The Best Thing I Ate This Month That Wasn't A Veggie Burger

... Vegan marshmallow peeps!



Every year I look forward to my annual order of vegan peeps from Sweet & Sara.

I remember when I first became a vegetarian, and realized I could not eat marshmallows anymore. I missed eating peeps around Easter time, and there was no replacement for them. Even regular, plain marshmallows were a challenge: I did find some strange brownish-colored vegan marshmallows at a health food store in my hometown, but they did not quite live up to my expectations.

It wasn't until I moved to New York that I discovered Sweet & Sara's amazing vegan marshmallows. A vegetarian friend of mine bought a box of them from Whole Foods, and I was instantly in love. Later, when I moved into my current apartment in Astoria, I was thrilled to learn that Sweet & Sara's factory is located in Long Island City, just a short bike ride away from me!



These peeps are the cutest - they come in bunny and chick shapes, and they are coated in the tastiest layer of sugar, with hand-painted chocolate features.


And inside... marshmallowy deliciousness!



I bought quite a few (plus one of Sweet & Sara's delicious s'mores treats), and it is taking all my willpower to resist eating them all right away!

Sweet & Sara
Long Island City, NY
(718) 707-2808

Order online and have them shipped to you, if you don't live nearby!
note: if you choose to pick them up instead of having them shipped, you must schedule an appointment to visit the factory to pick them up

Order quickly, as they will definitely sell out!
I also saw these peeps for sale at Lula's Sweet Apothecary in the East Village last week, but I cannot promise they are still in stock. There are plenty of retail locations that stock Sweet & Sara marshmallows (check website for more information) but not all locations stock all of the products or seasonal items like these peeps.

Hillstone

A little history: Hillstone’s veggie burger is the veggie burger that started it all. When I first ate this burger six years ago, my mind was blown. I had never tasted a veggie burger so good before! And it became the standard to which I compared all other veggie burgers. Now knowing just how amazing a veggie burger could be, I started seeking out other amazing ones. A couple years later, I started this blog.

One of the earliest reviews I posted, almost four years ago, was my review of Hillstone’s veggie burger. It was the first five-star review I posted.


June 2010: Me stuffing my face with Hillstone’s veggie burger.

In the years since posting that review, I have heard from a lot of people who also adore this veggie burger as much as I do.

But I also received a few emails from people claiming to know from a source inside the restaurant that the burger is the not really vegetarian: One person said that the glaze used on the patty contained Worcestershire sauce, which typically contains anchovies. I also saw comments on other websites warning that one of the ingredients is fish oil. Devastated to learn that one of my all-time favorite burgers might not be vegetarian, I reached out to Hillstone to see if someone could confirm or deny these rumors.

Joel, the general manager of the Midtown Manhattan location, called me to answer my questions over the phone. He assured me that the burger is 100% vegetarian. The patty itself is vegan, and is coated with a sweet soy glaze (no Worcestershire or fish oil ingredients in it). The bun is not vegan, and neither is the cheese or mayo, but the burger can be requested without these elements if you are vegan. Just make sure to ask your waiter.

I was thrilled to hear this news – and very impressed that Hillstone cares enough about their vegetarian customers to take the time to answer my inquiry and set the story straight!



So, excited to go back and eat this delicious veggie burger again, my boyfriend and I went out for a dinner date.



I ordered my burger without cheese. I noticed that it came with a choice of fries, coleslaw, or tabbouleh. So I decided to try tabbouleh, for a change!



Mmm… When the veggie burger arrived, it looked just as mouth-watering as I had remembered.



The patty is made in-house, and it is complete perfection: a mixture of rice, beans, beets, and other ingredients glazed with that (100% vegetarian!) sweet soy glaze. It is savory and sweet at the same time, and simply delicious.



Topped with pickles, onion, lettuce… and the juiciest, reddest tomatoes! Plus mayonnaise and mustard. The patty steals the show, but the toppings are tasty too. And the bun is perfect– soft and sweet, just the right size fit the width of the large patty. I compared it to a pastry in my previous review, and I still agree that it is one of the nicest buns I have tried.


Photo credit to the brilliant cinematographer Liam Le Guillou,
who said his (100% NOT vegetarian) cheeseburger was exceptionally good as well.

Of course, it’s a bit messy, as many good burgers are – and it started to fall apart in my hands after I took this bite (in case you can't tell from the photos, it is a massive burger!) I used my fork to eat all the leftover bits off my plate after I finished devouring what I held in my hands, because it was so good I did not want to miss a morsel.


