The Green Radish Food Truck - Update!

I first reviewed the Green Radish food truck last summer (you can read my review from that visit here). As I mentioned then, they were sold out of the black bean burger, so I had a chickpea burger instead. It was great! But ever since, I’ve been dying to go back to try the other burger (plus, I wanted to try their now-famous donarts).



I don’t usually end up working in midtown, or having time off that allows me to go to midtown on a weekday, but finally the stars aligned and I had a meeting near Bryant Park the other day, so I excitedly hurried over to the Green Radish’s parking spot on 38th Street and Broadway afterwards (coincidentally, the same location I had visited them at last time – although their location varies from day to day).



When I stepped up to the window to place my order, I learned two things: 1. I was in luck, and they had not sold out of the black bean burger yet! And 2. They had revised their menu since my last visit, removing the chickpea burger (RIP) and the mushroom burger. Now the only burger they serve is the black bean one – but they assured me that it would be delicious! (and everything on the menu is still 100% vegan)



They were right – this is a really tasty burger! The toppings really pack a flavor-punch: “melted onions” (not sure what that means, but they seemed like really soft caramelized onions to me) with a generous spread of avocado puree and one of the best spicy mayo sauces I’ve ever had. Yum! That is a winning combination of toppings.



The whole wheat bun was soft and fresh, although one side had gotten a little soggy from all the toppings by the time I walked a few blocks back to Bryant park and found a spot to sit down and enjoy my lunch – so make sure you don’t have far to travel if you are ordering this burger!



The patty itself was surprisingly light-colored compared to most black bean patties I have seen, so I’m guessing there are more ingredients than just beans in it. And it was well-seasoned (especially appreciated after my recent encounter with an under-seasoned black bean patty!).

Make sure to ask for extra napkins though – this is definitely one of those messy burgers! The patty is quite soft and falls apart as you eat it, and the toppings could not be contained by the bun. So if you were in Bryant park on Wednesday afternoon, I apologize if you witnessed me stuffing my face with a veggie burger while my fingers were covered in onions and mayo in a very un-ladylike fashion (it was worth it, though!)

Luckily, even after that great burger, I still had room for dessert…



The friendly guys from the Green Radish convinced me to try all three flavors of their donarts (described on their menu as “a baked donut/tart” and proclaimed by Refinery29 to be “the new cronut”). Even a dessert-lover like myself could not eat all three in one sitting though, so I ate the cinnamon donart as my after-lunch treat, and brought the others home (ostensibly to share with others, but honestly I just ended up eating them myself. No regrets!).



Yum! I think the cinnamon might have been my favorite flavor, although I loved the raspberry and chocolate too when I ate them later. I have a special place in my heart for cinnamon donuts though.


Isn't it great that it finally feels like Spring here in NYC???

Cost: $11.00 for the burger (donarts are $5 each)
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Burger patty: 4       Bun: 4      Toppings: 5

The Green Radish
Parking in various locations around Manhattan, check their Twitter feed or facebook page for current location.
917.512.1599

YumVeggieBurger review #131

Veggie Burgers In The News: Hi-Tech Veggie Burger?

I'm not sure what to make of this bizarre video I just watched:

A Hi-Tech Veggie Burger So Good, It'll Convert Meat Eaters
(via the Huffington Post)

First of all, MSG??? Whose bright idea was that?!  There are plenty of other ways to season a black bean burger, geez...
And sodium caseinate?  I had to google that to find out what it was, but as I suspected, it's a dairy product (the scientific name for casein).  If you're going through all this trouble to make a "hi-tech" veggie burger, can't you find a way to make it vegan? 

The sliced patties don't even look appetizing at all - maybe after they are fried up, but that interim step where they looked like rubber just really turned me off.

But maybe a more creative chef could come up with a better veggie burger made in a sous-vide cooker... What do you think?

Raven's Head Public House

My boyfriend had a craving for pub food, so after bypassing a few other spots in Astoria that were too crowded on a Friday night, we ended up at Raven’s Head. I had walked by this place a few times since it opened, but had never ventured inside until now.



