sake reflect the eastern inspiration (a carafe of dry – Junmai DaiginjoDaishiki Minowamon worked with the seafood well). Most sommeliers today have a penchant for Mosel, so the recommended white German bottle of Scharzhofberger Riesling landed on our table. The late-harvest off-dry 2009 Spätlese from the slopes of the Mosel river is usually not our first pick as dry wines are more tuned to our palates. Made by the legendary bull-headed Egon Muller, it was drinkable, but the $613 + tax tag stung. Balancing the sheets at the next meal, the decade old Gevrey Chambertin (Premier Cru of the astute Les Charmes site) by Hudelot—Noellat was a masculine affair with a smokey nose, forest needles, hummus and ‘ooh nature calls’ horse shit perfect Burgundy.

three Michelin star diningthree Michelin star dining

With desserts a wisely chosen tea list complements the liquid menu of Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare. Japan-focused Kettl tea (Brooklyn and now a branch in NoHo) provides soba cha, a roasted buckwheat soother, Fukuoka sencha and black tea for caffeine boost, while the mint infusion came from the BF deli. Served in a Hering Berlin pottery touched a modernist feel.

We much prefer to dine at Momofuku ko Downtown or the Single Thread in California since the tasting menu is much more exciting and complete.

The reservations are very specific so check their website for details. A warning, $200 per person is non-refundable upon reservation, so show up!

Two Tuesday-Saturday dinner seatings only at 5 and 7:30pm

 431 West 37th Street, Manhattan, NY 10018
+1 718 243 0050 

Fine & Raw Chocolate: life tastes better with chocolate made in Brooklyn

The Brooklyn manufactory of Fine & Raw Chocolate is a spectacle blending in seductive aromas, churning machinery and hand-wrapping that happily ends in decadent chocolate hedonism. Their bean to bar, organic and raw chocolates have been popping up on the trendiest gourmet addresses in New York, through the West Coast to Australia and round to Europe. I have devoured their refined sugar-free goodness for years when visiting New York, while always loading my suitcase for travels to choco-deprived destinations. Compared to the thousands of aspiring raw chocolates on the market in America alone, Fine & Raw Chocolate is by a wide stride the best happy brain booster there. No compromises have been made in their small scale production.
raw cocoa beans Fine & Raw Chocolate

Organic, transparent and truly in love with chocolate production

Burlap sacks of raw cocoa beans pile next to supplies of Indonesian coconut sugar in a contrast to the jewel box display of daily fresh, all organic truffles at Fine & Raw Chocolate manufactory in Brooklyn’s Bushwick. The experientially honed know-how and dedication to the best quality of used raw materials lift this honest American delicacy to the throne of the best morsels of chocolatey indulgence. Daniel Sklaar, the founder of Fine & Raw Chocolate sees the raw form as the celebration of chocolate. The native South African is poetic about his craft, writing; “native chocolate is the artful balance of developing magic in flavours and food alchemy”, therefore “we highly recommend storing at least one on your tongue for 5 minutes everyday”. His humour resonates with my happy life philosophy, since I follow this prescription diligently.
artisan chocolatereal chocolate
Sustainable production cycle at Fine & Raw Chocolate will clean your indulging karma. Inspired by an honest belief: “We like our planet, it’s the only one with chocolate”, therefore, all is organic, “handmade” with coconut sugar, which with its low GI is a healthier alternative to the usual cane sugar in confectionery. The female hands paper wraps them in attractive floral prints or girly Bonnie cartoons. Every ingredient has been certified organic, even the salt as well as the alderwood smoked salt in the 70% bar from the Brooklyn Bonnie Collection. In this range half of the cocoa is raw (for nutritional value) and the other half was roasted for added flavour. These sophisticated tweaks make Fine & Raw Chocolate unique. The dark 70% cocoa formula is beefed up with intense flavours such as the Alderwood smoked salt, which underlines the complex coffee, earth, tobacco leaf depth with a kick of salt at the start and later in the final aftertaste. Superb! The Habanero salt is a bit racier and perhaps to smoothen it a bit palm sugar was mixed in with the usual coconut sweetener. The mineral tasting salt flakes glued on the bottom of the chocolate bar are dominant, the cocoa is just a bystander. Sea Salt, Hazelnut Butter, and Espresso complement the Bonnie range.
Brooklyn chocolate store
The quality obsession reflects itself in carefully balanced flavours such as seasonally changing cocoa beans in their blended chocolates, the finest natural ingredients and not mixing in any animal products. Keeping it plant-based opens the doors to vegans and health seeking indulgers. Rio Caribe in Dominican Republic provided Hispaniola type of raw cocoa beans in winter when I visited last. It shows off in the 83%cacao bar made from only three organic ingredients: cacao bean, coconut sugar and cacao butter.
I have tried their entire range and re-tasted dozen times my favourites. The only cacao invention of Fine & Raw chocolate I do not like is the Mesquite bar. The low GI mesquite has a powdery taste, and its carob-like sweetness overshadows the 58% cacao. Lucuma was added perhaps for an extra superfood effect, but also to balance the intervening mesquite. The Bonbon, and Lucuma & Vanilla bars were also not ideally balanced yet for my chocolatey intensity seeking palate.
Fine & Raw shopFine & Raw Brooklyn store
 
raw chocolate truffles Fine & Raw Brooklyn
The truffles’ flavours change daily so you can find either himalayan sea salt, chipotle,cinnamon, clove essence, dried orange peel, ginger, hazelnuts, lavender, lucuma powder, toasted sesame oil, tamari, dried strawberries, raspberry, rose essence, peppermint essence, espresso beans, matcha powder, whisky, and other delectable inspirations in the adorable dark chocolate concoctions.
The espresso bar offers seductions like the house hot chocolate and luscious shakes not sold anywhere else than at this brick and mortar Brooklyn shop. Plus the occasional “unicorns” show up for excitement.
https://youtu.be/4NqeLKJ4FAs

Chunky: between a chocolate bar and truffle

The marketable proof of how great the Fine & Raw chocolate is are collaborations with other strong local players in the food sector. Mulberry & Vine teases you at their checkout counter with a mini me version of the 70% square embellished with sea salt. At Organic Avenue after your liquid lunch, the Coconut Chunky fixes your craving for a crunchy substance. Like the Fine & Raw Truffle Chunky, the thick layer of dark chocolate coats the heavenly paste made with agave, coconut sugar, and cacao butter creating a caramel melting feel. My favourite from the perfectly sized, one and half ounce (42g), releases is the Almond Chunky where the bits of roasted almonds play the sexiest duet with the cocoa nib rawness of the cacao bean. This morsel is so addictive that I am grateful for the small size packing. Otherwise, I would devour a gallon with a large smile on my innocent childish face.
chocolate spreadraw chocolate
Hazelnut Chunky sourced the nuts from a hazelnut farm in Oregon. The Sweet Hazelnut Butter is also churned from the harvest and with its Chocolate Hazelnut Butter alteration was blended with FINE & RAW 60% couverture. The nirvana on Earth is though the lick the spoon until it melts Marcona Almond & Chocolate Butter. The best Spanish almonds are toasted in olive oil and salted for depth and richness, ground with their 70% cacao chocolate. They make one cocoa-free product. Perhaps inspired by the latin ladies working at the manufacture, the Coconut dulce de leche is made naturally from coconut sugar, coconut butter, water, vanilla, sea salt, and is far healthier alternative to this beloved latino gooey treat.
hot chocolate
You must come in to try also the unctuously dense house hot chocolate, you will lick your lips in a nirvana of earthly pleasures. I have not sipped on a more luscious and balanced hot chocolate yet, making the trip to the industrial edge of Bushwick in Brooklyn worth the ride. The indulgent goodness is served and sold not far from Roberta’s, the Italianate heartbreaker serving superb pizza, plus when inside the manufactory, you can taste the sublime cocoa/nut spreads and buy the freshest truffles.
Mon-Fri: 10am-6pm; Sat: 12noon-6pm
288 Seigel St, Brooklyn, NY 11206


Trendy Manhattan tea scene: boba, matcha et al. in New York

Alongside the increasing marketing power of the Far East, patience has been brewing on the tea neglected New York scene. The trendy Manhattan tea shops now offer enough quality and Instagram snappy diversity that even the coffee metropolis is turning to the slower mode with tea.
trendy Manhattan tea

Although the Indian spiced chai appeared at the American coffee chains first, matcha has entered the growing tea repertoire at these globally successful fuel stations for city workers. By acquiring Teavanna, Starbucks has signalled the domestic consumers’ shift to tea, even in desserts. Matcha flavoured chocolate, cookies and chiffon cake have settled in the America’s pastry shops.
matchamatcha tea truffle

