the best night of my life!

saturday, chow had a busy, busy brunch, and sounds like an even busier, especially fun and spookier, dinner according 2 hari's facebook post: "What do 4 penguins, an 80s go-go dancer, a bunny rabbit, something from Star Wars, a wicked witch, a black cat "meeow!", a goblin and a huge blonde afro have in common? They could all be seen at Chow tonight! Happy Halloween!" i had 2 go 2 chow 2 help orient chef dardi, as it was her 2nd brunch time @ the chow. hux came with me, he read, ate scrambled tofu on top of a sliced, toasted biscuit w white gravy and a sprinkle of white pepper. that's how he likes it. i went in2 the kitchen 2 prepare it 4 him, and he yelled out, "and daddy, dont 4get the white pepper. AND NO COLLARDS!" i had 2 stay much longer than i expected, helping chef dardi figure the logistics of brunch. he bought himself a new game 4 his ds called fossil fighters. oh he's all excited about this one, even more so than pokemon, 4 the moment at any rate. it was about 8:30pm saturday and we hadnt gone trick or treating, and he got all sad and teary, crying loudly that it was the worst day of his life. he mentioned some nasty words w my name attached 2 them bc i felt 2 tired 2 go trick or treating, and i was sure he wouldnt receive any bounty. " it's 8 frickin 30," i bellowed, " no one's gonna have any more candy, and u'll be the only kid out there." finally, after a few i really hate u's, out we went in2 the rainy night w his scary and cuter than an easter bunny costume, an all skeleton metallic mask, feet, hands and body suit. ambivalent i was but not hux. assertive, strong, confident, right in2 dunkin donuts, "trick or treat," he demanded w an open bag. next, every corner deli, starbucks, 3 duane reade's, rite aide, lowes cinema, cvs, 2 subway's, border's, another dunkin donuts...we went up, around, and down this block and that block, and he said, "daddy, i am almost done, wow, my bag is full, i have just 2 more halloween destinations i want 2 try." in2 an ice cream store, "sorry", the man said, "all out." kindly, hux said, " hey u have cookies!" "well they're packaged in a big bag that i cant open," the man said. owning the night, hux said, " hey, ice cream is great!" standing firmly with his bag open and up high, and w other folks watching, smiling and admiring his bravado, the man agreed. "pick any ice cream u'd like!" he said in a cheery voice. i was amazed at hux's tenacity and self-confidence, courage and bravery. @ 7, he is ready 2 take on the spooky world. "i did great," he said. "u did, " i exclaimed. "u r amazing, i am so proud of u!" i said. "hey, daddy," he said, "this was the best night of my life!" "i had a great time 2 hux!" i said. oh p.s., he was the only kid out there!

the greatest Reuben!

Alicia Silverstone's Favorite NYC Vegetarian RestaurantsThe Kind Diet author Alicia Silverstone recently blogged for Grub Street about visiting her favorite vegetarian restaurants in New York City. Silverstone also made a video of her restaurant adventure, which included a stop at vegan bakery Babycakes with GirlieGirl Army's Chloé Jo Berman and "the greatest Reuben" at Sacred Chow.
http://heebnvegan.blogspot.com/2009/10/etc_31.html

Olive seitan hero.

Wonderful meal at Sacred Chow. Olive seitan hero. Yum.
3:47 PM Oct 22nd

tempeh hash.

Brunch at Sacred Chow in NYC. Crumbled tempeh hash with browned sweet potatoes and spanish onions. And a side of steamed garlic oil tossed collard greens. All perfectly seasoned!
October 31, 2009by prideandvegudice

amazing brunch!

Back in New York, I swung by Sacred Chow, great food, lunch, dinner, also Sacred Chow does an amazing brunch, with everything from biscuits n’ gravy to waffles and thick, yummy french toast drenched in blueberry sauce.

joshuakatcher, October 30th 2009

http://www.thediscerningbrute.com/tag/sacred-chow/

amazing vegan desserts!

FranceskaLynne
Sacred Chow is a great place to get soups, salads, savory dishes, and amazing vegan desserts. Used to be just take-out but now a full bistro!
Oct 30, 2009

meatballs!

We had a whole bunch of tapas at Sacred Chow and it was delicious - not to mention creative, we ordered some non-meat meatballs that tasted amazing!

This is a great place & an awesome concept. The waitress was extremely friendly helpful.

Would definitely come again.

www.yelp.com

Risotto

Mushroom risotto. No no. HERB mushroom risotto. No no no. Herb mushroom MISO risotto. Awww yeah.

Essentially, Boss Man cooks the onions and garlic and mushrooms till they're tender. Then he adds all these herbs. He was going in order, but I wasn't paying attention. I was distracted by Hec's music. He's a singer, right? So he's got this CD of his songs. It's not bad. Don't know how to describe it, but if you've ever heard people for whom English is not a native language, there are certain choices that they make (with regards to words they're using) that just throw me for a loop. Either way, I should have been paying attention, so that I could tell you guys, but I fail.

So anyrate. Then he threw in some flavourful liquid and miso. I think it was wine. Or something. Yeah. Wine. It smelled like a lovely white wine we've got here. Then he added the miso, some salt, some other flavourings, and water and rice and all that jazz. And he stirred it and made it yummy. Now the whole entire kitchen smells of roasted mushrooms and herbs and wine and other savoury aromas.

It would go great with that seitan roast.

Seitan in the making ...

It all started as a mass of seitan. Boss Man spent a good long time working that springy, spongy thing into the big giant beast of a seitan.

No colour, flavour, or much of anything else to start. And of course, the starch water splashed everywhere, and left behind trails that looked like white paint. And onwards he worked, squeezing out the excess water, and building up the gluten more and more, so that it has that texture that he was searching for.

Because it was so messy, I wasn't able to take a picture of us stretching the seitan over the work table, and stuffing it with sauteed escarole with onions and spices and lots of vegan cheese. Suffice it to say, if I'd picked up the camera, it would have damaged the camera, and Boss Man would have had to buy a new phone, and that would have been doubleplusungood. So, I abstained, and just helped Boss Man roll it up and transfer it to the waiting sheet of yuba that was in the roasting dish.

The two knots you see towards you are just the beginning of getting that seitan beast under control. It wanted to spread out, and unfold, not keep neat and tight. After watching hour after endless hour of food TV, trussing is second nature to me. I've done it in my head a few thousand times. I had that roast all neatly trussed in short order. Then came the good part. The baking and basting. And baking. And basting. And baking. And basting some more.

The seitan darkened in colour as we continued to baste it and roast it low and slow. It took a good long while, but at the end, the outside was dark dark dark brown, and savoury looking. I'm currently boiling up some parsnips and sweet potatoes to make a Fall Vegetable Mash to go on the side (if one should choose such a combination). I'm sure it'll be lovely.

I never thought that seitan could be so huge ...

So he's got the bowl of the hobart out, and he's massaging seitan. And what a seitan. That thing is easily the size of his torso, and he's going at that mass with vigour. Even the olive seitan is small in comparison. And the thing is that it's been well over a year since Boss Man has embarked on such a procedure. It's a lot of work, and I can imagine that it'd take a fair bit out of you, even if you are used to lifting heavy pots and the like.

