healthy laps

Wow – what a whirlwind of a weekend!  I hope you all liked my posts of spring veggies and spring running gear over the past few days.  Now, on to the eats for the weekend.

It was quite the weekend of food finds for me.  I was in the city Thursday-Sunday, and even though I was in an 8 hour workshop everyday, I was determined to get to the places I wanted to go to.  It’s not everyday that I get to be in NYC, so I need to live it up when I’m there.  There are a crazy amount of healthy/vegan/vegetarian/raw food joints that I want to try out.  I got to quite a few over the past few days!

I didn’t document everything that I ate over the past few days, just the things worth mentioning.  Breakfast each day was normal – oatmeal with banana, flax, peanut butter and granola.  Lunch was PB&J, apple and yogurt.  Snacks were granola bars and/or trailmix.  Nothing unusual, but I needed everything to be portable.  I made sure to pack my own breakfast, lunch and snacks so that I would have more to spend on goodies!

My first stop was at Angelica Kitchen for dinner on Thursday night with my sister-in-law.  Angelica Kitchen is a vegan restaurant that uses only organic products and no preservatives or refined sugars.  Apparently, they only buy their produce from local farmers, and serve everything within 48 hours of harvest.

I was so excited when she said that she wanted to try it out!  The place was packed, but we only had a 30ish minute wait, and it was worth it.  Everything on the menu sounded delicious.  They have a variety of entrees, appetizers and juices, but I ended up going with a special of the day.

Millet patties with corn, onion, sweet potato and spices served with a pumpkin pesto over sauteed beans, roasted cauliflower and green beans.

This was so so so good!  I loved everything about it and basically cleaned my plate.  It tasted so fresh and healthy.

Obviously, I saved room for dessert.

Carob Chocolate Cake with raspberry puree and maple tofu whip.

Doesn’t it look so pretty?  Well, I did not like it!  I guess that I am not a huge fan of carob – or there was something else in here that I didn’t like.  It tasted very dry and the maple tofu whip on top did not taste of maple.  Oh well – our dinners definitely made up for it.  I would go back in a second!

After the workshop on Friday, I took a long walk around the city to stretch out my legs and check out a few places.

The first stop was Cocoa V, a vegan chocolate shop.  Cocoa V is a chocolate boutique and wine cafe, according to their website.

It was adorable inside with a bakery case full of chocolates, and a small room of tables set up to wine and dine.  They have so many chocolates to choose from, and expensive chocolate at that!  There were Truffles, Bon Bons, Bark, Brownies, Cupcakes, Hot Chocolate, etc.  They do offer a few menu items, as well, but let’s be honest – I was here for the chocolate!  And, I took it to go.

I purchased a few things: Chocolate Pretzel Chunks, Chocolate Bark with Coffee Beans and Cacao Nibs and a Chocolate Almond Bar.  I ate a bite of each right away, and they were all delicious!!  Very rich and chocolaty.  I am not sure what they use for chocolate, but it did not taste anything like my Carob Cake from Angelica Kitchen.

Then, I made my way over to Union Square for the Farmer’s Market.  I got there just as booths were starting to close down, but I did get there in time for my favorite pretzel stand to still be open.

Where I purchased some pretzels to-go.  They sell the pretzels individually, in 3’s, 5’s, 10’s, 20’s, etc.  I went with 1/2 salted, 1/2 unsalted.  They are really good!

And, then to my favorite NYC establishment – One Lucky Duck!!

One Lucky Duck is the takeaway section of Pure Food & Wine, a raw vegan restaurant whose menu is entirely plant based and does not use any processed ingredients.  Nothing is heated above approximately 118 degrees in order to preserve vitamins, minerals, and enzymes.  I have not been to the restaurant, but someday I will get there!  One Lucky Duck offers take-out featuring salads, nori rolls, smoothies, juices, desserts and packaged items like granola and crackers.

I got a Pina Colada smoothie which is made up of fresh coconut meat, coconut water and fresh pineapple.  No sugar added!  It was one of the best things I have ever had!!!  Why can’t we have places like this in Boston?  This is why I make visits to new places while in NYC.

I also bought a few things to go…ok, a lot of things to go!  Last time I was here, I absolutely loved everything I purchased, so I needed to try a few others this time.

Rosemary Quackers, Granola, Cinnamon Crispies.

Orange Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies and a Honey Bunches Bar.

The Honey Bunches Bar contains organic almonds, organic oats, organic buckwheat, organic blueberries, organic nutmeg, organic vanilla extract, organic raw honey, Himalayan crystal salt. It is awesome!  Not too sweet, not too hard – just perfect and delicious.

And, lastly Chocolate Truffle Butter.  Made with raw organic ingredients: cacao powder, agave, cacao butter, vanilla beans and celtic sea salt.

They were handing out samples of this on little spoons last time, and it was unbelievable.  Can you tell that I like this place?  Yes, it is pricey, however, you pay for what you get.  It is located in NYC which does add to the price, but a lot of time and preparations go into preparing raw foods.

I hope you liked Recap – Part I of New York City’s vegan/vegetarian/healthy eating establishments.  I am always searching out new healthy restaurants when I travel to other cities and love to give other people ideas.  There are hundreds of places to visit in NYC and I love to read and hear about other people’s favorites, so hopefully you do to!

This post is getting really long, so Part II to come tomorrow…

Filed under: Eating Laps, Product Reviews, Restaurant Reviews | Tagged: Angelica Kitchen, chocolate, Cocoa V, one lucky duck, pretzels |