Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Vegan 2.0 : Angelica Kitchen Review

Living in New York within close proximity of the Hipsters AND hailing from the hippy-esque Pitzer College, it was inevitable that Vegan food would inevitably find it's way into my diet at some point. Our cafeteria used to serve us inedible vegan gunk which resembled Elmer's Glue... bad experience. On the other hand, they also had the beautiful Grove House which had the tastiest, moistest (is that a word?) Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies imaginable (need to get that recipe.. will post soon).

My roommate from College came to visit - she loves things like Lentils, Trader Joe's, and legitimately enjoys eating things like brussel sprouts, so of course I took her to Angelica Kitchen to try it out.

I'm not sure if it was because it was particularly cold that day, but as soon as we walked in I felt a was transported into a cozy cabin that just happened to be super vegan. From a quick glance at the menu, Angelica's uses sustainable, plant-based, and seasonal ingredients with no dairy, eggs, animal products, preservatives, or refined-sugar. This may not sound delicious, but as a fellow carnivore, I can honestly say that if I was doing a blind test, I probably wouldn't know the difference.

Seeing as it was cold and I was in a skirt and tights, I opted for their Dashi and Noodles to warm me up. This hearty broth was filled with shiitake mushrooms, kombu (a type of seaweed), fresh ginger, and shoyu, as well as warm soba noodles. The soup was surprisingly filling even though the portion looked relatively small.


I also tried their Cranberte beverage which was cranberry juice (not cocktail... take that Ocean Spray), kukicha tea, and apple cider. It was DELICIOUS and could be served hot or cold ( I chose cold).

My roommate got one of their specials (which really are updated daily - yeah, I DO check) .. although I don't remember exactly what she got, it was a crepe filled with a bunch of delicious vegan-ness and a side of cranberry-esque sauce. I tried it and it was definitely better than my dish - here's a picture of her and her food:

Hey! You can see my Cranberte in there... doesn't that look divine?

The only super annoying thing about Angelica is that they don't accept Credit Cards, only Cash... I hate restaurants that do that. I'm always like.. what Century do you think we're living in?!

Anyway my official ratings for this restaurant are below:

Ambiance: 4/5 stars
Food: 4/5 stars - For Vegan food, this was pretty delicious
Service: 3/5 stars - Waiter was entirely too sarcastic (I really couldn't tell if he was kidding half the time) and another -1 for their lack of a credit card machine
Overall: 3.5 stars

2 comments:

Lisa said...

It was a crepe made with tofu et. al, filled with delicious root vegetables (butternutsquashdroooooool), and with a side of beet relish. BEETS. Also a misunderstood vegetable. Beets, along with brussels sprouts are the most misunderstood vegetables in America.

Lisa said...

I'd also like to add that I was MUCH happier about being there then what I look like in that picture. I look like what you would look like if I told you that you had to eat my beets.