I went to NYC last weekend to attend their Veg Food Fest. After standing in line outside for an hour (it took me back to the nightclub days) we sampled vegan treats from all over the city. I didn't take many pictures in the venue but it was cool to meet FullyRawKristina.
She's super sweet and down to earth. My girl, Monique was excited to meet her, too.
Sorry about the dim pictures...the lighting was very low in this restaurant
Afterwards, we met up with Michelle & a college friend of hers for green juice shots and appetizers at Quintessence in the east village. Monique heard great things about this place (I think she read reviews online) but the service was terrible and the food wasn't good. Umm, yeah. I swear they acted like we were bothering them by being there. Whatever!
V-Note
Afterward that we hopped in a cab and went to V-Note for dinner with one of our YouTube subscribers. I'm sooo in love with this restaurant!! The ambiance. The food. The service. Amazing! A whole menu of vegan eats? We went in on that menu by ordering a little bit of everything. Everything. Everything. *in my Kat Williams voice*
We decided to share all the dishes and for appetizers we had black-eyed peas cake, mushroom scallops & potato crisps, mushroom calamari and lentil rings. The lentil rings were my favorite!
Our main dishes were tofu "salmon", beet ravioli, creamy 3 mushroom risotto and crispy pine nut & basil seitan. We also had sauteed spinach & quinoa as side dishes (not pictured). The beet ravioli was my favorite here.
Dessert- cheesecake, carrot cake & tiramisu-all 3 were my favorite. lol
Lots of laughter, conversation and even a lot of head turns when a lady walked into the restaurant wearing a fur coat. She only stayed for a few minutes but that was awkward.
Hotel Eats
This was my first time in NYC in over 10 years and I used the time to recharge by coming without Eric and the kids. Being in the city alone (I didn't meet up Monique & Michelle until Saturday) was definitely uncomfortable but I did it anyway.
I got a great deal at the Hyatt in Times Square (hey, Priceline!) and they took care of me by having vegan options (other than salad and a veggie burger) on the menu. Friday night I had vegan chili with quinoa and on Saturday I had a simple tofu scramble with toast. They actually had a huge vegan breakfast platter but I skipped it because I knew I would have food overload later. I was right. lol
Will I go to Veg Food Fest NYC again?
I had an awesome weekend but I doubt I will go to another Veg Fest in NYC. We paid $30 in advance to wait outside for an hour (Michelle decided not to wait in the long line) and I guess I was expecting more. Maybe DC has me spoiled (since we get more samples and there's no charge) with our Veg Fest.
Even though I don't plan to attend the fest again, I will definitely be back to NYC. I will always travel for food. :-)