More Pukk Thai Food

Spinach Toast Appetizer


Spicy Corn Noodles with Vegetables

Broad noodles, tomatoes, broccoli, corn, peppers, basil, chili-basil sauce

I love this dish. The basil really stands out and the mixed vegetables taste so fresh and crispy.

Spring Rolls


This is my favorite food at Pukk. These spring rolls are delicious!

Yellow Curry Fried Rice with Vegetables


Pad Thai with Vegetables


Market Fried Rice with Vegetables

Krispy Kreme

I was recently in Mohegan Sun casino where they have two Krispy Kreme stores. I hadn't eaten Krispy Kreme in years but I couldn't resist the delicious looking donuts and bought two- custard filled and creme filled. Both donuts were amazing but I preffered the custard filled donut.

Chocolate Iced Custard Filled Donut, $1

I wish they had a Krispy Kreme location in the city!

Baked by Melissa Cupcakes

Last time I was in Soho, I decided to pick up a few cupcakes from Baked by Melissa to eat for dessert. I had heard a lot of good things about these cupcakes so I was excited to finally try them.


The flavors I ordered were Cookie Dough, Tie Dye, and Peanut Butter Cup.


The cupcakes were good but not as delicious as I had expected. I really liked the size of them, they were the size of a quarter and perfect for people like me who are concerned about calories. My favorite was the Tie Dye flavor. Peanut Butter Cup had an intense peanut butter flavor. I thought the cupcakes were very cute looking.


Even though I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be, I will probably give these cupcakes another chance as the size is perfect.

Broadway & Spring Street
New York, NY
http://www.bakedbymelissa.com/

Chipotle

Chipotle is probably my favorite fast food. Their vegetarian burrito bowl is one of my favorite foods and I would eat it all the time if it weren’t so fattening. I love ordering a bowl from the 14th Street location and walking over to Union Square to eat in the park.

Vegetarian Burrito Bowl

Lime-cilantro rice, black beans, corn salsa, guacamole

Normally when I get Chipotle for dinner, I bring some tofu from home to make the meal filling.

Vegetarian Burrito Bowl with Tofu

My only problem with Chipotle (besides them offering meat) is their lack of vegetarian protein options. I know some locations offer fake chicken but I find fake meat repulsive. I think they should reconsider and offer vegetarians tofu or tempeh.

www.chipotle.com

JP Licks Ice Cream & Yogurt

I was recently in MA so I stopped by JP Licks Ice Cream & Yogurt for dessert. As I walked in, I was instantly impressed by this ice cream shop. They had a lot of seating and the space was so big compared to the ice cream/frozen yogurt shops I go to in the city.

I walked up to the counter and there were about 3 people working just to give customers sampled. I sampled some frozen yogurt, my favorite. I tried chocolate chip cookie, peanut butter, oreo, and cinnamon latte soft yogurts. I also tried coffee chip hard yogurt. My favorite was by far chocolate chip cookie soft yogurt. I ordered a small which was an oversized small.

Small Chocolate Chip Cookie Frozen Yogurt, $3.73


Wow, the frozen yogurt was seriously to die for! It tasted just like smashed chocolate chip cookies. The taste was so close to cookies, I don't know how they had matched it so well, it was unbelievably amazing!


As I was eating my yogurt I noticed they had a Snickers flavor of the month ice cream. Yum that sounds amazing. I will have to try it next week when I'm in Boston.

The first location I went to was in Dedham, MA but they have locations all over Boston.

On my next visit to MA, I stopped the Newbury Street Boston location. The girl who was giving me sample had a serious attitude and this one was not as nice looking as the Dedham location, but their product was just as delicious.

I ordered a medium cup of hard and soft yogurts.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Hard Yogurt and Mint Oreo Soft Yogurt, $4.79 & Peanut Butter Sorbet for Dogs, $1.50

Wow, these yogurts were to die for! I especially loved the chocolate chip cookie hard yogurt. The portion was pretty big too.

They offered a dairy free ice cream for dogs, peanut butter sorbet. I ordered it for my dog and he absolutely loved it!

I wish they would open JP Licks in NYC! We could use an amazing ice cream and yogurt shop like it in the city. I was very impressed by JP Licks. The concept, taste, atmosphere, and everything was top notch. I will definitely stop by everytime in in MA.

http://www.jplicks.com/.

