Welcome to New York

Colin received a bottle of wine as a Christmas gift from his mother, he said it was the nicest bottle of wine he had ever gotten and he decided to save it until I officially moved to New York. So we found a great opportunity to make a meal to go with the wine.
Grilled lemon pepper tofu slabs, asparagus, and a salad with this amazing tahini miso dressing that he makes.

Breakfast in bed.

My attempt at heart shaped sausage patties.
Tofu scramble, toast, apple, coffee, and orange juice.

Soy and Sake dinner on Monday

New friend Dave and I decided to go out to dinner, Soy and Sake was the pick, neither of us had ever been and had heard good reviews. New friend Dave was late, silly traffic, at this point my stomach was eating itself, anything would have tasted good.
We arrived on the west side and shockingly enough found parking pretty quickly near the restaurant.
The place looks just like the photos on the website! These amazing windows that open right onto the street, a gorgeous fish tank in the middle of the dining room.
The food and drink menus are extensive, lots of Red Bamboo type of stuff (same owners), but a lot of Japanese fare.
New friend Dave was being a boner and wouldn't order juice with me (1 fresh juice is something like $3.50 but if you get 2 it's only $3.75), so we opted for just food.
Did NOT disappoint.



We ordered 2 bento boxes each, they came with miso soup and salads. NF Dave got teriyaki chicken and I got salmon tempura. Not only did our dishes come with said specialty items and soup and salad, but also 2 dumplings, 6 pieces of sushi, and a piece of fruit - we got watermelon. Also ordered a maki roll to split - 18 pieces consisting of spicy tuna, eel, and california crab rolls ($14).

Super big ups - The miso soup is still lingering in my mind, some of the best flavors I've had in a long time. I'm so glad our entrees came with the soup, I never would have ordered it hadn't they, and it was the perfect broth, perfect size, sooooo good.
The creamy sauce drizzled on our california rolls was out of this world, but I'm a sucker for cream.
Never had anything quite like the spicy tuna and eel rolls, to tell you the truth, I couldn't tell them apart too well, but they were absolutely breathtaking.
















Downfalls - the eel and spicy tuna could have been a little crunchier, the seaweed wasn't as crisp as I normally like, the tempura battered veggies and salmon could have came with a good sauce (the sauce they provided was supposed to be a teriyaki sauce, but wasn't too far from soy sauce), and the wasabi could have been more powerful.
Those are all nitpicking details, the food was excellent, the prices were fantastic, the atmosphere was incredible.
Afterward a long city walk to digest, super fun.



Soundtrack : Head Hits Concrete - Thy Kingdom Come Undone (<3 Mike)

Sunday brunch @ Gobo

John and I met Brian out for lunch at Gobo. I believe they have 2 locations, we went to the one on the west side. All vegetarian cuisine with fresh ingredients, specializing in their seitan dishes.
Seitan is one of the best foods available, you really can't go wrong with it. The texture is incredible and it can be flavored in so many ways. Karlynn told me later about the time she made seitan, completely inspiring, I need to find a good recipe so that I can dig in.

Super fancy place, definitely a "date spot" for dinner. There beverage list was extensive, featuring tons of different kinds of alcohol, smoothies, fresh juices, flavored ice teas, and soda.

We all ordered soup to start, I really wanted the spinach wonton soup that John ordered but the server said there was soy cheese (with casein) in the wontons, so I opted for the same soup as Brian, a blend of root veggies, squash, and white beans ($7). The soup was really hearty and flavorful. The consensus was that we could have easily just had the soup and maybe a small appetizer, but we had already ordered entrees.

Brian and John got the same entree, green tea noodles with seitan. Oh boy was I jealous! Their dishes looked delicious and the seitan was exactly what I was hoping for. I tasted some of Johns - crispy on the outside and the meaty inside just slid off, almost like what I remember about ribs. The marinade that was used was out of this world, next time I head there I will be ordering that dish.

My entree was pretty good, another seitan dish with kale, rice, beans, squash, and a ginger orange marinade. The seitan was prepared different, still delicious, very creamy yet traditional. There could have been more sauce in the dish and the squash was pretty dry, kind of disappointing for the price, $13, but something I would have went crazy for in Cleveland.

At least there were leftovers!

Soundtrack : Noisear - Red Tape Agenda

Late night Saturday night Foodswings night

Saturday night I went out to The Cake Shop to see Kylesa and Stinking Lizaveta. Got to see off my new German friends, it was their last night in town, and enjoyed beers at Local Bar 138 with Kevin. It was our first time hanging out one on one and it ruled, he's really awesome to talk to, made the trip to Manhattan worthwhile.