Oh. And PS? He's not using vital wheat gluten. He's starting from scratch, with flour, and washing off the starch. Y'know how the logo has the 100% Hardcore written underneath the meditating cow? Well, now you know why. Massaging a mass of seitan that's half the size of your torso, by hand, and washing off the starch and the rest from scratch sound as hardcore as you can get.

But wait, there's more. He's got visions of stuffing dancing in his head. He mentioned something about rolling it out or stretching it out, stuffing it with more goodies, then wrapping it in yuba or something, and then roasting the whole thing slow and steady.

I don't know what it's going to end up as, but whatever it is, it'll be epic. Just thought I'd give everyone a sneak peek. Will have pictures of the raw stuff shortly.

orange bbq seitan hero!

Waiting on an orange bbq seitan hero at Sacred Chow. What a delicious way to stay out of the rain. 3:33 PM Oct 28th

Anne Hathaway reveals...

Anne Hathaway's secret travel tips
October 23, 2009
HOLLYWOOD starlet Anne Hathaway reveals her favourite cities in the world for romance, fine dining and shopping.
An avid vegetarian who hasn't eaten meat since she was 12 and an advocate of a dairy-free regime.
She favours Greenwich Village restaurants that offer her kind of fare like Sacred Chow, and is hooked on the organic health line, Karen & Sisters, particularly the Tokyo soba noodles, dumplings and veggie turkey.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/travel/holiday-ideas/anne-hathaways-secret-travel-tips/story-e6frfhfx-1225791188598

Sinner Bar!

Located in the West Village is Sacred Chow, which specializes in soups, sandwiches, beverages and desserts. Vegan and kosher, they also offer several gluten-free options. If you thought sinful desserts and vegan was an oxymoron, you haven't tried their Sinner Bar, made of coconut caramel dipped in chocolate. They are located at 227 Sullivan Street.
www.helium.com

Sinner Bar!

Dannie D.
Brooklyn, NY
10/28/2009
If you have ever tried vegan cheese you know that it's a scary business. In MOST cases you purchase a block of yellowish or white material that not only looks like plastic but also tastes like it - I have been vegan for over 12 years and cheese is one food that i try to stay way from. But not anymore - Sacred Chow's vegan cheese is the best!!!! Go - taste it - don't be afraid!! Oh, and don't forget to end the meal with a "Sinner Bar" - it's as good as it sounds!!

sinner bar!

"Delicious & cozy in the Village" by Loren Worsley - Really likes it - It may be a bit small, but Sacred Chow, an all-vegan restaurant proves very comfortable with it's warm decorations and really personable and friendly employees. I had the roasted black olive seitan hero with mixed greens and dijon vinaigrette and I was taken aback at just how good it was! Warm crispy baguette with tender seitan and a delicious tangy dressing, accompanied by some sort of delicious cabbage slaw. I even came back later that evening to get the sinner bar - a delicious chocolate covered caramel-coconut treat - for dessert! So if you're looking for friendly service, really great food and a comfortable and inviting place to rest your feet after a long day's walk in the Village, this is the place.

RIP, Coffee Machine Glass Thingy

Boss Man and I arrived at the same time this morning. Again, with the dreary and rainy. We started getting settled in for the day, as you do, and Hector informed us that the glass pot for the coffee machine was broken.

The thing about coffee is that it doesn't like to sit around. In fact, it barely likes to sit a square, a triangle, or any other shape, for that matter. Coffee is not a sitting beverage, like wine. Coffee is sprightly, and fast on its feet. Yes, you may enjoy that morning mug of black gold, but the beverage itself is far more flitty. It doesn't sit still. It doesn't improve with age.

For the best coffee, you should be buying in small quantities, from a purveyor who does a lot of business, so that you know that the coffee isn't sitting around for ages and ages, gathering dust, and losing flavour. For the best experience, choose a store that roasts their own beans on premises. They should be able to sell you any of their varieties, in any grind size (french press, drip coffee, and espresso grind) or as whole beans, and they should have a good solid choice of varieties to suit your needs. Most of the good ones even sell coffee in 1/2 pound increments, which is great for home needs. (Our coffee purveyor is Porto Rico; if you're ever there, tell them we said "hi". )

The point of getting into all of that is to tell you why we don't use those giant hotel-sized coffee machines. You know the sort. Any hotel advertising free "continental breakfast" will most likely have one of those suckers. They make about 3 gallons of coffee at a time, and it tastes like dishwater. The enormous batch sits around for the entire day. And they never put enough coffee for the amount of water flooding through. AND they use that horrific preground coffee that comes in cellophane packages. So not only has the coffee been roasted a long time back, it was also ground a long time back and brewed a long time back. That is not a good look. There's a reason we don't use the giant machine.

So what do we do at Chow?

During the week, the coffee that you order is usually made to order, a cup at a time. Frankly, we don't want the coffee sitting in the carafe all day, losing its aroma, losing its character, and losing the entire purpose of enjoying the thing in the first place! We order small batches of coffee from Porto Rico, and grind our espresso to order. Why? Because if we were to make a pot of coffee for the weekdays, it would sit around too long, and would end up getting wasted. It's not worth it.

But what about Brunch?

Brunch is a different beast. People go through a couple of cups of coffee per meal, and to make each cup to order would tie up the works. Also, if we're making a pot of coffee for brunch, it'll barely survive for an hour before being hungrily devoured by our lovely Weekend Brunch family. And that's great, because it means that we can easily go through a couple of pots of coffee in a Brunch service.

So I told you that to tell you this. We make our brunch coffee in a 12 cup standard coffee machine like you find at your local store. Point being, we're not making gallons at a time, because we want for your pot to be fresh and tasty. So for that reason, we do use the small home-sized coffee machine. To hear that the pot broke today was rather sad, as we just recently bought the new coffee machine.

It was awful to see. Poor little coffee pot.

So I run down to the store to locate a replacement pot.

...

The bloody replacement pot costs as much as the coffee maker itself. What a rip! You try to do the responsible thing, and avoid creating even more waste for the already clogged system to handle, and they pull this little stunt. What a nasty way to behave. I'm so annoyed at this whole disposable appliance nonsense. Things aren't built to last anymore. You buy it, it works for a year, and then you pitch it. Repairing or replacing a single part is too complicated and expensive. No. You have to get a new one if you plan on not being broke.

So I went through all that for this. Anyone got a recommendation for a coffee machine setup that doesn't involve spending a million dollars, but also doesn't use crappy, easily broken materials?

start!

it's ok 2 feel so very sad about the state of the world, the misery & violence perpetrated upon so many beings. it's ok 2 feel so very sad, but do something 2 start 2 change it. u can. come 2 sacred chow. WE can change the course of these awful crimes. i feel so very sad, but i am happy that u come, that i have come, that i stay. i love sacred chow, u love sacred chow 2, 2gether we can change the world. make the world kinder, less sad, less violent: eat plant proteins. come 2 sacred chow. start!

come 2 my door.

i am laying next 2 my little sleeping boy, he's 7. just finished reading a horrific article in the ny times about kids that r thrown out of their homes, and in order 2 survive they must sell their bodies 2 eat and obtain shelter. such a fierce disconnect, the mechanism that creates new life but lets the child go out in2 a world unprotected. i kiss my boy's face, the bridge of his nose, his forehead, his arm, i sweep my hand through his hair. that could never happen here. i want 2 hug every child on the street and invite them in2 my home 4 shelter. i want 2 put my hands on their shoulders, and whisper soft words of comfort and safety. my heart feels unbearably sad that their moms and dads didnt hold them tight, love them, sweep their hand through their hair. i open my doors of safety, love and hope. come through these doors, eat, rest, sleep, close ur eyes, feed ur bellies, that wont happen here. come in2 my embrace, i will protect u, shelter u, feed u. come 2 my door. u r beautiful my child, u r safe here. so many children in so many cities, in so many countries - in such despair. come 2 my door my child, that wont happen here.

