NYC Trip and Restaurant Review

For our birthdays, we splurged for tickets to a Broadway show! Hubby's never been to one and I haven't since high school. It was going to be a longer trip, but because of the baby on the way we decided to save money and make it a day trip. We drove ourselves and paid $80-$100 in tolls, ridiculous.

I did my research beforehand for vegan places to eat on other blogs. Unfortunately, they are all far from our theatre and we didn't want to take the metro. I was so excited to find Otarian restaurant  on Happy Cow.net! just a few blocks from the theatre and where we parked. 

Otarian is a small restaurant with locations in New York and London. All food is appropriate for lacto-vegetarians meaning the only animal derived ingredient you will find is dairy. However, most food is already vegan and if it comes with cheese you can get it made vegan. Most items are gluten free. All are free of nuts and some other allergens and if you order something Asian-y it is made with tamari instead of soy sauce which contains wheat.

Otarian hails itself as the only carbon-free restaurant. Everything is compostable and nothing is air-freighted to them. Best of all it is delicious and reasonably-priced! Most foods are lunch appropriate (wraps, burgers, salads) and some you can buy premade but the "hearties" could satisfy a dinner such as lasagna and Indian entrees.

No trashcans or recycling cans here!

Of course, we scarfed our meals before I thought to take pictures. I ate a Sweet Potato Falafel Wrap which is served cold. It was yummy but don't go in expecting a taste at all like falafel. The hummus was good but I did not care for the carrot chutney sauce. Hubby ate a Tex Mex burger which was not vegan and he loved it. We both had french fries with a delicious homemade barbeque sauce.

This is called "Choco Treat" Vegan but not gluten free. Mmmm!

Chocolate mouse! So rich and yummy with chocolate chunks. Gluten free but not vegan (contains dairy).

Combining both of the desserts was the BEST!

The Broadway Show was saw was Book of Mormon, a comedy by the writers of South Park and the musical Avenue Q which we already love. It was excellent!

In the lobby waiting for the show to start. You can't see my belly or dress :o(

Cast sign outside the theatre doors...yeah, we waited there for 2 hours for the air conditioning!

There's Baby Squiggles!