New York’s matcha storm

The tea transformation of the New Yorkers came abruptly as matcha bars are taking the fast-paced city by Sandy’s coup-de-force. Trawled in a lidded paper cup across the city to work, matcha has a devote following. In the Nomad Hotel hip area Chalait tea bar sets you until the next meeting, while in SoHo and the West Village two brothers transplanted their caffeine addiction from Williamsburg to the more lines forming Matcha Bar on Manhattan. The later is not for serious tea connoisseurs, if you are fine with the Starbucks quality though, then spike your day with their power green dose. Charged with double as much caffeine as in a cup of espresso and a slight bitterness, the whisked Japanese green tea powder is softened by milk or any fashionable dairy-free alternative into a latte. A health focused gal pal of mine, cannot envision a day without getting her matcha fix even at her favourite Aussie cafe. Next to the signature flat whites at the Bluestone Lane Collective Café you can order a rainbow latte tasting – golden turmeric, grassy green matcha, and even an ultra purple-pink beetroot. We adored and sipped them together – the sun-kissed turmeric latte won it for me. Another New York-based Australian-style chain, Two Hands Café also serves matcha latte as do many restaurants like Jean Georges’ ABCv, and Kajitsu fanfares the finale of the kaiseki tasting menu per tradition with a bowl of perfectly whisked pure matcha. Omakase sushi counters tend to serve houjicha (roasted green tea) at the end. 

matcha bar in NYCbubble tea

If you insist on having even your matcha “clean”, then NOHON matcha bar is all organic, mostly vegan transplant from Canada to Manhattan’s East Village. Their house-made, chemicals-free tapioca pearls, beyond the thrill from the chewiness, are caramelised for more flavour. Till 5pm you can sip your trendy Manhattan tea at the karaoke bar next door. Considering matcha’s high caffeine load, the time limit guides you to a more sound sleep. Still like with most trendy Manhattan tea spots, Nohon is more a take-out than for savouring a top grade matcha from beautiful Japanese pottery. I like their white chocolate matcha truffles, sweetened by a low-glycemic coconut sugar and plumped up with a goat milk powder. They are balanced, not too sweet. The organic almond or soy milk for the vegan matcha latte can be further enhanced by vanilla (Tokyo Fog) – the bestseller, caramel (Macchiato), lavender (Furano Field) or topped with house cooked adzuki beans.

milk tea

Trendy Manhattan tea scene embraces BOBA FUN FROM THE EAST

Bubble tea is also turning on the East Coast after its boom in California. I must confess that my daily consumption of boba tea when living in Singapore and Taipei refined my palate so not just any nasties concealing beverage would do. Some of the super cheap branches that crossed over from Asia serve poor quality, powdered milk meets health-risky chemicals enhanced tapioca pearls, beware! I wrote about bubble tea and the millennial tea trends globally in other posts, but here I highlight the best quality trendy Manhattan tea spots cooking their tapioca perfectly with transparent integrity.

Strawberry Matcha Latte by Boba Guys

Some sell more edible tea beverages to go, that in Taiwanese dessert-like fashion have landed in a strong fleet of branches in New York. Like Boba Guys, the San Francisco mega hit with an American cleaner, sweeter and more indulgent ethos, who debuted on the West coast. The ever present lines of customers prove their knack of the local tastes. I am not a fan of their speciality rainbow dessert-like sugary drinks, but their Strauss organic milk tea is balanced, the oat milk dairy alternative is original and the real natural tapioca pearls are house made daily from scratch. No fillers, and nasty chemicals will distract you from cleaner indulgence. The ice and sugar level can be adjusted in most, except for some signature drinks that had been pre-blended.

boba tea NYCboba trendy Manhattan tea

One of my Asian favourites is Gong Cha. Originally from Taiwan, the brand has been expanding like a blitz across Asia to Europe and the US. In New York, their 38th street branch prepared their signature real milk cream topped teas best. Hot lattes (I was put off by the overt sweetness of the Winter melon latte, more like hot milk drink, soy is available) are not their vice, so go iced with an adjustable level of diluting with the frozen water. My favourites from Gong Cha include the Pumpkin Spice topped Mustache Series. The lush, creamy milk foam topped oolong tea with sweet coconut jelly or the classic boba. The Mustache Wintermelon is slightly sweet so avoid adding any sugar into it. I like adding coconut jelly or basil seeds. Ask for no or the lowest level of sugar if you are after not masking the tea’s fragrance. Extra toppings for a surcharge include white pearl, pudding, herbal jelly (bitter), ai-yu jelly, basil seeds and red bean (adzuki). Almost everything is customised, except for some specials, two sizes, dairy-free (except for the Mustache series).

cream teaGong Cha tea
Herbs in, dairy out, house made nut milks pour over, please. Caffeine-free, less allergens, while promising glow, happiness, immune boost or antibacterial clean up, that is the new health spiked force battling over the American tea palettes. Naturopathica in Chelsea has adorned their natural spa with any curious mind attracting Vitality bar. Offering some loose leaf teas, kombucha on tap, but the cue here are herbal tea blends, tonics, elixirs, superfood smoothies and tea lattes steamed with an ultra-dense house almond and coconut milks. Pour in to rejuvenate, at least psychologically, your body and mind.

The TRENDY MANHATTAN TEA scene constantly evolves. Like the ramen outlets that are being squeezed out by poke pop-ups, the nitro coffee shops are being swallowed in part by the booming matcha and bubble tea swirling from the Far East. Even some concept stores like Miansai in SoHo include a tea counter serving their own signature hot teas and kombucha (fermented slightly fizzy tea) on tap. It is easier than ever to tea in New York.


ABCv: Jean Georges boosts the new vegetarian era for New York

With ABCv, the multi-Michelin starred chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten empowers with his established stardom the new, upscale yet casual vegetarian era for New York. At brunch on weekends entire families buzz the white room at his ABCv. During the week at lunch male colleagues dine next to the more food conscious women, while at dinner non-vegetarian couples join the more eco-responsible diners. They all enjoy sharing the delectable veggie-focused plates.

The ABCv vegetarian restaurant by Jean-Georges sources its produce locally from nearby Union Square greenmarket and directly from the sustainable farmers in the fertile Northwestern US region.
ABCvFloral design

Consciousness meets raw naturalism at ABCv

ABC Carpets & Home is an iconic Manhattan upscale decorative mall more millennial than Barneys and Macy’s in New York. Snapping an entire block on Broadway, the ABC nests three dining projects by Jean Georges (more casual than any of his bistros and fine restaurants in town). Interconnected so you can maze through into the shopping area smoothly during the ABC’s opening hours.

First came ABC Kitchen that honed a number of talented chefs like Dan Kluger of Loring Place in the West Village (a must is his chicken there). Kluger also headed ABC Cocina, where by Mexico inspired plates are served in a scantily-lit restaurant.
The latest of the edible alphabet trios, became ABCv (vegetarian).

Through the street windows watch what’s cooking, teasing you to take-out baked delectables or go in, but reserve your table ahead. Transparency is trendy, peak into the kitchen at any time through the large window. The eclectic interior design at ABCv echoes the furniture, rugs, decorative – oh I can never resist – the exquisite dining ware, and the eco-lifestyle centric ABC Carpets & Home mall. Walls covered with eastern abstract art and quotes citing the popular Vietnamese philosopher and mindfulness guru Thich Nhat Hanh, a welcome note with “The bread in your hand is the body of the cosmos” inspire a holistic appreciation of your meal at ABCv.

Ironically, the acoustics in all of the ABC restaurants amplify the signature American loudness, so do not schedule any discourse focused meetings there. Eating at ABCv is about fun, socialising over vegetable-centric, healthy and delicious, seasonal food. Some plates span across multiple growing seasons owning to greenhouse planting.
ABCv vegetarian restaurant in NYC

Nutrition-centric vegetarian food

In the 21st century vegetarian cuisine attracts also non-vegetarians mindful of the impact of their diet on the planet and their health. The chef de cuisine Neal Harden executes Jean-Georges vision balancing our animal protein intake delectably. The menus are organised in groups – light & fresh, warm & hot, noodles & rice, legumes & grains, dosa & sandwich (breakfast and lunch only). The dessert menu arrives separately. Inserted are nutritional benefits highlighted by drawings of the respective superfoods like cucumber, dandelion and turmeric. Superfood is any nutrient-dense natural product.
I came right after the opening in spring 2017 and returned countlessly ever since for brunch, lunch and dinner.
vegetarian restaurant by Jean-Georges
Sharing is encouraged and most bowls and plates are set in the middle. The Slow roasted beets have proved themselves as a stronghold of tasty, bloody red but without the suffering of the cow, carpaccio. On the menu ever since the opening, the iron-rich red bulbs defy seasonality as like with potatoes, they can be stored for months. Spiced up with dijon mustard and chili aioli alongside a whipped avocado puree, umami pickles and leafy lovage, I have ordered this decadent bounty each time at ABCv.

