From their islands to ours: a taste of Japan

Just a few days ago, I had a question on a blog post from almost two years ago about where to get good Japanese eats here in NYC. Now, finding Japanese food in general is no trick - it's everywhere! But finding the good vegan stuff may not be so easy, precisely because there are so many places to choose from. And picking up a little something on the run is always a skill best gleaned from the locals.

Of course I can only speak from my personal experience, and given that I've been an office slave since I came to this funny little part of the country, I can speak pretty knowledgeably about Midtown East. As luck would have it, this happens to be a GREAT place to find Japanese vittles. As I mentioned in my post from way back when, 47th Street between 3rd Avenue and Lexington is a nice epicenter of all things Japanese.

On 51st between 3rd and 2nd Aves lives Tanaka, a place near and dear to my heart for two reasons. 1) It's the first place I ever experienced a peanut roll - yes, maki with peanuts as the filling, which is strangely delicious, especially when they also include avocado. 2) The wacky, 4 foot tall plastic Japanimation figure that stands outside the front door beckoning you to come inside! He never fails to put a smile on my face. Other standouts here include the sweet potato roll and the mango roll. (Trust me, after working in Midtown for five years, these things are exciting. Tanaka is a pretty small place, and if you show up during lunch with more than one other person, expect a long wait. At any other time of day, you'll waltz right in. But don't be surprised if you feel like you're sitting in the lap of the strangers at the next table.

I've only recently discovered Tanzen on 2nd Avenue near 53rd, a restaurant that is positively enormous for a Manhattan scale. It's lovely too, with a central sort of waterfall. It's a bit more expensive for the three roll special (that's what you get for a waterfall), but they are much better at handling large groups and are significantly less crowded. They too feature the beloved peanut avocado roll; mango's not on the menu, but my guess is they'd make it if you asked. It's a good place for an office birthday.

A few blocks south (45th between 3rd Ave and Lex) there is now a rice ball place called Oms/b. It's tiny, and mostly caters to the Midtown lunch crowd, so if you stop in on a weekday between 12 and 2:30 pm, don't plan on sitting down. They generally have at least three or four all-vegetable and/or tofu varieties of omusubi (also known as onigiri) on hand. Don't get the soup combo deal though: when last I checked, all of their soups were made with a fish base. (This makes me shake my fist at the sky demanding, "but why? WHY?!?" in frustration.)

Are there Japanese places further south (like, below 14th Street)? Sure! Plenty! But once I'm down there I tend to go to the actual vegan restaurants... though I am still waiting for the day that someone realizes there should be a vegan Japanese place. I will be up in there like white on rice.

OK, so that's all fine for sit-down, service meals, but what about grab-and-go food? Well, there is no shortage of Japanese markets. I'm a sucker for these places for one main reason: DAIFUKU! I adore anything that's made of rice flour dough. Fill it with sweet red bean paste and cover it with sesame seeds, and I'm like putty in your hands. Japanese markets never fail me for these sweet treats, that somehow pack a ridiculous amount of sugar (often around 60 grams). Dainobu on 47th Street is really a full blown, if small, grocery store, and it does not disappoint in the daifuku department. Or in any other department, for that matter. There are many prepared meals here, but careful label reading is required.

There is a great little Japanese market much further downtown, not far from Astor Place, called Sunrise Mart - though it's a little tricky to find. It's upstairs, so you have to take an elevator! It's above St. Mark's Bookstore. Though it's well known among the neighborhood college students and hipsers, and everyone else for that matter, the majority of other shoppers that I usually see there are Asian family types going about their shopping for dinner. Make sure to check the far back corner - it's a hectic array of merchandise, and you might just find yourself a pretty little tea pot.

Not far from that up by 10th Street there's a much bigger place called M2M (Morning 2 Midnight). This place is predominately, though less specifically, Japanese, and has a more pan-Asian feel to it. There's a tiny seating area up in the front corner, if you want to sit down for five minutes to wolf down your avocado roll. Just around the corner really, at 2nd Ave and St. Mark's (8th Street), you'll find JAS Mart, which has two other locations as well - on 23rd just East of the Flatiron building, and on Broadway above 110th in Harlem.

