Vegan Mofo #24: Weekend Review: From NYC to Northampton
October 26, 2008
The East Village’s Organic Grill serves a mean tofu omelet. In my previous visits, spanning a few years now, they’ve always used a proprietary blend of vegan cheddar cheese. I was a bit disappointed to learn they have now converted over to Follow Your Heart‘s cheese. The omelet is still the best of its kind but I miss the smooth texture and heat-retaining capabilities of their old cheese. Wah.
Here are their Seitan Skewers…
…and grilled tofu sandwich. Both very delicious.
…and grilled tofu sandwich. Both very delicious.
Onward to Northampton, Massachusetts. In the adorable Florence area is a wonderful cafe and bakery: Cafe Evolution. Though their food offerings are a bit limited, the space is also home to Oh Sweet Mama’s Vegan Bakery. What a delight the place was! Wok Man and I spent the entire morning at the Ms. Pac Man table admiring the local art on the walls and inspecting the flurry of vegan activist pamphlets alongside the locals. Our breakfast sandwich, which refused to rotate (below), was a nice bite of mostly grocery items: Tofurky slices, Veganaise, Follow Your Heart cheddar.
The real draw was the baked items. So many wonderful items to chose from! Knowing that I’d soon be leaving town, the pressure was on. I chose the lemon cupcake and Wok Man had the peanut butter chocolate chip cookie.
Came, saw and cupcake-conquered! My country-wide tour of America’s vegan bakeries continues…Next (actually after a long, all-day hike on the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail) was dinner at Bela Vegetarian Restaurant. This place blew my heavily dampened mountaineering socks off. The corn chowder, which I ordered only because I was ferociously hungry and knew I wouldn’t be able to think straight waiting for my meal, was, hands down, the best soup I ever had! So creamy and hearty. The Boylan King Cola also kicked butt.
The real draw was the baked items. So many wonderful items to chose from! Knowing that I’d soon be leaving town, the pressure was on. I chose the lemon cupcake and Wok Man had the peanut butter chocolate chip cookie.
Came, saw and cupcake-conquered! My country-wide tour of America’s vegan bakeries continues…Next (actually after a long, all-day hike on the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail) was dinner at Bela Vegetarian Restaurant. This place blew my heavily dampened mountaineering socks off. The corn chowder, which I ordered only because I was ferociously hungry and knew I wouldn’t be able to think straight waiting for my meal, was, hands down, the best soup I ever had! So creamy and hearty. The Boylan King Cola also kicked butt.
My harvest burger, made of lentils, tofu and other such goodies, was of the crumbling variety which meant… seconds! It was absolutely fab. After eating a full cubed potato in my chowder, I donated my rosemary potatoes to Wok Man because he’s a bottomless pit.
Here Wok Man inhales the aroma of spaghetti with soy sausage, Swiss chard and diced tomato. And in the end, he’s full! A hard goal to accomplish.
