The Best Vegetarian Restaurants In NYC, According To Carnivore Indie Pop Singer Darwin Deez

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Full disclosure: I’m not vegetarian. But I did work at a vegan restaurant for several years before my first album came out and I hung up my Crocs and patchouli oil for the glamour of endless touring for moderate pay. Consider me an avid vegetarian-ist, if that helps.

In any case, let’s not dither; here are my top recommendations for vegetarians and also just anyone with working taste-buds, in the city that never sleeps and never stops eating. Starting with my very own ex place of employ, Angelica.

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Angelica (not Angelica’s – never Angelica’s)

Named after a herb, not its owner. Her name is Leslie.

Ethically, AK is the real deal. Everything is legit vegan; I remember seeing with my own eyes the ratty white ute that delivered locally farmed greens from upstate each day. Angelica is what we Americans call a holistic health food restaurant. Ice is not served, nor even available on the premises, because it slows digestion. For years there was no alcohol or coffee on the menu (health) and credit cards were not accepted (ethics).

I met my band-mate Cole when he was hired here and Devendra Banhart worked there before me. Members of Akron / Family and Diane Cluck, too. It’s OK if you haven’t heard of those two, I’m just trying to illustrate the pedigree and that New York is a small world.

Angelica remains the best and most deserving veggo friendly restaurant on this list. My favourite thing on the menu is the dressing. When you order, you’ll want to cheap out and get one of the basic combo bowls, and this will not be wrong. But do spend that extra dollar for another dressing, as they’re all magical thick purées of honest flavour.

Where: 300 E 12th St, New York

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Bliss Cafe

Okay, so the menu at Bliss is very similar to Angelica, as are the cheap eat prices. The important difference is the location, Bliss is in the heart of Williamsburg where you’ll likely find yourself slightly more often than Angelica’s Manhattan’s East Village neighbourhood. A few more conventional options also exist on the menu such as veggie burgers, tofu scramble for brunch, guacamole and burritos.

The food is healthy and I’ve eaten it many times after moving to Brooklyn, despite it being simple enough to prepare myself at home. I personally believe the Bliss Bowl is really a rip-off of Angelica’s Dragon Bowl, but it doesn’t matter.

Where: 191 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn

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Red Bamboo / VP 2

My vegan friends were excited about Red Bamboo when it opened a decade ago or so years ago but now say they don’t like “the fake meat thing” that much. Whatever. As a dining experience, this one is the most memorable and fun. Usually soy- and vegetable-protein makes for bland, chewy ersatz meat but this joint cracked the code. Even my other carnivorous friends are always wowed by the buffalo wings, which are served on awesome wooden skewers in lieu of bones. It’s one of those places that lists its dishes by their would-be corresponding animal type (e.g. would-be-chicken), but it’s all vegetarian.

It’s popular, it’s unusual and it’s impressively tasty, and if the wait list is full at the small Greenwich Village location (across the street from the IFC film theatre), you can more easily get a table next door at Vegetarian’s Paradise II, which is directly beside Red Bamboo, preceded Red Bamboo, shares a kitchen and menu with Red Bamboo, and somehow has fewer customers. Branding.

There’s also another Red Bamboo in the Fort Greene neighbourhood of Brooklyn, which is near Pratt art school (expect hotties) and where your precious export Gotye lives. Red Bamboo has much more of an Asian flavour to the menu than the previous two, and less of a health food focus. We’re not even sure if the mock meatstuff is all that good for you, but it satisfies cravings while sparing critters.

Where: 140 West 4th Street, New York

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Souen

Speaking of Asian food, Souen is another good choice. This one serves fish, but really how can you even count fish as meat? Fish will never love you.

On 13th Street, it’s a good one to walk to if Angelica is full. Souen’s menu abides by an ancient ’90s code called the macrobiotic diet, which involves a lot of brown rice, Japanese seaweed, and other stuff from the ’70s.  Most of the menu is vegetarian, and all of it is Japanese. It’s one of a kind, and it’s the place to go for vegetarian sushi, if you like that sort of thing. A try it and see how your body feels afterwards kind of place. I took a girl there once but she denied it was a date and paid the check while I was in the bathroom.

Where: Various locals

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Dig Inn

A newer chain of restaurants jumping on the farm-to-table bandwagon. This place serves tons of meat, sorry. But it always has a vegetarian entree available as well, and the veggies themselves taste the best out of all five restaurants. There are a few locations scattered around Manhattan — one on 23rd Street, one on 55th if you’re stuck in Midtown, and a few others. Food is cafeteria-style, which means it’s already ready when you walk in, which makes it fast enough for actual New Yorkers.

All in all, it’s not totally unlike the hot bar at Whole Foods, but it’s a leg up. Basically, it’s affordable, it’s plentiful, and it’s delicious. Picture a big plate of veggies prepared with just enough oil to make them fantastic yet not unhealthy. You will not find time to do everything when you’re visiting Manhattan, and Dig Inn will make more of your precious New York minutes.

A sad, honourable mention goes to Foodswings. RIP-in-pieces to this late-night grease-fest with vegan milkshakes and cheeseburgers. I found it amusing and idiosyncratic that a vegan menu was so egregiously unhealthy, among its peers. I used to go there a lot just because I’m lactose intolerant.

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Where: Various locals

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