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<\/a><\/p>\nNew York City is a place I’ve wanted to visit for a very long time. I never knew what to expect if I visited but I would take the surprise. When our 10th anniversary trip we planned for Greece was scrubbed for various reasons we settled on something closer. New York City would give us more money to spend and, from all the information I could gather, many more choices to eat. \u00a0 Being foodies, eating out is half of the vacation and if you are a foodie you know exactly what I am talking about. Walking into a restaurant in a city that you’ve never visited is an experience near that of stepping off the airplane.<\/p>\n
Our arrival in NYC began with an AirTrain ride from JFK to a point where we could take the subway into Manhattan to our hotel. I am aware that you can take a taxi to Manhattan from JFK for a flat $45 plus tip and toll but the AirTrain and Subway is a $7 total plus experience. Or I’m cheap, take whichever you like.\u00a0 Once into Manhattan we found the train we were on would not connect with the train we were instructed to take by Google Maps to the station nearest our hotel so we began a 20 block walk with luggage in tow. (We didn’t look like tourists at all at this point; tired and cranky pulling rolling luggage).<\/p>\n
Once at our hotel we cleaned up and headed out for a quick bite since we had not eaten since 3am prior to heading to the airport in Atlanta.\u00a0 We had passed a Chipotle a block from the hotel and Mrs. Nashveggie suggested we go there since we were both too tired to think about a new menu in an unfamiliar restaurant.\u00a0 Of all the places to eat in New York City we picked a Chipotle, at $2 more per item. We were tired.<\/p>\n
After a night of sleep we were ready to hit the city.\u00a0 You can’t start a day in New York City without a bagel and by chance our hotel was just around the corner from a Times Square Bagel location.\u00a0 Once I learned to order a bagel properly I was in and out of this place each morning with quickness and munching on a hot, tasty bagel.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Benny's Burritos - Gazpacho<\/p><\/div>\n
Our first stop of the day for lunch was on advice of a friend of Mrs. Nashveggie’s who once lived in the East Village, Benny’s Burritos. The daily specials were written on a chalkboard on the other side of the 12 table place. Upon a closer inspection, Gazpacho was listed as the soup of the day-perfect for the warm day of walking ahead.\u00a0 The soup was great with a nice touch of mint. A reasonably priced lunch and we were on our way.\u00a0 After lunch we stopped by the 6th Street and Avenue B Community Garden<\/a> which the same friend had a part in starting.\u00a0 It was nice seeing little tracts of garden divided up for different people to take as their own but the entire time I was walking through I felt I was invading someone’s space.\u00a0 If I saw someone walking through my garden I would definitely question their intentions, loudly.\u00a0 Apparently, it is welcomed and encouraged in the community gardens so this made a nice stroll on our way.<\/p>\n \n 6th Street & Avenue B Community Garden<\/p><\/div>\n 6th Street & Avenue B Community Garden<\/p><\/div>\n 6th Street & Avenue B Community Garden<\/p><\/div>\n We had a list with us of places we wanted to check out and since we were in the East Village, Lula’s Sweet Apothecary<\/a> was nearby. We arrived a few minutes before they opened and waited nearby. Once inside we found plenty worth waiting for. I decided the one thing on the menu I hadn’t had at home or in some fashion elsewhere was an Egg Cream (no egg, no cream of course).\u00a0 Mrs. Nashveggie settled on a Brownie a la Mode with Cookies & Cream ice cream.\u00a0 Drinking the egg cream through a sustainable stainless steel straw, I was thinking this should be easy and simple to pull-off at home.\u00a0 Mrs. Nashveggie raved about her sweet pick,\u00a0 saying the brownie was one of the best she has had.\u00a0 Lula’s is a very small room with very limited seating at the window, maybe 4 people.\u00a0 Their ice cream flavors change regularly, most have a cashew base, and they have “Soft Serve Mondays” with different flavors each Monday.