For any newbies out there, packaged foods are pretty easy. But in restaurants, some things to watch out for: miso can be made with fish stock, bonito flakes are made of fish (but can often just be left off), and tempura batter is sometimes made with egg. Kani is crab, so that's a no go. But oshinko is pickled cabbage, daikon is radish, and ume or umeboshi are pickled plums. And while natto is technically vegan, you really might not want to go there...

So there you go. Be safe, have fun... peanut avocado rolls for everyone! :D

A-tisket, A-tasket, a Mexican restaurant that actually has good vegan food!

Just a word on Papacitos in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. If you happen to pass by this "Mexican street food joint" on a Thursday or Saturday evening in the near future, there is just ever so small a chance that you will see me there - dining on an enormous plate of nachos (smothered in vegan Diaya cheese and sour cream and SoyRizo), and alternately getting up to sing Karaoke Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday songs. And who knows? Maybe a little Etta James... and the occasional 80's hit.

Just sayin'.

I still eat, I swear! Today I had a lovely gazpacho.

Hello dear readers! Miss me?

OK, so I know you're not *demanding* an explanation for my three-month-long absence, but I'm going to provide a bit of one anyway. The short version: my body is trying to kill me.

The slightly longer version: Immediately after returning from the wedding in March I had to schedule a wee bit of oral surgery (wisdom teeth removal). It took place in mid-April. Given that I must do everything the hardest way possible, of course after the surgery I got a dry socket. So there were many weeks where my gustatory world consisted of little other than smoothies, yogurt, lukewarm soup, and other soft food objects that one can eat sitting up in bed. Which brings us to about mid-May.

I had just really started to recuperate and get out into the world again - Jonathan and I went to the Cloisters for our fourth anniversary, and then ate at Peace Food Cafe. Terrible name, fantastic food, just by the way. And then the very next weekend... KIDNEY STONES! An emergency room visit, four days in the hospital because my kidneys got infected (I had an obstructed ureter), a handful of minor surgeries and procedures, and ten to fourteen glasses of water or other clear liquids per day. For the past month and a half. I'm telling you, I don't walk; I float.

But anyway, it's sort of kind of beginning to resolve now. Anyway, about that gazpacho.

I believe I've talked here before about Le Pain Quotidien - let's just call it LPQ for short. The waitstaff does, so I don't see why I can't. When I first dined at an LPQ I had very mixed feelings about it: it's a chain, albeit a European one. It's definitely a bit overpriced. But they do have a location a mere block from my office, their soup of the day is always vegan, and they nearly always have one or two vegan baked goods in the cases up front. This was enough to sway me to their favor over this past long winter.

Winter is most definitively gone. We are in the middle of a nasty heat wave - so bad, in fact, that it has forced me to finally go out and buy air conditioning units. Today is what I am truly and sincerely hoping will be our hottest day of the year - 98*. And come lunchtime, the dining option that popped into my head was the good old LPQ, and the cold gazpacho that's been on their menu for the past month or two.

Any gazpacho in the world has a tough measure to live up to: my mom's. Hers is killer, and since it's practically the only one I've ever had it's what I know the dish *should* taste like. I am happy to report that LPQ can give my mom's cold soup a run for its money (not that I wouldn't still eat hers any day of the week). It is pungent, perfect in consistency, extremely flavorful, and topped with a swirl of a deep green sort of basil aioli/puree that adds both visual interest and an increased depth of flavor. The occasional small chunks of mango and avocado take it right over the top - I do believe this is my new favorite summer dish.

Here's a question: what other cold soups are there? The husband and I can't think of any, other than variations on gazpacho which really don't count. Three points to whoever can tell us one!

Snips and snails and sugar and spice:how the Cinnamon Snail got me out of bed at 7am on a Sunday.

