America's Next Great Restaurant

They're doing some PR for NBC's America's Next Great Restaurant at Grand Central Station. They offering some items that will be featured on the show. I tried the vegetarian things: Mac 'n Cheese, the Grilled Cheese with Tomato (and something else) and the Marinated Chickpeas. I go tin trouble for trying to grab multiple items though so I had to get in line a few times. The stuff was decent and tasty but nothing blew me away. There are about 20 concepts on this info sheet they were passing out, but nothing that looks to be exclusively vegan or vegetarian.

GQ March edition has some great vegetarian recipes

The March edition of GQ, which just hit newsstands, has some great vegetarian recipes. The article is called "The Carnivore's Guide to Cooking Vegetarian". They have recipes like Quinoa, with Fennel and Mushrooms, Butternut-Squash Sandwich and Beet, Apple and Cheddar Salad. My mouth is watering. It's about time GQ. Even if we can't all dress well, at least we can eat well!

Curly's Vegetarian Lunch

I started the new year out right by having dinner at Curly's Vegetarian Lunch (328 East 14th St. btw 1st & 2nd Ave) today. Had the Chilaquiles with veggy chorizo and the Dragonball Q bowl. Curly's looks like a hole in the wall but the food is great and they such an expansive menu. Food was great, plus I love that you can draw on your menu. Full review should be up very soon!

Pure Food and Wine

Came across this review done recently for Pure Food and Wine (54 Irving Place, NY, NY) I'm not a huge fan of the raw food that they serve. Find it to be overpriced and not that tasty, but figured I would pass along the review because I know a lot of people that do like it and also the pictures are pretty good.

Cafe Blossom UWS - Serving Boca Burgers

I still don't have a full review up here but had takeout from Cafe Blossom (466 Columbus Ave btw 82nd & 83rd) the other day and was disappointed to learn that they use frozen Boca Burger patties in their veggy burgers! 1 - A place like this should be making fresh veggy burgers; 2- There are patties that taste way better than Boca - like Morningstar or Gardenburger Premium. I still like Blossom but very disappointed at this. I still owe you readers a review on the restaurant. Hopefully coming soon!

Otarian Review (8th Ave and 56th St)

947 Eighth Ave., New York, NY 10019
(corner of 56^th Street)
(212) 489-3270

Hours: M-SAT: 11:30a-10:30p; SUN: 11:30a-10p

Website
Menu

Food Type: Vegetarian and Vegan

Overall Rating: 2.5 / 5.0 karats

Otarian brings much needed vegetarian/vegan fare to Hell’s Kitchen, where it is sorely lacking. Otarian has one other location in NYC (154 Bleecker Street) and 2 locations in London. There are plans to open up several more locations in different places around the world. The whole mission behind the restaurant is reducing the carbon impact of the foods, partly by serving vegetarian/vegan food and also by using sustainable materials, energy efficient techniques and local sourcing among other things. Each menu item clearly denotes the carbon footprint of the item and the carbon savings (not sure how these are arrived at). I applaud their efforts at trying to go for something different. I also give them high praise for their menu organization which clearly differentiates vegan and wheat and gluten free options. A lot of vegetarian restaurants aren’t so good at doing this. Otarian is more of a grab and go lunch spot where you order your food at the counter and then go sit down with a tray.

Now the food. I’ve been here twice and tried two items on the menu: the Tex Mex Burger and the Tandoori Mushroom O Paneer Wrap. The Tex Mex Burger is decent I would say. It is a large and filling burger comprised of a veggy patty, poppy seed bun, guacamole, salsa, bbq sauce, cheese and lettuce. The patty tasted reasonably fresh and didn’t taste like the frozen type to me.

The Tandoori Mushroom O Paneer wrap was another story. I asked several questions about the wrap before ordering it and finally decided to try it. I thought she would put the order into the computer and instantly the guy in the back would start preparing it. Instead she put the order in and opened some drawer and pulled out a prepackaged wrap in paper wrapping and dropped it on my tray. I’m sorry but I really expect the items at a place like Otarian to be freshly made when ordered (not in the morning or whenever it was made) and that is not too much to ask. The wrap came with a little cup of cucumber yogurt dip on the side. Now the taste – The wrap tasted very manufactured or processed even though Otarian claims to only use natural ingredients. It also was not “Hot and Spicy” as they advertise it to be. Finally, I would say that the mushrooms and paneer (Indian curded cheese) are not the best pairing as they don’t seem to taste well together with whatever curry sauce they were coated with.

