Eating out at a sit-down restaurant doesn’t happen nearly as often as I would like, especially given the abundance of restaurants in NYC and the plethora of cuisines from all over the world. My friends and I joke that even if I didn’t have the dietary restrictions that I follow, I could eat at a different restaurant every day and probably never get to all of them in the city.
But this past week, I got to go to a “gourmet vegan” restaurant while meeting up with a friend. We decided on XYST in Chelsea after I’d mentioned it was a vegan restaurant I’d been wanting to go to for probably a year. Their dishes are meant to be shared, which was great because that’s what we wanted to do anyway. We overheard our server tell another table that they recommend four dishes for two people, but we ended up just getting three dishes, and it was perfect for us. We were satisfied, and had no leftovers!
The first dish we ended up choosing was the Cast Iron Socca with market vegetables, a green herb puree, and avocado. Then we had the Green Pea & Fava Falafel with cucumber, pea shoots, and turmeric yogurt. They gave us papadum instead of pita so that our meal was gluten-free. Then our third dish was Grilled Eggplant with roasted tomatoes and smoked eggplant cream.
Cast Iron Socca 
Grilled eggplant 
Green Pea & Fava Falafel
Some new-to-me snacks that I came upon in the last week: Vegan Rob’s Dragon Puffs, which are kind of like a vegan probiotic version of Hot Cheetos. They definitely have a bit of a kick to them, but not so much that I couldn’t enjoy them. (I like spicy food but only to an extent. I cannot do extremely spicy foods.) They’re made from sorghum, which is becoming a great grain to use in cooking and snacks for those who are gluten-free.
Vegan Rob’s Dragon Puffs 
Vegan Rob’s Dragon Puffs
I also found these baked chip alternative snacks from Grounded Snacks. These Baked Grain Bites are made from brown rice, sorghum, and amaranth, so they’re naturally gluten-free. And a nice BBQ flavor.
Smoky Sweet BBQ Baked Grain Bites 
Smoky Sweet BBQ Baked Grain Bites
Another Sunday visit to Peacefood Cafe Downtown. Their savory gluten-free biscuit of the day this past Sunday was Broccoli Cheddar, which is actually one of my favorite ones that they have. I love broccoli (one of my favorite vegetables behind eggplant), and somehow these biscuits are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Yum.
Broccoli Cheddar Veggie Biscuit from Peacefood Cafe 
Broccoli Cheddar Veggie Biscuit from Peacefood Cafe
Green Bean Cafe was out of the usual muffin that I get there (the chocolate chip banana muffin), so I ended up getting one of their other gluten-free vegan muffins (that I think they get from Erin McKenna’s Bakery) – the apple walnut. I forget how much I like walnuts IN things, but not walnuts by themselves. So, this muffin was quite delicious.
And after my BYKlyn indoor cycling class earlier tonight (a studio that I LOVE, by the way), I stopped in to Brooklyn Crepe & Juice because I saw that they have gluten-free crepe batter. I inquired if their gluten-free batter was also vegan, and it indeed IS vegan as well! So, I decided on a custom crepe with sauteed mushroom, caramelized onion, and chickpeas. I wondered if it was going to be a weird combination, but it turned out to be delicious and delightful! A little olive oil and a bit of salt & pepper with the veggies made them perfect crepe fillings, even without any cheese or cheese alternatives! Yum! This may end up becoming my new place to go to after BYKlyn classes!
Gluten-Free Vegan Apple Walnut Muffin 
Crepe with Mushrooms, Caramelized Onion & Chickpeas
Stay tuned in upcoming weeks for more vegan eats from around New York City!