My gift of Friday, was an invitation by a friend, Greg
Sotire - musician, dad, fine guitar salesman, and otherwise incredibly
clean-living vegan – to dinner. He
suggested Veggie Heaven in New City.
And, me, not knowing any place in Westchester to get decent vegetarian
food (apart from the fast-foodish offerings at Whole Foods), was wholly game,
especially after I learned why Greg wasn’t a cafeteria vegan.
“I’ve stuck to this diet since I started it.”
The reason was heart disease, on heart attack at age 32 when
he became a vegetarian, to no remarkable effect. It did not resolve the artery blockage or his
doctor’s warnings that there would be repeat arrests. Two stints later, be became a full throttle
vegan and cleaned out his arteries with a vegan diet, a diet that also excludes
coffee, alcohol and anything that can be described as unnatural… No nothing, to some.
No nothing worked. No
nothing caused the miracle of clean arteries and no heart attacks. No nothing is that he completely reversed
heart disease, more a matter of genetics in this case. Greg is forty now and smiles a lot and loves
his food, music, son… food.
More food.
The thing about people with food intolerances or strict
diets is that food becomes even more important when it’s unavailable. Most of the time, you have to eat “wilted
lettuce,” Greg said, if you don’t make the effort, make the extra drive and get a
little creative.
My diet is low gluten, much the result of having a child
with special needs and seeing the good effects that diet manipulation can have
on behavior, the gut, and general health.
Low gluten cured my tummy trouble.
I eat little bits of meat here and there and do eat some fish (mostly
farm-raised salmon as I try to do my part to halt the imminent sadness of
over-fishing) but it’s a really an issue of my once-titanium-lined (so I
thought) stomach that children and life have considerable weakened.
Of course, exercise helps my tightly-wound self which also
helps my stomach. It seems that the
stresses of the world convene there for me.
And I learned from Greg that acidity is also caused from anxiety and
stress.
“Doesn’t that suck?”
He laughed. Alkaline, ph-balanced
water (the new reverse osmosis trend that does help, by the way) may be able to
reduce acidity but it can’t cure stress.
Swim, bike, run, yoga…
Helps me. Good fuel helps that.
I’ve never been to New City but it was worth it. I can’t begin to describe how tasty the chefs
made the vegan offerings. Among them, spring
rolls with mango, yummy shoots of something and a saucy cashew and almond paste
wrapped in kale (gluten-free). There was
vegan pork, vegan (mushroom) beef and tofu chicken sautéed (“stir fry” doesn’t
do it justice) called Bang Bang chicken with beef, cashews, asparagus, peppers,
onions and a delish sauce that Greg resurrected from a special he once had and
they made upon request. Veggie Heaven
makes their own faux (not fake) meat in house.
Then there are the brown rice dumplings, leftovers of which today I
couldn’t wait for lunch to eat. They
covered breakfast and lunch even after sharing so that Greg’s son, Pete, could
later enjoy.
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| Vegan Bang Bang Chicken with (Mushroom) Beef |
Dessert bookended dinner with coconut cake. Oh, and the jasmine tea – the best I’ve ever
had - which would be a compliment if I’d ever previously tasted jasmine tea –
sweeter than green. There’s divinity in
that.
The only thing that has ever come close to Veggie Heaven, defined
by Wendy, the owner, as “Food for the Five Senses,” is the Ayurveda restaurant
on the upper Westside of Manhattan that I used to frequent as a resident there.
Veggie Heaven makes vegetarian beef, pork and chicken taste
better than the real deal. Fresh-tasting
is an understatement.
To say it is worth the drive… Well, it’s worth the drive. Even after I already had lunch at Andy’s Pure
Food in Rye. It was a Good Food Friday. Ever day should be so good.
Let’s work together, my friends, to increase Veggie Heaven revenues… There’s talk of a location coming soon to Connecticut.
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| Veggie Heave Placement - Mission Statement |
http://www.veggieheavennewcity.com/welcome.html
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