And the tabbouleh was quite good as well! I liked it as a lighter, healthier choice instead of French fries. The burger is plenty filling on its own!


Thank you, Hillstone!

This is still one of my top favorite veggie burgers of all time. And Hillstone is a great option for a romantic date night if you’re a vegetarian dating an omnivore (or vice-versa) - I wish all restaurants served a vegetarian option as good as this one!

Cost: $20
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Burger patty: 5       Bun: 5      Toppings: 4

Hillstone
153 East 53rd Street
at the corner of Lexington Ave
New York, NY 10022
212.888.3828
Read my original review of the Park Avenue South location here.
Additional locations throughout the U.S. – check website for addresses

YumVeggieBurger review #127

RIP 5 Napkin Burger Astoria

Sad news for my fellow Astorians: 5 Napkin Burger has closed its Astoria location.


restaurant space emptied, all signage removed.

Although our neighborhood is not lacking for other burger options (we do, afterall, have the amazing veggie burgers at Astor Bake Shop, Bareburger, and Sparrow Tavern!), I will miss having 5 Napkin's delicious veggie burger and veggie sliders so close to one of my favorite yoga studios.

If you still want to try 5 Napkin's 5-star veggie burger, fortunately you can choose from several locations in Manhattan that are still open in Hell's Kitchen, Union Square, and the Upper West Side (addresses listed on their website).


Read my original review of this burger here.

Hilary’s Eat Well “World’s Best” Veggie Burger

Is it any surprise that there was no way I could resist a name like “The ‘World’s Best’ Veggie burger"?



I picked up a pack (2 veggie patties per pack) of Hilary’s Eat Well “World’s Best” veggie burgers at Whole Foods, determined to find out how they stood up to that claim.


frozen patty going into the frying pan

I fried a patty in a bit of olive oil for a few minutes until both sides were slightly browned.



Then I dressed it up with a bit of fresh spinach, roasted red pepper, and mayo.



The verdict? This is a nice, light burger. Not too dense or filling, it felt very healthy. It’s made of soft, fluffy millet and quinoa, but it did crisp up nicely around the edges when fried. It had a subtle but tasty flavor, with bits of greens mixed in with the grains. It’s not a hearty, meaty burger (and I don’t think it would hold together well on a barbecue grill) but I enjoyed it.



I think it might actually be better on its own, without a bun – I ate the second one in the package that way, a few days later, and it kind of reminded me of eating a breaded fish fillet (not that my memory of what eating fish was like can really be trusted, after over a decade has passed since I last ate it, and it didn’t taste “fishy” at ALL, but something about the texture just reminded me of that fishstick kind of breading…).

Vegan, gluten-free, yeast-free, soy-free, and kosher – this burger is for everyone except people who are allergic to coconut (it doesn’t taste like coconut, don’t worry – coconut is just listed as an allergen warning).

Is it really the “world’s best” veggie burger? Well, no. That’s a bit presumptuous. But it is tasty. And I’ll probably try some of the other flavors of veggie burger that Hilary’s offers.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Hilary’s Eat Well
purchased at: Whole Foods in NYC
price: $3.79 for a pack of 2 burger patties

YumVeggieBurger review #126

The Butcher's Daughter

I’ve eaten breakfast at The Butcher’s Daughter a few times (their vegan bagel and schmear is amazing!), so I was excited to try the veggie burger on their dinner menu.



There’s some scaffolding up around the building right now, so I had trouble getting a decent photo of the storefront…



But the inside is still beautiful:



Although my expectations were high for this veggie burger, the vegan “Butcher’s Burger” did not disappoint. At $16, it is quite a splurge – but it was worth it.



The toasted bun was light and sweet, with a flakey pastry-like top and a soft inside. My favorite kind of bun!

The patty was hearty and earthy, well-flavored with herbs and spices. Not so heavy on the beans (although it is described as a “vegetable black bean burger”), the grains stood out more. It reminded me of vegan sausage, in a way (and I love almost all vegan sausages, so that’s a compliment). It could have been a bit dry if eaten on its own, but not with the delicious toppings that came with it...



...because those toppings were amazing: The cashew cheese (look at those huge slices of it under the patty!) had a mild but intriguing flavor (probably would not taste very cheese-like to someone who has not eaten vegan cheese before, but I enjoyed it). The lettuce and onion were crisp and fresh, the pickles and mayo gave the burger a nice spicy kick, and the “special sauce” was tomatoey and sweet. Really a perfect blend of flavors.