I was impressed by how spacious it was inside - although the front bar area was packed with weekend revelers, there was a whole back room of seating for customers more interested in food than drink (we just wanted a late dinner, we'd had a long week and weren't up for a wild night!) And even more pleasantly surprising, they had a veggie burger!



It’s even listed as “home made black bean burger” on the menu – which I was really excited to read (since too many pubs take the easy way out and serve one of those awful generic frozen veggie patties!). When I inquired as to whether it was vegan or not, I was told that the home made recipe includes butter, so it is neither vegan nor dairy-free, but still vegetarian of course (although no guarantees that it is cooked on a separate grill – so if that is important to you, best to ask, as always).



The patty was definitely homemade – the main ingredient was of course the black beans, with some onions and peppers mixed in too. The consistency was good, but the overall flavor was disappointingly bland. It needed some spices to liven it up! Black beans on their own are not so exciting, but they work so well with many spices, so I was surprised that more thought was not put into the flavor. Still, it was a nice hearty, healthy burger - better than I had been expecting to eat when we had decided to go out for pub food!



The bun was a nice, soft brioche – lightly toasted. The toppings were your basic tomato, lettuce, onion, and pickles. All fresh, no complaints there. I just wish there had been some kind of sauce to give the burger that extra flavor boost though! You can order cheese or avocado for an extra price, but I didn’t feel like spending $2 on some avocado slices that night.

However, it did come with fries – and you know I always love a burger that comes with fries included in the price! There were a lot of other vegetarian options on the extensive menu as well – so if you are looking for a pub in Astoria with more exciting food options than the usual bar fare, Raven’s Head is a good option.

P.S. Bonus Trivia – did you know that a group of ravens is called an unkindness of ravens?
That’s one of my favorite language facts!

Cost: $8.95
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Burger patty: 3       Bun: 4      Toppings: 3

Raven’s Head Public House
38-04 Broadway
between 38th and Steinway Street
Astoria, NY 11103
718.777.7565

YumVeggieBurger review #130

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

Were these vegan cheeses from the new Dr. Cow VEGAN CHEESE SHOP in Brooklyn
(This is why I love NYC - where else would you find an entire shop devoted to selling vegan cheese???)



I'd tried one or two of these cheeses before, purchased at a natural foods store in the city - but this was my first time visiting the shop, which I had been dying to do since I heard about it earlier this month. It was so exciting to see the case full of all these nut-based cheeses! Since I decided a couple years ago to try avoiding dairy for health reasons, I have missed cheese more than anything else. Non-dairy ice cream is easy to find these days, but a whole spread of different cheeses like this is not... The shop also had some other snacks and desserts for sale, but I was focused on the cheeses.

They're a bit pricey, but I picked two small chunks to take home and enjoy: cashew-tomato, and smoked-tea-cashew. I tried samples of a couple others in the store, including one with blue-algae which was intriguing.



The cashew-tomato was smooth, like a mild cheddar, while the smoked-tea was a stronger, sharper flavor. I loved them both - plain or on crackers. The only problem was they disappeared too quickly, so I will have to save up my money to go back for more...

Dr. Cow
93 South 6th street
Brooklyn, NY 11249
718.496.7212

Help the Cinnamon Snail Food Truck keep serving mind-blowingly delicous vegan food!

Fellow veggie burger lovers, here is your chance to do some good and show the Cinnamon Snail Food Truck how much you appreciate their friendly faces and fantastic food.



The Cinnamon Snail has started a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to purchase a new truck, since their trusty old truck has been plagued by mechanical difficulties that prevent the Snail from being out on the streets serving their award-winning food as often as they should. They need to raise a lot of money for this, and they only have one week left to do so.

If you've ever eaten any of the Cinnamon Snail's food before, you know how fortunate we are to have a food truck like this in NYC! If you haven't had the chance to try their amazing menu yet, let me tell you that they offer one of my favorite veggie burgers which I reviewed HERE.