At 7:00 on the morning of the day of St. Valentine, an alarm began to ring. And I, I knew it was time.

Slowly I rose to prepare for the challenge which I had, of my own volition, chosen to accept: to arrive in Hoboken, New Jersey by 9:00 in the morning on a Sunday. Bravely, as a partner should, Jonathan stood by me. In fact, he made me coffee.

The N train was on our side, arriving only moments after we had mounted our cold, exposed platform in Astoria, Queens. We were running late, however, and tensions ran high - impossible to know whether we would make that crucial 8:44 am PATH train. Our subway proceeded at a snail's pace - irony? - spending extra time at each intervening stop and prolonging our anxiety.

Arriving at the 34th Street PATH station at last, we flew through the terminal to find, thankfully, that the gods of transit had been watching over us all along: our train was running four minutes late, and we even got seats approximately sixty seconds before the doors closed for departure.

At 9:00 am exactly, we arrived at that far southeastern corner of Hoboken and emerged into the cold crisp sunshine, happy and determined on that Valentine's morning.

As usual, I know what you're thinking. Alright, she's officially lost her mind. She got up at 7am on Valentine's day to go to freaking New Jersey, and dragged her man along with? There is no good explanation for this. It's just not possible.

Oh ye of little faith. I in fact have the best reason *ever* for being in New Jersey at 9am on a Sunday.

Ready?

DONUTS. No, wait, it gets better. FREE DONUTS!

See, in case you haven't heard, Sunday was the grand opening of the Cinnamon Snail Vegan Organic Food Truck, which - weather and parking permitting - will be making daily weekday appearances in the Hoboken area. There are two vegan food *carts* that I know of in Manhattan, but the consensus seems to be that this is the very first truck. (Hear that Portland?!) For now it's just in Hoboken, but husband-and-wife owner-and-operator team Adam and Joey hope to make it over to Brooklyn as well at some point.

So what's the story on the Snail? Well, I'd heard all sorts of good things, but what really caught my attention was the offer of free donuts to the first 100 customers that opening day. That's the kind of offer I can't refuse. Pair it with gorgeous breakfast offerings from 9 to 11 am and lunches that will blow your mind from 11am to 3pm, plus a fully stocked pastry case all day long, and you've got a truck that will get me to Joisey.

And so travel we did. As it turned out, in all of our mad hustle, we were the first to arrive at the truck. No problems there though; as luck would have it the weather was lovely, and the view of the Hudson and Manhattan from their chosen parking place on Sinatra Drive was a sight to behold. It also allowed us a good view of the truck itself, which is a work of art. And when Adam cracked open that side panel and was ready for business, we quickly discovered that it had been well worth the wait.

First of all, we were immediately handed an apple cider donut covered in cinnamon sugar. It was definitely one of the best donuts I have ever eaten, vegan or not. From the breakfast menu, which is somewhat limited at the moment but will likely be expanded soon, Jonathan ordered the breakfast burrito and I ordered the kale baguette. While we waited, we split one of the cinnamon rolls... and saw a little bit of heaven. Think a vegan cinnamon roll can't be moist, soft, flavorful, and just melt-in-your-mouth amazing? Well then you think wrong, and apparently you need to get to Hoboken on the double.

The baguette was pretty fantastic for more or less being bread with kale on it. Sauteed kale on a nice soft baguette, slathered in tofu cream cheese, with capers thrown in for zest. (I skipped the olives.) The burrito seemed pricey at first, until we saw it! It is enormous, and delicious, crammed full of scrambled tofu, refried beans, and guacamole. Jon actually couldn't finish it and had to save some for later - after all, we needed to save some room...

Because at 11am the truck switches from the breakfast menu to the lunch menu. This is a significantly more extensive offering, and it pains me that I won't be able to go back every day to try something new. (Anyone know of job offerings in Hoboken?) From this menu, we ordered a mustard marinated tempeh sandwich and a grilled tofu sandwich. Both turned out to be enormous and divine. The tofu sandwich incorporated at least a third of a brick of tofu! And it was truly grilled - a rare gustatory pleasure.