I was so enamored with this burger that I almost neglected the roasted potato wedges that came with it – but they were scrumptious too! Especially with the harissa mayo dipping sauce. YUM.

Definitely a five-star burger!

Cost: $16
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Burger patty: 4       Bun: 5      Toppings: 5

Note: “The Butcher’s Burger” is only on the dinner menu, not the brunch or breakfast menu.

UPDATE: Abby Bean reports that things seem to have gone downhill at this restaurant since I posted my review, check out her more recent review here. Hopefully this was just a bad night, and they can get it back on track and bring their food back to 5-star level!

The Butcher’s Daughter
19 Kenmare St
on the corner of Kenmare & Elizabeth St
New York, NY 10012
212.219.3434

YumVeggieBurger review #125

Funny keyword searches for my blog

I occasionally like to marvel at the bizarre words and phrases people searched for that lead them to this blog...

Here are my favorites so far:

1.  why people like veggie burgers

2.  vegetarian hipster new york
 
3.  veg burger good for pregnant women 

4.  buns up at bard college
(that sounds dirty to you too, right? it's not just me?)

5.  burger bed

6.  yum lynx 
(what??? Lynx is my cat's name, FYI)

7.  names for a tofu burger joint

8.  breasts slang 
 (pretty sure this is because of my Hooters post)

9.  the hidden wiki onion 
(???)

10.  square balls

Don't forget you can follow YumVeggieBurger on Facebook and Twitter!

Blossom Du Jour

I can’t believe it has taken me this long to visit Blossom Du Jour – the smaller fast food spin-off of NYC’s famous vegan restaurant Blossom.



I was already looking forward to trying their veggie burger before I arrived, but even moreso when I looked at the menu and saw that it is called “The Skyscraper”. Yum!



This thing was indeed a towering delight. The bun was fresh and tasted delicious. Chewy, but not too thick. I’m guessing it was made at Blossom’s nearby bakery, where they make all kinds of mouth-watering vegan desserts (more on those in a minute!).



Topped with greens, tomato, pickles, vegan bacon, cheddar cheese (pretty sure it was daiya), fried onion rings, and “special sauce” – wow! What a mouthful. A tangy, tasty mouthful. I was in love with these toppings.

The patty almost got lost underneath everything else – which unfortunately was not such a bad thing, as I was disappointed to find that it seemed like a very average premade faux-meat patty. It was crispy outside, with that stringy, chewy faux-meat texture on the inside. It was the lighter kind of faux meat that I think is trying to imitate chicken more than beef, and the flavor was okay but just not anywhere near the caliber of the rest of the burger. It was rather dry as well, but luckily that was less noticeable with so many juicy toppings.



Somehow I ate the whole thing and still had room for dessert. Because I had spotted these tempting beauties in the display case at the register:



Yup, another vegan cronut! Or “halo” as Blossom has dubbed them. This one was cinnamon sugar flavored. And oh my goodness was it delicious! It’s a good thing I don’t live near Blossom Du Jour, because I would probably make myself ill eating these sugary things every day. Just writing this recap and looking at the photo again is making my mouth water, so I suspect a return visit will be in my near future…

Cost: $8.50 (for the burger, cronut sold separately!)
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Burger patty: 2       Bun: 4      Toppings: 5

Blossom Du Jour
259 West 23rd Street
between 7th & 8th Ave
New York, NY 10011
212.229.2595
two other locations in midtown and the upper west side as well, check website for address

YumVeggieBurger review #124

The Best Thing I Ate This Month That Wasn't A Veggie Burger

... was a delicious VEGAN margherita pizza!



My dream has come true: Ever since I started avoiding dairy, I have been longing for a place in my neighborhood that serves vegan pizza. And I finally got my wish!

Tufino opened its doors in Astoria sometime last year, but it was only recently that I learned that they offer vegan pizza on their menu - and promptly raced over to try it. YUM! This is one of the best wood-fired pizzas I've ever tasted, and being able to order it with vegan cheese just sends me over the moon with joy. Now Tufnio is my favorite pizza place in the neighborhood, and I've already taken several friends there. My vegetarian friend was excited to order vegan sausage on her dairy-cheese pizza, while my lactose-intolerant carnivore friends were thrilled to have Daiya and meat-sausage on theirs. Everyone is happy!