In addition to a second veggie burger, rotating specials that often include even more veggie burgers, and a number of equally stunning vegan sandwiches.

And did I mention the donuts?



The most creative, delicious donuts you will ever eat - whether you are a vegan or not! They have so many inventive flavors - including my personal favorite, a bourbon creme brulee donut, which is nothing short of orgasmic!

Please check out their Kickstarter page HERE and consider helping them out! The world really is a better place with food trucks like the Cinnamon Snail in it, and they do so much good for the NY/NJ area (including donating food to victims of Hurricane Sandy after that tragedy). If you still need an extra incentive to donate, check out the list of rewards they are offering for different donation levels!

But please consider returning the love that the Snail has shown our community, and help them keep cooking such amazing vegan food!

Cookbook Giveaway! Fillet of Soul: Afro Vegan

Sometimes my YumVeggieBurger inbox is full of junk mail and spam.  Sometimes I get cool letters from people who like the blog and want to recommend a new veggie burger for me to try (thank you!).  And one time, I got an email asking if I would be interested in doing a giveaway on my blog for a new vegan cookbook.

Why not?
So here's a chance for one of my lovely readers to win a copy of Wheeler Del Torro's new book Fillet of Soul: AfroVegan.  Because Wheeler Del Torro is generous, and you guys are awesome.

Although it doesn't include a veggie burger, this is a pretty impressive collection of recipes and stories ranging from French to African (two cuisines I am not very familiar with at all! So it was exciting to look through all the recipes for new but delicious-sounding dishes).

I tried the recipe for Peanut Soup because I'd had a peanut soup from a restaurant in NYC a few months ago, and have been meaning to learn how to make it ever since.  I was a little bit nervous at first at the amount of peanut butter and cayenne pepper this recipe calls for - but it all came together and created one incredibly rich, creamy soup with a nice spicy kick that was not too overpowering (that said, I like spicy foods - so consider reducing the cayenne to 1 tsp if you prefer things milder!).  The sweet potatoes add a nice earthiness to the flavor as well.



So if you want to win a FREE copy of this cookbook for yourself (who wouldn't, honestly?), you can enter by using the Rafflecopter widget below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

EDIT: The giveaway has now ended, congrats to Janet, the randomly-selected winner!

neat

You know how sometimes you come across something that’s so cool you just want to eagerly share it with everyone? That’s how I feel about neat. I had already heard Bianca of Vegan Crunk rave about neat after her visit to the Seattle VegFest– so I was super excited to try this new nut and grain-based “healthy replacement for meat” when neat sent me a few packs to try out!

First of all, just admire how clever this product is: It’s a mix in a bag – all you have to do is add water and eggs (or vegan egg replacements), and voilà – dinner! (or lunch, actually, in my case). It’s soy-free, gluten-free, and vegan if you cook it with vegan egg replancements.



I halved the recipe, since 4 burgers is a bit much for one person! I used a regular egg, since I’m a vegetarian – but I’m going to have to get my hands on some vegan egg-replacements to see how well it works with those too.



I was nervous about how liquid the mixture seemed after I mixed it all together – the instructions said to form into patties, but instead, I just scraped the batter into the frying pan as if I was making thick pancakes.



The instructions didn’t mention whether to fry it in oil or not – so I tried one patty with oil, and one without (both on non-stick pans). Both worked fine.



They cook quickly, so keep an eye on them! And the egg makes them expand, so don’t worry if they look small to start. Still feeling like I was making pancakes, I flipped the patty over to cook the other side.



Mine didn’t look exactly like the photo on the package, but it smelled good, so I was excited to taste it. I had some whole wheat rolls on hand, so I did a simple burger with just mayo and tomatoes for toppings.



And how did it taste? Great! I was surprised at how much delicious flavor was packed into that mix. neat is made from pecans, garbanzo beans, gluten-free whole grain oats, and cornmeal. And although it looks like a fine powder when you start mixing it, once it cooks up in the frying pan, it actually gets a really nice texture – very much like a crumbly, ground meat!



