Category: travel

Breakfast at The Organic Grill

Our flight was at 2pm so most brunch options would be cutting it too close. The Organic Grill‘s brunch started at 10 and was pretty close by so we decided to try that. It’s not a vegan restaurant, but there were plenty of options. I got the tofu rancheros. I was completely happy with this. Right amount of food. Very satisfying.

Okay, so we might have gotten 3 breakfasts between the two of us. *blort* Kevin wanted the blueberry slamcakes. And he was glad we’d ordered an extra thing. The pancakes were pretty small and he didn’t love the scramble. I liked the pancakes but if you’re starving it might not be enough food.

The other thing that intrigued us was their tofu omelette. They really hype it up on the menu. And what could be bad about tofu stuffed with vegan cheese and veggies. We’re pretty sure they’re using Daiya cheese too. It was  huge, like almost burrito sized. They seem to shred the tofu and maybe mix it with little batter to make it into an omelette shape. The Daiya really made it though.

After this, we walked around the corner to get falafels from Mamoun’s since Kevin hadn’t had them yet. We ate them later on the plane. Kevin wasn’t impressed. I still think they’re pretty good but not necessarily the best I’ve ever had.

More bingeing

While eating brunch, Matt & Danielle sent out a tweet that they would be at Pala Pizza at 4pm and to come join them. Uh, sure, why not! It was kind of dark in there so photos were pretty sucky. The pizza was good. They used Daiya. We also split some gnocchi. Sadly, it was gummy and undercooked.

So after eating at Pala, we hopped in a cab with Ken & Leigh and headed to Veggie Conquest to eat some more! We were lucky enough to be in NYC during Veggie Conquest and to get tasting tickets through Ken & Leigh. Thanks guys! The secret ingredient for this event was cranberries and the course was dessert. Here’s the list of entries. I think #4 was a no show.

The tastes arrived in small bites. Definitely doable. My favorite was also the judges, #7 the rice crepe with cran-ginger sauce. What we didn’t know is that after the competition, there would be a huge buffet of delicious foods set up. Oh crap. Match Vegan Meats was one of the sponsors and provided volunteers with some of their vegan meats for the buffet dishes. My favorite was the swedish meatballs. Definitely comfort food. I think it’s the one in the middle of my plate. No, I didn’t clean this plate, but I sure as hell tried everything.

We also got to sample one of the creamiest vegan ice creams I’ve ever had from the Raw Ice Cream Company. That’s right, it’s also raw. Amazing!

All in all, this was an amazing event. A bunch of like minded people eating tasty food in a beautiful space (an art gallery exhibiting never seen before photographs of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones) for a bargain price of $20. We are totally going to have to start one of these in Atlanta.

Breakfast and brunch

Saturday after the wedding was another day of a ridiculous amount of eating. It started out innocently enough. We knew we were going to meet a bunch of folks for brunch at Counter around noon. But both of us are early risers and weren’t going to make it all the way ’til noon. So we went by Cafe Pedlar for coffee again and then got bagels.

Then later we headed over to Counter to meet up with a ton of people. We basically took over the back of the restaurant.

Now, I’ll give them a break on the service since we were such a huge group and arrived in waves. But again the food wasn’t worth the hype. I got the tofu scramble. It’s mostly up under the toast. I will say the potatoes were awesome. Nice crisp on them, soft inside. The tofu scramble was bland and uninteresting. How do you mess up tofu scramble? You can make it an infinite number of tasty ways. It’s inexcusable really.

Kevin thought his french toast was pretty good. But there should have been more of it.

Anyway, my overall impression from my two visits to Counter is that it isn’t worth the hype.

After brunch, we grabbed the rented evening clothes and headed downtown to return them. I’m glad I went with Kevin because I was able to see Trinity Church Cemetery.

Oh, we’re not done eating yet. Coming up, pizza and Veggie Conquest!

This and that in NYC

Friday after breakfast, Kevin was busy with wedding stuff so I wandered around a bit on my own. I did a little shopping in Union Square.

After that, I hit up Mamoun’s for a falafel. $2.50??? What a bargain!

Then I headed back to the apartment to rest and get ready for the wedding. Somehow I managed to pass by Babycakes. Hmm…I wonder how that happened? Chocolate crumb cake and cinnamon toast loaf. Yum!

I didn’t take any pictures at Danielle & Matt’s wedding. There were professionals handling that. I’m sure the pics will be up soon. Meanwhile, the smile booth photos will give you an idea… Also, Leigh grabbed some pictures of the food.

Breakfast at Atlas Cafe again

Friday morning we had breakfast at Atlas Cafe again. Hey, at least we tried different things, right?

This time I decided to try a savory crepe, the vegan unchicken crepe. I’m not sure what they use for the chicken, but I think it was one of the standards you can get in a grocery store. The salad was a nice touch. My only complaint is that the tomato stuff inside had little or no flavoring.

Oh, whoops. I guess I also got a blueberry muffin. Vegan Treats, I think.

I can’t remember what Kevin got. Looks like some kind of deli slices on there.

On the way to breakfast, we spotted this. So true.