Screme Gelato

The best gelato I have ever eaten is from Screme Gelato, a little shop on the Upper West Side. Their flavors are the most creative I have ever seen. They have lots of candy, chocolate, and other cool flavors including Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, Snickers, Ferrero Rocher, Chips Ahoy, Malt Ball, Hershey's Milk Chocolate, and more.


Small Ferrero Rocher Gelato, $5

My only issue with Screme is the prices. A small is $5, and the portion is pretty small for the price.

Their gelato is by far the best I have eaten in NYC. You must try it.

Screme Gelato
Broadway between 69th and 70th
New York, NY

Pukk Thai

Pukk has become one of my favorite restaurants in New York. It is tasty, filling, cheap, has quick and friendly service, and has a good atmosphere. I go there at least once or twice a week. Here are some recent dishes I have ordered:

Pad See Ew with Tofu

Broad noodles and Chinese brocolli in sweet black bean sauce, $7

This dish is amazing! I love the sauce and the Chinese Brocolli.

Pad Thai with Vegetables
Rice noodles, smoked tofu, radish, bean sprout and peanut, $7

So good! This is probably my favorite dish. The portion is huge and very filling. The vegetables are good, especially the brocolli.

Pad Thai with Tofu
Rice noodles, smoked tofu, radish, bean sprout and peanut, $7

Crispy Sweet Potato
Deep fried sweet potatoes with sauce, $4

Steak Tofu
Pan seared tofu, vegetables, and peanut sauce, $9

It tastes good but the portion is kind of small. It only has two pieces of tofu.

Triple Crispy
Tofu, string beans, carrots, $7

It normally comes with garlic sauce but I hate garlic so it is replaced with peanut sauce. This dish is really good although it's pretty oily. I'm not sure why it's called Triple Crispy when the vegetables are steamed and aren't crispy.

Definitely check it Pukk, it is worth it!

Berrywild

Berrywild is my favorite place to go for dessert after eating at home. It's only a few blocks from my apartment so I go there a couple of times per week. Their frozen yogurt is tasty and inexpensive compared to other places and it's pretty filling. I usually order a small and it costs $2.70 for a good serving of yogurt. Now they are offering a mini size, "Berry Small". It's only a little smaller than the regular small but I prefer it because it's a lighter dessert option. They have two types of frozen yogurt: smooth (creamy and sweet) in chocolate, banana, coffee, and plain and icy (tart). I haven't paid much attention to the icy flavors because I cannot stand tart frozen yogurt.

Here are a couple of my orders:

Chocolate & Banana Twist

The two flavors go well together. I like that they offer them as a twist. It's really good. I like that it's different than the normal chocolate/vanilla twist.

Coffee & Banana

The flavors don't go together too well, but I order this when I can't choose which flavor I want.

Coffee

The coffee flavor is very good. It doesn't have an extremely strong coffee taste but it's still enjoyable and it's my favorite flavor.

Check out Berrywild for a tasty dessert
Lexington Ave between E 62nd and E 63rd
New York, NY

Snice

Snice used to be one of my favorite places to eat in New York. I still like it, but I don't go there as often as I used to because their food seems pretty fattening. Here's what I've ordered the last few times.

Grilled Nutella and Banana Sandwich

I ordered this at the new Soho location. It was good but a little too greasy for me.

Curried Cauliflower Wrap


cauliflowers, chickpeas, peas, brown rice & mango chutney

Wow, this wrap was extremely filling! I couldn't finish it which was a first for me. It kept me full until the next day! The taste was good too.

Vegan Panini with a side of Noodles


Vegan Panini: smoked tofu, basil pesto & sun-dried tomatoes

My favorite part of this sandwich is the bread. It is so good! It's a great sandwich but the smokey flavor of the tofu is a little too much for me. The noodles, on the other hand, were not good at all. I was expecting them to be great because Snice's noodles are usually good. But these noodles were full of garlic, yuck! It left the worst aftertaste.

Cafe Viva Herbal Pizzeria

Whenever I want a fast dinner in one of my favorite neighborhoods, the East Village, I go to Cafe Viva. They have a ton of pizza slices, all vegetarian, and all pretty cheap. I hate cheese, and they have plenty of cheese-less pizzas. Their hours are good, I think they're open until at least midnight.