Keep your recipes clean.

We had a fair bit of people coming in today, which was nice. I don't know what it is about the rain, but it seems like going out to get a bowl of soup is way easier than going to the effort of making it at home. It's cool. It's why we have those places that we count on. I've got soup at home too, mind you, but the house-soup involves washing dishes. And when it's gloomy and dreary and ugly outside, I'm frankly not in the mood.

Aside from that, however, I did manage to get a fair bit of work done.

Outside.

Had to run down to the store to pick up a few essentials, and get back in time to do some re-typing for Boss Man.

I don't know if y'all do this at home, but it's a good idea, and I wish I'd seen it sooner. Cliff keeps the recipes for Chow in a big binder. What makes this different from the binders that most people have? Each recipe sits in a plastic sleeve. Genius.

It didn't strike me as important, until I was re-typing some of the recipes (you know how it goes; over time, you pencil in corrections, and the whole thing looks a mess before long), and was discarding the plastic liner. It was clean, mind you, because the restaurant is clean. But there were tell-tale spots. Some of the plastic pages had little marks on them from heavy objects being set atop them. Some had stains of spices (turmeric never leaves, no matter how hard you try). And today, I brilliantly splashed water on the page, while doing the transfer.

What'd I notice? The recipe was intact.

How many times have you had a recipe become unreadable because a splash of soy sauce, or an errant mustard seed flying out from hot fat ruins the page? And you and I both have recipes that are irreplaceable. Yes, I know that you mean to type them into your computer. But you and I are both good at one thing: putting it off till later.

Well, later is here now. There's a couple of take home messages here.

1) Don't take your cookery books into the kitchen. It's not a safe place for books to be. By looking at the mishaps that the poor little recipe page went through in my own hands alone, it should be crystal clear that if you want to be able to use those recipes, you need to be able to read what they say, and having an old or expensive or autographed book in the kitchen isn't a good idea.

2) Cover your typed or hand written recipes in plastic before you take it into the kitchen.

3) Feel free to replace the plastic when it wears down. It's bound to happen. Yes, I know that the paper costs less than the plastic cover, but be mindful that the cost of a very useful recipe that you refer to repeatedly is priceless!

Also, be smart. Save the document when you've finished printing it out. For some stupid reason I never thought to do this till now. Good job, Dino. That would have been hours of typing that I've flushed down the aether because I couldn't be fussed to hit the save button.

Coalition For Healthy School Lunches

The Coalition For Healthy School Lunches fundraising event held at the Peter Max Studio recently was a hit, especially with the food.
Several vegan restaurants provided goodies, including Angelica Kitchen, Ayurveda Cafe, Candle 79 & Candle Cafe, Counter, 4 Course Vegan, Chef Laura Dardi, Live Jolly Foods, Franchia, Fran Costigan, Luxurious Vegan Desserts, Green Bean Cafe, Chef Yoli Ouiya, Payard Patisserie, The Power of Food, Rama Sushi, Sacred Chow, Slice the Perfect Food and Stogo.

let her rise up.

her power is in you, her raw being, her essence. let her out. fear may tamper her down some days, doubt may stop her from rising up, the ridicule, the scorn, the judgment. listen 2 her. her voice is like no other. she is g-d, let her be. let her rise up. dont let her be the child wo a home in tel aviv. dont let her be the man begging 4 food in nyc. dont let her be the starving women in lagos. dont let her be the abused grandfather in paris. dont let her childhood be sold away in mumbai. dont let her be the frightened lamb about 2 be slaughtered in montevideo. embrace her. love her. nurture her. let her rise up.

weekend brunch!

Alicia Silverstone take a look at my list of the best restaurants in NYC!

The Kind Life
Source: www.thekindlife.com
If you are in NYC and want to know where to get the best, yummiest food ever, try some of these places. They are not to be missed! I put them in order of my favorites.I am moving to New York ...

Molly Clarke
You should definitely go to Sacred Chow for their weekend brunch, the Biscuit Breakfast Sandwich (biscuits, tofu scramble, tempeh bacon, and a choice of side) is sooooo delicious!

eating my way through NYC!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ahXzC02ebceating my way through NYC!
Posted by Alicia Silverstone on Oct 22, 2009

great little veg joint!

Sacred Chow is a great little veg joint with an indie vibe. The Reuben sandwich is a must. I've only been here once, but can't wait to try the rest of their menu.
my favorite NYC restaurants
Posted by Alicia Silverstone on Oct 26, 2009

Tav HaYosher: Food Ethics Meets Jewish Ethics

"Tav HaYosher: Food Ethics Meets Jewish Ethics"

Join the Jewish Wagner Professional Association for an enlightening discussion with Rabbi Ari Weiss about the Tav HaYosher, the Ethical Seal. Learn about how Rabbi Weiss' organization, Uri L'Tzedek, is working to create a modern ethical food consumption policy based on ancient Jewish law and tradition.

Please join us for dinner and discussion on Sunday, November 15th at 6pm at Sacred Chow (227 Sullivan St), a restaurant certified by the Tav HaYosher. There will be a $15 fixed-price menu available. Please RSVP: Naomi.R.Rosenblatt@gmail.com.

Pre-order Thanksgiving Menu

If you'd like to pre-order any of the food for Thanksgiving, and know how much you'll want, you can fill out the form that we've got on the website.

Thanksgiving Menu

Just download and print the form (or come in after the 1st of November, and fill out one of our pre-printed ones), and give the form to your wait person. She or he will fill out a guest cheque, with the total cost, and handle payment. Then, on the day that you've indicated (either the 24, 25, or 26), at the time you wanted, present your receipt, and we'll have your food ready to roll! Then, on Thanksgiving day, you look like a super star. :)

EDIT: If you want to fill out the form on your computer, and bring the completed, signed form to Chow, that's fine too. I figured out how to make the PDF into an interactive form, so that you don't have to write it by hand to fill it out.

vegan lovin folks!

chow was asked 2 cater an event put 2gether by the new shul @ a spa on perry street. it was pegged a breakie, lunch and dinner spa shabbat. from a new shul twitter the following was stated: "Prepping lunch 4 Spa Shabbat catered by @sacredchow. Veggie heroes w caesar salad, UberTwitter. Spa Shabbat features multi-level yoga, transitions, Chinese medicine, imagery, Jewromothearpy, and Havdalah + Sacred Chow bit.ly/3oWnHX." sir dino set it all up, printed out all the instructions 4 the kitch 2 easily piece it all in2 place; mr. d got all the necessary cater-ware, and away we went. i came 2 chow @ 6:30am 2day. oh there was so much 2 do, my feet were on fire. hecky and chef dardi came in @ 9:00am, and we produced and assembled wo a hitch. brunch @ chow was brisk and strong, hecky had a good # of deliveries, and angelika cinema doubled their wholesale order. taken from angelika's webpage: "The Angelika Café also strives to accommodate our health conscious customers. We always have an ample selection of vegan items available, including vegan cupcakes, salads, pastries and cookies from the famed Sacred Chow." by this time, the soles of my feet were burning like a tarred highway on a hot day in august. i had 2 rush home 2 take hux 2 a thing called the boo-bash, a halloween treat-time that ps 116 holds every year. he also was gettin ready 4 his first sleep-over @ his buddy matt's home, & while he was real excited 2 go 2 the bash, he couldnt stop telling everyone @ the bash that he was having his very first sleep-over; so bc he needed 2 get ready 4 his very 1st sleep-over, we left much earlier from the other years, and came home 2 pack and re-pack his back-pack, and off he went w friend-matt, matt's bro and dad. chow had a real strong evening accordin 2 the lovely gomer kyle w the most beautiful smile. chef dardi made a whole bunch of new vegan delishishness 4 all of us 2 indulge in, and i am swirlin & sippin this amazin pinotage from south africa: deep red, fruity, jammie, thick, full, chatty, lip smackin - just like those vegan lovin folks that crowd in2 the little sweet chow.

