"Sacred Chow: I idolize you!"

Saturday, November 5, 2011

After the Marathon orientation was over I wandered aimlessly around the village. It's what many people who are there are doing. Nothing's changed in 40 years and I like it that way. So my wanderings take me past the old "Googies" bar. It looks all slicked out Irish Pub style now but the bar itself looks like it did from back in High School. High School? Maybe I'm not remembering it right. Maybe. Since it is actually "Miller Time" I thought about grabbing a brew for old times sake but really, I didn't want to hassle with Barnivore, (a searchable listing of which beers and wines are vegan), and do a bunch of research at the moment. It's actually quite easy to use, just enter the name of the beverage or click on a letter but I wanted easy-ier. Perhaps another time for reminiscing.

A few doors further south, more importantly, I found Sacred Chow. This place has been on my radar.

I most definitely had a hankering for kale. A la nutritarian Dr. Fuhrman.
After having that Arepa a few hours ago I was looking for a home made, sit down, comfort food meal. I love sampling in house made seitan. And here it was. BBQ. What a bullseye.

It did seem like so much food but my waitress, (whose name I neglected to get but who was super sweet and helpful), suggested the Souper Hero. $14 for half a hero and side of kale caesar? Done. And a beer. Yes, what goes better with BBQ than a beer. Didn't even have to pull out Barnivore. No questions about chicken broth or other silliness. Just relax and put the mind in a good place.

Sacred Chow is a small place. It wasn't crazy the night I went and there were actually 2 open tables. I would imagine that this place ends up with a line out of the door, (and possibly down to Googies), on a busy night but I was lucky. The tables weren't packed in. I liked the vibe.

The meal surpassed my expectations in both size and flavor. I was truly impressed by a sandwich and a salad. The bread, which in my opinion can make or break a sandwich, was perfectly suited to the consistency of the filling. It had a nice toothiness but neither too hard to cause contents squirt or too soft to fall apart after soaking up the sauce. The seitan was excellent, having just the right amount of "meatinesss" without being rubbery or too soft like a matzoh ball. The onions were cooked to a sweetness and the tomato based BBQ was sweet without being clawing.

The kale salad also was surprisingly better than I had expected. The kale had picked up the flavor of the Caesar dressing and was nicely coated without being drenched. But, but but the croutons were the surprise. Less like tofu cubes and more like thick heavy bread in consistency. My hat is off to the chef on this simple meal that raised the barre.

The best part was that after eating half the food on the plate I was full. I can't imagine how much food a full sandwich and full salad wold have been. I had enough for a meal the next day. I do think I'll be back!

http://martysnycveggiereview.blogspot.com/2011/11/sacred-chow-i-idolize-you-nyc.html