Messy and succulent, the crunchy Avocado lettuce cups have also remained. The duet of  leafy wrap rolls stack in a half avocado, cumin, serrano chili, pepitas with a kick of lime. Baby mustard greens with fermented vegetables and mixed in chunks of avocado are also nice, light. Heavier is the autumn mash of Honeynut squash dip. Flap this tahini, sumac and mint delicacy over to the warm pita triangles, a very Eastern-Med of Ottolenghi influence.
The new saladred beet

Also of the Israel meets Lebanon intellectual provenance, the popular and simple roasted cauliflower was dyed with golden turmeric, bolder tahini and pistachios. The head can be served whole, but the half portion option is a welcome deal, so you keep space for the Shallot and herbs labneh with crunchy raw seasonal vegetables like cucumber, celery and sunchoke chips. Mediterranean nuances prevail, but some like the Whole artichoke with olive oil and lemon are inferior to traditional recipes I am used from my home in the South of France. My palate is trained to the best, and the steamed globe artichoke with mayo-dense lemon dip at the Club 55 could serve as the model of perfection for ABCv.
vegetarian food in New Yorkseasonal vegetarian food
Market carrots, savvily prepared with stone-ground nut and seed butter, chilies and again lime tiptoed in to bare the roots’ innocence into a foxy kick of flavouring.
Fresh spinach spaghetti with broccoli, kale, preserved lemon, garlic, parmigiano and saffron crumbs surprise with their citrusy tang over the usual New York style pasta heaviness. Ramen and soba bowls tick the Asian noodle box.
From the larger sharings, plain or accompanied with sumac-seasoned yogurt dip, avocado and sprouts, the dosa is a hit. Baked like a large see-through crepe, with crisp edges, this lentil flour delicacy is a must order. This is an intimate dining at its apogee.

Fried wild rice was a bit too oily and in the American abundance over-combined so I never came back to this puffed mish-mash.
Indian dosa
ABCv is also opened for breakfast. Wholesome bowls, the substantial dosas, low-gluten or sans gluten pancakes, the still on trend avocado toast (yet the best in town is served at Two Hands the Aussie cafe downtown), warm and sustaining Ayurvedic porridges, vegan pastry basket and eggs in many forms. I love the sautéed Wild mushrooms mixed with two runny poached farm eggs, shallots and herbs like dill, but a whole-grain toast on side is needed to accompany this juicy and flavoursome breakfast plate.
vegetarian restaurant in New YorkABCv vegetarian New York
The dinner, next to most of the lunch menu offerings ushers some umami delicacies like the simply delicious Grilled shiitake mushrooms. Baked under a savoury hat of spring onions, caramelized fennel, yuzu kosho (spicy green pepper and citrus Japanese seasoning) green goddess sauce, this is magic. The Soft custardy tofu with crispy yuba (superb tofu skin) topped with white truffle shavings sends any vegetarian dinner into a gastronomic high! At lunch a simpler and cheaper (minus the truffle) version with ponzu vinaigrette is served.
Tofu skin
For a dessert finale, the Vegan matcha crème brûlée enchants the powdered green tea tribe. Creamy, decadent, yet not too sweet. House-made sorbets like sea buckthorn, concord grape, peach and the unusual combo of blueberry with lavender dot refreshingly any meal. The breakfast and brunch staple baked from ancient grains base – the Einkorn pancakes with raspberry powder dusted coconut cream, succulent fig compote, fresh raspberries and a side of maple syrup, will ground you for the rest of the morning. This trio of pancakes can be sweetened to your liking. An oozing syrup is served in a lab glass jar on side.
matcha desertABCv vegetarian restaurant in NYC

Supercharged beverages at ABCv

The brief wine list offers most bottles by the glass coming from Oregon to Sicily. I succumbed to the temptation of mixing a cocktail in. I don’t like my drinks sweet and the amiable bartender advised the perfect savoury Sea buckthorn and yobo soju with the balancing act of agave. With its trace mouthfeel of alcohol, the freshness was central to my enjoyment. The orange vitamin C bomb berry is a staple on the Swiss-German border as much as in Denmark, yet it was only recently that its fame sailed the world.

Cold pressed organic juices are staples in most modern eateries today. Served in long stemmed wine glasses, rare even for wine in the millennial America, the healthful beverages got a visually sexy vibe. Alcohol-free, the healthful herbal, vegetables or fruity vibrations titled like “Brain” the liquid green concoction brahmi, gotu, kola, kale, spinach, ginger, lime or “joy”, “heart”, “spirit” are refreshing and the touch of agave in some not too sweet.

Matcha latte made with dairy-free milks, probiotic fizzy kombucha from Portland in Maine on tap beams with changing flavours (love the lemon and ginger), and the tea menu goes beyond the peppermint infusion. I sipped on a warm elderflower brew, while space travelling to the Central Europe where those fragrant trees grow in abundance. Liquid breakfasts “super-fooded” and condensed into shakes are popular take-outs, ideal post-workout or in fast paced mornings.
ABCv in NYCsuperfood cocktails

The only shortcoming are high prices for the quite small portions, which is a plus as it reduces food waste. Stalking surrounding tables, at ABCv most diners ate what they ordered, a rare accomplishment in America.

Our applause goes to the entire trio of ABC restaurants inspired by Jean Georges’ culinary savoire-faire for showing us how to balance our consumption with local, plant-centric meals reducing our carbon footprint deliciously.

38 East 19th street, Manhattan, New York
Daily for breakfast (8am-10:30am), lunch (12pm-3pm) to dinner (from 5:30pm). Brunch from 11am on weekends
+1 212 475 5829


CLOSED Kajitsu: authentic plant-based kaiseki ryori celebrates Kyoto cuisine in New York

