The Modern Bar Room

Last weekend, Heath and I had dinner at The Modern at MOMA.

You can either eat in the Dining Room or the more casual Bar Room. We opted for the latter. 

I did email them before making the reservation to ask if they could accommodate a vegan diet. Luckily, they were happy to do so. 

I started with a lovely drink made with lychee puree and seltzer. 

Then it was onto Wild Mushroom Soup topped with chives. This was the perfect soup for me because I really enjoy the taste of mushrooms, just not always the texture. 

I also had the Red Endive and Arugula Salad with red kuri pumpkin and honey crisp apples. Arugula is my favorite lettuce, so I'm always happy with any kind of arugula salad. 

And for my entree, they made me a custom Winter Vegetable dish, which consisted of oyster mushrooms that were seared and in the shape of scallops, hen of the woods mushrooms (I didn't partake in these because of my previously mentioned texture issue), carrots, brussel sprouts, parsnips and spinach with a vinaigrette and all the little bits on the bottom of the roasting pan. It was all so flavorful and insanely delicious. 

And to finish, Citrus Carpaccio with a sorbet that I believe was passion fruit. It was such a nice, light, perfect end to the meal. 

They were so accommodating about my dietary requests. It's really the little things - like brining you a side of olive oil to go with the bread. (They serve butter with their mini baguettes). It is so so very appreciated. 

Dirt Candy

Last week, my favorite Chicago vegan blogger was in the city and we finally made it to Dirt Candy. 

We were both DC virgins, and had been looking forward to it for quite some time. The restaurant is tiny, so they fill up pretty quickly. If you're prepared to eat dinner at 5.30, you'll be much more likely to get a table. The first thing they ask when you sit down is if you're vegan. I love this, because sometimes vegetarian restaurants aren't super accommodating for vegans (strange, but it does happen). Luckily, Dirt Candy can make almost anything on their menu vegan without sacrificing flavor nor texture.

We started with the Jalapeño Hugh Puppies with Maple Butter. You seriously can't go wrong with deep fried goodness dipped in sweet butter. I'm still thinking of all the things I could eat with maple butter.

For appetizers, we shared the Mushrooms - portobello mousse, truffled toast with pear and fennel compote...

And the Potato - warm potato salad, crispy Japanese yams, grilled sweet potato, olives, bitter greens and apples. Both were delicious and complex. I'm pretty picky about mushrooms, but I really loved everything in the Mushroom dish.

For entrees, we went for the Beets - salt roasted with Thai green curry, beet gnocchi and whipped coconut galangal cream...

And the Corn - stone ground grits, corn cream, pickled shiitakes, huitlacoche and tempura watercress. Again, both very filling and full of flavor. I like beets, but I don't love them. This was interesting but I definitely preferred the corn. I did really enjoy the coconut cream alongside the beets.

For dessert, it was the Ice Cream Nanaimo Bar with sweet pea, mint and chocolate. Mint chocolate with a hint of something else, very intriguing.

And the Popcorn Pudding with salted caramel corn. The caramel corn was delicious.

I love the trend of taking one ingredient and showing how many iterations you can have in one dish. It really highlights the magic of vegetables. 

Sivory . DR

Last month, the husband and I went to the Dominican Republic for vacation. 

We stayed at the Sivory Boutique Hotel, which was about 40 minutes from town (Punta Cana) and a $120 cab ride, so needless to say, we didn't venture out very much. 

But that was fine with us, we were looking for an uber-relaxing spot where we could just chill out and read a book on the beach. 

I don't have pictures of all of my eats, because of the choice of mood lighting in some restaurants in particular, but I will make sure to note all of my positive experiences. 

First, at our resort, I started most mornings with granola, soy milk and sliced bananas. 

Followed by a walk on the beach...

For lunch, I loved their Grilled Vegetable Stack, ordered without the cheese. Normally in a veggie stack, you have the usual - eggplant, onion, peppers, zucchini. This stack also included tomato, white potato and sweet potato.

A side of crispy plantain chips is always a good snack. 

By the pool, hummus with crispy beet chips, olives and tortillas was my go-to. 

Along with fresh coconut water. 

They have an Asian restaurant on site that has an amazing veggie stir fry. And if you let them know your dietary restrictions ahead of time, they're happy to accommodate. 

