VegNews Eats New York (1st course)

Who: VN Publisher Joseph Connelly and VN Associate Publisher Colleen Holland
What: First of Two Weeks in Veg Heaven
Where: The Big (Vegan) Apple: New York, NY
When: April 11–17, 2010
Why: Yo, we gots some business to take care of...

The Scoop: After the PCRM 25th Anniversary Gala, Colleen and Joe jetted off to NYC for a two-week jaunt filled with business meetings, eating, visits to our favorite restaurants, eating, gathering with contributors, eating, taking lots of photographs, and did I mention eating?

Rather than bore you with the gritty details of why we had a secret meeting in New Jersey or whether it was the F-train of the #6 Line that shared its platform with various rodents larger than our office mascots Khane and Cal, I’ll present instead a Top 10 photo montage from each of our NYC weeks. Do check back tomorrow for Course Two of VegNews Eats NYC, and leave a comment if you'd like to see and hear more, 'K?

Week One Highlights:

10. Co-owner Craig Cochran (second from right) and the staff of the newly opened Terri Restaurant (60 W. 23rd Street).

9. Just a few of the vegan cookies at LifeThyme Natural Market (410 Avenue of the Americas).

8. After a delicious dinner at Vegetarian Dim Sum House (24 Pell Street). That’s HSUS’ Patrick Kwan and his partner Seth Carlson with Colleen.

7. Tuesday is the day Bethlehem, Penn.'s Vegan Treats delivers to Atlas Café & Bakery (73 Second Avenue). We were there. It's our job.

6. Sweet and savory at Candle 79 (154 E. 79th Street), where we enjoyed a fab vegan meal with Joe’s aunt and uncle. Check out those cannolis!

5. Yes, that is a vegan egg cream from Lula’s Sweet Apothecary (516 East 6th Street)

4. Just around the block from our apartment was Pinisi Bakery & Café (124 East 4th Street), which always had a few vegan options, such as these.

3. Oh yeah, we hit the world famous Dosa Hut in Washington Square Park! (West 4th Street at Sullivan)

2. At the end of the week we enjoyed what may be New York’s worst kept vegan secret: The 5-star, 3-course Friday Night Dinner at the Natural Gourmet Institute (48 West 21st Street).Vegan Important Persons Chef Fran Costigan (left) and Photographer Linda Long joined us.

1. After a Saturday stroll on the East River Bikeway, we brunched at Caravan of Dreams (405 East 6th Street), where Joe chose the “special of the day”: spelt pancakes with tempeh.

Let's recap. This was just our first week in NYC, and the next week was even busier (can you believe?). Don't miss the second course... follow VegNews on Twitter and we'll keep you in the loop.