I *heart* New York

New York City is a fab place if you're vegan--heck, it's a fab place, period. My boyfriend and I just got back last night from a lovely four days. We went because we got tickets to The Threepenny Opera, featuring Alan Cumming, Ana Gasteyer, Cyndi Lauper, and Nellie McKay. It was a translation by Wallace Shawn, and I haven't seen the original, but I did enjoy this version.

I also had several truly excellent meals.

Bonobo's, near Madison Square Park, is a raw counter-service restaurant. They're nothing fancy, but they are a good place for lunch. We went on Tuesday for a snack (because our hotel room wasn't ready when we wanted to check in) and shared a nutmeat patty platter, which is a bed of lettuce with five veggies of your choice, dressing, and a raw patty of nuts. We also went there Thursday afternoon before going on the Sex and the City tour--more on that later.

Tuesday, we went shopping in the Lower East Side and walked through the Village and Soho. There is a cool feminist bookstore called Bluestockings, where I found a cookbook called "Hot Damn and Hell Yeah!" which is a vegan Southern food cookbook. The author recommends against olive oil because of its strong flavor, but I've never had a problem with it. I say use what works for you. A block or so away is MooShoes, the mecca for stylish vegans. I desperately needed a purse, and after trying several out, kept coming back to a Matt & Nat style called Shashi, a large black bag with beige accents. I live in the city, I don't own a car, and I need something to haul my stuff around. I also bought an issue of Herbivore magazine, and a t-shirt from Herbivore that reads "Go Vegan or Die." Because there are five cats who work in the store, the shirt I purchased was covered in cat hair. I also communed with the cats, one of whom licked my finger, then nipped it (my cat does the same thing). It didn't hurt, but I was startled. Around the corner from MooShoes is Babeland, a woman-owned sex-toy shop.

While walking through the Soho and the Village on the way to dinner at Red Bamboo, we stumbled across a protest at Prada's store. Miuccia Prada is one of the all-too-many scumbag designers who has yet to exit the Stone Age and stop using fur. This particular protest was about how the company uses pelts from baby harp seals. If we weren't bogged down with bags, and my boyfriend weren't eager to eat, I would have asked to join. All I could really do was go up to one woman and thank her for their protest. I love walking through New York south of 14th Street because the area has character lacking in, say, Times Square. Plus, you don't have to fight other tourists for sidewalk space.

Dinner was Red Bamboo. We'd been there before and had a pleasant experience, but this time was not so good. I don't mind waiting for a table for good food. It's after we started ordering that the trouble started. They offer vegan shakes and sodas, but they were out of the vegan ice cream. So I had iced tea. Now, I must ask servers to bring goddam sweetener when a customer orders tea or coffee. It's not that difficult. We ordered an appetizer of seitan skewers and got two. For six bucks. It was tasty, but a horrible value. Bryan ordered a "cheesesteak," and I got a "half chicken" which looked and tasted amazing. My dinner came with fries. I politely asked the guy who brought our food for ketchup. No luck. I asked our server. No luck. I was getting up to get it myself when I ran into our server and said that I had asked several times for ketchup, and he said I hadn't, and my boyfriend snapped that I had. Here's something else for servers: when a dish includes fries, bring ketchup out!. There was a dessert special called a chocolate strawberry cake, but it was a yellow cake with a chocolate ganache and fruit. It was decent, but I was expecting chocolate cake. One more snarl: it's really cheap to charge for refills of tea. Don't do it. Thank you.

If you are in New York and need a good pre-theatre option, may I recommend Zen Palate on 9th Avenue at 46th Street? Since it was a beautiful day, we ate outside. The food is good, the service is polite, and it's decent prices for the area. I wish I could remember what I had, but I remember it was pecans, teeny-tiny bits of soy protein, pineapple, and a sweet-and-sour sauce.

