Fast paced, but enjoyable shift.

I got in at the usual time, after having stopped at McDougall Street for a quickie falafel hit, and sat at the computer to check emails, and respond to the backlog of stuff that I had to respond to. Cliff gave me a buzz, and let me know that since it's his birthday today (happy birthday, boss man!), he'd be playing hooky today. No worries, though. If Boss Man is getting some sleep, it'll be that much the better when he comes back in, so that he's not so sapped of energy. I like it when he comes in all well rested. It's just unfortunate that he doesn't take off two consecutive days ever. I'll work on that.

Things actually went a lot more smoothly than I had any reason to expect them to. We cranked out the food for the customers, and cooked the stuff we'd been running low out at the same time, while still not feeling pressured or tired. I also got a chance to check the stats for our site, and it looks like we've actually got people reading. Who knew? I think that encouraged Cliff to start posting a bit more, as you can probably see from the previous posts. When he posts more, people read more, and the whole wonderful cycle continues on as we keep searching for ways to grow this.

P.S. I made a DIVINE walnut hummos that's creamy, light, and tastes a lot richer than it actually is.

it's the monkey's suitcase for you!

today i stayed home from sacred chow. huxley had a half day of kindergarten and he had his first play date with sophia. i never met sophia before, he has told me how much he loves her. they had a really "grown-up" play date. they did their homework together, sophia read a book to us, we colored dragons, played a foster's imaginary friends online game, ate some vegan sausages and lemon ice pops. huxley could not stop proclaiming his love for sophia. i asked sophia if huxley was making her feel uncomfortable, no, i love him too she said. when her mom came to pick her up, they both hid to prolong their time together. after she left, he fell into a deep sleep for a bit. when he woke up, he told me about a dream he had.
a t. rex was following me, and he was about to eat me. but then i fell into a crocodile river and the croc ate me. i punched him in the stomach and he spit me out. when i got out of his mouth the t. rex was waiting for me. i ran fast and climbed up some vines hanging down from the forest. i saw a monkey, he was about to push me back into the river. i was too tired to do anything, and the monkey pushed me, and i fell back into the river. and the monkey yelled these words down to me over and over, " it's the monkey's suitcase for you, it's the monkey's suitcase for you!"
that's all.

well above standard...I am so disappointed...Cool Waiter... it's quite small...freaking delicious...I love this place!...the service isn't so good...

HMMM, GOOD DAYS, BAD DAYS, RIGHT?

yup!

BUT IT'S ALL A PART OF A DELICIOUS PROCESS.

READ, POST, READ, POST, AND HAVE FAITH. THE TREASURE IS IN THERE FOR US TO UNCOVER, A SACRED RESPECT, BALANCE AND LOVE.

e. yorke said...
the chocolate halva pie is ridiculously amazing...i just tried it today. i actually googled it to see if anyone had conceptualized such a delicious dessert before, and that's how i found this blog :-)
Wednesday, 12 March, 2008

Review by naa530 on March 12, 2008:
Sacred Chow is one of my favorite places to eat in New York. I have found everything I've had here to be exceptionally good, particularly the Reuben and the Sacred Caesar salad. The service always seems to be pretty good, my only complaint is that its quite small and when the tables are full it can feel a little claustrophobic. The weekend brunch is great, especially the banana bread french toast. They also have daily specials that are always interesting and usually very good.

Olga R.
New York, NY
5 star rating 03/11/2008
this place is so freaking delicious. my friend and i shared the korean cutlets, root vegetable latkes, soba noodles, and sunflower lentil pate. for dessert, the special was chocolate halva pie and it was seriously one of the best desserts i have ever tasted in my life...i think we made audible pleasure noises as we consumed it. the service isn't so good but i really didn't care because the food was so delicious


Posted by Anonymous on 03/10/2008
delicious! I love this place! I've been here a few times, and everything is delicious. The black olive seitan is great- a little chewy, but in a sandwich, it's awesome! My two favorites entrees are the tapas salad (with cornmeal crusted brussel sprouts) and the meatball sub. All of the tapas are great, and listen to the waiter's recommendations- they really know whats good. Enjoy!


Review by knuckles on March 7, 2008:
Something has happened to this restaurant in the past couple of months. It used to be my favorite NYC spot, and I loved to split the tapas with my friends. But the prices have gone up and the quality of the food has gone down. The brussel sprouts, which were a mainstay, are suddenly soggy and overcooked. The soups are just always off somehow, just overly seasoned as if someone dumped a thing of burnt cumin in and the seitan has become rubbery and salty. What happened sacred chow? I am so disappointed. I hope they can get it together again.

