The husband and I decide to go on a short trip to Huntington, New York, which is on Long Island–about an hour’s drive from JFK airport.
The Downtown area that we are staying in is very much our type of place. It’s quaint, clean, and full of restaurants, bars, and boutique shops that are connected by brick-layered walkways up and down the streets.
You can find pretty much any type of cuisine that you want Downtown–American, Italian, Asian, Mediterranean, and Mexican–and all sorts of bars with different vibes that appeal to young adults and old-timers alike.
For us, we like to find restaurants that appeal to both of our diets–some place that has vegan options for me, and decent animal-based protein options for him.
On our first night, we settle on Asian for dinner and Ice Cream for dessert. Here are the places we chose and my review of them.
Vegan Dinner at Kashi
We chose Kashi on Elm Street for dinner.
What attracted me was the tofu teriyaki that they listed on their dinner menu online. I was in need of some protein for the day as I try to maintain a high protein vegan diet, and tofu is a really easy way to get some protein in.
Unfortunately, their in-person menu was different from their online menu, and they actually did not have tofu teriyaki on site.
So I settled on the bean that tofu is made from (edamame) as well as a couple of other sides.
Dinner was salted edamame, seaweed salad (wakame), miso soup, and a sweet potato tempura roll (which I realized afterwards, was probably not vegan because of egg being in the batter, but I realized that too late).
Overall, everything came out pretty well. All of my dishes came out to $27 (before tax), and they were all sizably portioned, especially the edamame.
Usually edamame comes out as one small portion. The portion in this bowl at Kashi was made for probably 3-4 people to share. I wasn’t complaining though–this was the type of protein I needed to supplement my high protein vegan diet. My guess is that this whole bowl of edamame had about 10-15 grams of protein, which is fairly good for dining out vegan at a restaurant.
Vegan Dessert at Alkemy
There was nothing vegan about the dessert menu at Kashi, so we walked around the block and found this unique ice cream parlor on Main St.–Alkemy.
They had mixers with liquid nitrogen gas pouring out of them and a humongous nitrous tank on display out front. Vegan options or not, we had to check it out.
As they describe themselves, Alkemy is truly an interesting ice cream experience. These guys make ice cream on the spot, “cooked” to order by each individual Alkemy specialist.
Surprisingly, they have 2 vegan options on their menu which are made with their own cashew-based blend. They are listed as “Dairy Free” on their menu, but I confirmed with the employee there that they were indeed vegan.
Their 2 dairy-free/vegan flavors are Vanilla and Chocolate.
Of course, I went with chocolate, and boy was it good.
First off, their ice cream does not taste icey at all. Their liquid nitrogen freezing process gives their ice cream a smooth, creamy flavor without feeling like you are paying for a scoop of flavored ice.
It’s so smooth and creamy that it feels like you are eating a semi-melted ice cream, but you’re not. That’s just the texture of the ice cream itself. In this case, my chocolate ice cream kind of came off as a really thick and heavy chocolate mousse dessert.
The flavor of the chocolate itself was perfect. It was perfectly sweet and chocolatey with every bite.
And there were many bites of this. Despite coming out as one “scoop” of ice cream, this single serving that we got was plenty filling. It doesn’t look like a lot, but the creaminess of the ice cream adds a thickness and density that will make you feel more full than with one scoop of “regular” ice cream.
Definitely a 10 out of 10 ice cream spot in my book. Not just for the creativity and freshness of it (how often do you find a restaurant that serves made to order ice cream?), but also for the flavor and taste.
The takeaway
Day 1 of our Huntington, New York trip is off to a great start. We love the quiet, somewhat bougie, yet affordable vibe of their downtown area, and the food options are varying enough to for sure offer some great carnivore options for him and some delicious vegan options for me.
Tomorrow, we will have our first full day of eating in Huntington, New York, and I am excited to see what other food options we find.
Jump to Day 2 of our trip here.
Jump to Day 3 of our trip here.