Wednesday night, we had reservations at Candle 79, an upscale restaurant owned by the same people who run Candle Cafe. The restaurant is beautiful, the food is plentiful, and the service is excellent. I had seitan chimichurris for an appetizer, and my boyfriend had the guacamole timbale. For dinner, I had portabello mushrooms with polenta, while he had quinoa-crusted tempeh with mashed potatoes (when we go again, I'm getting that). For dessert, I had the molten chocolate cake, and he had banana-chocolate empanadas. I was feeling overstuffed by the time I left--I think next time we should share either an appetizer or dessert.

Thursday, we went back to Bonobo's, but before we went, Bryan wanted to check out a comic shop. Since I am not interested in this, and there was a bench in the entry, I sat down to wait. While I was waiting, a man came out with his dog who promptly leapt into my lap. Now, dogs like me, but most let me say hi before approaching me. From my brief glance at her, she looked like a pit bull. But her leap into my lap was a friendly one and makes me feel even more of a dog whisperer. Since Bonobo's opened later than we thought, we toured the Museum of Sex, then went to eat. After that, we headed back uptown to meet our group for the Sex and the City tour.

If you want to do something that's not too touristy, but still sightseeing, a TV show or movie tour is the best. Our tour took us around town to sites that figured in the HBO show. I even got my picture on the stoop that "played" Carrie's home (while her show home was in the Upper East Side, a lot of filming was done in the Village because the light is so much better). I would post pictures, but my blogger thing will not let me. Damn. We also got to see the bar that served as the location for Scout, Steve and Aidan's bar, and drink Cosmopolitans. While we were in the bar, the tour guide admired my purse and asked about the logo. I said it was Matt & Nat, and that I'd gotten it at MooShoes. I did not mention that it was a vegan store or a vegan purse (sneaky me).

Thursday night's dinner was at an upscale raw place called Pure Food and Wine. Yes, they serve alcohol and hot tisanes, but all the food is raw and vegan. We both went for the five-course tasting menu, and it was excellent. Unfortunately the restaurant is loud, so I had trouble hearing everything I was having. But oh, my, the food was delicious, including a raw lasagne made from thin slices of zucchini, nut "cheese," and tomato sauce. My boyfriend got for an appetizer a raw pad thai that was excellent. The tasting menu is chef's choice, and everyone at the table will get different foods, so of course, we shared each other's food. I think this is the one place you must try in New York, no matter what. It was certainly my favorite meal this week.

Friday morning, after we checked out, we headed back to the East Village and a neighborhood called Alphabet City to try a diner called Kate's Joint. It's sort of like stepping back in time with a simple setting and scarred vinyl chairs. Bryan ordered a veggie burger, and I got faux steak au poive (that's how they spelled it). The sauce was very intersting, but the texture of the tofu made me green with envy. I'd love to get it that thin. We also shared a dessert, a banana tiramisu, but I wasn't crazy about it. Still, it's a great place, only a few blocks from the subway.

Yes, my legs are tired. I usually don't do this much walking. The New York subway doesn't have escalators, like Metro in DC does, but then, New York's is far more extensive. On our last day there, there was the Green Apple environmental festival, and I grabbed a listing of bus routes in the event the subway doesn't take us where we need to go or it's just easier to ride the bus. The festival wasn't as extensive as the Green Festival here in DC, and it was far more crowded, but I still had a nice time. When we're in NY, it's usually up to me to figure out where we're going and how to get there, and I have yet to get us lost. Okay, I sometimes have to discreetly check the map--I kept a fold-out subway map in my purse--but I have yet to get us lost. And I have never gotten us on the train going the wrong way. I don't know if it's all my years riding public transit and figuring out how to get around or if I have a great sense of direction, but if he needed to know how many more stops or which stop, I could get us where we needed to go.

Now, the streets south of 14th are a little screwy, but I still love walking around there. I also love how so many parks have dog runs. One park had a separate run for smaller dogs. According to our tour guide for the SATC tour, many residents will pay and volunteer to set up and keep up these parks. It's a truly wonderful city, and I do wish I could spend more time there if I can't live there.