Kajitsu is a Michelin stared Japanese restaurant serving authentic plant-based kaiseki ryori in New York. The owner, a grain exporter from Japan, stages a biennale of talented Japanese chefs taking over the sensible shojin vegan kitchen at Kajitsu. The first chef scored high with two stars in the Michelin guide. The Kyoto tradition celebrating the seasonal harvests through gastronomy impressed America, and kaiseki has since inspired similar efforts on the local culinary scene.
Kajitsu New York Japanese fine crystal
The change of chefs is an alluring asset to Kajitsu as much as it can be a self-defeating challenge. Although the successors were so far not able to replicate the level of the first Kajitsu chef’s cooking, the one Michelin star consistency proves it is worth trying.
For a more casual and faster meal reserve the seat at the counter where also most of the meals are being finalised. My first time at Kajitsu involved a fascinated gazing at the artful assemblage of the produce by the two chefs staged there. While the counter is deal for solo diners, the main dining room offers more conversational privacy between the widely spaced massive wood tables.
vegan tofuharvest offering at Kajitsu
There are two menu options – the foundation is seasonal Hana, and the slightly tweaked, three course longer chef’s choice Omakase tasting. The same menu must be ordered for the table and gluten, mushroom or onion allergies cannot be accommodated because of the nature of the small kitchen. Protein-rich extras like Aburi-Age, deep fried tofu, or in koji (same rice ferment used for making miso and sake) fermented tofu typical for Okinawa supplement the set tasting menus.
Michelin star tofu dish
The seasonal vegan tasting menu haloes the produce found around New York but also from Japan. Despite the large interest in Asian ingredients over the past decades, there are still some vegetables, fruits and soy products not easily available in America.
Even though some popular restaurants on Manhattan now serve yuba, the acquired taste tofu skin used in the Buddhist temple cuisine is challenging for the Western palates. Yuba can be served either in its most natural gooey texture, deep fried like at Jean Georges’ ABCv or as steamed strings enveloping foods at the macrobiotic branches of Souen.
Autumn vegetables
Hiroki Odo now helms the kitchen until March 2018. After the pudding smooth first course of Sesame Tofu topped with shiso sprouts, nori seaweed and wasabi, the chef served the gooey yuba in an ornamented lacquer bowl of Matsutake mushroom soup seasoned with seasonal chrysanthemum petals. Preceding the menu at Kajitsu a brief with cultural and seasonal updates from Japan introduces the diner to the gastronomic event about to be experienced. Kiku, the edible chrysanthemum is the flowering symbol of fall in Japan and was incorporated into the imperial crest. A truly elegant and honourable expression of seasonal appreciation, that may not please your highly expressive taste seeking taste preference. For us this was the least enjoyable serving, but having tried many of the authentic kaiseki restaurants in Kyoto asserted us to appreciating it.
laquer bowl Japanese soup
The nine courses that followed were much easier for the Western palates not familiar with the traditional Kyoto cuisine. An assortment of seasonal vegetables Imomeigetsu celebrating moon viewing, the Otsukimi, was creatively assembled, marinated, pickled and pureed. Each morsel tasting so distinctive, while being harmoniously puzzled together. This potatoes and other seasonal harvest worshiping offering is traditionally set out by famers on the window in the eve of the August full moon. Japanese taro, ginkgo nuts, tomato, okra, ume plum paste, spinach, Momiji-fu, broccoli rabe, wasabi, royal fern, shiitake mushrooms, sesame, corn, burdock root (gobo), chickpeas and green bean adorned the leafy plating.
kaiseki at Katjitsu soba
Before weaving slowly to the autumn, the nose-pulling king of foraged treats – Black summer truffle shaved over sticky rice won us over effortlessly. Simple, yet reassuring Tempura of eggplant, Manganji pepper, shiso leaf, sweet pepper and the most delicious ripe fig, sweetly melting under its tempura batter coat, introduced more natural bounty to our palates. Seasonal shift geared up as the Early Autumn Vegetables with delicate fried tofu were served cold on the table. Not exactly a masculine dish as my husband’s reluctant play with chopsticks betrayed, but I was intrigued by the Kajitsu take on miso simmered arugula, daikon, lotus root, the shallot-like myoga-ginger and pumpkin enriched with almonds, pine nuts and walnuts.
Truffles in Japanese cuisine
Any still hungry belly was sated with a large claypot of Seasonal Mushrooms Rice, known as gohan in the kaiseki repertoire. Serve yourself as much as you manage. Pickled bell pepper and beans come on the side. Simple, but satisfying, and the rest can be packed for later enjoyment at home. In the Hana tasting you choose between rice or soba course, but in the omakase we got both. The buckwheat soba noodles were served chilled in a simpler broth version with lime. A simpler soba based four course lunch menu is available from Tuesday till Sunday at Kajitsu.
Claypot rice at KajitsuClaypot rice
Next, final chapters were sweet. A frozen treat of Nashi pear with homemade pistachio ice cream served in a Martini glass preceded my favourite dish of the night. Dusted with roasted soybean powder (kinako) with caramel hues, the Edamame Rice Cake with adzuki beans and domyoji was sublime. On another dining occasion at Kajitsu I indulged in Adzuki sticky cake, that was more conventional, but also perfectly executed.
The sake list at Kajitsu has the most fascinating offering of this fermented Japanese rice beverage that we came across in the West. Even though the wine list is well composed, we were lured into an illuminating sake tasting. The sommelier was sensitive to our taste preferences, offering samples and suggestions. After a small bottle (about a flute) of Kajitsu exclusive unfiltered sparkling sake, I moved to Super Premium Sake flight, and with dessert sipped on a plum sake. The sake was served in delicately engraved thin Japanese crystal glasses, which next to the other Japanese tableware you can buy at the restaurant. Some bottles exceed the thousand dollar sum, and these are not offered by carafe or glass, but there are other rare sakes to savour. My favourite was to only 18% polished rice Tatenokawa Junmai Daiginjo. Balanced, smooth with a long aftertaste.
Kajitsu Shojin ryori kaisekivegan dessert at Kajitsu
The food can be paired either with sake or tea by Ippodo. Ippodo is one of the oldest Kyoto tea houses, that has opened a small concession in the basement of Kajitsu in New York. The currently trending matcha is whisked either traditionally warm, as a slushy or in a latte to go, plus a wide selection from sencha, roasted houjicha, genmaicha, and other teas from Japan can accompany your meal. There is not a tea room per se, but a space reserved for a more causal encounters at Kajitsu downstairs is shared with the Ippodo tea bar.
Japanese sweets and matcha
A cultural phenomenon, the traditional Kyogashi Kyoto sweets are served with the bowl of matcha to wrap up of the kaiseki. The mid Edo period established Kagizen-Yoshifusa supplied the custom-made marumaru rice cracker and hi-gashi hard shaped sweet bunny. The edible jewels please your Instagram followers, but you must find your way to appreciate their subtle flavours. The Kyoto handmade sweets house considers the location of the sugar used in its confectionery to precisely create the perfect taste. For example when the “Brown sugar is obtained from Amami Oshima because of its rich and clear-cut flavor”. Now, this is sugar cane brought to a sophisticated connoisseurs level! Kajitsu gears up New York dining scene with its Japanese focused detail of craftsmanship.
125 E 39th street, New York, USA
Lunch: limited offering Tue-Sun; Dinner: full kaiseki 5:30-9pm; Closed on Mondays
+1 212 228 4873


Rouge Tomate Chelsea: sustainable fine dining setting precedent in New York

Rouge Tomate, the first vegetable-focused Michelin stared restaurant in New York switched coats for more casual, holistic, locavore and sustainable dining. Like the soon to be opened hyper locally seasonal Noma 2.0. in Copenhagen (cold-ocean, spring & summer – vegetables, forest produce and game takes over in the fall) Rouge Tomate 2.0. version was highly anticipated by many of its Manhattan fans. Wine streamed to the forefront at the healthy-minded contemporary bistro, and it is the rustic long bar that now welcomes the entrants to Rouge Tomate in Chelsea.
cevicheceramics

Primal, rustic and convivial scene

As you swish through the narrow corridor leading upstairs along a quirky mirrored artwork to the private dining room or turing sharply right behind the glass wall to the open bar scene and further back the restaurant itself, you realise that the bar in a hotel lobby like arrangement is the centre piece of the action. Rouge Tomate was set to be hip while keeping the relaxed conversation flowing with the juice of the Gods. Its primal theme resonates from the brick and recycled wood plank wall panels and the wooden bar, while the Asian feel casting retro chairs and living plant accessories tune to the established nature’s order louder. An english, earthy-hued tableware meets the current naturalistic dining trends.

brunch eggs

Food at Rouge Tomate

Under the skilled chef’s hand of Andy Bennett, who headed the previous kitchen at Rouge Tomate, local, seasonal fruits and vegetables pop generously to the menu. “Responsibly-raised” seafood, fish, poultry and meat in smaller proportions than the usual protein-dominated plates join in. These are not just you regular tuna, salmon and chicken shipped from elsewhere, but sustainably line-caught and farmed animals. Rouge Tomato states that: “Our mission is to provide an extraordinary dining experience that supports the total well-being of the individual and the environment.” And, they fulfil this ethos to some degree. The menu is nutritionally balanced, the food is very good, in some plates excellent, but not extraordinary for the highly gourmandised Manhattan.

To start the snacking, the Anchovy with broccoli, sesame seed and white rice cracker is outstanding. The anchovies are not as salty in the smooth, creamy dip. Perfect with dry bubbles. The Red beet dip with flax crackers on the menu early on was not bad, a bit lighter.

Some starters are as big as the main courses or to be more precise as small to the grand America’s portion standards. I enjoyed the vegetarian Mushroom Tartare with fingerling potato, roasted garlic and watercress. Yet even better was the Fluke Crudo with uni (sea urchin), basil, kohlrabi, spiced up gently with some Thai chili. The Hawaiian Walu fish, also known as white tuna, escolar or butterfish is fatty enough to absorb good acidity so pineapple, lime and cucumber added freshness while avocado even more of the brain and heart healthful fat. The Venison Carpaccio with parsnip, wild mushrooms and huckleberries was the most disappointing plate because the meat was too chewy. It is so much better to air-dry the venison as they do in Switzerland. (check my Instagram).

If you went for fish or meat to start with, then choose from the vegetarian plates that grace the main options. In early spring you can find Roasted Carrot, quinoa with radicchio, coconut and spicy jalapeño, but I tried the generous Broccoli with walnuts, maitake mushrooms, sunchoke, Sarvecchio (American version of parmesan), and the lower in gluten spelt corzetti pasta (Ligurian coin-shaped pasta with embossed design on the face side).

As if I were at an American steakhouse looking for more veggies. These two sides were my dinner favourites: Kohlrabi seasoned with Chinese spice, fennel and sesame & Roasted Potatoes, garlic, capers and a drizzle of lemon. The Beets with sweet potatoes, peanuts and chiodini mushrooms were a bit too much to mix with any main course, unless you ordered them as a starter.

My husband was seduced by the Wild Boar served with cabbage, avocado and paprika spaetzle and by sampling it I can approve of it, although the boars from Tuscany tend to be even better, more tender. A friend ordered Chicken cut in small medallions with lentils, endive, harissa and hazelnut tzatziki, and by finishing her plate and nodding satisfyingly, you could say, well done!

