Posts Tagged ‘Earth Day’

It’s Easy to “Eat Green” with New York City’s Variety of Plant-based Dining Options

From American comfort food to fine dining, dessert and ethnic variations, you’ll have lots to choose from as you pay attention to how your dining affects the environment.

Courtesy Willow

Willow

Created by Guy and Tali Vaknin, the couple behind the city’s popular Beyond Sushi, Willow is your “green” go-to for American comfort food favorites. At the new Chelsea bistro,  you’ll find the comfort favorites that felt so right during the pandemic, but without meat. Think porcini chick’n Marsala, steak frites (made with grilled seitan steak), scallop cacio e pepe made with oyster mushroom scallops and semolina linguine, cheeseburger sliders, cauliflower wings, taquitos and calamari. A don’t-miss is their signature Willow flatbread with “ricotta,” pistachios, artichokes figs and baby arugula. You can also order vegan sandwiches like the “tuna” melt or cherrywood smoked pastrami made with seitan. Comfort food never tasted this healthy!

Courtesy Beyond Sushi

Beyond Sushi

The name says it all: this fast-casual restaurant goes beyond sushi to provide a varied vegan menu with flavors from around the world.  Adhering to a fully plant-based and kosher ingredient list, Chef Guy Vaknin’s Beyond Sushi has proven so popular that it is now a mini-chain with Manhattan five locations. In addition to veggie-filled sushi rolls and dumplings, the adobo mushroom tacos, butternut squash tortellini and jackfruit crab cakes are also standouts.

Courtesy Whipped – Urban Dessert Lab

Whipped – Urban Dessert Lab

Whipped–Urban Dessert Lab fills the vegan dessert void as the world’s first oat-milk ice crème shoppe. The company, opened at the start of the pandemic, has been a blessing for health-conscious ice cream lovers, with fans now converted to the dairy-free way of life. Whipped’s modern ice crème desserts have two signature bases — sweet crème with a touch of vanilla or chocolate – all free of dairy, eggs, nuts, soy and gluten. Toppings are dairy free as well and can be added to create “hand-selected fusions.” Newest flavors include strawberry shortcake, mint chocolate cookie, cinnamon apple crisp, peanut butter chocolate cookie, and chocolate, adding to the already cultish list of favorites. The best part? All are made with oat milk, which, in addition to being 100% plant-based and dairy-free, adds richness both in taste and texture. If you can visit the Lower East Side store, you’ll have the benefit of soft-serve cones with mix-ins or toppings like salted pecan, pretzels, or strawberry crumble. To go and blissfully available for delivery, the new hard-scoop Oate line is something you’ll want to keep in your freezer for late-night snacking.

Courtesy Galioto’s

Galioto’s

New York City has its first plant-based Italian delicatessen with Galioto’s. Setting up shop in Little Italy, the deli and market is an Old Country throwback with a modern take. You can order vegan meatball subs and Impossible™ meatball parm at the deli counter or shop the market for seasonal produce, Italian specialties, and grab-and-go foods like pasta salads, sandwiches and giardiniera.

Courtesy AbcV

AbcV

“Plant based, sustainable, artisanal, and organic whenever possible,” promises AbcV, Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s high-end plant-based restaurant. The restaurant is an homage to vegetables with presentation an equally important part of the concept. The gardenlike setting is a smart backdrop for dishes which exemplify intriguing flavor combinations. Green chickpea hummus or a “pasta course” of mushroom walnut Bolognese kicks off the meal. Follow with smoky tandoor white yam with coconut yogurt. Each pairs well with organic, alcoholic beverages or tonic “vibrations” with instructive names like “joy” and “grounding.” Because this is a restaurant from Jean-Georges, after all, you should select the chef’s tasting menu which comes with elaborate explanations of the largely unfamiliar platings.