Last time I went to Cafe Viva, I ordered the Tutta Verde pizza:

Tutta Verde Pizza: all green pizza with pesto sauce, green peppers, broccoli, zucchini, and spinach

It cost about $3.75 and the slice was huge! The slice was very tasty and kept me full for several hours.

My friend ordered the Zen Pizza

Zen Pizza: green tea herbed miso tofu, green tea basil pesto, shiitake mushrooms, maitake mushrooms, carmelized onions, sundried tomato, roasted garlic, on a green tea herbed spelt crust

I tried a little and I thought it was okay. I preferred my slice and I didn't really care for the tofu on it.

Cafe Viva is definitely worth checking out. It's fast, tasty, and not pricey.

Cafe Viva Herbal Pizzeria
179 2nd Ave between 11th and 12th St.
New York, NY

16 Handles Frozen Yogurt

One of my favorite places in NYC is 16 Handles, a self serve frozen yogurt shop. I love how you can take as much yogurt as you'd like. You can put whatever toppings you want on your frozen yogurt, but I prefer mine without toppings. 16 Handles doesn't have the kind of toppings I like such as peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, etc. My favorite thing about this place is the frozen yogurt is extremely tasty and guilt free.

Here's what I got the past two times I went there and had my camera with me...

Last week I went there after dinner. I was disappointed that they didn't have a few of my favorite flavors like coffee and strawberry. I got peanut butter, cookies and cream, and banana.

Peanut Butter: This flavor was SO tasty! It had a very strong peanut butter flavor and tasted just like a rich peanut butter soft serve.

Cookies and Cream: This was another good flavor although it didn't taste like cookies and cream. It tasted more like light chocolate but I liked it.

Banana: Yuck! This one was awful, I couldn't even finish it. It tasted like icy, artificial banana flavor.

I went back late Friday night after going to a concert and was very happy to see two of my favorite flavors back. I got coffee, pistachio, and strawberry.

Coffee: My favorite! I absolutely love coffee flavored ice cream and frozen yogurt and this is one of the best I have tasted. It is so creamy and rich in flavor. I can't get enough of it.

Strawberry: I normally love the strawberry flavor here, but this time it tasted icy and hard and not as good as usual.

Pistachio: It's creamy and pretty tasty.

Another flavor I love is white chocolate macadamia. I wish they had it more often.

There is only one problem I have with this place, it is inconsistent. Sometimes the flavors are nice and creamy and other times they are icy, and it melts pretty fast. Otherwise I love this place and wish it were closer to my apartment.

16 Handles
153 2nd Ave between East 9th and East 10th
New York, NY

Lan Cafe

I recently tried Vietnamese food for the first time. Unfortunately, my first experience with Vietnamese food was not very pleasant or memorable. I went to Lan Cafe for dinner and the restaurant was pretty empty. We were seated right away. I couldn't decide between a few dishes but finally chose the curry string bean dish.

Curry String Bean

Curry string bean sauteed with tofu and mushroom in curry sauce with a side of rice

I was expecting to like this dish because I love curry, but I didn't like it at all! The tofu had a bad texture and was too soft for my taste. The string beans were good and I was able to finish them. I was not able to finish the tofu and struggled to eat the pieces I ate.

My friend ordered Pad Thai

Pad Thai sauteed with chinese broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, tofu, and bean sprouts

I tried a little and this dish was a lot better than mine. I wish I had ordered this instead.

I had high expectations for them considering I had read a lot of positive reviews. I didn't enjoy my experience at Lan Cafe and will not be back.

Lan Cafe
342 East 6th Street between 1st Ave & 2nd Ave
New York, NY

A Wonderful Dinner at Angelica Kitchen

Last week I had a wonderful dinner at Angelica Kitchen. I arrived there around 8:15pm, and we were seated right away which was nice considering they usually have a long wait. I debated over what to order for a while, but finally chose one of the specials of the night when the waitress told me the portion is pretty big. I had the choice of adding two basics for an additional two dollars, so I chose steamed vegetables (butternut squash, sweet potato, and turnips) and tempeh.