Next door, at the Zoetry hotel, they have three restaurants with great veggie options. Just let them know ahead of time. Also, a very strange thing we encountered was many hotels are not prepared to serve customers who are not guests of the hotel. So...again, ahead of time, talk to reception and you'll have no problem. You normally just have to pre-pay. 

It's definitely a more rustic beach experience than Turks + Caicos, our normal beach destination, but it was a very pleasant change. 

Cinnamon Snail Vanilla Bourbon Creme Brûlée Doughnut

Cinnamon Snail is truly one of my favorite vegan eateries in the city, and I just recently tried their award winning Vanilla Bourbon Creme Brûlée doughnut.

It is seriously delicious. If you have the chance, this is one tasty doughnut.

Suite ThreeOhSix

Friday after Thanksgiving, my family and I attended a beautiful dinner at Suite ThreeOhSix in Tribeca. It's a vegan supper club that hosts gorgeous multiple course dinners in a community style setting. 

This particular dinner was family style and had a Thanksgiving theme. Each dinner is different, and they often have guest hosts/chefs/collaborators and cooking classes.

 

We started with homemade Turkish pide, a focaccia like bread. And from there, we had seven additional courses.

Red Lentil Bisque with arancini, coconut aioli and cubanelle pepper. I must say, I think this was my favorite dish of the night. It was so complex and so lovely. The arancini was such a nice texture in the soup, along with the coconut and micro greens.

Baby Red Oak with hannah white sweet potato, rainbow beets and cilantro vinaigrette. A really nice salad after the depth of the soup.

Mushroom Melange with wild rice pilaf, bordelaise sauce and fresh thyme. I'm not the biggest mushroom fan, the textures freak me out a bit, but it had a really nice flavor.

Haricots Verts with pickled onion, walnut cream and toasted chia. The sauce was so tasty and the green beans extremely crisp.

Corn Pudding with smoked tea, leeks and cranberry chutney. I loved the presentation in this sweet little dish, and the cranberries were an awesome condiment.

Passionfruit Pumpkin Sorbet. As delicious as it looks.

 Chef Daphne at work.

Kabocha Squash and Pear Galette with cardamom ricotta and pecans. I had never had kabocha squash as dessert, and now I'm not sure why. It was amazing.

 And to finish, these adorable meringues.

It was such a great experience and I highly recommend it.

Mitchell's Ice Cream

And one final Thanksgiving treat...Vegan Salted Caramel Pecan ice cream from Mitchell's in Cleveland. My parents brought some with them from Ohio.

This ice cream is so good. It tastes just like Bit O Honey, which I used to love before going vegan. It sounds strange, but that's exactly the flavor. 

Vegan Treats' Cannoli

For Thanksgiving, I also ordered cannoli from Vegan Treats. (When my parents come to town, we get a little crazy with vegan sweets, we just have to try a little of everything).

These were beyond delightful. I actually preferred the original, but my dad went crazy over the chocolate dipped variety :)

Vegan Macarons from Sweet Maresa/Lagusta's Luscious

Upon suggestion from my good friend Kate, I ordered some vegan macarons from Sweet Maresa/Lagusta's Luscious.

Pistachio, Vanilla + Black & White. These were my very first vegan macarons and they were all incredible. Awesome texture and lovely subtle flavors. 

Next time I will for sure order the amazing looking chocolates from Lagusta. I was so excited to try a vegan macaron that I had to taste these first!

Pumpkin Cheesecake

For Thanksgiving, my mom always makes Pumpkin Cheesecake topped with dark chocolate and pomegranate.

This year my parents visited me in New York, and thankfully brought me a piece. 

If you're near Boardman, Ohio, Ely's To Go offers them by the slice or special order from time to time during the holidays.

Vegan Cheese

For Thanksgiving, I picked up some new to me vegan cheeses to try with a crusty baguette.

Kite Hill's White Alder was the first. It had the most amazing texture and I loved how very brie-like it was.

Treeline's Scallion Soft Cheese was also a great texture. It was a bit strong for me, but the scallion addition was really nice. It has a fermented taste that does come on quite strong, but a sprinkle of sea salt and fresh cracked pepper really helps even things out.