Courtesy Reserve by Amor y Amargo

Reserve by Amor y Amargo

Reserve by Amor y Amargo is an exclusive plant-based pairing concept. Hidden through a door behind the counter of General Store by Amor y Amargo, the intimate speakeasy-restaurant from Chef and Master Mixologist Sother Teague is reserved for ten diners only. The prix fixe menu pairs stirred small plates and cocktails celebrating spirits and bitters such as a martini with olive bitters and Aquavit with cured carrot “lox” with tofu scallion cream cheese. The “improved” Negroni is made with overproof rum with pimento bitters and is accompanied by “scallops” of jerk-seasoned king trumpet mushrooms. Dishes and drinks change every two months to reflect what Teague calls “micro” seasons.

Courtesy Le Botaniste

Le Botaniste

Taking style inspiration from its “pharmacy” setting in Ghent, Le Botaniste is the first carbon-neutral certified organic plant-based restaurant in New York City. And while that sounds like a mouthful, the vegetable-forward, organic food is truly “good for the planet and good for your body.” Offering a fully plant-based, 99% organic food and wine menu, Le Botaniste lives its philosophy: Le Botaniste is building its own forest in Peru in partnership with GoForest, and diners can choose to “add” a tree to their orders, increasing the sustainability of their meal. Going one step further, carbon emission values are indicated for each dish on the menu. Lest we neglect the dining experience, the fast-casual menu includes the likes of spicy chili sin carne, Moroccan tajine with quinoa and lemon harissa dressing, seaweed tartare and a sushi roll with turmeric onions, marinated tofu and red sauerkraut.

Courtesy Jajaja Plantas Mexicana

Jajaja Plantas Mexicana

The East Village’s Jajaja Plantas Mexicana keeps the party healthy with a menu of plant-based Mexican street food, Mexican beers and an extensive tequila and mezcal program.  The “culture-and-community through comida and cocktails” concept encourages selection from familiar-yet-unusual dishes like tacos with chipotle sweet potato, or gorditas with serrano and shiitake bacon. A Mexican fiesta buzz sets the tone.

Courtesy Cadence

Cadence

Also in the East Village, Cadence meanders north of the border bringing plant-based versions of Southern and soul food together with wines from Black-owned vineyards. Executive Chef Shenarri Freeman has prepared family faves through the lens of sustainability and healthfulness. Re-imagined dishes from her Virginia upbringing like smoked grits made with chickpeas, heart of palm and chipotle aioli slaw; black-eyed pea garlic pancakes; or collard greens stuffed with Aleppo rice, shiitake mushrooms and poached pears appear on the  menu, perfect with one of the global wine selections.

Earth Day on April 22 is Just One Day to Think about Environmentalism during Earth Month

Be smart, aware and active in support of environmental activities in New York City all month long

It’s easy to be green in New York City. With so many parks to visit, outdoor areas to cherish, and activities to remind ourselves, Earth Day and Earth Month are times to step back and reflect on the importance of our environment to our New York City life.

Ride a Bike, Take a Hike or Just Walk

Courtesy NYC Bike Maps

Take advantage of the city’s many bike lanes, bike paths and ride options to reduce your carbon footprint. NYC Bike Maps offers cycling information and free street, trail, park and greenway maps for exploring NYC’s extensive bike network.

Courtesy Central Park Conservancy

Exercise your mind and your body with a walk in the park. Get some fresh air as you stroll and look at the birds and flowers that surround you. Spring is a joyous time when bulbs give birth to colorful blooms, buds on trees turn pink and white, and birds re-emerge with beautiful song. Central Park has compiled a Virtual Guide to Spring to help plan your time. Or visit a less-familiar area – New York City has 124 park s with natural areas.

Courtesy Central Park Conservancy

If seeing all the beautiful tulips and daffodils has you smiling, make a tax-deductible donation to the Central Park Conservancy and they’ll plant more in your honor. You’ll get a certificate or ecard noting your important gift.