I had no intention on watching Kylesa, seen them too many times, and I really can't understand their use of the two drummers lately. The place was packed so I just attempted to check out Stinking Lizaveta.
Not totally my favorite style of music, but the performance was rad from what I could see, glad I went.
I decided to leave and John suggested meeting him up at Foodswings. YES!
Could it be as good as the first time?!


Met up with John off the train, and his friend Brandon. Brandon was awesome! Super friendly, a Cleveland native living in Queens.

Foodswings is open later on Friday and Saturday, after a certain time they cut off the normal menu and provide a "late night munchies" menu. It definitely could have been more extensive. John says it's actually grown from previous years, and there are way more selections now. It being my second time I knew I could find something I wanted. I ordered a salami sandwich with dijonaise and soy cheese and a cookie dough milkshake, roughly $13. John got the 3 piece buffalo wings with fries and chili and a soda. Brandon got a pistachio milkshake with cheese fries topped with mushrooms.
They let us drink Brandon's beer while dining!

My sandwich was awesome, it was different than I expected, it had a flat bread panini aspect to it. John said it was different than the time he got it. The grilled bread was a nice touch, that plus the dijonaise made the sandwich special, turned it around from "something you could make at home". My milkshake was pretty good, it's made from a kosher ice cream that some grocery stores even sell her, called Kleins. Pretty awesome, not overly sweet, thick and creamy.

John's chili was awesome, really meaty, not watered down at all, and they give you a pretty big serving as a side.

Best part of the dinner - CIV was there!

Soundtrack : Gorilla Biscuits - Start Today

Saturday lunch at Vinnie's

A banana in nature, discarded in a Williamsburg trash puddle, where it belongs.

Vinnie's Pizza for lunch with John and Jae. My third time dining here, always delicious. The vegan slices rotate, I've never had the same thing twice. The perks are the convenient location and the super late hours (open til 3am Friday and Saturday!).

Today I choose the vegan special, duck duck goose featuring duck and pineapple with 2 kinds of soy cheese. The cheese was melty and soft and the slice featured the perfect amount of duck. I don't like too much duck in my dish because the flavor is so powerful and it's always heavy and super "meaty". The pineapple was a nice touch, when I looked at the slice I thought there would be too much of a pineapple explosion, but it went along really well with the duck. I can usually only eat pineapple on pizza, and this was an awesome lunch! $4, and free cups of water.

DIY Tofu Scramble Sandwhich

Hunger struck on my Friday night in and I decided to make a sandwich with my left over tofu scramble from the day before.
Spinach, tomatoes, tofu scramble, jalapeno sauce, and avocado on whole wheat flax bread. Incredible. You really can't go wrong with pizza and sandwiches, you can be so inventive and they always end up being the perfect food.


Soundtrack : Lack of Interest - Take Another Step

Dumpling Man & Whole Earth Bakery

John and I headed into the city on Friday for some Dumpling Man. John discovered this place, located on St Marks, when he lived in NYC. He was walking by on a hot day and noticed a cool down treat being advertised, "snow" with mango. Apparently they have this super old cranked metal machine that makes this icy treat. They put a cylinder of ice in the thing, crank it by hand and it shaves off ice into a container which they cover in mango juice (and fresh mangos?). Apparently it's amazing, but they didn't have the ice when we stopped in.
At Dumpling Man everything is made fresh, you can watch the employees crank out the dumplings by hand while you dine at the counter.
A very simple selection, they have pork, chicken, veggie, and shrimp, along with a couple surprises. I opted for the 10 piece veggie which ran me like $8.50 with tax. John got the 6 piece and a side of edamame.
The dumplings come in different colors, the veggie is green, it has spinach juice in the dough to create the color. The filling is soft tofu, smoked firm tofu, wheat protein, shiitake mushroom, sesame oil, and bok choy.
Order is up, pick it up from the counter, sit down and chow.
Incredible. I choose pan seared (instead of steamed) based on John's suggestion and like always, was not led astray. The dough was soft, moist, and crispy from the searing. The filling was to die for. By far the best dumplings I've had, granted, I usually get the frozen ones from the Asian Market and make them myself.
The veggie dumplings are great on their own, dipped in soy sauce, or smothered in Sriracha (which is available throughout the seating area).
10 was the perfect amount not having a side. I left satisfied but not super stuffed.
Will be going back.



