I Heart New York

I love New York.

I have made that clear here and here. From the first time I got off the train in Manhattan I knew there was something special about NY for me. I felt like Madonna when she arrived in New York and said, “take me to the middle of everything.”

Note: Most moments in my life can be directly correlated to a Madonna moment or song.

I jump at any chance I have to be in New York, which I really believe is the center of everything. Culture, art, food, scandal, love, live, and everything in between can be found in New York. GUSH

I was in New York last week for a brief work trip and had the chance to try out a couple vegan eateries. Here is the good, bad, and ugly… 

1. One Lucky Duck

I have posted about One Lucky Duck before when they had a promotion on Daily Gourmet, but I finally had the chance to visit. First off, it was my first time in Chelsea Market and it was so fun! One Lucky Duck is tucked away in a large room of vendors and is predominately raw with lots of delicious juices, smoothies, and raw yum-yums. I asked for a smoothie suggestion and was led to the simple banana, cashew milk, and cinnamon. Seems so boring, but was so delicious. It was the perfect treat for a humid NY day. Yum!

2. Caravan of Dreams

The name of this place makes me chuckle, so I had to visit… Let me start with the positive. The atmosphere in this place is amazing. It is SO cute and just has that perfect level of underground NY that made me feel like Andy Warhol at a 1974 café. I had the maple and tamari smoked tempeh, which was just lovely; a fusion of flavors that blended perfectly.

My travel partner got the red lentil and roasted cauliflower cakes. Sounds good, right? She took one bite and damn near spit it out. The cakes were spiced with curry, which she is NOT a fan of. Problem is the menu had NO mention of curry at all. We all know many people have a love / hate relationship with curry and it is a really strong flavor. Yet, they completely disregarded this and left no mention of it on the menu. My travel partner is a new vegetarian and I know how disappointed she was. Clearly, I was too. She ate around it, but I hate when people have to do that. So, if anyone from Caravan of Dreams reads this, I hope you will adjust your menu in the future. A simple change would lead to a world of difference.

Ice cream perfection after the jump…

3. Lula’s Sweet Apothecary

If ice cream were a person, I would marry it. I may just have to settle for someone who works at Lula’s. This place is super cute and clearly quite popular. I got a cake batter / chocolate twist blizzard with chocolate chips and my friend got a hot fudge sundae with chocolate fudge / peanut butter ice cream. Yeah. Words can’t really describe my love for this place. If your plans take you to NY, you absolutely must go to Lula’s. It is just perfection. I am already plotting what to get the next time I am in town. A tip though, they are cash only!

Couple more pics from my NY adventure on The Chubby Vegan facebook page.

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