While we were waiting this second time around we did a bit more pastry shopping: we got a mini chocolate ganache bundt cake, a Mississippi mud cupcake, a maple raspberry cookie (which Adam affectionately referred to as a "really legit pop tart"), and two of the two-bite sized peanut butter and chocolate cheesecakes - which naturally we ate while waiting. After all, they didn't fit in the box. We have Joey to thank for the absolutely fabulous baked goods that were on offer on Sunday; she had done the baking knowing that on opening day Adam would be at the grill while she hovered on site and tended to their youngest child. Joey told me that going forward both she and Adam will be doing the pastry baking, but that Adam is always the cook!

The truck on its opening day did not draw hoards, but there was an unwavering steady stream of customers. Many people came out specifically for the opening day event (hello, free donut?), while others simply happened by and were drawn in by the stunning truck, alluring pastry case, and enticing smells emanating from the truck's kitchenette. Comments overheard from patrons included such [paraphrased] sentiments as, "I'm so glad we finally have a real vegan option in Hoboken." and many versions of "OMG, this is the best ____ I've ever eaten!"

Nearing the end of the first day out on the street, Adam was feeling hopeful about his new enterprise, which has been about eight years in coming to fruition. "It's been so much fun - it's been a thousand times smoother than I could have ever hoped for. People have been very very sweet and accommodating." In talking about his food, Adam had no reservations. "I'm so confident about the menu - I love everything on our menu."

But when it came to his own lunch, Adam didn't take the easy chance to tout his own offerings; instead he sang the praises of the yerba mate which he was drinking from a special pot, and which he drinks daily. He hopes to serve it from the truck eventually. An avid yoga practitioner, he likes to "keep it light" during the day, and says that the raw pizza and salads from the lunch menu would be the most likely choice of fare for his mid-day meal.

The truck's location on the streets of Hoboken is subject to where they can find parking each day. As such, the best way to find them is through the miracle of the internet: they frequently update their Facebook and Twitter pages to let us know where they are and where they'll be next. The truck's hours are Monday to Friday, 9am to 3pm.

Adam described the Cinnamon Snail vegan truck project as his "life's dream", declaring "I'm determined to make it work out."

Red Bamboo Brooklyn Goes Red Meat - NYiG declares FAIL.

If you're vegan and living in the NYC area, you've likely already heard that Red Bamboo Brooklyn will be closing its doors at the end of the year. What you might not know, however, is that it's actually just changing over. In 2010 it will re-open as "Poppa's Place," under the same management and with the same cook, as an omni restaurant. (Disclaimer: I did not take the photograph.)

Why? Steven Brown of the Brooklyn Paper postulates that it's because vegetarianism is "on life support". (I'd love to chat with him about that erroneous idea over brunch or dinner one Saturday at any of the dozens of thriving veg restaurants in the NYC area, but I just get so impatient waiting for a table.) Owner Jason Wong seems to be attributing the switch to a combination of economy troubles and a decline in demand for the processed mock meat fare that has heretofore defined the restaurant's menu.

But it's also personal. Wong has given up his own vegetarianism, and believes his restaurant will do better offering "humane" meat. "I am ready to serve meat," he stated. Well Mr. Wong, I am ready to no longer patronize your restaurant. Maybe reheating soy cutlets from May Wah is not the best business model, but is Happy Meat really the best you can come up with? Did you pause to wonder how so many other restaurants have been able to develop diversified, crowd-pleasing menus without depending on either mock meats or flesh? Meh, no need to worry about it, bring on the dead animals (and the profits)!

According to at least one source, both Red Bamboo locations are owned by Wong, son of Philip and Lulu Wong who in turn own Vegetarian's Paradise 2. The Red Bamboo West Village location will remain vegetarian... for now.

Red Bamboo Brooklyn is having a Closing Party / New Year's Eve celebration on December 31. I, for one, will not be in attendance: to me, even to show up is to give more support than I feel this restaurant owner currently deserves.