Roasted Yucca Hummus

"roasted yucca til it was crisp w lots a garlic, and folded it in2 the hummus of the day. yucca hummus y'all."

Boss man posted that on Sacred Chow's facebook yesterday. He let me try the roasted yucca. Damned if it didn't knock me off my feet, and launch me to the heavens! I'm a huge fan of yucca, mind you. It's one of those things that I could happily use in everything I make, and still not get tired of. The rest of the planet agrees with me. Cassava is so widely eaten that I can't really think of a country (with farmable land) off-hand where it's difficult to come by. It's seen in cuisines from South America, to Africa, to Asia (China and India and the islands in the south Pacific being huge fans of it) and any other place where money is a little tight from time to time.

But this isn't about the wonders of yucca. It's about flavouring things just so.

Your dish will only be as strong as the weakest component in it. This is why you see chefs seeking out the finest ingredients that their budgets can allow. They know that if one ingredient's quality is less than that of the surrounding ingredients, the end product will be compromised significantly. This goes double for flavour. If the components of the dish are highly tantalising and tempting, then you'll most likely wind up with a fantastic end product.

For example, there are many times when I'm about to make smashed potatoes with loads of coconut cream and garlic, but I stop myself, because the oven roasted potatoes are so delicious that I can't stop myself from eating half the tray before moving forward. For this reason, I've made mashed potatoes all of two or three times tops, and when I do, there isn't very much of it.

I'm so not joking when I say that potatoes are much beloved in my home. First I boil them off in the pressure cooker, because I can have them easier to handle in about 5 minutes (after reaching pressure, of course) as opposed to going through the grunt work of peeling and dicing the little monsters, only to smash them later. The hell with that. If I have a limited amount of time in the kitchen, you can bet your buttons that I'd sooner spend it having a glass of wine than doing make-work that's going to be for naught in any case.

But I digress, as you do.

The point is that the reason that my cooking is good goes beyond and above the fact that the final product is great; it's because the journey (to me) is really as important as the destination. It's why I can be so creative. While I'm cooking, there are multiple places where I can stop, even with simple dishes, like an aromatic vegetable sautee. You start off with popping the spices in oil, then add in your peppers, carrots, onions, garlic, what have you. Once they get tender, you can actually just stop, and use that as something (maybe to toss with pasta or rice, or in between a thick, crusty baguette, or add some water and make a soup, or add some beans and make a stew, or ...). If you choose, you can cook down some tomato in there, and stop at that point as well (add beans, make a daal, add leftover potatoes and other cooked veg with a bit of water for a veg stew, use the cooked tomato & aromatics as a spicy bruschetta thing ...). Then, if you have any, you stir in some beans (washed and drained), vegetables (in bite sized pieces), and a bit of salt and pepper, and cook the veg or beans with the aromatics and tomatoes for about five minutes. You could stop there and use the beans and/or veg with the aromatics and the rest as a sort of curry that you serve over rice, or add water to make a soup or stew, or throw in some cooked grain (barley, brown rice, large couscous), let it simmer for a few minutes, and have at.

See what I'm saying? At any point, you can stop, keep going, or take multiple diversions. That's the soul of good cooking. So there was boss man, in the kitchen, roasting up that cassava, and boiling up the chick peas. As I mentioned he let me taste the roast cassava. So divine. Then I tried a bit of the plain hummus. ALSO divine.

Then he blended them together.

Oh yes.

The whole was far superior to the sum of its parts, but the individual parts were quite tantalising on their own, thank you very much. I would have been quite content to eat that roasted yucca all by itself. Who doesn't like yucca that hasn't been fried, but tastes like it has (nothing at Sacred Chow is ever fried, ever, for any reason)? Who wouldn't want to just bury himself or herself in that mound of creamy dreamy hummus? ("What do you eat hummus with?" "A spoon!") Now that they're combined, you get little crunchy treasures that are enveloped in that creamy robe of protein.

Think of that the next time you're in the kitchen, and really take to heart how important it is to be intimately involved in every step of the way. Then get lazy & call for delivery.

we shall transform

my buddy, my lamb, dont go quietly in2 the goodnight. come, let me refresh ur cup of wine. there's a stew i have prepared, plz stay and eat. let's sit before the fire and read the blood of the lamb. and yes my child, we r learning, and g-d is waiting 4 our transformation. and we shall transform w simple bread and wine. 2gether, yeast, flour, food, power, love.

how could i pass up the chance?

So I am at the IFC Center, having rushed here from work to see Araya, and will be eating Sacred Chow's Orange Chocolate Chip Pound Cake for dinner. The fact that I can now email you to tell you this, thanks to my phone and your label with an email address on it, is truly a fusion of technology and deliciousness that simply makes it an exciting time to be alive. BRAVO, PASTRYNAUTS. YOU are the FUTURE. -Scott

bread and wine.

hux was reading, there's a hair in my dirt, when i thought about the song, mr. tambourine man. so we went 2 u tube and listened, whereupon he fell asleep. i ventured in2 u tube golden years, moving from one nostalgic song 2 the next. from mr. tambourine, i morphed 2 sounds of silence, 2 bridge over troubled water from simon and garfunkel 2 elvis, 2 bob dylan 2 the righteous bros 2 ghost w demi moore and patrick swayze. my eyes welled up w tears. oh i want so much 2 help the world be a finer place, 4 the disenfranchised 2 always have bread and wine, ignazio silone; oh what a fine book. i went upstairs and downed a few shots of tequilla, comforting my soul 4 where i have not yet gone. i must produce, i must get there. i must yield results, and change the nature of the world, 4 my fellow beings. my soul's reason is sacred love, sacred chow. sacred, yes. chow be kind. i am here 4 love, i am here 4 u my love, my fellow being.

Sharpening Steel Unsharpened

We used to use this knife service, who would come in and switch out our dull knives with ostensibly sharpened knives. The reality was that they would switch out our dull knives with other dull knives, all of whose quality was utter crap. I gently convinced (read: nagged) Cliff to go with Henry Westpfalz & Co, who do an excellent job. Also, it's right on my way to work, so if need be, I can swing by, snag the knives, and come straight to work in no time flat.