We decided to walk up to Whole Earth Bakery and snag a desert. This was my second trip to this place. They have food and baked goods, most everything is vegan from what I understand. The first time I went was with Colin, Thanksgiving time, we got some treats to share at Nick and Karlynn's. I remember the Chocolate Chip Chewy the most, so good, and yes, so chewy!

This time John got a berry apple cobbler pie monstrosity for $4 and I opted for something that was on the $2 tray. I have no idea what it was, I just know that it was chocolatey and vegan. It was shaped like a cupcake but had the consistency of chocolate tofu. It was soft to bite and stayed together really well. Wish I knew what I ate.
















We ate our treats at the dog park, watched the dogs for enter- tainment.


This is probably going to be one of my new favorite things to do. I visited the dog park on rare occasion back home, always with a friend and an actual dog, but this was awesome, such a high turnover rate. The new dogs that come in every few minutes are always so pumped to hang and there are so many different kinds, full of energy and ready to play.
Not only were the dogs free entertainment, but the people were too. There was an old man there that we swore was a sketch comedy act, like Michael Showalter dressed up with a hidden camera.
The guy had one of his arms bandaged up and in a sling, he was walking with a cane, with this larger than life mop of white hair matching a mustache. He had on this vest made out of windbreaker material that had a zippered pocket across the back. The pocket was full of stuff, box shaped items, it made him look like he had a ridiculous oddly shaped hunchback. Such a fake character.

Foodswings & Penny Licks on Thursday

Headed out to see Endless Blockade, Magrudergrind, and Unearthly Trance on Thursday at The Charleston in Williamsburg.
Met up with John and Jae off the subway to get some food at Foodswings. I've been dying to go there in previous trips to NY and am now bummed that I missed out. This place will definitely be in my top eats from now on. They specialize in vegan fast food with no frills dining, open late, tons of fried foods.
Holy shit, overwhelming menu. I decided to get the buffalo wings based on John's recommendation, and I was not disappointed! So amazing!! Going to have to say the best buffalo wings I've had so far. The breading was perfection, tender fake meat on a wooden stick. They provide you with an amazing ranch dipping sauce, that isn't even needed because the wings are so flavorful on their own, but definitely a perk. I also ordered a side of the original mac n cheese. The 3 piece and mac n cheese came in a special for something like $8.75 and were served up on a cafeteria style lunch tray.
The mac n cheese was so-so, I've had better. As a hot sauce lover, I'm always pleased when my food doesn't "need" hot sauce, but this definitely needed something to spice it up. I used the remnants of the buffalo sauce on the mac and it was even tastier.

Broke off from the dudes, headed to the show. Grabbed a beer and chatted with Logan. It hadn't started yet so Logan, Chris and I decided to walk around with some pals. We ended up at this pizza place and I made some new friends, Dave and Mike. We all headed over to Penny Licks a few storefronts down for some ice cream.
Dairy and dairy free specialties with an assortment of Vegan Treats items.
Chris grabbed a goodie bag of cookies and deserts and we all got "penny licks" cones, which are tiny cones with two scoops of ice cream FOR A DOLLAR!!!!
Pumpkin pie ice cream was had and SO DELICIOUS! The perfect amount of ice cream. It was super creamy and flavorful, the ice cream to cone ratio was right on.
Amazing food, amazing show.

Welcome to New York City, the best vegan fare in North America!

So I broke off from the Krallice / Wolves in the Throne Room tour, finished an epic weekend at Maryland Deathfest, drove to Cleveland than straight back to NYC with my car on Tuesday, May 26th.
Headed straight to the Studio at Webster Hall for the WITTR, Krallice, Storm of Light show.
Packed house.
Colin was able to grab some food, so we went to Viva Herbal Pizzeria, this was my second time dining there, and it does not disappoint! We grabbed 2 slices, the Zen and the Picante, under $12 for two enormous slices. The perfect food for my welcome into NYC.

Mike met us up at Viva, and after we headed to 10th where Colin surprised me with a vegan ice cream shop called Stogos!
We got a peanut butter caramel nutty whatever. SO GREAT!
Stupid beers, got drunk. Colin drove Kevin and I "home" (!!!!!), but first a stop at Oasis in Williamsburg for late night falafel.
This was my 3rd? time having their falafel. Super cheap, $3? They make a good sandwich, but the falafel does not not compare to Maha's in Cleveland's West Side Market. It is, however, a fantastic late night drunk special!