My entree, "the Adventures of Pasilla, Queen of the Desert"

Smokey chili lime roasted tofu spiked with chipotle, jalapeño & pasilla chilies; served with soba noodles tossed with peanut sauce, & tangy mixed pickled vegetables including cauliflower, carrots, red onions & radishes. Accompanied by string beans, & roasted sweet potatoes; garnished with dandelion greens.

Despite the cheesy name, this special was amazing! I was very surprised to see such big pieces of tofu, I expected them to be stingy with it like the last time. The soba noodles with peanut sauce were extremely tasty. I LOVED the peanut sauce. I normally don't like thick tofu, but these were roasted and spiced so well that I enjoyed them. Both the string beans and roasted sweet potatoes were delicious too. The only thing I didn't really care for were the pickled vegetables. I also didn't taste any garlic in this dish which is always a plus.

My mom ordered a pantry plate with marinated tofu, hummus and extra pita chips, and today's special salad. She's not a big eater, so she gave me some of the special salad.

Hummus and pita chips, baked marinated tofu, and today's special salad: Whole Wheat udon noodle-vegetable salad including julienne daikon, carrots & green cabbage, arame, scallions, peanuts, & roasted tofu cubes; lightly tossed in jalapeño-cilantro dressing & served over mesclun greens; garnished with ruby kraut.

I mixed some of the tempeh with the salad and it was good, although I liked the special I ordered a lot better.

Overall, the meal was very enjoyable! If I ever see another soba noodles with peanut sauce special I definitely need to return and order it.

Cosmic Cantina

Last Saturday night I met up with two of my friends for dinner at Cosmic Cantina, a cute vegetarian Mexican restaurant near Union Square. When we walked in, it was a little confusing as we didn't know if we should wait to be seated or if we should seat ourselves. After a few moments, we just decided to seat ourselves and look at the menu.

Cosmic Cantina's menu was pretty cool. They had some burritos listed, but they also had the option of creating your own. The custom burrito page on the menu was extremely long with so many different options to put inside your burrito. They had regular flour tortillas, whole wheat tortillas, spelt torillas, etc. There were so many different vegetables and salsas you could add, as well as different beans and rices. Each item had a price listed next to it so you could calculate how much your burrito will cost. With the menu being so long, it probably took us half an hour to decide what to order.

I finally settled on a custom burrito with pinto beans, Spanish rice, roasted vegetables, cosmic tofu, and tomato-lime salsa.



The burrito was very tasty and the flavors all blended very well together. I love when I can order pinto beans in a burrito, it tastes so much better. My only problem with my food was it was not as filling as I expected. I was hungry about 5 hours later and when I consume so many calories I'd like it to keep me full for the rest of the night.

I didn't take pictures of my friends orders, but one of them ordered a burrito with eggplant and avocade and one ordered a breakfast dish. I really liked this restaurant. It was great for a picky eater like me to be able to decide what to put inside my burrito. Cosmic Cantina also has plenty of outdoor seating which is great for a warm night. Also good to know, they're open until 5am so it's a good vegan option late at night. My friends and I agreed that we would definitely return!

Vegan Treats at Atlas

A few Tuesdays ago I was in the East Village when I remembered it was Vegan Treats delivery day at Atlas. I stopped by and their case was filled with lots of delicious looking cakes! I debated between two cakes, peanut butter cake and chocolate mint cake. I had never tried them before so it was a tough choice. I went with a slice of chocolate mint cake.

Chocolate Mint Cake

It was very tasty and totally fresh! I loved the mint frosting and the chocolate on top.

Atlas
73 2nd Ave between E 4th and E 5th
New York, NY

Pukk

Last Friday I went to Pukk for dinner with my mom. Pukk is a vegetarian Thai restaurant and I was looking forward to eating there considering I hadn't eaten Thai food in ages. We had to wait around 25 minutes for a table which wasn't that bad.

For an appetizer, we ordered spring rolls.

Spring Rolls with Pineapple Sauce

These were delicious! They were fried perfectly and they were so tasty. I enjoyed the dipping sauce a lot.

For my entree, I ordered the spicy eggplant tofu

Spicy Eggplant Tofu: crispy tofu, bell peppers, eggplant, and basil in spicy basil sauce.

