It’s rare that I actually eat at an actual vegetarian restaurant (as in a restaurant that only makes vegetarian dishes).  This is primarily because there are so few restaurants that only serve vegetarian food, and most vegetarian restaurants are a little to “granola” for my liking.  I try to avoid any place that serves flax and wheat germ-based dishes.  Nevertheless, Hakeem and Chamique decided to take me to Blossom, a vegan restaurant in the Chelsea neighborhood.  Blossom is a very well known vegetarian restaurant, and has won numerous awards for being “best vegetarian” restaurant. So, I feel I should point out that I don’t really believe in “vegetarian” restaurants, because I feel vegetarian dishes should be integrated into every menu.  So, in that sense, vegetarian restaurants just promote culinary segregation, which I find morally objectionable.  But as I am usually morally opposed to 95% of the restaurants I eat at, I decided to quell my conviction and just eat.

I don’t know what possessed Hakeem and Chamique to take me there, as they and their family are all hardcore carnivores (hardcornivores?).  But it is nice to be able to go someplace and ask to share food (that is not an Indian restaurant) with them.  It just makes the dining experience that much more familiar.

We started off with seitan empanadas, which were quite tasty, though I didn’t really taste the seitan very much, and the empanadas were so tiny, that I don’t know how they were able to fit the seitan in there.  The guacamole was also pretty average, and the saffron aioli was barely noticeable.

I ordered the cape cod cakes, because I used to love crab cakes back when I ate meat.  I was also intrigued to try cakes of seaweed and tofu.  Despite the paltry seaweed allocation within the cake, it was actually really nice.

The highlight of the appetizers was the parsnip cappelletti – giant raviolis filled with parsnip and potatoes.  While they were a little overcooked and rubbery, the shiitake mushrooms that topped them in truffle oil was absolutely amazing.

Chamique had the daily special, which was an artichoke and peas rissotto, topped with sundried tomatoes.  It was ok, but would have been much better if they put cheese – a risotto without cheese is basically just fried rice (technically even with cheese it is fried rice, but I digress).

Hakeem had the port wine seitan, a vegan variant of roast beef and yorkshire pudding.  It was actually quite tasty, especially with the port wine sauce and mushrooms.  Hakeem was slightly annoyed by this dish because I think he really wanted beef instead of seitan, but I think deep down he liked it a little.

I ordered the feijoadinha with smoked tempeh, a brazilian rice and beans dish.  I am normally not a fan of tempeh, but in this instance it just worked really well.  The rice, black beans, chayote squash (any dish with chayote for me is an automatic winner), and fried sweet potato shavings on top were quite nice.  However, this version was really bland and uninspiring.  I’m not blaming the tempeh, but it would’ve been nice to have it a little spicier than how they made it.  I’m sure it would be much spicier at a Brazilian restaurant (and more authentic), but I guess that’s the price I pay to get tempeh instead of beef or chicken (which would probably be more authentic).

To cap off the evening, Hakeem and I shared a chocolate ganache cake.  Every vegan dessert I’ve every had was quite pleasant (including this one), but they’re all usually a little too gooey for my liking.  The chocolate ganache combined well with the “ice cream”, making it a little lighter, but on its own, the cake was just too heavy for my liking.

While I think Blossom does a pretty good job to make meat eaters enjoy their meals there, I just don’t like the concept of vegetarians or vegans having to go to a place like this for a meal.  Why can’t there be a vegetarian dish at any restaurant like the ones you get at Blossom?  And part of the reason meat eaters hate vegetarians/vegans is the attempts to meatify meals by using seitan, tofu, or tempeh instead of actual meat.  When I eat vegetarian food in India, the focus is not on the meat or fake meat, but instead on the vegetables.  And vegetables have way more flavor than any meat, so why not make interesting vegetarian dishes rather than poor man’s versions of meat dishes replacing real meat with fake meat?  There was an interesting rigatoni dish with leeks and rabe, as well as a phyllo roulade that we didn’t order, and I feel it’s dishes like these that should be on offer, not tofu steaks and seitan scaloppini.  On its own food merits, I’ll give Blossom four cheese sandwiches, as they do a good job making tasty vegan dishes that may even convince a meat eater that they don’t have to eat meat at every meal.  And that’s like half the battle.

Blossom Vegan Restaurant and Cafe
187 9th Avenue
New York, NY 10011 
(212) 627-1144