Review by keramel on February 23, 2008:
I went here last night with 4 other people. I'm vegan, one other is vegan, two others are vegetarian, and one is an omnivore.

The smoothies are amazing. Definitely recommend the Charlie Brown and the Gym Body.

We started off with the tapas. Keep in mind, these are very small plates so if you're sharing with a large group, everyone may only get a bite. We ordered the Curried Broccoli, Hummus, Kale salad with amazing Dressing, Orange BBQ Seitan, and the Soba noodles with Peanut Sauce. Each was someone's favorite, so it depends on what you like. I was amazed that the two most boring sounding dishes were actually quite wonderful: the broccoli and the kale. I liked the Seitan, but the Soba noodles were delicious.

For entrees we all had hoagies. Two people ordered the shredded tofu spa wrap, two ordered the mama's meatballs, and one ordered the hummus wrap. The cole slaw that accompanies sandwiches is delicious.

I had the spa wrap, which was described by our server as, "People say it tastes like chicken salad; I don't know what that means. But it's good!" It was good. The dressing has a strong dill taste, which was delicious. But if you don't like dill, then avoid the sandwich. The meatball sandwiches weren't as good, to me, because they were dry. The bread is toasted and the meatballs isn't really in a sauce. The meatballs were delicious, but I'd ask to have the bread UN-toasted so it's not as dry. Or maybe ask if you can get some tomato or something. Or put the coleslaw on it. :)

The hummus sandwich was also delicious and didn't suffer from the dryness factor.

Overall, the food was all delicious and I'd come back.

Note that the restaurant is small. You should call ahead to make sure you get a table on a busy night.

Also, there's only one server. He does a great job, but just keep that in mind if you're trying to make a movie or show afterwards

By Sarah G. Posted 02/20/08
This restaurant manages to make miracles out of the most healthy foods. Nothing is fried and no refined sugars are used. Nonetheless, this vegan restaurant is innovative and delicious. Using seasonal foods, there is always something new to come and check out.

"I DREAM ABOUT SACRED CHOW"Posted by vegantraveler on: Saturday, January 26, 2008
Review: Every morning I wake up and wish I were here. I constantly talk about how I had the best breakfast ever! The most delicious tofu scramble smothered in creamy vegan cheese...so heavenly!! Please if you have a heart let me live in the kitchen so I can wake up every morning here!
Pros: Everything Rocks * Cool Waiter * Cons: * *


Posted By Gerald Pugliese, Friday, December 29, 2007
diseaseproof@gmail.com.
This week Eating to Live on the Outside is back in the Big Apple—New Yawk City! And our destination? Sullivan Street between West 3rd and Bleecker, the home of Sacred Chow Vegan Bistro. Right off the bat I can tell you Sacred Chow is well above standard American restaurants like The Office and Houlihan's, but it’s still got some glitches that I’d be careful about. Okay, let’s take a look.

The first dish to snatch my attention was the Four Seasons Salad. Why? Well for starters it’s got beets in it, and Dr. Fuhrman speaks very highly of beets. So that’s a plus. It also comes with seasonal greens, carrots, apples, Dijon vinaigrette, and crunchy yuba strips. Of course I’ll go easy on the salad dressing, but the yuba strips also give me pause. Yuba is made from soy. Specifically, yuba is known as soymilk skin. It is the soycream the rises to the surface of boiled soymilk. It is cut, dried a bit, marinated and roasted, not fried, crisp at Sacred Chow. Now I’ve got nothing against organic soy. I drink soy milk and I eat tofu on occasion, but it’s still a minimally processed food. Sure, it’s better than whole wheat croutons, that are minimally processed as well, but unlike the croutons I won’t omit them from the salad, but I won’t exactly feel bad about eating around most of them. I tend to be very discriminating about my soy.

The Grilled Western Tofu Hero is also looking mighty tasty. Its toasted whole wheat Italian bread stuffed with thickly sliced western tofu, dill soy-mayo, baby greens, and soy-cheese. Oh, it also comes with something called Chow slaw (I’ve heard it's a spicy peanut, red cabbage and carrot coleslaw) and a pickle—I love pickles! Now I know I just said I’m picky about my tofu, I swear I am! But out of all the sandwiches on Sacred Chow’s menu, the Grilled Western most appeals to me. Granted, soy-mayonnaise and soy cheese aren’t exactly my favorite foods, although you can omit them, but 2 other heroes are made with seitan, and seitan doesn’t really appeal to my taste buds, and there's a Tempeh Rueben and a Hummus of the Day. But for me, today, the Grilled Western is the best fit. And yes, I can live with the bread. I’ll just stay focused on all those baby greens! Although, I have heard, if you ask, they can make a wrap from steamed leafy greens!