\u00a0 We didn’t make it on a Monday to try them and get fatter.<\/p>\n Lula's Sweet Apothecary Menu<\/p><\/div>\n Lula's Sweet Apothecary - Egg Cream<\/p><\/div>\n Lula's Sweet Apothecary - Brownie a la Mode<\/p><\/div>\n Just down the street from Lula’s is Caravan of Dreams, a restaurant serving live and raw entrees.\u00a0\u00a0 We walked by and looked at a menu and I glared at the food on people’s plates who were dining at the outdoor tables.\u00a0 I do a lot of glaring at the food people are eating when I check out a new restaurant.\u00a0 I’m sure some people think, “Why is this guy staring at my food?\u00a0 Is he that hungry?”\u00a0 The answer is yes, I’m typically that hungry and looking at your food helps me gauge if the restaurant will satisfy that hunger.\u00a0 I find myself standing on sidewalks outside restaurants staring into windows at people sitting beside the window to see what they are eating.\u00a0 Some people offer to buy me food or give me money to make me go away.\u00a0 I don’t intend to look homeless.\u00a0 We didn’t go into Caravan of Dreams to check it out further but on later advice it seemed it was the place to go for live\/raw food.<\/p>\n That night we decided on The Hummus Kitchen<\/a> for a Mediterranean dinner.\u00a0\u00a0 I had a platter of tabouli, bureka, babaganush, beets and tahini. Mrs, Nashveggie had falafel and hummus and tea, not sweet of course.\u00a0 The tea was typical brewed tea with mint leaves which was great but, surprisingly, there were no free refills on the extra small glasses and at $2.50 a glass was not a deal.\u00a0 The food was so-so, the hummus nothing special and I’ve had better made at home. \u00a0 Our later excursions for Mediterranean eats would find far better places.\u00a0 The Hummus Kitchen didn’t score well.<\/p>\n The next day after a morning at the Metropolitan Museum of Art we had a late lunch and a craving for Mediterranean, again.\u00a0 A search by Mrs. Nashveggie found a place called Soom Soom on the Upper West Side that had very good reviews.\u00a0 $5.50 for a falafel pita and unlimited salad bar is the lunch special but the salad bar is simply a toppings bar for your pita.\u00a0 You do get unlimited trips to top up as you eat.\u00a0 There are bottles of tahini on the few tables.\u00a0 The place is a little cramped and you can expect to share a table with a stranger.\u00a0 Our lunch special of less than $12 combined outshined our $35 dinner at The Hummus Kitchen easily.<\/p>\n Customer decorated walls at Curly's Vegetarian Lunch<\/p><\/div>\n The rest of the afternoon was spent investigating Central Park, a visit to The Strand and Forbidden Planet as well as a visit to Whole Foods Union Square, the busiest Whole Foods I have ever seen.\u00a0 Middle of a weekday makes a Sunday afternoon at Nashville’s Whole Foods look like 3 am at Kroger. Our “quick stop” to get a snack turned into standing in one of six color coded lines regulated by a video monitor instructing the next person what available register to go to.\u00a0 We later made a stop at another, equally busy, Whole Foods in Chelsea and I managed to grab some video of the line which can be seen below.\u00a0 I’m easily amused.\u00a0 The day speeds by when you’re having fun so dinner time quickly arrived.\u00a0 We decided on junk food for the evenings vittles and made our way to the Lower East Side to try Curly’s Vegetarian Lunch<\/a>.\u00a0 Curly’s Vegetarian Lunch is a hole in the wall, literally.\u00a0 On the night we visited the entire front of the restaurant was open to the street.\u00a0 There are few tables, like many places we visited and the wall is lined with crayon-colored placemats srtfully designed by the clientele.\u00a0 Our submission to the art wall was a Nashveggie logo and greeting from Nashville by Mrs. Nashveggie.\u00a0 Surprisingly to myself I wasn’t very hungry but wanted to indulge in some grease so I had a bowl of curly fries smothered in gravy, a very light dinner.\u00a0 Mrs. Nashveggie had a house made veggie burger with curly fries.\u00a0 There were no complaints from her side of the table and my fries hit the spot, hot gravy and all.<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>
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