Tufnio Pizzeria Napoletana
36-08 Ditmars Blvd
between 36th & 37th Street
Astoria, NY 11105
718.278.4800

Burger Bistro in Astoria

Last week, this showed up in my mailbox:



I had not realized it, but Burger Bistro, the create-your-own-burger restaurant I reviewed in Park Slope last year opened a new location in my own neighborhood of Astoria just this past December!

As you may remember from my review, I thought Burger Bistro's veggie burger was just "okay". They do offer a lot of creative topping options though, so if that is your thing, it could be worth checking out.

On my way to a yoga class on Saturday, I walked by just to see the storefront for myself:



It will be interesting to see how Burger Bistro does in Astoria, a neighborhood where it feels like a new burger joint opens up every other month. This one is also just a few blocks away from the original Bare Burger location, so they're up against some serious competition (personally, I'd choose Bare Burger any day!).

Has anyone eaten at this new location yet? What did you think?

read my original review of the Park Slope location of Burger Bistro here.

Burger Bistro
37-03 31st Avenue
between 37th & 38th Street
Astoria, NY 11103
347.808.8454
locations in Park Slope, Bay Ridge, and the Upper East Side too, check website for addresses

Julians

Although I only spent three days in Providence, Rhode Island last weekend, I managed to try a second veggie burger before I left:



I was really excited about Julians because their menu looked so vegan-friendly! Even though they are not an all-vegan or all-vegetarian restaurant, their menu boasts more than a few items for non-meat-eaters. I wish we had more restaurants like this in NYC – even though we have lots of amazing all-vegan restaurants in our city, we have a shortage of hybrids like Julian’s that can please both vegans and meat eaters (believe it or not, some of us like to go out to dinner with our carnivorous friends once in awhile – and have more options than just a salad or pasta!).

At first we tried to go to Julian’s for brunch on Sunday, but it was so crowded, with a line stretching out the door, that we decided to skip it and come back for dinner the next day (proof that brunch is not just an NYC thing!).

So we came back for a late dinner on Monday night, and got a table immediately. And our table looked pretty awesome, since it was covered in a collection of vintage matchbooks:



I was so eager to order the vegetarian black bean burger that I did not notice that it came with pepper jack cheese on top of it (this was stated clearly on the menu, I was just distracted by my cocktail and did not read carefully enough!). I later learned that they could have substituted soy cheese for the dairy cheese, so I’m really annoyed at myself for not taking advantage of that!

Anyway, definitely make sure you don’t make my mistake, and be sure to ask for the soy cheese if you are vegan or avoiding dairy like me. Because without the pepper jack cheese, this burger (including the bun!) is totally vegan.



Even without the cheese (which I scraped off) the toppings were great: fresh avocado slices, baby spinach, tomato, and a tangy maple dijon glaze. Yum. All of this on top of a homemade black bean patty. The patty could have used a touch more flavor or spice, and a crispy exterior would have been nice as well (the whole thing was pretty soft), but it still tasted good.



And the bun was excellent – a good size to accommodate the patty and toppings, sweet and fresh, with a nice flakey crust.

I really wanted to order a tempeh sausage on the side, just because so many of the Yelp reviews for this place praised them so highly, but I was afraid I would be too full from my burger to eat it. And I was correct. The burger was quite filling! Plus, I had already ordered a side of sweet potato steak fries with it (which were delicious, by the way).



If I’m ever in Providence again, I will definitely come back to try more of their menu. I’d love to try their brunch (so many tofu scrambles and vegan sausages on the menu!) but from the looks of the crowd we saw on the weekend, you’d probably have to camp outside the door before they open to get a table.

Cost: $9.00 (sweet potato steak fries = $4 extra)
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Burger patty: 3       Bun: 4      Toppings: 4

Julians
318 Broadway
Providence, RI 02909
401.861.1770

YumVeggieBurger review #123

Better Burger Company

Last weekend, I rode a bus through a snowstorm to Providence, Rhode Island. When the bus finally arrived, two hours delayed, this was my first view of the snowy, nearly-empty city:



Despite the cold snow blowing into my face, it was kind of beautiful.



I trudged up a snowy hill from the bus stop to the Better Burger Company in search of dinner. Reviewers online had praised their veggie burgers, so I was excited to try one. While many nearby restaurants and coffee shops had closed early due to the snow storm, Better Burger Company was thankfully still open. Although the place was mostly empty, there were a couple of guys watching the Olympics on the large tv screens, as well as a group of four college girls taking “selfies” and dancing in their seats to pop hits on the radio.



