New York Travel: Vegan in Greenwich Village

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New York travel: Vegan food highlights from Greenwich Village, East Village, and SoHo. Sacred Chow, Van Leeuwen, and V Note. Plus, shopping at all-vegan shoe store, Moo Shoes.

Do you know the best way to really see a city – especially one that can feel complicated and sprawling? While tagging along with a local!

New York Travel

Luckily in New York, I had just such a person – my friend, Dianne from Dianne’s Vegan Kitchen. Dianne met me at my hotel, and we started off on a day of much walking, sightseeing, and shopping.

First stop – lunch.

Sacred Chow

We went to Sacred Chow, where neither of us could decide between the Roasted Black Olive Seitan Panini and the Thai Ginger Barbecue Seitan Panini.

Answer? We both ordered one and then gave half to the other person. It’s a good thing too – she preferred the one I ordered (BBQ), and I preferred the one she ordered (olive).

Washington Square Park

We walked through Washington Square Park, which was exciting to me as a long-time When Harry Met Sally fan. I imagined the two parting ways there after a long drive from Chicago.

Van Leeuwen

For dessert, we walked to Van Leeuwen for some ice cream made with coconut and cashew milk.

I ordered a scoop of pistachio and a scoop of banana nut. It was particularly hot and sticky that week, and so the ice cream went down deliciously well.

Moo Shoes

We continued our New York travel with a stop at all-vegan shoe store, Moo Shoes. I got some much-needed kitty therapy by way of their friendly in-store kitty cat.

There was one pair of shoes that particularly caught my eye, but I resisted. Then I noticed earlier this week that they’d gone on sale and had just one pair left in my size! So they arrived in the mail yesterday. Woo hoo! It’s a little post trip souvenir.

(Moo Shoes recently opened an L.A. location as well. Those SoCal locals are so lucky!)

Then we went to nearby Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics to check out their 100% vegan makeup.

SoHo & Pearl River

Next, we ventured to SoHo, because I wanted to visit a two-level Asian import store that I’d heard about, Pearl River. There’s clothing, stationery, stuff for the home, food, and dishes. I had the hardest time choosing and ended up picking a sweet bowl with rabbits running across it.

V-Note

(Update: Unfortunately, V-Note has closed permanently.)

Dianne and I met up again a few days later, this time with husbands in tow and my friend, Katrina. We went to V-Note for dinner, which is an organic wine bar and vegan bistro created by the same people who own Blossom.

Their soup of the day was French Onion. Even though it had been a million degrees outside all day, I couldn’t resist ordering it.

It was topped with a dollop of melted Daiya and a slice of crusty bread. The soup was rich and full bodied.

For my entrée, I ordered the Crispy Pine Nut & Basil Seitan.

The seitan was covered in a creamy white wine sauce with roasted potatoes, cherry tomatoes, and artichoke hearts. It was then topped with grilled pineapple.

By this point I was well past full and skipped out on dessert, but I did snag a bite of the tiramisu that Katrina ordered, and it was heavenly.

We all had such a fun night and really clicked. The conversation flowed easily and non-stop.

I still have one more NYC post left, but this dinner was our last night in New York, and it was just the perfect cap on the week. Friends, food, and laughter – what more could a person want?