The weekend brunch is also casually vibrant. The day light brings a different perspective to your meal. Brighter colours of the vegetables lure the fork in. The Roasted Carrots with shaved radishes, yogurt and orange sauces sprinkled over with poppy seeds were as refreshing as they were generous. Also the Cauliflower Salad blended with the creamy white and purply speckled sister of radicchio – Castelfranco, served with tart tamarind, fennel, emmer (ancient grain) and almonds was nice. Our brunch favourite at Rouge Tomate was the black Forbidden Rice spiced up with kimchi, sweet orange, bok choy and a sunny side up egg. Wholesome!

The American food icon, the burger, could not be left out, but the Bison Burger at Rouge Tomate is a healthier choice than the carbon demanding beef patty. For a hefty $17, the protein stuffed bun is joined by caramelized onion aioli and gem lettuce for a more green experience. I have not tried it yet, but let me know if you do!

To sweeten your day or night, the homemade sorbets and desserts based on nutritionally dense ingredients such as cocoa, ginger, fruit and vegetables will off-set at least some of the guilt. My summer dessert had pomegranate, hazelnuts and pear with a scoop of Earl grey Frozen Yogurt.

Environmentally speaking, an artisanal cheese can keep the carbon points quite low since it is locally (NW US) made by traditional methods. All the award-winning cheeses at Rouge Tomate are high in saturated fat and salt so enjoy with caution. The goat and cow’s milk blend of slightly aged Cremont Cream of Vermont” made by Vermont Creamery, aged Prairie Breeze cheddar by Milton Creamery in Iowa and blue raw milk Bayley Hazen by Jasper Hill Creamery, all prove that America today makes as great cheese as France and the UK.

wine corkDinner at Rouge Tomate Chelsea NYC

Sipping wine with Master Sommelier

The aperitif hours are hip, and there is much more to be sipped than some two dozen changing wines by the glass, since the house cocktails and exotic teas were well snug in.

Pascaline Lepertier, the French Master Sommelier and a partner in the business is the beverage director at the Rouge Tomate in Chelsea. Bringing her Loire-bred passion for natural, often biodynamic or organic, and by terroir driven wines, she vigorously gesticulates the process of opening and pouring the wine. There are other sommeliers with stellar resumes and the wine experience is indeed the centre piece of dining here, so make it your indulgent night out. We sipped on the 1998 Pinot Noir from Eyrie Vineyards. Another night the Calera’s Mills Vineyard of 2001 vintage showed the powerful grace of Mt Harlan California Pinot. Still, the young Burgundian bottles by Mugnier and Simon Beze & Fils stole the show. The 2008 Nuits Saint Georges and the daintier Savigny Les Beaune were poured during the previous night at one of the thematic wine events at Rouge Tomate. I advise subscribing to their newsletter for more info on these.

Tea has captured the beverage director at Rouge Tomate. The natural spirit of the leafy brew next to organic Korean herbal tisanes by Brooklyn-based Tea Dealers, is attractive. Some, like the White lotus or Mulberry leaf are sublime and easily likeable, while others taste rather medicinal. Its tuber is used in South American cooking, but having the intense Yacon leaves infusion with brunch, my curiosity was sated, yet I would not want this tart perennial plant brewed again. My liver and digestion were stimulated. One of my favourite herbal brews, the Wild Persimmon leaf, is more pleasant and smooth on the palate, is also offered. Unlike at most restaurants serving tea in America, multiple steeps are offered voluntarily.

Certified by the Green Restaurant Association with strict ecological standards as a three star establishment, Rouge Tomate also fully applies SPE standards (without being rated, because of the policy of affiliation), therefore rest assured that your wellbeing and the environmental impact are both taken seriously at this Chelsea hub of conviviality.

 126 W 18th St, New York, NY 10011
+1 646 395 3978
Tue-Sun DINNER: 5:30 – 10:30PM; BAR: 5PM – midnight

Sat & Sun BRUNCH: 12noon – 3PM; BAR till 5PM

Sushi Yasuda: purity and quality of edomae sushi wins over the demanding New Yorkers

After almost two decades serving traditional simple edo sushi to a gourmet tribe of purists, the bamboo-clad minimalist keeps ratings amongst the best sushi restaurants in New York. Sushi Yasuda has proven itself. In the city, where the new radiates trends while the long established becomes touristy or boring like another workout class, Sushi Yasuda has defeated the city’s stereotypes.
Sushi Yasuda NYCSushi Yasuda chefs

Sushi Yasuda: tradition celebrated in the urban maze of frantic change

Here more than elsewhere, also the Zagat Guide wields a muscular arm over the sharp shoulders of the city’s diners. Yet, what’s great today, can wither tomorrow. The main cause of failure or decrease in a consistency at most New York restaurants is the manpower. The hungry employees and the cooks strive for as many big name restaurants on their resumes. After over a few years being impressed by the superb meals at Shuko, one of such sushi bars where the cooks follow the most favourable wind blowing into their backs, I was once again put down by not having had delivered the spotless rice and innovative flavour-bursting omakase sushi and rolls I was used to. The same happened a couple years before at Neta, the West Village sushi restaurant also headed by the same chef and owner Nick Kim, formerly of the ultra upscale Masa, where some of the chefs from Shuko came from.
Thanks god, Yasuda delivers. And, Zagat as well as the local top critics reward it with the higest scores. The bonus is that you do not need to keep the monastic solitude that used to be demanded by its founding chef Naomichi Yasuda. He went back to Tokyo to tend to his dream eight-seat sushi bar there in 2011. Most of the long-serving team including its current head chef Mitsuru Tamura continues the Michelin starred legacy of Sushi Yasuda in New York.
Sushi Yasuda NYC
I am coming to Sushi Yasuda, a stalwart on the Manhattan Japanese dining scene, and I had to go twice within a week. Once for lunch, and later for a dinner. On either occasion I was able to snap a last minute seating. Both right at the dawn of the opening hour for the restaurant. Coming early is like waiting in a line with great food obsessed Tokyotes. A long string of foodies wanting it so badly that no matter if it snows, rains or the sun shines prudently, they stick to being organised, as if trying not to show their excitement over eating at Sushi Yasuda. And, it is exciting in spite of being simple!
If you have eaten at a good and proper sushi bar in Tokyo, you will understand and return when craving a slice of the Japanese perfectionism. You are personally ushered into one of the two bamboo-clad rooms, one private with its own entrance, and the other defined by a long sushi bar. There are a couple of small and larger family-style light wood tables in the main room too, and the Japanese families cover them well, at least during the earlier seating.
Dining at Sushi Yasuda is not about being hip and fashionable, like going to Nobu, Soto, 15West or Bar Masa, but it wields an authentic enchantment with tis food. With the spring crawling into the year, the cherry blossoms were blooming with their flamingo hued petals, ah beautiful! The manager and partner in the business Shige Akimoto spoke with a wide smile of a maître d’ as if we were his most regular customers, which we were not, yet. He was so welcoming that Yasuda has climbed on to my always-to-go-to list when visiting New York. Only Milos and Taim, an upscale Greek restaurant and a top scoring take-away vegetarian Mediterranean eatery, are so far on that list.

Next to the welcoming entree, some of the staff can be little confused if you haphazardly keep placing orders while eating. They try so hard to accommodate each desired morsel though so you cannot be upset about tgeir struggle. For me, the best is eating at the sushi bar, particularly if you are here for the sushi and sashimi or the chef’s choice, the omakase. Your chef will memorise the entire order, paying respect to the Japanese tradition. You get a list, tick the pieces you want, the starred items are daily recommendations by the chef that also generally appear in the omakase tasting. The printout is more for the table orders though. At the sushi bar you will get usually a plate of four, the sashimi first, then follows sushi for as long as you fancy, and finally an oder of egg custard or omelette, the tamago.
Beyond the edomaezushi nigiri and sashimi you can order from the kitchen some excellent starters, mostly warm dishes, daily special appetisers, and tempting desserts.
Japanese pottery
Nibbling on pan-roasted ginkgo nuts while sipping sake is a good start. The choice of cold and warm sake is good, there are also some wines, spirits, and the house sencha or houjicha tea. If you like abalone and can afford it, get it. The Awabi No Sakamushi of sliced and in sake steamed sea creature is served on a slice if lemon and with a side of its richness delivering liver, impeccable. Like marinated porcini mushrooms, just with a bit more crunch.  The umami rich miso soups are extremely satisfying. I enjoyed the red miso with mushrooms on a cold day wholeheartedly. The biodiverse and colourful seaweed salad was served with my favourite creamy sesame dressing.
Sushi omakase at Yasuda in New York

