My Favorite Veggie Restaurants

I’d like to cook more often, but I wind up eating out more often than not. Being a vegetarian from the age of 15, I’m most comfortable ordering from vegetarian or vegan establishments. I do eat food from normal restaurants, but I’m always paranoid about the random inclusion of meat ingredients in things like sauces or even salads. You’d be surprised how often I’ve been told that an item is vegetarian only to find out that it contains chicken or fish.

My absolute favorite vegetarian restaurant in the city is Curly’s Vegetarian Lunch. I try to make it there at least once a week. The food is good, the prices are reasonable, the proprietors and all but one of the waitresses are incredibly nice and it’s conveniently located three subway stops from my house. This restaurant is run by the folks behind the old 24hr Veg City Diner that used to be on 14th street as well as one of the original founders of the dearly departed Burritoville. I recommend their Cubano sandwich, which is my favorite veggie style Cubano.

Brooklyn Boneshakers is a new-ish bike themed restaurant that I order from at least a couple of times a week. It’s great that they opened their doors right around the time when Mighty Diamond shut down. They are located pretty near by my house, but usually I let them do the riding and order in. Quick delivery, tasty food at reasonable prices and even the delivery people are friendly. These guys have started to recognize me when I call, so you know I’m a huge fan. I recommend the Sag Sandwich which is an egg and cheese on a roll type deal.

My favorite restaurant when I’m in the mood to “go out” is Red Bamboo Brooklyn. Decent ambiance in a decent area of Brooklyn with a pretty decent crowd. The waitresses are incredibly nice, which if you haven’t noticed, is a big factor in my decision as to what establishments I patronize. One particular young lady is a huge basketball fan and is always ready with a quip or putdown. I don’t usually go in for the faux fish, but their Bridgetown was tasty enough that even the carnivorous [Knighthawk][4] was pleasantly surprised.

Another favorite of mine is [S’Nice][5], which has tasty sandwiches, delicious and healthy sides and is a decent place for a coffee bar type experience. This is actually my newest discovery, I missed out on it for quite a while. This is my favorite place to go when I want to earn my meal with either a long walk or a long bike ride.

A couple of times a year I splurge and take the lovely Miss Hoadley to [Candle 79][6] on the Upper East Side. The food is probably the best vegetarian food I’ve ever had and the restaurant has the feel of fine dining. Of course, the prices reflect that. I haven’t had the food here often enough to have a solid favorite, but everything we’ve ever ordered has been delicious.

My favorite site for information on veggie restaurants is [SuperVegan][7]. The site has a great interactive map of veggie restaurants in NYC and really informative reviews. This is the site I turn to when I’m in the mood to try out a random place.

So…wanna buy me lunch?

[4]: http://www.45adapters.com/music/Knighthawk scream.mp3 [5]: http://supervegan.com/r.php?id=401 [6]: http://www.candlecafe.com/ [7]: http://supervegan.com/