like being on another planet

March 23, 2010

week 12: sacred chow

my week-long trial period of near-veganism culminated last friday,

with a trip to

sacred chow

in the west village

it was recommended to me by vegan friend justin,

whom i did not know was vegan until he turned down an offer

for a cookie bar made by mum

{and you must know that no one turns down jody's cookie bars}

so in our post-concert rush,

we taxied downtown

with just enough time to place our dinner {and dessert} order

by closing time.

and the style was

tapas

and our appetites were

big

here's a list of what we ordered,

and my thoughts about them

{in twitter form, of course}

sacred caesar salad

taste simulation at it's highest.

are you sure there are no anchovies in this, justin?

yes, pumpkin, i'm sure.

sunflower lentil paté

tasty,

not too weird or grossly offensive,

but, alas, i've never had real paté so i don't know how this compared.

mama's soy meatballs

with sicilian sauce

delicious!

reminded me of the vegetarian meatballs that an ex's mom made,

and since i wouldn't dare ask her for the recipe,

these compensated quite well.

sliced ginger soba noodles

with spicy peanut sauce

by far my fave.

it's hard to mess up peanut noodles, i know,

but i was afraid of the word "soba"

til i tried these.

indonesian roasted tempeh

contrary to what i predicted,

i didn't run the other way screaming.

the texture was new,

kind of like paper maché,

but i think i'd like to try it again to give it a fair shot.

seitan.

seitan.

roasted black olive seitan.

there's a reason it's so close in spelling to satan.

kidding.

sort of.

i actually muscled through a whole piece of it thinking it was the meatballs.

and then the meatballs came out and i was like

oh no what did i just eat? that's such a terrible feeling.

it tasted like that egg carton foam you put over your mattress.

but edible, definitely edible.

sort of.

top to bottom: paté, tempeh, seitan

and for dessert:

brownie sundae

i didn't feel so guilty gobbling all of it up because

if it's vegan,

it must be healthy,

right?

please let that be right.

because i pretty much ate it all.

and i couldn't believe it was vegan.

i was, after all, that bitch of a little sister when lactose-intolerant stoop had to eat soy dream.

...

anywho,

i really enjoyed my first vegan restaurant experience.

it was sort of like being on another planet...

most things were recognizable with their non-vegan counterpart,

but there were things, mostly textures, that distinguished them.

i mean, how close can one really get to simulating a chewy, still bleeding steak without a cow?

but this new food world

is like discovering a new ethnic cuisine,

it is so interesting,

that i just might extend my near-veganism

for kicks.

and because my jeans were looser this week.

i think i'll go back to sacred chow,

or try to incorporate more vegan things in the 40 restaurants that i have left...

xoxo

yeh

sacred chow is on sullivan street between west 3rd and bleecker in the village.

sun-thu 11-10, fri&sat 11-11.

12 comments:

Melissa said...

This place sounds awesome! I've been wanting to go vegan but still deciding. I'll have to check it out!

3/23/10 11:17 PM

tiffany said...

mmmm everything sounds so good especially brownie sundae! ^_____^

xo tiffany

3/24/10 12:05 AM

chelsea rebecca said...

i'm dying over the ridiculous amount of food in this post!!
I WANT IT ALL!
and i especially love the fact that it was finished off with a brownie sundae. YUM!

3/24/10 12:37 AM

Emma Jade said...

sounds amazing! I always wanted to go vegan but struggled with being vegetarian due to severe anaemia, maybe ill try again soon though!
xxx

3/24/10 7:58 AM

Meghan said...

Ha! I love this! I felt the SAME way when I had a vegan dessert here in Chicago - it must be healthy, right??? :)

3/24/10 9:01 AM

Maki said...

I've tried vegan chinese food before and they were awesome! But I don't think I can be a vegan... I do eat healthy and love fruits and vegetables and eat more of seafood and chicken, but once in a while I crave steak and I know I can't pass that up!!!

I love all of your photos :)

p.s. and yes, it's totally okay to dye easter eggs even when you're jewish! i love it too!!

3/24/10 9:50 AM

daisychain said...

I love vegan food, you must take me here some day!

3/24/10 12:00 PM

Kimbirdy said...

I always seem to read your blog when I'm hungry... bad idea! ;)

3/24/10 1:02 PM

C'est La Vie said...

you just made me SO hungry

3/24/10 1:05 PM

Jasara said...

the first pic is priceless! lol

3/24/10 1:28 PM

Mara said...

yum! that place sounds amazing. I'm sad I didn't know about it when I was in NYC. But on my next trip I'll have to go there and you can give me some other recommendations :)

3/24/10 1:51 PM

Katy Mary said...

I really love the presentation with the plates on that little tower. It's very cool. I was a vegetarian for many years and sometimes I really miss it. There are so many delicious vegan and vegetarian dishes out there. I definitely need to get back into some of them. You have given me a huge list of places to try next time I'm in NYC!

3/24/10 4:52 PM