Seasonal sushi offer and pickled vegetables at Yasuda

Now, comes the sushi. The rice is sweet, moist, but not too much, and it can fell apart if you soak it in the soy sauce for too long. The chef has warned you! No dipping too much. Besides, you really do not need the sauce at all for most pieces. The ginger is pungent, fresh, probably pickled in-house. Adding the freshly grated wasabi into your soy sauce is not that important for the chef Yasuda also discourages from it. A great fish can stand alone, supported only by the soft sushi rice. Lighter white fish like fluke, amberjack (yellow tail), the young hamachi, clams, the superb oyster, or the sweet sublime shrimp (ebi) are ideal start. The heads of the shrimps are being served deep fried later on a separate plate. I love them, please, dare! My other favourites that were served recently as sushi are: Arctic char, New Zealand King Salmon, Icelandic Ocean Trout, Rainbow Trout, the silver skinned Sayori (Halfbeak), and the eel, oh that simmered fresh white sea eel (sawani) – I will have it twice, please. The anago or dark sea eel is also nice. The only piece I was slightly disappointed by was the toro tuna hand-roll with scallion. The nori wrap was perfectly crisp, but there was not much tuna inside the temaki. There are also vegetarian rolls. Kaiware, the young daikon shoots, kanpyo or dried gourd, kappa, the lightly pickled cucumber, ume, which is a savoury Japanese apricot not plum as is often mistaken, takuwan, which is pickled daikon, yamagobo, the grated gobo, and for the very adventurous foodies the fermented and stinky natto tofu.
Stripped of the common nori wrap around the uni, the wobbly and unctuously satisfying contents of a sea urchin which is one of the most sustainable seafoods still inhabiting our oceans in great numbers, it is all about the natural falvor. It can get quite messy, but if you softly lift the rice bun with your chopsticks or grab it gently straight with your cleaned fingers (the wet napkin on the table is refreshed as often as you ask for) you will lick your fingers with delight. The more subtle Japanese uni from Hokkaido can cost double the lush Califonia uni, and they are interesting to compare.
Fried matcha crusted prawns
On a recent evening, there were prawns crusted in quinoa with matcha powder. The tempura style was so well done that you could eat the heads of the prawns. I did, since I know from experience how delicious the crunchy heads are! Seasoned sushi eaters like myself, who pay a regular pilgrimage to Japan, are more open than most occasional sushi eating Westerners. My German friend grimaced her face with disgust when I teased her to eat her prawn head, while my Romanian friend was not as keen on the abalone. Perhaps if I told her that these were porcini mushrooms, she would have another piece? I wonder. Well, my husband ate it all as usually with a great sushi.
Sushi Yasuda NYCJapanese mochi and tea
The desserts are quite small. At lunch a trio of businessmen sitting next to us savoured the ice cream, but for us it was too cold on that day. Yet, next time I tried the house-made mochi, the frozen but soft rice dough based dumplings filled with an ice-cream [we had a choice from matcha, bean, or vanilla flavours]. They were nice, not the best I have had, but delightful with the cup of roasted houjicha tea that we received with compliments from the restaurant. You will pay a full price for the authentic experience at Sushi Yasuda, but top quality fish and seafood fetch record prices, and here you will get the best possible cuts in New York. Perhaps only Le Bernardin, for years Manhattan’s favourite restaurant can boost with a comparable fish quality.
US: 204 East 43rd Street, Manhattan, New York;
Japan: 4 chome 2-6 Minamiaoyama Bldg 426, B1, Minato-ku, Tokyo
 Lunch: Monday – Friday: noon – 2:15 p.m.
• Dinner: Monday – Saturday, 6:00 – 10:00 p.m.
• Closed on Sundays and US national holidays
+1 212.972.1001 ; Tokyo, Japan: +81 3 6447 0232


Tea Drunk: bringing the "epic romance between man and nature" to New York

In Manhattan, there is hardly a more authentic high quality Chinese tea room than Tea Drunk. No alcohol is being served here, but in Chinese tea drunk is a “romantic expression” of “one’s indulgence in true passion“. Tea lovers like wine connoisseurs share this passionate intoxication of one’s mind. Niched in the hip and casual East Village, Tea Drunk leaps beyond the dubious leafy potions sold in the city’s China Town. The seasonally changing calligraphy scroll commanding a prime placement as if suggesting that something serious is brewing here – the respect to the highest quality Chinese tea.
Tea Drunk Chinese tea room Tea Drunk Chinese tea

Making Chinese tea properly in New York

Tea Drunk is a modest narrow tea dispensary and a cosy room where anyone can taste before snapping one of the tightly sealed bags of tea for home consumption. All the well-known as well as some more obscure yet enchanting teas are sourced personally by the owner, Shunan Teng, whose motorcycle diaries of China’s best tea plantations are recorded in scantly edited, raw, and in some trips adventurous videos that she shares on Tea Drunk’s website (links follow with tea listings). Her expertise has been demanded by the leading US and Chinese publications and she spoke at the Yale University as well as the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Serving Chinese tea at Tea Drunkwhite tea
Shunan herself or a skilled tea barrister carefully prepares your tea. In traditional manner using a gaiwan, the typical Chinese tea brewing lidded cup with a saucer that serves as a strainer at the same time. The ceramic, clay, glass or even the rare jade tea vessel is warmed by boiling water which is subsequently discarded. The same heating trick is performed with the tiny tea cups. Now the lidded cup/pot and the serving cups are ready to embrace the loose leafs. In some cases such as roasted oolongs or pu-er the first brew is tipped over into a bowl, sink or when prepared on the special Chinese wooden tray through the gaps into an attached sewage. The lid keeps the aromas concentrated so you can smell the aroma when your nose sniffs it. Multiple brews can easily be made in this lidded Ming dynasty invention.
Gongfu cha Chinese tea

Pick your own tea or get a flight

Everyone’s taste is highly personal and it so no different with tea. While one loves the mild softness of a white tea, another palate might find it far too mellow. Oolong tends to appeal to most advanced tea connoisseurs, while black-red tea is preferred generally by the British and the Eastern palates from Turkish, through Russian to Indonesian. Green tea is often chosen by the health conscious, and the age-worthy pu-er is collected by the savvy investors. Now, shake off my daring pigeonholing, since still your momentous choice of tea may depend as much on the current weather, your mood or the time of the day.
At Tea Drunk, you can have it all, and if you are curious to explore and compare more teas at once, go for the “tea flights”. These conceptual tastings for two to four people set three different teas either from the same category: green, oolong, pu er or are chosen to accommodate seasonal cravings. At Tea Drunk the hand-picked green, yellow, white, wu long (oolong), red and black teas next to peculiarities such as the highly praised cliff tea, Dan Cong, and pu-er are harvested for only 10 to 15 days each year from renowned tea mountains that “were hailed by emperors and artists alike”. Each flight can be upgraded to a premium tasting experience when higher quality teas are selected.
Chinese tea room in New York

Wulong, oolong journey with Tea Drunk

My first visit nourished my curiosity about oolongs, the semi-oxidised teas celebrated for their often complex flavours. We were delighted to share this trio: the light greenish sweet Tie Guan Yin 鐵觀音 also known in the West as “Iron Goddess of Mercy” picked at Fu Di, An Xi Province, then the apricot and floral aroma of Zhi Lan Xiang 芝蘭香 in Feng Huang Shan, and finally the earthy and woody flavours of Tie Luo Han 鐵羅漢 San Yang Feng (True Cliff), from the Wu Yi Shan mountains. Sharing the premium tasting pots with a Chinese friend originally from the Yunnan province upgraded the experience to a soaring drunkenness by a superb tea. We relished in comparing each brew with a magnifying sense of our palates, while exchanging our perceptions with the savvy founder Shunan Teng, who brewed each tea precisely according to the Chinese gongfu cha tradition.
pouring tea at tea Drunktea tasting at Tea Drunk NYC

Seasonal tea tasting for moody weather

Before the precisely timed tea hedonism and intellectual indulgence start, you are asked to pick from the “tea pets” on the shelves lining the back wall. Amused, I learned about this Chinese custom while watching gongfu cha in Beijing for the first time. Perhaps for its awkwardness, I picked the three legged money frog, known as “Jin Chan” 金蟾, prosperity talisman in the Chinese Feng Shui tradition. When I stormed into Tea Drunk in winter with two friends, our choice was more limited since too many customers that came in to warm their bodies and spirits before me have already chosen their tea pet companion. The tea room was packed, except, curiously, for my favourite spot, the bar. We went for a turtle, the symbol of longevity. I feel closer to all the action at the brewing bar, plus for the tea tasting flights it is the best spot where the brewer is the least distracted by other customers. To defrost ourselves, we went for the “Seasonal Premium Tasting” which included my beloved Silver Needle white tea, aka Bai Hao Yin Zhen 白毫銀針 from Fu Ding, Fujian Province, a dark rock tea and a red tea. Next, I plan to come in summer so I can cool off with the Green Tea Tasting, the new annual harvest should be in the store by May.
Tea Drunk tea room
A monthly “tea club” for these curious sippers who want to learn more about the praised beverage includes a subscription to three diverse teas each month delivered to your home. Accompanied with educative maps, tasting notes, videos and history about each tea and its region of production. For additional $30 premium teas slip into your package. My favourite though is what I would call ‘socialising tea club with benefits’ – the Sipper’s Club. This is a genial concept of buying tea, when you either keep it at the store or bringing it from home with you, so the tea will be brewed at no additional charge to your fixed monthly $40 fee.
Do you feel confused about all the illegible and inconsistent Chinese tea names? Tasting tea and talking with an expert like Shunan Teng is a great place to start. As with wine, theory is not enough to grasp its qualities, you must taste, swish and reflect upon tea. Only then you can better understand its subtleties and which tea is best for you at this exact moment. It is sunny out there, so I am going for the smoothness of a white tea.
123 E 7th St, New York, NY 10009
+1 917 573 9936
Wed-Mon: 12noon-10pm (Sun 9pm)