As many knife-savvy people know, the most important accessory for your knife (aside from its sheath) is the sharpening steel. Every time you pick up your knife for a chopping job, you should give it a few passes with your sharpening steel. Yes. Every time. This doesn't apply if you've got one of those never-needs-sharpening dealies (which, if you do, I hope it's because that's a temporary situation until you can afford at least one good quality chef's knife).

The problem with the name "sharpening steel" is that it's a bit of a misnomer. It doesn't actually sharpen your blade; it maintains and hones it. Every time you knife makes contact with the cutting board (you are using a cutting board, right?), the fine sharp edge is no longer upright. It gets a little bent out of shape ... literally. If you can imagine the cutting edge of your knife as a triangle, this mental illustration will help you.

The razor-sharp blade is like a triangle. The dull blade is like a triangle with the top point bent over to one side (maybe a wave shape?), which is why when you're cutting with a dull knife, the job doesn't get done as effectively. The honing steel realigns the triangle back to a point. You only need to give the knife a couple of passes for it to get ready to start chopping.

The reason that you get the knife sharpened is the same reason that people go get a hair cut when they have long hair. It removes the dull edges, split ends and any frayed tips. Sharpening the knife (when you send it out to your knife sharpening person) physically removes a small amount of the knife's steel, and re-establishes the edge. You only need to do this once in a while, because sharpening needs to happen when the tip of the triangle is no longer bent, but is outright flat.

The reason I started thinking of honing steels is because we had to replace ours. Just as we send our knives out to get sharpened a LOT more frequently than people in homes do (at home, you need to send them out once or twice a year; at Chow, we send 'em out every month or two), we also need to replace our honing steel more frequently (I think this one lasted like 3 months or so; I ordered it in June). Why? Because it's one honing steel that all the staff pick up and use. At home, however, your honing steel can last quite a few years, and is definitely worth the investment.

But here's the deal. Just as you don't want to go spend a huge amount of money on your first knife (because you're not even sure if you're ready for it), I don't want you to run down to the gourmet store, and shell out $50 for a sharpening steel. Jump onto Amazon or something, and get one for around $10 - $20. When you notice the difference, and start to use it more and more frequently, and find yourself yearning for a new one, that's when you want to go spring for the works: ergonomic handle, good weight, nice spacing of the steel's teeth, all that stuff.

You won't regret it.

let it all out and go 4 it!

had a dream last night that i was a soldier in full gear w a machine gun, hiding in thick bush; tall reeds were in front of my eyes, and above the reeds was a clear, beautiful blue sky. a voice, i believed 2 be g-d's, echoed loudly all around me: "they r out there right beyond the reeds, and they r coming 4 u in multitudes and u will die." suddenly i could see an army of soldiers just beyond the reeds coming closer 2 me, but they couldnt see me yet. i felt certain that i knew my way around this predicament. adrenaline was pumping my heart nervously, i was sweaty, cold, but felt sure. 2 my right was a large, abandoned skool-house, and i knew the building well. i got up and ran 4 the skool. now the enemy soldiers could see me, and gave rapid chase. i was faster. i ran up a dilapidated, broken down staircase and in2 a dusty, debris strewn class room, and locked the door. i placed a white sheet @ the crack between the door and the floor 2 lessen any noise i was making. i went in2 a bathroom and locked the door. i was working very fast. there was a window that i was able 2 shimmy from its foundation, and now i knew i would easily jump 2 safety wo any worry. i was calm. i could hear the soldiers coming up the stairs. but i knew i would be fine. and i felt that since i was now secure, i could piss in the toilet wo worry. and so i did: w ease, peace & serenity. i closed my eyes, w my head facing the ceiling, i placed my hands on the walls @ both sides of the toilet and let the piss pass through in utter comfort w a pleasurable sigh of relief. ahhhh, that tingling sensation from head 2 toe. i blessed creation! the window was open, it was gray outside now and the grass was green w dew. the slant on the dream: there r many, many unbearable obstacles that seem like absolute death traps. there r voices seemingly much larger than ur own that r telling u that u will never, ever make it. but make it u will, w even a little time 2 spare. yes u'll have 2 run, and it's scary, but there's a place 4 ur ideas, talents, dreams... it's just behind that last door, outside the window, in a green meadow... blessed creation. so relax a bit, let it all out and go 4 it.

Apple Hummus!?

Roasted apple hummus.

That's what he said, when I asked him what the new Hummus special for today was going to be. Seeing as how we'd just come down from the roasted garlic hummus, I didn't really know where he was going with this. Also, who the heck would think to put apples in hummus? It makes no logical sense at the outset, but like so many works of genius, it doesn't right off the bat. I didn't make the face I had prepared, because by now, I know better than to question Cliff when he goes off on one of these tangents for a couple of reasons:

1. he's been doing this a hell of a lot longer than I have

2. he doesn't try something in person until he's tried it ten times over (and then some) in his brain, and seen it in every iteration and combination, until he's worked open the whole glorious inside and outside of the recipe, and figured out how it'll work.

So there he was, coring and slicing the apples, as we chatted about various things on my to-do list today (and, for that matter, on his; only ... he can work with a mental to-do list, while I tend to jot mine down on any handy work surface), when it struck me: he's happy again.

I remember seeing him in the kitchen, with that little glow that all great food masters get when they're creating, just whizzing through the work. It was inspiring, and a little scary, because who ever heard of apple hummus?

Either way, as you do, he followed it through to its natural conclusion. A hint of nutmeg, the tart apples, a touch of clove, some salt, a bit of roasted garlic, some smoky toasty cumin, and just a splash of lemon later, and the hummus was there, in big fluffy clouds of wonderful-smelling creamy beauty. He let me try a bit.

Time stopped for a moment, as I heard the shouts of storekeepers in Cairo, in Jerusalem, in Delhi, in New York! It was all coming together in a harmony of flavour and texture. The apples sort of melted away into a mild sweetness, while the spices and garlic were gentle in their nudging of your tastebuds.

Who knew that apples would work with hummus? Not I. But at the hands of an artist, all things are possible.

how do u spend ur day in america?

The American Time Use Survey asks thousands of American residents to recall every minute of a day.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/31/business/20080801-metrics-graphic.html?ref=business

hummus salad hero

sacred chow's hummus salad hero is picking up my spirit...
http://moniska.livejournal.com/1067413.html, 10/16/09

so savory and delicious, crispy crusty skin!

my cooking and baking radar is working over-time, it's mobilized and ready 2 prepare a multitude of vegan delicacies. after all it's fall! the other day i took hux and a friend of his 2 barnes and noble 2 sit down and read. we went up 2 their coffee shop and in their pastry case was a delicious looking morsel called an apple purse, and i thought: "oh how cute!" it was like an apple pie inside of a rounded flaky bundle w little leaves on top, brushed probably w egg white and sprinkled w course sugar. i couldnt wait 2 get back 2 sacred chow and make a vegan version. well there's really not that much tinkering that needs to be done. 4 the egg white, u just use soymilk, painted on in the last 5 minutes of baking, which yields, like the egg wash, a pretty sheen. you'd sprinkle the sugar at this time as well. 4 the butter or lard, that makes the best flaky crust, i would either use, non-hydrogenated vegan margarine, or chilled-solidified oil, a mix of canola w cocoa butter. i could feel the perfect crunch of the crisp, flaky crust w the crunchy, sweet sugar; roll, roll w rolling pin, form, form, place in apple mixture, enclose, crimp, cut out little leaves w pastry knife. i'd use winesap apples, pre-sauteed 2 softness, w cinnamon, cloves, ginger, salt, vanilla, maple syrup, tapioca all mixed up 2 create a soft, fragrant, steamy luscious first bite. i could taste it, smell it, feel it, even though i could only see it here in a cold case. but then that's how so many cooking ideas r nurtured in2 culinary perfection. sometimes i see this exquisite "looking" roast, pork or beef, and immediately my mind goes in2 over-drive. it like a deck of cards being shuffled, and i am seeing one recipe after an other, and i stop short at the perfect plant protein recipe that creates the same look; of course so savory and delicious, crispy crusty skin, tamari, rosemary, garlic, thyme, onions, rutabaga, parsnips, carrots, potatoes,... perfect4 the body, mind and mother nature. oh, my mouth is watering up, i hope urs is 2.