Better Burger Company’s menu boasts three veggie burgers: a falafel burger, a veggie burger, and a black bean burger. The black bean burger is listed as “vegan” on the menu, but when I asked the staff if the bun was vegan too, the cook informed me that the bun contained dairy and egg. “Most bread has dairy in it,” he added. No shit, Sherlock – but maybe you shouldn’t call your burger “vegan” if you know the bun it is served on does not qualify! Even the gluten-free buns (available upon request) are not vegan. The cashier told me that a lot of people order the burger without the bun, and they can serve it in a lettuce wrap. I still think this should be noted on the menu, so that people keeping a strict vegan diet are not mislead!



My non-vegan bun was pretty standard whole wheat bread, but larger than average to accommodate the oversized patty (I’m not sure these pictures do it justice, but this thing was huge!). But it was too soft and crumbly – the whole bun fell apart in my hands and my fingers ended up covered in sauce from the middle of the burger.

The patty was a hearty mash of black beans with a bit of spice. It was insanely crispy on the outside, but soft on the inside – it was rather greasy, and I wondered if the whole thing had been deep fried. Definitely homemade, which is nice, but far from healthy – but then again, this is a fast food burger joint afterall.



Topped with lettuce and tomato, the burger also contained a strange yellow sauce or dressing with a bizarre flavor that I couldn’t identify. The menu described it as “spicy BBQ aioli” but it didn’t taste like any barbecue or aioli sauce I had ever had before. I was not a fan.

The burger was too ginormous for me to eat the whole thing, even as hungry as I was – I think I ate enough of it to amount to a normal-sized burger, and had to leave the rest on my plate. I can imagine if I were a college student in Providence, I might spend many a late night here after a lot of drinks. A big, greasy veggie burger probably tastes great then - but sober and having spent over six hours on a greyhound bus, I found it less enjoyable.



Cost: $6.99
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Burger patty: 3       Bun: 2      Toppings: 2

Better Burger Company
215-217 Thayer Street
Providence, RI 02906
401.228.7373

YumVeggieBurger review #122

Quintessence

It’s been too long since I reviewed a raw, gluten-free burger, hasn’t it?



So I took my sister out to lunch at Quintessence the other day. This restaurant is so cozy, tucked into a cute little space in the East Village. I ordered a cashew milk chai latte while I waited for my sister to arrive. It was delicious.



Although everything on the menu sounded amazing, I kept my eyes on the target: The All American Burger with BBQ Sauce.



Quintessence offers a choice of three types of raw bread for their sandwiches and burgers: kamut bread, squash coco-chia bread, or veggie bread. Kamut is a type of wheat, so that one is not gluten-free, but the other two are. My sister ordered her club sandwich on the squash coco-chia bread and I ordered my burger on the veggie bread. They looked very similar, just a slight difference in coloring. My veggie bread tasted fresh and healthy, like a salad. It was thin and soft, but held the burger together surprisingly well. The only negative was that the texture was a bit weird to me – I couldn’t help but think that it reminded me of an old sponge. I imagine it’s an acquired taste, and I have to admit I don’t eat raw food very often.



The toppings were awesome – I don’t think I have had a raw burger before that packed this much of a flavor-punch! Lettuce, tomato, onions, and deliciously tangy pickles (home-made!). And the barbecue sauce – wow, I wasn’t expecting something so yummy, and I was kind of blown away by it.

This burger actually comes with not one but two patties – with all those tasty toppings sandwiched inbetween. They had a nice earthy, spicy flavor – actually a very strong spice, I noticed when I broke off a piece of a patty to try on its own without bun or toppings. They were a bit dry, but that was balanced out by the juicy toppings and the barbecue sauce.



A side salad and corn chips were included with the burger – and Abby Bean, I am excited to inform you that these corn chips were actually good! I normally roll my eyes at corn chips served as a side because they are just so flavorless, but apparently raw corn chips are an exception, because I really enjoyed these! I also dipped them into my miso-tahini salad dressing, so that helped…

At $19, this is quite a splurge for a veggie burger. But if you want to treat yourself to something extra-healthy and tasty, I have to say this is the best raw veggie burger I have tried thus far! My sister reports that she enjoyed her club sandwich as well.

Cost: $19
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Burger patty: 4       Bun: 3      Toppings: 5

Quintessence
263 east 10th Street
between Avenue A & 1st Ave
New York, NY 10009
646.654.1823

YumVeggieBurger review #121