It also came with a side of brown rice (not pictured). My entree was fantastic. I love crispy deep fried tofu and I love basil so this was a perfect combination. The eggplants were delicious too. I was happy I chose this entree. The portion was big but I managed to finish it.

My mom ordered Pad Thai

Pad Thai: Smoked tofu, bean sprouts, and peanuts.

It may look small in the picture but the portion was huge. My mom was only able to eat a third of it and took the rest home. I tried a little and I thought it was good but oily.

I was pretty impressed by Pukk and definitely plan to go back again. The restaurant was nicely designed, especially for the small space they had. It was clean and the food was tasty and very reasonably priced. The service was friendly which is always nice!

Pukk
71 1st Avenue between East 4th and East 5th
New York, NY
http://www.pukknyc.com/

Peacefood Cafe

A few weeks ago I went to Peacefood Cafe for dinner with my mom. Peacefood is one of my favorites in New York and I have been there many times. Pretty much everything I have tried has been amazing, and tonight was no different!

For my entree, I ordered for the specials menu. I chose the Thai Green Curry.

Thai Green Curry: Assorted vegetables and tofu in green curry sauce, basmati rice, and jicama salad

I have ordered this several times (it is always on the specials menu) and it never disappoints! I love everything in it, especially the yams in curry sauce. I also love the jicama salad. It tastes like it has some kind of lemon sauce on it. Yum.

My mom ordered the Pan Seared French Horn Mushrooms Sandwich.

Pan Seared French Horn Mushrooms Sandwich: French Horn mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, arugula and mint and basil pesto on homemade foccacia bread

I tried a little and I thought it was delicious. I love the foccacia bread, it is amazing!

For dessert, we split a Chocolate-Mocha roll.

Chocolate-Mocha roll

It was good but unfortunately I couldn't taste the mocha too well.

Also, the owner, Eric, was so kind and gave me a muffin to take home.

Hummingbird Muffin

I'm not too sure what was in but it tasted very good! I could taste coconut (which I love) and pecans.

Peacefood Cafe
460 Amsterdam Avenue at West 82nd St.
New York, NY
www.peacefoodcafe.com

Two Lunches at Candle Cafe

This weekend I had two lunches at Candle Cafe. Candle is quickly becoming one of my favorite restaurants in New York, I am loving their food!

Saturday I met up with my dad for lunch. We had to wait about 20 minutes for a table which was short considering we had waited over an hour at Angelica Kitchen the day before. I couldn't decide between the Jamaican Wrap special or the stir fry. I finally ended up choosing the stir fry because it is less messy to eat.

Ginger Miso Stir Fry: vegetables and tofu in a ginger-miso sauce over brown rice.

I thought the stir fry was alright but I probably would not order it again. The tofu pieces were a little too soft for my taste and the sauce was very strong. But the meal was extremely filling.

My dad ordered beet salad (not pictured) which looked good although I didn't try any.

For desert, I ordered the carrot cake.

It was a little bland but I still enjoyed it.

Sunday, my dad and I were in the neighborhood and considering there are not a lot of vegan options on the Upper East Side we stopped by Candle Cafe for lunch again. This time we didn't have to wait which was nice.

I couldn't decide between two specials, the wrap or the Indian Plate. The waitress reccomended the Indian Plate so that's what I went with.

Indian Plate: sweet potato curry, black-eyed pea masala, yellow basmati rice, date-raisin chutney, cabbage salad and parata bread

I was so happy I decided on the Indian Plate, it was amazing! I absolutely loved the sweet potato curry, it was so tasty! It even had a yam in it which I love even more than sweet potatoes. The black eyed pea masala was great too. Once again, I loved the parata bread, it tastes so good!

My dad ordered an Aztec Salad (not pictured). I tried a little and I thought it was very good. I loved the barbeque tempeh. Yum.

For desert, I ordered a special, chocolate chip bundt cake. It came with ice cream and I chose the mocha flavor.

Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake with Mocha Swirl Ice Cream

The cake was delicious! I love how they drizzle it with dark and white chocolate sauces. The mocha ice cream scoop is amazing, as well.

I love how Candle Cafe has so many specials everyday. I wish my other favorite restaurants would learn from them!