Be smart. :o

Note to self: if you're using google anayltics, and you change the layout on your blog, it might be a good idea to copy the tracking code over to the new layout. So now I have a week's worth of empty days, because I'm an idiot. Good job, Dino. Good job.

Also, even though it may not seem that important, make a full backup of your layout's HTML, and email it to yourself as a .txt document. You won't regret it when you press the wrong button, and the whole damn thing goes belly-up.

Also also, if you're going to test things "just to see how it looks," then for the love of Bob, make a test blog where you can futz around with these settings. Because sometimes there is no undo button. No, I'm serious.

EDIT: There's a new feature over at SacredChow.com which is the Events Calendar. Check it out. I haven't started to put in all the events yet, but as soon as we get some biggies, I'll be sure to put them in ...

Oh right! Thanksgiving event! I totally forgot about that. Let me go add it in. Anyone have any thoughts about the shiny new feature?

EDIT2: I went ahead and added in the last day that you can place orders for food by the pound, or whole cakes, pies, etc. The last day will be Tuesday, 24 November, 2009. After we close on Tuesday, we will be unable to accept any further orders for whole cakes, pies, or pound cake loaves, or for Thanksgiving specials by the pound. Make sure you make your reservations and requests early, so that we've got plenty of food (or space) set aside for you and yours.

Hi there -- Heard raves about the cookies, and the Walk was a super-duper success.  We had many more people and raised way more money than last year.  Thanks for being a part of history!  :)   Peace and love to you, R.

What Robyn refers to is Farm Sanctuary's annual Walk For Farm Animals. Farm Sanctuary is a haven for animals. I've been there myself, during a giant vegan meetup, and got married there to my wonderful husband Steve at the Rainbow Bridge.

If you were there at the walk, kudos to you! They raised a lot more money than last year, but still need help with volunteers at the farm, cash donations, and spreading the word about their work and the importance of it.

Sacred Chow donated 200 cookies for the walk, at the request of the lovely Robyn Lazara, who emailed us months ago to ask us to help. I hope everyone enjoyed the cookies as much as we enjoy making them. :)

If you haven't yet, definitely consider taking a trip up to Watkins Glenn to go see the lovely setup they've got going there. They even have lodging on premises that is fairly inexpensive. Neighbouring Ithaca is quite vegan friendly, and has plenty of things to do (used book stores, vegan friendly restaurants, cute little hole-in-the-wall bars and pubs, cute little night clubs, etc.) and is relatively inexpensive to visit.

Pumpkin Bisssssssssque!!!

Just like the Brussels Sprouts, the Pumpkin Bisque is another one of those Fall favourites that's coming around again. Li just made a GIANT pot of the stuff, so get it while it's hot, and get a few bowls. Pumpkins, being related to watermelons, squashes, gourds, and cucumbers, can come in a dizzying variety of shapes, colours, sizes, and textures, much like their milder cousins. The seeds are quite yummy, when washed clean (of that gunky stuff that keeps them in place), dried, and toasted in the oven with a touch of oil and salt, and a hint of red chili powder.

Let's make something abundantly clear: the pumpkins that you get for jack-o-lanterns are not good to eat. They're essentially made to grow to the pre-determined size, and aren't cultivated for their taste. The pumpkins that are good to eat are often clearly marked in the store, so that you can choose the best ones for your table. Choose pumpkins that are heavy for their size, and are firm all throughout. More info.

So why eat them (aside from the fact that they're absolutely delicious)?

For one thing, pumpkin is absolutely groaning with A vitamins. It's low in fat and calories, and rich in potassium, fibre, and vitamin C. Furthermore, there are hundreds of ways to enjoy it, be it in soups or stews, with beans (roast, scoop out from the skin, chop into pieces, and slide it into your cooking beans), casseroles, boiled/mashed, or ::shudder:: pie.

There. I said it. I hate hate hate hate hate hate hate pumpkin pie. It's sweet and thick and a sin towards this noble plant. For the love of all that's holy, please try something unique with pumpkins that doesn't involve drowning them in sugar. They have so much natural sweetness that adding more sugar is overkill.

Which brings us back full circle to Chow's pumpkin bisque. It's only slightly sweet, but has those lovely mulling spices, like you'd get from a cup of good mulled cider. The beauty of it is that in spite of its creaminess and smoothness, you can still taste big pumpkin flavour. Definitely a fan favourite for a reason!

we've come 4 u petar teartar!

a vendor chow's been doing biz w 4 a very long time and i recently had some hard dealings, specifically w their bookkeeper, who is sometimes a nasty witch. last night while i slept, off i went 2 their factory, which i've never been 2, w little boy hux. everything was in black & white. we boarded an empty train w food wrappers splayed on the floor. the conductor was a skeleton figure that didnt move, but 4 his hand guiding the steering wheel. it only stopped where we needed 2 get off, and we walked 2 this austere, severe gray building. we had 2 walk all the way 2 the back of an old, broken down, dreary factory. it had very high, endless ceilings, lots of fans spinning in window sills. we walked 2 the farthest point, 2 the back of the empty factory, where the bookkeeper was sitting. she was sitting above us, like a judge in a court-room. we were invited there 2 taste their vanilla soymilk and vanilla soy ice cream, which she had promised would be tasty and priced competitively. it was quite tasty, but i told her that the price was higher than what we were now paying. all of a sudden, many people started lining up 2 taste these items, and the bookkeeper lost interest in us. so we decided 2 leave thru the back entrance. the streets here were desolate, oddly quiet, frightening, empty of people; the buildings were tall, 20-30 stories, made of brick but completely falling apart and bombed out, one after another, like dresden, germany after ww2. in the silence, bricks could be heard falling, ravens calls shouting out. i thought we should turn around and go back 2 the factory bc i wasnt sure how 2 get 2 the train from where we were, and i was scared. suddenly a subway entrance appeared, but its door was locked w chains. i pulled it 2 open, and i was able 2 open it enuf 4 us 2 fit thru. the stairway was extremely narrow, as wide as our bodies. it was strewn with debris, which made it difficult 2 walk. the exit was a through a man-hole that i had 2 lift 2 maneuver us through. there was a commotion of rioting people, & a large police force w shields. the rioters were chanting: " we've come 4 u petar teartar, we've come 4 u!" the police started 2 pull hux by his arms through the man-hole, and i was grabbing him by his legs back down. his name in the dream was petar teartar. i lost hold and out he went in2 the street. and the police screamed at him: " we've come 4 u petar teartar, we've come 4 u!" i jumped up 2 grab him, and the police let out a spray of bullets. i shielded us. i could feel the bullets penetrating the back of my body. i said, " petar r u still alive?" now the crowd was singing in a harsh military tune: " we've come 4 u petar teartar, we've come 4 u petar teartar!" hux and i were lying on the street, as the crowd was converging closer and closer repeating their song. i was shaking him, shaking him, shaking him, petar, petar, petar, and i shook myself up out of sleep, and hux or petar was soundly asleep.

