Mandalay, Ancient Cities, & the Scariest Train, Myanmar (Burma)by Randi / September 10, 2013
Before becoming a vegan, I fancied myself a sushi connoisseur. In high school, my brother and I would challenge each other to eat the craziest of the crazy rolls on offer at sushi restaurants. Once I went vegan, I didn’t really expect awesome sushi to be on my radar anymore. And for the first few years, I was right: My sushi travails always led to cucumber roll after cucumber roll after avocado roll after, if I was lucky, cucumber-avocado roll.
But lately, things seem to be changing for the better in the vegan sushi arena. I had the most incredible raw sushi ever in Croatia, and now every time I go to NYC, I get to eat at least once a day at The Green Roll. (Yes, I have gotten both lunch and dinner from here before.) This little sushi counter rivals The Cinnamon Snail truck for the food I’m most guaranteed to eat on my NYC weekends.
The Green Roll counter in Chelsea Market is an outpost of Beyond Sushi restaurant in the East Village. I’ve not been to the sit-down restaurant yet, but I’ve eaten everything on offer at The Green Roll at least twice. The only bad part about the sushi is, it’s so delicious that I rarely wait long enough to take pictures, let alone plate the food.
But lately, things seem to be changing for the better in the vegan sushi arena. I had the most incredible raw sushi ever in Croatia, and now every time I go to NYC, I get to eat at least once a day at The Green Roll. (Yes, I have gotten both lunch and dinner from here before.) This little sushi counter rivals The Cinnamon Snail truck for the food I’m most guaranteed to eat on my NYC weekends.
The Green Roll counter in Chelsea Market is an outpost of Beyond Sushi restaurant in the East Village. I’ve not been to the sit-down restaurant yet, but I’ve eaten everything on offer at The Green Roll at least twice. The only bad part about the sushi is, it’s so delicious that I rarely wait long enough to take pictures, let alone plate the food.
I think this roll is the Spicy Mang, but who knows. It doesn’t even matter what you order. Everything is great and fresh and sometimes spicy and sometimes creamy and just man alive I want some now.
The two individual pieces are the enoki, long-stemmed and tiny-capped white mushrooms that kind of look like sprouts. I’m obsessed with mushrooms, and this fun-looking kind is now one of my favorites. The enoki individual pieces come with a dollop of mushroomy paste on top. As you can see, the extra sauces accompanying the sushi come in little plastic tubes, instead of the always messy little plastic tubs with click-lids that always get all over the place. Suffice it to say, these tubes are ingenious! You just squeeze the thick, creamy sauces out and they don’t spill out when you put them down.
The sauces really are the best part. Pictured above is a spicy mayo, reminiscent of the standard spicy orange mayo that comes with spicy tuna rolls in regular sushi places. But this is so much deeper a flavor, and the quality of all the ingredients comes through even in this simple sauce.
The two individual pieces are the enoki, long-stemmed and tiny-capped white mushrooms that kind of look like sprouts. I’m obsessed with mushrooms, and this fun-looking kind is now one of my favorites. The enoki individual pieces come with a dollop of mushroomy paste on top. As you can see, the extra sauces accompanying the sushi come in little plastic tubes, instead of the always messy little plastic tubs with click-lids that always get all over the place. Suffice it to say, these tubes are ingenious! You just squeeze the thick, creamy sauces out and they don’t spill out when you put them down.
The sauces really are the best part. Pictured above is a spicy mayo, reminiscent of the standard spicy orange mayo that comes with spicy tuna rolls in regular sushi places. But this is so much deeper a flavor, and the quality of all the ingredients comes through even in this simple sauce.
 Individual seaweed piece |
 Spicy Mang roll (I think) |
One of the many great things about The Green Roll is that they offer 7 individual pieces for only $1 each, an affordable way to try a bunch of different things. The seaweed roll, at left, was refreshing and light. I love seaweed so much. This piece came with a thickened kind of dark sauce (in the tube) that was so much more than soy sauce. The piece at right I think is another Spicy Mang, with mango, cucumber, avocado, spicy veggies, and black rice. All I know is that orange-y topping is superb. (My usual restaurant reviews are much more detailed, but 1) this isn’t a restaurant and B) the sushi is too fantastic to allow for the time it takes to photograph or take notes.)
My favorite part of The Green Roll’s menu is the assortment of rice paper wraps. I love rice paper wraps, any kind, anytime, anywhere, but these are beyond anything I can get elsewhere. Pictured is the spicy mushroom filled wrap, with spicy cashews, buckwheat noodles, romaine lettuce, sriracha (so spicy!), and three different kinds of braised, grilled, or spicy mushrooms. The sauce for this wrap is the best one – it’s a thick, creamy mushroom goop that is half raw foodie soup and half Thanksgiving mushroom gravy.
Also on offer are the nutty buddy, full of peanuts, noodles, cilantro, jalapeno peanut butter, tofu and more, and the sweet angel, filled with sweet potato, asparagus, chili flakes, noodles, and alfalfa. All of these wraps are fantastic. Everything at The Green Roll is fantastic. I go to NYC all the time for various reasons, and getting a quick and delicious bite from The Green Roll is now high on my list of reasons.
Also on offer are the nutty buddy, full of peanuts, noodles, cilantro, jalapeno peanut butter, tofu and more, and the sweet angel, filled with sweet potato, asparagus, chili flakes, noodles, and alfalfa. All of these wraps are fantastic. Everything at The Green Roll is fantastic. I go to NYC all the time for various reasons, and getting a quick and delicious bite from The Green Roll is now high on my list of reasons.
No bathroom/water review for this one because it’s a to-go counter! However, you can usually find a table in the main part of the market. Also, be warned that it can take a short while for the few people working to finish your order. It’s fast, but not ‘fast-food’ fast. Just be patient. It’s amazing!