I felt like I had just done a magic trick, making a tasty burger like this from a powdered mix in a bag! And I love how versatile it is – you could add any seasonings you like, and cook it in any shape or form you desire. neat also sent me samples of their Italian and Mexican seasoned mixes, so I’m excited to try it out for meatballs and tacos next.



With how easy it is to make, and how quickly it cooks, I think this would be an awesome product to bring on camping trips! While you couldn’t cook the burger patties on a grill (too soft), neat would fry up really well in a pan over a campfire. And with four servings per bag, this 5.5 oz package would hardly add any weight to your backpack. I will definitely report back once the weather is warm enough for some backpacking trips this summer!

You can order neat online – but I was pleased to see that there are some local stores in NYC and my own neighborhood of Astoria that also carry this product: Natural Frontier Market in Manhattan, and Broadway Natural in Astoria (neat’s representative told me they recommend calling ahead to make sure neat is in stock though).

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
neat - a healthy replacement for meat
price: As previously stated, I received a complimentary sample of these from neat. On their website, a package of neat (4 servings per package) sells for $4.99.

YumVeggieBurger review #129

Pure Food and Wine

I’ve wanted to try Pure Food and Wine’s veggie burger for awhile, so I was delighted to finally have a chance to stop in for lunch one day (Note: The veggie burger is only on the lunch menu, not the dinner menu!).

The restaurant has a beautiful, relaxing interior that’s fancy but not pretentious. It looks like they have a garden seating area out back, which would be lovely when the weather gets a bit warmer!



While most of the food here is raw cuisine, the portabella and hemp seed burger is served on sprouted manna bread, which the menu points out is “neither raw nor gluten-free”. So I realized I was not getting the full raw food experience by ordering the burger, but I was still looking forward to something healthy and delicious.


I hate to say it, but that side salad was probably one of the worst I've ever had - I swear it was dressed with nothing but oil, no other seasonings at all. So literally just oily lettuce with some cilantro. Sad.

My first thought was that the burger looked smaller than I had expected – it appears to be stacked quite tall, but it’s not very wide. The bun was very thick and dense, full of grains and maybe seeds, with a nice nutty flavor – but it was hard to even wrap my mouth around it, it was so thick! And it was even too tough to cut with a knife.



The patty was dark and earthy – I’m not a mushroom fan, but I sometimes make an exception for portabellas. Luckily, this patty was not too strongly mushroom-flavored; I could tell the portabella was blended in there somewhere, but there were other flavors too. It was rather mushy. I could not decide if I actually liked the overall flavor or not – it was certainly unlike any other burger I have eaten, even though I have eaten several other raw burgers over the past few years.


Now you get a sense of scale!

The toppings were the best part. The soft lapsang souchong tea smoked cashew cheese was nice and sharp, and went well with the caraway kraut, pickled pink onions, and mustard. Very creative!

Overall though, the bun and the patty were not as stellar as I had hoped for, given Pure Food and Wine’s reputation (many people have raved about the food here!), and the price of the burger ($15). Maybe I should come back and try something other than the veggie burger, since I’ve apparently been spoiled by too many amazing veggie burgers at this point!

Cost: $15
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Burger patty: 3       Bun: 3      Toppings: 4

Pure Food and Wine
54 Irving Pl
between 18th & 17th Street
New York, NY 10003
212.477.1010
Takeout also available from One Lucky Duck – 125 ½ E 17th Street

YumVeggieBurger review #128

Veggie Burgers in the News: Engineering Students Create Perfect Veggie Burger

Wow, this is cool:
Engineering Students Have Dedicated Their Brainpower To Creating The Perfect Veggie Burger  (via Time.com)

It's got yellow beets in it, which is something I have not seen in a veggie burger before - and it's vegan!

These are students at a university in Sweden, but we can always hope they'll bring their creation over the Atlantic so us Americans can try it too! (or maybe MIT students here will decide to compete with them, and make their own "perfect" veggie burger? An epic engineering battle of the veggie burgers??? yes please!)

 

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.