Thanksgiving With Sacred Chow

Start emailing your Thanksgiving plans to Sacred Chow, either to make reservations, or to place orders for main dishes, sides, and desserts ahead of time, so that we can have your special meal ready to roll when the big day comes along. We have taken every effort to include as much gluten free bounty, so that everyone may come to your (and our) table, and tuck in for a feast they'll never forget.

Daily Specials:
Soup: Pumpkin Bisque (GF) or Shiitake Mushroom Barley Stew (WF)
Vegetable: Cornmeal Crusted Brussels Sprouts (GF)
Bean: Lima Bean w/Escarole & Garlic (GF)
Grain: Butternut Squash & Millet Croquettes with Veg Gravy (GF)
Protein: Pan Seared Tempeh w a port wine reduction(GF) or Seitan Bordelaise
Hummus: Pumpkin Cashew Butter Hummus

Prix Fixe Sides: (only available in pre-order by the pound, or with Prix Fixe Special: Choice of soup (Pumpkin or Mushroom-Barley), choice of one protein (Tempeh or Seitan), and choice of any two (2) prix fixe sides, choice of one Thanksgiving dessert, glass of wine or mulled cider: $45.)
Garlic Chive Mashed Potatoes (GF) - $7.25/lb
Cornbread Stuffing (GF) - $7.25/lb
Cranberry Apple Relish (GF) - $8.50/lb
House Made Cinnamon Apple Sauce (GF) - $7.50/lb

Thanksgiving Desserts:
Pumpkin Maple Praline Pie (GF) - $28/whole pie (feeds 6 - 8)
Apple Pie - $28/whole pie (feeds 6 - 8)
Mock Mincemeat Turnovers $5.50/each
Cranberry Orange Layer Cake w/Citrus Buttercream (GF) ($60 feeds 8-10)

i'm a big fan of their cupcakes!

Best place to grab vegan food in New York? Sacred Chow!
i'm not a vegan and i usually can't tolerate vegan food, but Sacred Chow is delicious. i'm a big fan of their cupcakes.
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com

one of my very favorites!

Meet & Eat: Jessica Mahady, Veggie Conquest

Posted by Laren Spirer, September 24, 2009 at 12:45 PM

Some Serious Eaters shudder when they hear the word "vegan." Not Jessica Mahady, founder and organizer of Veggie Conquest, a regular vegan cookoff that threatens to convert even the most carnivorous New Yorker. Jessica took some time to tell us about how the Veggie Conquest came to be, and where to find some of the most delicious vegan dishes in the city.

Name: Jessica Mahady
Location: New York City
Occupation: Founder/Organizer, Veggie Conquest

Everyone has a go-to person they call for restaurant/bar recommendations. Who's yours? SuperVegan or my friends Cathy Resler and Demetrius Bagley of Vegan EATup.

What's the best recommendation he/she has given you? Cathy introduced me to Sacred Chow, when I first moved to NYC. It is still one of my very favorites.

the food was really, really good!

Willie and I decided to try out Sacred Chow. We originally were going to try this place on Willie’s last visit, but because of the horrid results of our meal at that vegetarian Indian buffet that from now on shall remain nameless, we had to cancel the trip. This time, thank goodness, the attempt was successful!

Sacred Chow is a really cute little place that focuses on making tasty food (mostly tapas) that are all organic, locally grown, vegan, fair sourced and/or kosher! They also have tons of soy-free, gluten-free and wheat-free dishes! Okay, so maybe that isn’t everyone’s idea of deliciousness, but the food was really, really good and I think even someone who wasn’t all for vegan cuisine could enjoy the food here. We began with the Gym Body smoothie, which was thick enough to be considered a milkshake and was high on almond an banana flavor. Next came our set of tapas, root vegetable latkes, sunflower-lentil pate and Orange Blackstrap BBQ seitan. The latkes were really peppery, but tasty and they had a nice texture. The star was definitely the date butter they gave us to accompany the latkes! It was so creamy and sweet (but not too sweet!) The lentil pate was probably the best part of the whole meal. It tasted a lot like sunbutter, which, for me, is a great thing! The seitan was so good. The BBQ sauce on top was fantastic. It starts out sweet and tangy and hits you with a little heat at the end. For the main event, we had the grilled western tofu with dill-soy mayonaise. As with everything else in this meal, it was quite delicious and the mayo definitely won me over. This is a really great lunch place, and I can’t wait to check it out for brunch!

http://untilweeatagain.wordpress.com

pretty spectacular!

Sacred Chow-down

October 13, 2009, 10:11 am

Think: low carbon, heart- healing plant proteins. Sacred Chow’s organic field products are locally grown. Tropical ingredients are fair trade sourced: a commitment to zero human rights violations. Sacred Chow is certified Kosher-Pareve via the IKC and Tav ha Yosher: an ethical distribution of work and wages, in a safe & sacred workplace.

That’s the message on the homepage for Sacred Chow, a vegan restaurant in Greenwich Village. I usually make it a policy not to go out to eat or drink in NYU territory, as I’ve had too many experiences with overpriced crappy food and beverages. But I’d heard good things about Sacred Chow so last Friday I ventured forth.

BBQ Seitan

Its menu centers around tapas (although these aren’t really like any tapas you’ve seen before) and heroes. Now, usually, I’m a sucker for a good sandwich, but the reviews on Yelp had been quite laudatory of two tapas plates in particular: the Orange Blackstrap BBQ Seitan with spicy onions and the Indonesian Roasted Tempeh with salad. Never one to quibble with a recommendation, I went with these. And I’ll say that the tempeh was pretty spectacular, mostly because of whatever delicioso dressing they use on the salad. The seitan was reminiscent of a BBQ'd pulled pork with a sweet and tasty sauce.

Indonesian Roasted Tempeh

Verdict: I will definitely go back, and take a friend or two so that I can try more dishes. The dessert menu looks stellar and they have enticing seasonal specials, inviting repeat trips. The ambiance was dim and quirky, with string lights and an environmental Meetup group getting together while I was there. Love the philosophy behind this place and am more than willing to explore the menu further.

hear oh life!

i wish we all would see each other as inextricably linked 2 one another, like brothers and sisters. oh bro & sis, i dont want u 2 starve, 2 be wo shelter or wo necessary medical care. i dont want u 2 be brutalized or killed bc ur gay, another species, very young, very old, emotionally or physically challenged, darker, smaller or "different" in anyway. i send out a prayer 2 the universe: hear oh life, be gentle w my bros & sisters, come 2 the sacred chow, make love, not violence.

That's Gene Baur, founder of Farm Sanctuary!

World Vegetarian Day in NYC, Friday, October 2, 2009

where the journey began...

I spent yesterday, October 1, in New York celebrating the anniversary of Ghandi's birthday and World Vegetarian Day. I took the subway down to Bleecker Street for an early dinner at Sacred Chow. This was my first visit, and it won't be my last. In fact, I think I'll have to come up with excuses to get down to the city more often just so I can sample the vast array of tapas offered there.