Blue Hill at Stone Barns Farm: inspiring sustainable food system in Hudson Valley

Dan Barber’s sustainable food mission has now entered the common consciousness of even these who ignored eco-friendly lifestyle thus far. His best-selling books and two restaurants – one in Manhattan and its younger sister on the farm at Stone Barns herald a respectful relationship between the man and the natural bounty of the fertile Hudson Valley in a tasteful show of field and pasture.
The New York-bred chef employs his wealth of experience from the most sustainable, forward thinking, mindful mavericks, whom he met during his curiosity-driven trips. The boundaryless journeys are described colorfully in his eye-opening book The Third Plate. Enriched with the on-the-farm research of the relative Stone Barns Centre for Food and Agriculture, the chef and his team nurture their mission “to create healthy and sustainable food system”.
chef Dan BarberBlue Hill restaurant at Stone Barns

Blue Hill at Stone Barns: engaged dining

Just 30 miles north of New York City, training, education, and visionary conventions engage all workers and visitors about agroecological practices. Yet, the most indulgent experience is the farm produce served in the elegant dining room. Staffed with passionate bakers, cooks and servers from around the world, some working there for over a decade, while others whizz through as a part of their hospitality apprenticeship, you penetrate into the “Grazing, Pecking and Rooting” daily changing tasting menu ($238) through their full engagement with you and the produce. Any questions are encouraged, particularly anything touching the themes around the farm.
You feel like being part of nature even inside the restaurant. A birch bark fences seasonal flower arrangement above the fireplace at the welcoming bar. Reeds with blushing daisies and wild grass were the motif of our summer visit. Sip on your aperitif at the classically elegant grey stone bar counter or head on the outside patio overseeing the vegetable gardens. There, during warm days, smoky fragrances escaping from the wood firing grill whet your appetite.
As you take your seat back in the converted barn, wood-beams-laced main dining room, wildflowers nonchalantly bloom in the rustic paint white vases set on the pure clothes dressed tables. For a great break from the packed restaurant, mid-dinner we were taken out into a separate barn for a romantic course of a thin-crust POTATO PIZZA topped with SMOKED CORN, TOMATO and MOZZARELLA. Sitting between the burning candles and listening to the crickets, we realised how different their songs are from those of our home’s Mediterranean species. On our way back to the restaurant were introduced to the bakery.

Art of baking from freshly milled grains

Here, Barber wheat, naturally lower in gluten, as well as other new breeds such as “skagit 1109” and other grains bred by the University of Washington agricultural team are being freshly milled and baked daily on the premises. The fragrant oils from the grains spoil easily, but they reward with more complex and fragrant bread that is moist in the centre with a chalky brown crust from the needed prolonged baking. We got a loaf to take home after our hours-lasting meal was over. While I heated the wheaten loaf in the oven at the culinary school next day, the aroma teased the entire kitchen, and these foodies loved the freshly milled bread as we did. The nose-tantalising aromas make the bread delicious on its own. The university trials plenty of resistant and flavourful plants such as the creamy textured potatoes “ny-150”, the ever expanding breeds of tomatoes (“cornell 79”, “iron lady”, …) and winter squashes (“amber delight”, “robin’s koginut”, “trombocino”, …).
Blue Hill restaurant at Stone Barns

Celebration of the field and pasture

Before you dig into the tasting, a small notebook organised according to a typical monthly harvest suggests which crops may appear on your plate. There is a space left for your observations to note down anything captivating. Additionally, the chefs and cooks are encouraged to forage daily for seasonal berries, wild herbs, and mushrooms. One of our plates was covered with foliage and branches under which we discovered a berry filled pastry cup, one bite for each of us. Leftovers are well looked after as the refreshing CORN COB LEMONADE served later during our meal attested.
The locally bred and grown ingredients are impressive pursuits deserving more involved attention given to them at the farm and the Blue Hill. Right at the beginning of our August tasting, an edible display of pea and yellow stripped flowering courgettes, Jamaican spiky cucumber, mini balls of radishes, baby peppers, cherry tomatoes and crispy lettuce hearts – all showing off – spiked on the pins for us to pick and devour. Minutes later, a giant kohlrabi decorated our tables just before it was taken back to the kitchen and wrapped into KOHLRABI BURRITO with CHARCOAL MAYONNAISE. The delectable fate was also destined for the freshly picked vegetable basket presented to us. Creative plates of ZUCCHINI STEM BOLOGNESE cut into a rigatoni pasta shape and HUBBARD SQUASH, TOMATO ROMESCO with PORK SNOUT superbly underlined the veggies. The produce show was just heating up as a snake-like tromboncino squash winded around a waiter’s arm came to our attention. The harmless plant-flesh cobra was served originally as TROMBONCINO SQUASH, YEASTED POTATOES AND BONE MARROW. We could see most of these perfected crops inside the farm’s greenhouse where new varieties are bred for “flavor and resilience”.
The GREEN GARDEN GAZPACHO is a staple on the menu and appeared on the same night on the a la carte menu at the Manhattan Blue Hill restaurant. A friend of mine was dining there on the same evening so we were able to compare our meals. For example, there was no fish in our multiple-course dinner, but a sweet and sour flavoured striped bass featured at the Blue Hill in New York. The main difference of the farm restaurant though is that the meal is much longer, involves way more courses and overall is more complex and filling. The city Blue Hill allows you pick your dishes, so diners preferring the security of their own choice should rather eat there. Those, who indulge in the surprise tasting, open the gate of your palate, and indulge!
The off-the-beaten-path culinary wizardry continued in the plating of the pasture produce. A PIG POPCORN, then FREEDOM RANGER CHICKEN IN LEVAIN with MALABAR SPINACH as well as the BERKSHIRE PORK, BERRIES AND LOVAGE satisfied our animal protein cravings. Chickens, geese, pigs, turkeys, and sheep freely graze and peck on what the farmland offers. When we were checking out the barns before our dinner, a group of turkeys angrily ran after us so escaping their voracious and sharp beaks turned into desire with question marks: when are the turkeys served? As the farm’s Vice President Irene Hamburger expertly clapped them away, she said that they will be ready for the fall tables and thus delayed our masochist revenge perhaps to our next meal at the Blue Hill. You, turkeys, I cannot wait to bite into your stuffed yummy flesh this Thanksgiving!

Nose to tail dining is chef Barber’s specialty, even the pig bones, and oyster shells are carbonised. From the cellar came HOUSE-CURED CHARCUTERIE, PORK LIVER AND CHOCOLATE, BONE CHAR CHEESE with GRILLED CANTALOUPE, and GRILLED CUCUMBER, WATERMELON with BONE MARROW. I am not a fan of marrow and pork, so this were perhaps the only servings I did not enjoy. Prior to our dinner informing about my pork phobia, saved me from being “over-porked” as my husband was.
Such focus on the pork meat brings about the main criticism we had of the Blue Hill dining experience. To be even more sustainable, even less meat should appear on Dan Barber’s daily changing tasting menu. The delicious cauliflower “steak” served at his NYC restaurant is one starry example. Eschewing the carbon-guilty beef was the first step, adding leftover bone marrow from involved butchers another, while tip (frond) to root cooking is what he does best, all efforts to improve the restaurant’s ecological credentials.
Milk production is in the farm’s DNA and the BLUE HILL FARM MILK AND STONE BARNS HONEY were integrated into the dessert with foraged berries. The milk gelato, lush créme brûlée, and dehydrated milk crisps were one of my favourite dishes served on the evening. The butter salted or unsalted that was served with the bread is also house-made. Another, and last, sweet treat came in the grilled PEACHES AND POPPY SEEDS.
DRINKS: An aperitif at Blue Hill does not need to involve alcohol. The maple sweet chufa nut milk, beet yoghurt-based lassi, single grape varietal juices from California, locally made flavoured soda, and various flavours of kombucha (fermented tea beverage that is very low in alcohol) are all great and seductive options.
The more potent by the glass selections such as a sparkling French cider, New York draught beer, sherry, and other global aperitif staples can be ordered on the terrace outside. I tasted the rather unusual white Pinot Noir from California but went for a glass of Burgundy that was more intriguing for my palate. The sommelier gave me a taste.
The broad wine list stands to the merits of the restaurant. Our pick of Calera Selleck Pinot Noir 1989 from Mount Harlan in Napa Valley, was a savoury red wine with a bright acidity despite its old age and deep, earthy aromas. A corkage of $90 is charged per bottle (only one is allowed per two guests), so if you come often bring your own.
If you still have a room for a digestif then the vintage Madeiras spanning back a century may conclude an indulgent outing with a perfect night cap.
For a non-alcoholic farewell, the tea menu is extensive – a bounty of white, green, oolong, black and pu’erh teas, next to caffeine-free herbal infusions from the garden and seasonal brew coffee. I ventured in for the Almond blossom tisane, rather unusual but a fragrant dot after the decadent meal.

