Camarooned in New York City: Part I

Camarooned came to The City for the weekend, en route to Montreal to check out the MBA program. Given that his flight came in to JFK, he decided to brave the public transport instead of the traffic and taxi fares, and made it to the East Village without a hitch. We headed to Pure Food & Wine for a raw food feast. It was my third time at Pure in as many years and, while I like the food, I really couldn't do it on a regular basis (more on regularity later). It is a good place to take the vegetarian, the vegan, and those with allergies, not only because there are so many more choices, but because they are both understanding and accommodation when it comes to those with allergies and other special needs. But ...

We were seated promptly, amidst one of the thinnest and hipster-est crowds I've ever seen), and started off with a ginger saketini and an organic mojito (skipping the Master Cleanse saketini!). The ginger was delish, but the mojito lacked, well, rum. And this is one of the two main issues with raw food. You can't really authentically re-create some things with alternate ingredients. Sometimes it's horrible (mock chicken and pork come to mind), but most of the time it's just slightly less satisfactory. Original cocktails are more fun, to me, than faux replications of things we can get elsewhere.

We ordered a bottle of Oregon Pinot Noir, and the main event commenced. After some debate over matching appetizers and entrees, I ordered rosemary infused butternut squash soup with spiced pecans, medjool dates and miso coulis (breath!), and creamy cauliflower samosas with banana tamarind sauce, mango chutney, garam masala & mint. The soup was tasty, but the texture wasn't quite what I wanted (it was a little close to baby food), and the samosas were also delish, but tiny. Camarooned had the crimini mushroom hazelnut crostini, tarragon bernaise, choucroute and pomegranate reduction to start, and the white corn tamales with raw cacao mole, marinated mushrooms, salsa verde, and avocado (this entree was the source of the previously noted debate). It was fantastic.

That said, we decided to head elsewhere for the next course. For better or worse, we ended up at an East Village institution, Telephone Bar, where we ordered vegetarian shepherd’s pie and cocktails. Which brings me to the other issue with raw food - it's just not that filling. If you're a member of the caloric restriction club, it's a feast, but the average human requires more sustenance.

Or more alcohol, as the case may be. In celebration of NYC bars staying open far later than those in British California, we headed for the old standard, the Thirsty Scholar. It was far past happy hour, but we had a good time, and when the barkeep chided Camarooned for his appletini selection, C added a shot of Jagermeister for good measure. I stuck to my usual dirty martini until we finally dragged ourselves home. Where we slept and slept and slept.

Until the next day ...