I decided on the Indonesian Tempeh with Peanut Sauce, Grilled Korean Tofu with Pickled Vegetables and Sauteed Shiitake Mushrooms with Sunflower Seeds and South Indian Dipping Sauce. My favorite was a tossup between the tempeh and tofu, but I also loved that dipping sauce (gotta get the recipe!). It arrived at the table on this beautiful cake tower which made the meal feel that much more special.

so pretty... so delicious!

In the background, as I was taking pictures of my dinner, I spotted a gentleman who looked rather familiar. I held a glass to the wall and discovered the conversation was about farm animals, interns, and the Walk for Farm Animals this weekend. "Ahh," I immediately thought to myself, "that's Gene Baur, founder of Farm Sanctuary!" How cool is that? He chose the lentil pate.

pretty excellent!

chelsea

The food at Sacred Chow was delicious when I went. It's been awhile, so I don't remember everything that I got, but the Brownie Sundae was pretty excellent (read: very excellent).

http://www.vegguide.org

Zagat Rated!

Reviewed by RichardD7767 on 09/30/2009. Great variety of small plates. Very tasty. Sacred Chow brings the term "Sacred" to new heavenly heights.

Reviewed by AndreaF452599 on 05/09/2009. Sacred Chow is one of my favorites!

Reviewed by FunkyDuck on 05/09/2009. Hooray for vegan restaurants! The food at Sacred Chow is fresh and light. You won't be disappointed.

Reviewed by LaurenC5399 on 04/27/2009. AMAZING! If you are skeptical about vegan food, try Sacred Chow. I wish there were more locations so I could eat Sacred Chow at every meal!

Reviewed by MaryA6300 on 04/18/2009. Sacred Chow has amazing vegan fare. The food has taste and flavor. Great for a quick bite to eat.

Reviewed by Amojoam on 03/30/2009. Sacred Chow is delicious! Afterward, you don't feel like you've just eaten a bunch of vegetables. The tapas are unique! Great place to hang out at night!

Reviewed by CathyR700514 on 03/20/2009. Sacred Chow is my favorite restaurant in the city- fresh, healthy and all homemade. Creative and innovative tapas, sandwiches and amazing brunch. Happy hour specials 3 tapas come with a free beer.

http://www.zagat.com

Cornmeal Crusted Brussels Sprouts

It's one of the most popular VODs (vegetable of the day): Cornmeal Crusted Brussels Sprouts. Every time we make a batch, we run out if it almost immediately. Without fail. It's crispy on the outside, warm and creamy on the inside, and altogether delicious.

Brussels sprouts are related to cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli, and other members of the Brassica family. A single 100 gram serving has 142% of your daily needs for vitamin C. Aside from that, you get a lot of the B complex vitamins (and since it has Red Star Vegetarian Support Formula nutritional yeast, it'll also knock out your needs for B-12 while you're at it), Iron, Calcium, and the rest. Definitely good for you.

So why do people hate it?

Well, let's talk about broccoli. Most people, when they meet broccoli for the first time, have it when it's boiled to death, and smells FOUL. There's a reason for this. Descendants of cabbage (like broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, etc.) contain a sulphur containing compound that's released when the vegetable is boiled (i.e., it's highly water soluble). That's why you smell that foul odour when you boil these foods. Instead, if you do decide to boil your brassica, do so for a quick time; maybe 5 or 6 minutes.

I personally prefer to avoid all that mess, and go with dry heat cooking methods, like roasting, sautéing, or grilling. Since it's cold as all get-out this time of year (which is around when Brussels Sprouts come into season), you can do the lazy method: toss in oil and herbs, roast at 350ºF/180ºC for about 35 - 45 minutes, shaking the pan halfway through cooking to turn the sprouts over, and then liberally sprinkling on salt and black pepper. Quite lovely.

However, if you want the cornmeal crusted brussels sprouts, just avoid all that work, and come to Sacred Chow. We've done the work for you.

eat at sacred chow!

Colum-bum day

Not celebrating the mass atrocities of our brothers and sisters who were here in the USA before Europeans landed, but rather celebrating the day off that many get. Come to Chow for an extension of our Brunch. Meaning that you can get brunch on Saturday the 10th, Sunday the 11th, or Monday the 12th. That bum Columbus who "discovered" a land that was already discovered does not deserve a holiday, but a day off is nice nonetheless.

top of the empire state building!

the exact statement was that i want 2 go 2 the top of the empire state building, and yell 2 the world that eating animal proteins is destructive and harmful. "get over here!" 2 the sacred chow that is!

"GET OVER HERE"

he said.

I replied, "That's not enough. We've gotta say more."

"I know."

So.

What more can be said?

Shemini Atzeret

Shemini Atzeret (שמיני עצרת - "the Eighth [day] of Assembly") is a Jewish holiday celebrated on the 22nd day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei. In the Diaspora, an additional day is celebrated, the second day being separately referred to as Simkhat Torah. In Israel and Reform Judaism, the holidays of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah are combined into a single day and the names are used interchangeably.

Simchat Torah (also Simchas Torah, Hebrew: שמחת תורה, lit., "Rejoicing with/of the Torah,") is a celebration marking the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle. Simchat Torah is a component of the Biblical Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret ("Eighth Day of Assembly"), which follows immediately after the festival of Sukkot in the month of Tishrei (mid-September to early October on the Gregorian calendar).

There you are, folks! Two lovely holy days coming up for us all to enjoy together.

briskimbop!

huxley and i were talkin bout combining a recipe from his korean and jewish genealogy 2 place on the chow menu. so we got 2 talkin bout foods from both cultures that he enjoys. he loves challah, matzo ball soup, brisket, bibimbop, soon doo boo, and kimchi. there r many others that he loves but we decided a good fit would be the bibimbop and brisket, so we called it: briskimbop. here we wondered if there was a term 4 a korean-jewish kid like himself, his mamacita is korean and his pop-a-jew, so that makes hux a rare mix known as a matzodooboo, no not really, that's a spicy tofu-matzo sandwich. the "real" made-up term we googled is known as: koreish. come 2 the table 4 a delish koreish (kor-ee-ish) briskimbop!

My favorite restaurant!

Posted by Food86 on 09/30/2009
Awesome
My favorite restaurant. Really! The atmosphere is great, lit with cool string lights, exposed brick wall, modestly decorated. Sacred Chow is delicious - I've been eating here even before I became a vegetarian. Try the Tempeh Reuben, Korean Tofu Cutlets, Black Olive Seitan. Also, the staff is adorable and friendly. Enjoy!
http://www.menupages.com

faster than the shooting stars!

love the chow! contemplating quietly, drifting off in2 a deep, relaxed place. away, up there, past the clouds, moon, sun, milky way, wee, around and back again. come w me, let's fly so fast that we r faster than the shooting stars; feel the night blowing through our hair, on our face, tickling our neck, arms and feet, moving under our shirts and pants flapping wildly from the wind. the speed is thrilling, isnt it? ah, an endless expanse of freedom, darkness and light, open-armed, embracing. look over there! do u see that planet about a trillion and a half light years away? it's over there, a bit 2 the right, above that solar storm. see it? hold my hand child, that's where we're going.