Sustainable farming practices

No pesticides are needed as selective animals introduced to the farm eat the pests. Natural compost takes care of the soil fertility. The Stone Barns Centre for food and agriculture sparks innovation while sustainably nourishes good soil by employing a seven-year crop rotation plan, raises “happy” animals grazing on the rotating pastures and is devoted to plant diversity (500 varieties to date and growing) and mindful food choices. Bees are welcomed on the farm so a little apiary was built for them to rest and make honey as well as pollinate freely as much as they like.
At the Stone Barns, the varietal diversity is being re-injected back into the impoverished American soil. The country that diminished its biodiversity so alarmingly, that plant species die as fast as the rural languages, needs farms like the Stone Barns to align itself with the natural clock. With a hindsight, we know a reductionist system will not feed us. Particularly in the world where every day welcomes more people than ever, we must encourage and nurture our soil as our land-minded ancestors did.
Read more about the FUTURE OF FOOD.
Blue Hill at Stone Barns  630 Bedford Rd, Pocantico Hills, NY 10591.
+1 914 366 9600
Wed-Sat for dinner 5-10pm; Sunday lunch & supper 1-9pm
Cafe & bakery opened Wed-Sun: 10am – 4:30pm. Blue Hill’s savory vegetable flavored yogurts from grass-fed cow’s milk, honey, jam, pastries, and other deli items are sold there.
NOTE: Saturday and Sunday visitors to the Café require admission tickets to Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. The tasting menu is available at the more casual bar counter for $188 and can be reserved up to 2 days in advance.
PHOTOS BY: Radka Beach, Susie Cushner, Jonathan Young.


Candle 79: clean eating through eco nutrition for New Yorkers

Candle 79 is an eco-conscious fine dining sister of the more down-to-earth and over two-decades running Candle Café. Established in a two story townhouse, blending smoothly into the classy Upper East Side, the organic vegetarian veteran with a bold American spirit has been greening up the plates of the health conscious New-Yorkers since 2003.
downstairs bar at Candle 79
The nutrition focused Manhattan business grew from lottery fortune of the owners, who first expanded their original small juice bar and Healthy Candle café renaming it simply Candle Café, and later in 2003 Candle 79 was born as a step up on the vegi-centric ladder. The common vision of the co-owners Bart Potenza and Joy Pierson, a former customer of Healthy Candle who became the in-house nutritionist, is to create sustainable and nutritionally balanced meals.
Candle Café was the first New York “Certified Green Restaurant”. Next to recycling, cleaning with non-toxic products and using more environmentally friendly appliances in and out of the kitchen the owners went as far as to “Investing in wind power to help offset some of the environmental impact of running our restaurants.“, said Mr Potenza. Their sustainable mindset set a tangible standard for other Manhattan restaurants, and today many more follow their responsible business model. One must dine there once in a while just to feel like contributing to a good cause and our common interest – I would call this “clean eating”, more than any other rather superficial and lofty health claims boosting food joints that sprung up recently from West to the East of our globalized world.
vegan and raw food
Candle 79, named after its location at 79th Street, is not just a restaurant, but also a sake and wine bar in one – and all of that is organic! The heavy, warm classic wooden interior somehow contrasts with the green themed servings. By nature inspired art decorating the walls, simple table setting and compact see-through kitchen aspire to assure you of its sustainable focus. The cosy comfort certainly appeals to the local Upper East residents since each time we brunched and lunched there, the restaurant was packed.
Sprouts, sauces and vegetables conquer most of the plates. The wholesome portions are best to be shared and you might not have the capacity to try any of the desserts, on their own a satisfying meal. Sourcing directly from the farms and local farmers market has been a daily practice of both Candle sisters.
vegan and raw foodVegetarian steak
Overall, the food reflects New York’s multi-cultural make-up and the executive chef Angel Ramos constantly refines the dishes. He penetrated into the healthy mindset of the owners while woking for years at Candle Café and now he is mainly responsible for the finer menu at Candle 79.
The decadent Angel’s Nachos are a must dairy-free starter. The mozzarella “cheese” is made from nuts, chipotle seitan adds spice, and tofu sour cream is as good as the cow’s milk version, while the sprawling portion is crafted for sharing. Avocado is another of the Latino chef’s favourite ingredients. The ripe green fruit shines in the Live Jicama Avocado Tartare served topped by wild mushroom ceviche, and a side of jalapeño-kale-chia seed crackers. My favourite plate and must have each time. The seasonal produce is highlighted in the Harvest Salad, in October a sumptuous composition of hazelnuts, apples, roasted grapes, celeriac, brussels sprouts, mixed up with arugula leafs. Perhaps the only light appetiser that keeps your appetite running for the entrées are the nibbles of the Hydrogen Farm Edamame. From the salads, unless you add the optional tempeh, tofu or seitan, the Seaweed Salad.
Despite being filling, some of the main courses do not show the full flavour potential as almost all of the starters do. The Herb Grilled Cauliflower was ultra rich, the pesto sauce more generous than its original basil-based Italian version and the wild mushroom squash risotto was slightly overcooked, not al-dente. A cashew cream instead of cheese did not make it any easier to digest, unless you are lactose intolerant. More flavours inspired by Italy come in the handwork of the Chef’s Daily Handcut Pasta, Seitan Piccata, and Spaghetti with Wheat Balls. American pride satisfies the burger fans in the BBQ Seitan Burger with avocado, chipotle aioli, red onions between pitta-like flat-breads, served with chunky polenta fries and refreshing mesclun. Surprisingly not as heavy as the vegan Italian dishes featured above.
Lighter, but still a meal on its own is the Wild Mushroom Crêpe stuffed with fall vegetables, sautéed wild mushrooms, tempeh, poblano peppers, spinach and garlic truffle aioli, with a side of beet-arugula-fennel salad. Excluding animal products, the sides would make the heavier part of a good American steakhouse menu: polenta fries, onion rings, cornmeal-crusted zucchini and chipotle aioli, garlic mashed potatoes with vegetable gravy, maple ginger sweet potato purée… you will not leave hungry, I promise. The lunch and dinner menus are similar, but the latter offers slightly more starter options. Always ask for daily specials and look for stars on the menu for gluten-free options.
Jorge Pineda, the pastry chef at Candle 79 has been recognized as making one of the best vegan desserts in America. Currently he also creates his own line of vegan sweets available at the US branches of Whole Foods Markets. Unfortunately, we never got to try the sweet creations by Jorge. Our bellies were too full.
Vegetarian burger in New York
Organic, sustainable or biodynamic wine selection spans the Old and New World. The beverage director went to a great length when acquiring the bottles. A glass of organic prosecco, French rosés, local sustainable rieslings from New York’s Fingerlakes or red malbec from Argentina were included on the wine list. Eco cocktails such as Tree Hugger, Manhattan Fig, Pumpkinhead and many others are made with organic spirits.
Non-alcoholic options might turn you a tea-to-teller at least for a day. We were seduced by the fresh juice blends and “smooth sippers” like the Fountain of Youth or the refreshing and fizzy Mango Pomegranate Fresca that y husband loves. As a cold avenger I love the Ginger Zinger with a spicy ginger kick in a freshly juiced carrot.
Reservations are highly recommended. If you walk-in and they won’t find a seat for your group, the Metropolitan Museum is a few blocks away so stroll in or browse into the Central Park for a snack at the Boat House, forget about the organic produce there though.
Contact: +1 212 537 7179
Address: 154 East 79th Street at Lexington Avenue | New York, NY 10021


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