on our recent trip to nyc, we ate at our fair share of vegan restaurants and a really damn good one was cafe blossom. there are a few blossom locations in manhattan, but we ate at the up town restaurant on the recommendation from vegan beauty review.
seitan skewers: flame grilled seitan in a bbq sauce served with jicama slaw. $8
we started with an order of seitan skewers, which were fantastic. thick wheat meat mixed up with a tangy yet not too sweet sauce, served with a refreshing side of jicama slaw. we polished them right off. a+!
soy bacon cheeseburger: grilled soy burger topped with caramelized onions, daiya cheese, soy bacon, mushrooms, lettuce and chipotle aioli. $13
we also ordered a soy bacon cheeseburger….and this thing was was not fucking around. it came stacked with a juicy patty, daiya cheese, grilled vegetables and crispy bacon. my only complaint was that the patty was too small for the bun. i mean, look at it—i had to go through two bites of bread before even reaching the “meat”. either way, it was really good and it made me wish LA had more vegan bacon burgers. we ordered it with a side of potato salad, which would have been perfect if it didn’t have bell peppers in it.
southern seitan sandwich: spiced seitan with caramelized onions, avocado and chipotle aioli on foccacia bread. $14
we also shared the southern seitan sandwich with an order of fries. the sandwich was good, but from the description i thought it would be much better. overall it was a little dry and just didn’t hold up to the awesomeness of the bacon cheeseburger. the fries were excellent though, long thin and crispy—some of the best i’ve had in a while.
although the food was on point for the most part, our service was a bit slow. the place wasn’t busy, and we had to go find our server and ask for the check because we’d been sitting there for thirty minutes. oh well, maybe they were just having an off day. either way, i will definitely be back next time i’m in nyc for some more skewers and a bacon cheeseburger.
blossom up town
466 Columbus Avenue, NYC
212-875-2600
Open Daily
Monday – Friday: 11am-10pm
Saturday: 11am-10:30pm
Sunday: 11am-9:30pm
Check out the new quarrygirl.com FORUMS!
6:30 pm on February 12th, 2010
That bacon picture made me drool all over my laptop.
6:50 pm on February 12th, 2010
ahhhhh!! i LOVE cafe blossom!!! they also have some of the best french toast i have ever had. but that bun/”meat” ratio is ridiculous! boo
8:16 pm on February 12th, 2010
I usually go to Blossom in Chelsea, but I’ve been meaning to try Cafe Blossom specifically for the bacon cheeseburger. After seeing your slider size patty on what I assume to be a regulation bun, I will skip it.
Note: service at Chelsea Blossom is usually better, but none of the Blossoms have the finesse of Candle 79.
And to jennifer: try the pumpkin french toast at Candle 79! Cafe Blossom uses yummy spices (cinnamon, nutmeg) but C79′s pumpkin blows it out of the water!
8:52 pm on February 12th, 2010
Mmm… those seitan skewers look good!
7:51 am on February 13th, 2010
is it me, our does that burger patty look way too small for the bun it’s in?
10:22 am on February 13th, 2010
My friend and I went to the Chelsea Blossom for dinner this past week.
Amazing food (raw sweet potato/coconut/avocado rolls, artichoke/mushroom risotto, and coconut creme brulee)… but yeah, once we were done, it took forever for us to get the check as well. I really expected the check after they took away the dessert plates, but it took a good 20-30 minutes, and even then we had to flag someone down.
Amazing food, though, so I’ll definitely go again. (Just not often, since we dropped $85 on dinner… Curly’s and Taim as easier on my bank account for vegan food.)
12:00 pm on February 13th, 2010
Man oh man does that look good!!
I would kill to have a restaurant like this where I live. Your very lucky to have such nice where you live.
Yum!
Sophia,
http://whatyourmommadidntknow.blogspot.com/
1:01 pm on February 13th, 2010
Like the old Wendy’s commercial, “WHERE’S THE BEEF?” LMAO
5:28 pm on February 13th, 2010
Haha, that’s exactly what I thought. If you missed the early 80s:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug75diEyiA0
11:17 pm on February 13th, 2010
That seitan looks excellent!