Join the Natural Areas Conservancy Team

The non-profit Natural Area Conservancy team restores and champions 20,000 acres of NYC’s forests and wetlands for the benefit of all. You can make environmental stewardship a part of your life by signing up for their informative newsletter. If hiking is your thing, a great way to give back to the city is by joining the Trail Maintainer Program. You’ll help with cleaning and positive planting to make the trails accessible to all.

Volunteer with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation

Courtesy New York City Parks Department

Central Park, Prospect Park, Pelham Bay Park, Forest Park and more – these wouldn’t be what they are without the devotion and care of the New York City Parks Department. You can join their ranks as a volunteer to help with planting programs in all five boroughs. There are many choices – you can focus on the parks, by the shore adding beach grass to create dunes at Coney Island or reverse damage from Sandy in Staten Island, or in your neighborhood planting street trees. You can help with wetlands, marshlands and forests as well.

Budget cuts, increased use of the parks and the constantly encroaching effects of climate change make caring for what we have all the more important today. New projects are scheduled every week. For April and May, you’ll see opportunities to plant trees in Marine Park in Brooklyn, Cunningham and Idlewild parks in Queens, and Goodhue Park in Staten Island.

Courtesy One Tree Planted

Visit One Tree Planted, an environmental charity that restores damaged ecosystems, for additional programs such as the partnership with Moxy NYC Times Square that plants trees in California to repair the destruction caused by wildfires. You can support OTP’s efforts by planting or gifting a tree during Earth Month throughout April.

Be Civic Minded

Courtesy New York Restoration Project

Take advantage of the many opportunities offered through the New York Restoration Project (NYRP), a non-profit group started by Bette Midler to transform open spaces in under-resourced communities. Your monetary and physical contributions are all needed to plant trees, renovate gardens, restore parks and add to the green spaces each neighborhood needs.

Courtesy Green Thumb

Part of the New York Parks Department programs, Green Thumb keeps the city’s community gardens vibrant with plantings and art. A perfect program for building your environmental awareness on Earth Day and giving back to the community, volunteering is needed year-round.

You don’t need to join a formal organization, though. You can assemble your own group of concerned, caring citizens and adopt a block, and they divvy up who takes care of what from mulching trees, to maintaining flowers, to picking up litter. There are many civic “brokers” that will help you create your own partnership for parks: this year’s early crocus plantings are living memorials to those lost through Covid-19, planted as much for their beauty as for their message of hope for the future.

Open Your Eyes to Environmentalism

“Who Takes Care of New York” Exhibit - Courtesy The Nature of Cities

Originally shown at the Queens Museum, the important “Who Takes Care of New York” exhibit lives on virtually. Spend some time reviewing its contents to understand what it takes to care for our natural resources. You can research many opportunities here for involvement through what are termed “acts of care stewardship,” caring and advocating for the environment.

NASA/NOAA/GOES Project - Courtesy American Museum of Natural History

On Earth Day, the American Museum of Natural History invites you to EarthFest, an all-day online celebration. Programming is designed for all ages with topics exploring climate science, conservation, the relationship between man and animal, and the impact of weather on the Earth.

Courtesy Paint and Sip LIVE

Paint and Sip LIVE celebrates Earth Day with a special class combining environmentalism with the arts and featuring a live DJ. The party will honor the holiday while spotlighting the impact of composting as a way to reduce the devastating effects of climate change. Twenty percent of the event’s proceeds will be donated to composting champion Earth Matter NY.

How to Celebrate Earth Day in New York City

On April 22, 1970, nearly 20 million Americans attended the first Earth Day celebration, an event designed to raise awareness of important environmental issues such as pollution, waste, ozone depletion, and wildlife extinction. Earth Day is even more relevant today, focusing on issues such as the increasing amount of garbage in landfills and the rising levels of carbon in the atmosphere, with a goal of helping preserve the health of the Earth.  New York City venues have planned fun-filled events to observe the holiday.

More on How to Celebrate Earth Day in New York City

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