Now this brings me to my next selection—or should I say—my next massive quandary. Tapas, what the heck is it? I don’t know! So I looked it up, and being an Italian guy from Jersey, I didn’t exactly grow up on Tapas. According Merriam-Webster, tapas are small plate food, finger-type hors d'oeuvre. Oh! Well that makes Sacred Chow’s tapas offerings a lot easier to comprehend, and explore. All right, now that that’s out of the way, time to order some a small plate or two.

Sacred Chow has a lot of small plate options. So many that it looks like they actually encourage you to make a meal out of them. Three for 15 bucks is a pretty good deal if you ask me. So if I had to pick three, what would I order? Okay, first I’m going with the Dijon Marinated Raw Kale. As Dr. Fuhrman’s blogger, I think he would personally strangle me if I didn’t pick the kale—so that one’s a keeper. Next I’m going with the Sautéed Shiitake Mushrooms with Toasted Sunflower Seeds and Light South Indian Dressing. I like mushrooms and sunflower seeds, and the dressing sounds like it could be a hit, so I’m going out on a limb here, but I think this combination will be nothing but good times. And finally, I’ll throw the Vegetable of the Day into the mix. Why? Because I like surprises—no, that’s not true, I’m too neurotic for surprises. So I’d just sit back and hope for a really good veggie, like zucchini or Chinese eggplant.

So there you have it, that’s how I’d pay homage to the Sacred Chow. Check out Sacred Chow’s menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

dan my fling.***

the other night, dan and i were washing down the restaurant with soap and bleach, and we were sharing a few pints of beer from the tap. and dan said, it's really fun to work here, oh i know that you're not supposed to have fun at work, i'm sorry i dont mean it that way. and i said, i dont see it any other way. we laughed and drank more beer.

cheers to fun!

fyi*** carly simon song.

fiddler on the roof.

last night i was singing to nina as she was washing dishes and i was drying them. i was singing to her, jerusalem, city of gold, in hebrew. i told her that i sing this lulling, soothing piece to huxley, my almost 6 year old son, to fall asleep to. an hour or so later, nina started singing, tradition, from fiddler on the roof. her song took me to the gathering place of an old, small village somewhere beyond our realm. in the gathering place was a man playing an accordion and a woman singing and clapping along with their music. other folks began to gather around to share, sing and clap with such intense joy, focus, excitement and peacefulness. this was so beautiful to feel, and so overwhelming and heart-warming. while nina and i were washing and drying dishes, the fiddler on the roof stood precariously on his perch, she sang, he played and we shared in our gathering place. tradition, tradition!

Running Away

When I moved to New York City, my friends and family thought that I was running away from my previous life. Recently, after taking stock of everything, I realised that I was running toward the life that I had always wanted. Working at Sacred Chow is the pinnacle of the dreams that I had as a boy. I always wanted to make people smile. I sincerely desired to make an impact on this beautiful world that we share. And now, with the movement that Sacred Chow is, I can truly say that I'm living my dream.

I wasn't running away. I was running towards my ideal life.

Daily Specials for 9 March 2008

Hummos: Sunflower
Soups: Broccoli Bisque
Lima Bean-Dill

Vegetable: Cornmeal Crusted Brussels Sprout

Grain: Roasted Tomato-Fennel Risotto

Protein: Puffed Tofu with Tomato Dill Sauce

Desserts: Chocolate Halva Pie
Apple, Pineapple, Blueberry Crisp

A Word from our Fans:

To preface, Karin had a birthday party here last week, and seems to have enjoyed it:

Hi Cliff,

Just wanted to thank you & the Sacred Chow staff for a lovely birthday dinner. The food was delicious & servers were so gracious and friendly. My friends all loved the place too! We'll definitely be back.

Best,
Karin

Purim, Passover, Pride Whisper Hour

The other day, Cliff mentioned that I should get the word out there that we're going to do /something/ for Purim, Passover, and the Gay Pride Parade as a Whisper Hour event. So, I put the word out there on the Craigslist, and it looks like we've got some people who are definitely interested in coming over and doing something interesting. Mind you, we won't stop at just those three holidays. There are other holidays and ideas that we'd be happy to share, as long as we'd had some prior notice and understanding, y'know? That way, we can get the word out there, and let people know that it's coming up, and maybe do like a fixed price menu for it.

Also, if you're reading this, let us know. Cliff thinks we're speaking to the air, which I know isn't true.

Whisper Hour is BAAAAAACK!

Whisper Hour on Saturday Evening, at 7:30 PM. Come one, come all to enjoy a night of Eileen's beautiful flute music. Sit back, and let the music take you away.