On a recent trip to NYC, I ate -- and ate -- in a whole new way. Raw food, vegan food - healthy food. We went to two places that were/are notable and below I describe both.
First: Cafe Blossom on the Upper West Side. We hit it for a quick lunch and were oh so pleasantly surprised. In fact, I can remember the salad now, almost a month later. And I am most certainly not a salad sort. It was a quinoa salad and involved corn, a bit of het, and all sorts of wonders. MMMM. With a bit of wine for lunch, it made me very happy. This one was at 444 Columbus. The food was terrifically tasty -- and the service was very very attentive but not intrusive. The ambience was chipper but not too over the top cute-sy. Here's what urbanspoon has to say:
Second: one evening we went to a place called Pure Food and Wine. Apparently, the word pure is out there as I recently went to Pure (an indian place) in Geneva. This was so much not a Geneva restaurant. in the Gramercy Park area, we liked Pure for a variety of reasons: (a) we were hours early and tired and they accommodated us; and (b) the food and ambience were wonderful. Pure Food and Wine is a raw foods restaurant -- which means nothing is heated above 118 degrees. The staff dealt very well with the notion of gluten free; the main issue was a version of soy sauce. We had the tasting menu; most wonderful -- each step of it more surprising than the last. And more tasty than I imagined. It is also a beautiful place, decorated in a lot of red. Perhaps my favorite thing: several pictures of ducks. Yep, one lucky duck. Here are some reviews -- and recipes! And here's what urban spoon thinks
I am often not the healthy eating type; but wow -- both places made me very happy as a foodie and a diner and . . . a shockingly new addict to raw food done right. Hurrah.
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