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Vegan Goodies at Smorgasburg, Brooklyn (Dumbo)
Under the bridge like a troll
Today, I had the pleasure of roaming around Dumbo, Brooklyn in the beautiful (and unseasonably strong) sunshine for Smorgasburg, the Brooklyn Flea Food Market. It’s a crazy varied array of food stalls in Williamsburg on Saturdays, hence the name, with a smaller version on Sundays in Dumbo. The Dumbo version has fewer vendors, I think, but also lesser crowds, which is great. Today, I found several vegan options while I got sunburnt and couldn’t find a toilet without a thirty minute line. Fun times! Let’s see what we found!
  I also spotted this Hummus stand! I imagine that the company isn’t really called Hummus, because that would be pretty dumb (“Oh what’s your name? Hummus? Ok, I’ll google that to find out more about you!” says a soon-to-be-very-frustrated individual). The hummus on offer looked pretty splendid, but I told myself it was bad form to buy something at this fair that I make pretty much every day.
Instead, my second food installment came from Bombay Sandwich Company. I’ve heard good things about their all-vegan Indian-inspired sandwiches, so I decided to try one. I ordered the Kale & Cumin, though The Bomb (a garam masala and potato one) is the most popular. And food with ‘bomb’ in the name tends to be pretty amazing. (See, e.g., Vegan Treats.) I waited for about 20 minutes, which seemed absurd in this environment. Finally, they called my name. This was…ok. It was mostly purple cabbage, and I didn’t notice any kale, which made me mad. My friend said she spotted some green shreds in her piece, but that’s not exactly enough to warrant putting kale in the title. It had a thin great northern bean puree, which was good, as were the chutneys topping the bread. However, the sandwiches are billed as being ‘sealed’, so when I saw that they were all just regular pieces of toast, sliding and letting the fillings out, it was a bit disappointing. I think I’ll spend my $8 elsewhere next time. |
 First up was Asia Dog, which can make most of its specialty creations with a vegan dog. My friend ordered the purple cabbage-topped Mel & Steve, left, and I ordered the Vinh (above), which comes with banh mi toppings. I said I was vegan and the woman said there was a veg pate substitute, and that it wouldn’t come with the aioli. However, I didn’t notice a pate of any kind, nor the mustard that was listed. Just the carrots and cilantro. Oh well, it was still pretty good, and for $4 each, not a bad deal.
  Please excuse these photos. It was sunny as ALL GET OUT today, and I could barely see let alone take proper pics |
 This may be the best picture I’ve ever taken. No, actually I had to pee so badly I wasn’t even trying. |
Given the heat, the best part of the day was seeing the Kelvin Slush stand. Started from the Kelvin Natural Slush Truck, this company sells the most amazing, natural slushies, like 7-11 Slurpees but so much better in every way (except not as cheap). You pick your slushy base, like Green & Black Tea, Citrus, or Spicy Ginger (the best best one), and then you choose your add-in flavor, like raspberry or white peach. Today, with no Ginger base on offer, I got the Arnold Palmer (citrus and tea mixed, so good) with a guava (!) add-in. It was great! So refreshing, and they really perfected the level of iciness. Although I’ll probably order the Ginger when I can, I loved the Arnold Palmer base, and the guava made the day seem even more summery. Such a perfect treat!
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Unfortunately, I didn’t see Electric Blue Baking Co., The Regal Vegan with their rumored vegan banh mi, the homemade tempeh guy, or the vegan tacos. Next time, Williamsburg! It was still a pretty fun time though! Have you been? What did you get?
Berlin Inspirations: Vegan Currywurst Is Almost As Gross As the Real Thing
Okay, today’s Berlin Inspiration really IS inspired by specific experiences during my travels! Currywurst, Germany’s favorite fast food, is a fried sausage cut up and served with curry ketchup sauce. Not only was currywurst sold on literally every corner in Berlin, in little hot dog vendor-style carts, but we also got to try vegan currywurst at Voner! So Voner’s was decent, but it was still covered in sweet ketchuppy curry sauce – that’s what makes it currywurst. Are you still wondering why it’s called currywurst? It’s because it’s the worst way to consume curry. Seriously. Currywurst is the food version of Mona Lisa Saperstein.
No but really, millions of German people can’t be wrong about something sausage related. They’ve been wrong about several really important things, but I’m going to give them weird meat foods. So, it’s probably just me who thinks this is weird. And if that’s the case, well here’s a really easy recipe so you can see whether you like it or whether you agree with me that it’s the currywurst.
My first mistake mayyy have been buying something called “soya chunks” from the somewhat shady Indian grocery around the corner. They looked like an interesting sort of dog food when I saw them in the store, but they were cheap and I didn’t feel like spending a lot of money on ready-made vegan sausage. Sometimes it is better to spend more money on things you are going to eat. Anyway, I had high hopes that they would be better once cooked. These hopes were quickly dashed once I opened the bag and smelled, again, the smell of an interesting sort of dog food. I soaked them in water for several hours, which successfully engorged the nuggets but sadly strengthened the weird Kibbles-y smell. So, no matter how or how long I cooked them, they were likely never going to be delicious. But let’s try it anyway, I said! (Or you should just use a better sausage substitute. Like anything.)
CURRYWURST
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Ingredients:
Directions:
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 The last time everything was OK.  Sure, like adding another squirt of ketchup is going to help  Oh sure add more curry powder, that’s going to make a difference. |
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How do you feel about currywurst? I would honestly love to know. Have you ever had it in Germany? Have you made your own? What should I do with the rest of my bag of soya chunks? Should I ask for a refund? Enjoy!!!!