I usually don’t comment on the beverages at VeggyFoody. After all we’re all about the food, but the beverage selection is seriously lacking at Otarian. They only have a fountain soda machine with Coke, Diet Coke, etc. that you would find at McDonalds or Burger King. I would definitely not expect Otarian to serve normal soft drinks laden with corn syrup and whatever else. What happened to natural and unprocessed when it comes to the beverages. Otarian strays far from its mission here. Also, they don’t have alternative options like natural fruit juice or natural soda with cane sugar that you would expect at a place like this. While drinks don’t usually factor very highly into the score, I have to say that the fountain soda strays really far from everything you would expect from this place and it is a big detractor.

Otarian does get high marks for ambiance (see pic below). The restaurant is open and airy with a lot of natural sunlight, partly due to its corner location with windows on two of the sides. The seating and décor is modern and colorful and the extra effort put into the interior design is definitely appreciated while dining in. The only detractor is the large screen TV on the wall which runs info on the earth and our carbon impact. Not that those aren’t important topics, but I’d rather read about it in a brochure.

For a grab and go spot, Otarian’s prices for their burgers and wraps are in line with other similar grab and go spots. The burgers are about $8 while the wraps are $7.25 which seems in line for a place like this, but their other items like deserts and soups seem a bit on the high side. Their combo meals also seem a bit pricey ranging from $11.50 to $14.50.

There are a lot of items on the menu at Otarian and I haven’t tried them all so I will revisit the place and the rating at some point, but for now, Otarian doesn’t get high marks because the most important determinant of the karat rating here at VeggyFoody is the food – the taste, the quality and the freshness and I can’t say that Otarian scores really high here.

Maoz Vegetarian Review

38 Union Square East, NY, NY 10003

(btw 16^th and 17^th Streets)
(212) 260-1988

Hours: M-TH: 11a-11p; F-SAT: 11a-12a; SUN: 11a-10p

Menu

Food Type: Vegetarian Kosher

Overall Rating: 4.0 / 5.0 karats

I first tried Maoz in Portugal when I was roaming around Europe and I wasn’t a huge fan at the time. But a couple of years ago, I ran into Maoz in Union Square and love (or at least strong like) at second sight is possible. They have locations all around the world and now have 5 locations in NYC. Maoz is an all vegetarian falafel spot and holds its own in a city with as many falafel joints as pizza places. The falafel balls are fresh, crispy and tasty. The other ingredients like the hummus, lettuce, and pan-fried eggplant complement the well made balls. The fixins’ bar (check out the pics) is the best thing about Maoz – they have chickpeas, olives, pickles, carrot salad, Broccoli, mushrooms, tabouli, different kinds of salsas, and all different kinds of sauces including garlic and yogurt. The pitas taste fresh and are available made of white or wheat.

The freshly made lemonade and Belgian or sweet potato fries are a great complement to the falafel and you can actually get all of them together as a “value meal”. You can also ord

er the falafel as a salad which is sometimes far less messy.

The Union Square location is small but clean. It is more of a grab and go type of spot and has only

a few stools around the perimeter for dining in. I would recommend taking it to go and sitting at one of the tables in Union Square Park on a nice day. The Upper Westside has much more seating space with some long picnic tables for dining in. Most of the locations tend to get pretty crowded during peak hours but the service is pretty quick. The workers have been pretty friendly in my brief encounters the last few times I have been there.

The prices are recession sensitive. A meal deal with a falafel sandwich, fries, and a drink will run you $8.75 and if you aren’t as hungry, you can opt for the junior meal deal (a smaller falafel sandwich) which is $7.30. The salad box meal deal will run $9.50. And the best part is that the fixins bar is help yourself, so you can pile that stuff on.

I wouldn’t usually rate a grab and go spot like Maoz so highly but it is good, fresh, healthy food that is decently priced served in a clean location, so it ranks highly among the quick eats category.