Happy 2026 – Year of the Horse! Goodbye Dragon (my Chinese zodiac).
This year, I celebrated my 50th birthday! It’s usually around President’s Day weekend. No big vacation trip or anything super extravagant. I’ve found that long travel can be exhausting, and having high expectations can oftentimes lead to disappointment. Since I moved to New York only three years ago, I haven’t really made it a priority to make enough friends to have a party in person, and a lot of my family still lives in Texas. I just decided to have a small birthday celebration with my husband, Sean. So I traveled to NYC by Amtrak train from our home in the upstate Capitol region. It’s about 2.5 hours from Rensellaer station.
Anixi
290 8th Ave, New York, NY 10001
https://www.anixinyc.com/
Anixi is a Mediterranean Brasserie in Chelsea that features vibrant flavors from Greece, Turkey, Syria, and Lebanon.
Anixi (Ah-neek-si) means “Spring” in Greek. It was the perfect restaurant for me to go to on the cusp of the winter and spring seasons. It’s part of City Roots, a group of vegan restaurants in New York City. You might have already heard of Beyond Sushi. I was really impressed with the caliber of these restaurants! These aren’t your hippy coop cafes with sprout sandwiches (even though I love those traditional vegetarian places)
This is somewhere you could go for a milestone birthday or anniversary. The ambiance, lighting, and decor make it a special place. I even enjoyed the music and saw staff do some hip shimmies! They don’t even mention “vegan” everywhere on the menu. There wouldn’t be a triggering word, like vegan lamb for other family members who don’t want to eat at a “vegan” restaurant. It just says lamb. The service was fantastic. Our server explained all the dishes well, gave suggestions, and asked if anyone had allergies or dietary restrictions.
Here’s what we ate:
Sicilian Sun
Grapefruit, pineapple, saffron, bitters
I don’t partake of alcohol, but I do like to have a special drink. This mocktail was especially delicious. I really enjoyed the saffron flavor.
Muhammara
Roasted red peppers, walnuts, pomegranate molasses, Aleppo pepper, evoo
Whipped Ricotta
Housemade ricotta, Aleppo pepper, apricots, saffron
Olive Tahini
Stone ground tahini, olive pâté, tomato, cilantro, truffle, onion seeds, lemon, evoo
The menu offered many mezze dips, complete with fresh pita bread. I really enjoyed the Muhammara because they didn’t blend it completely, and there were still small pieces of red bell pepper that tasted really fresh. The ricotta was cashew-based and tasted better that vegan ricotta I’ve bought in stores. The tahini was great even though we could have skipped the truffle oil on one side of it.
Crispy Lamb Cigars
Harissa infused lamb, cumin, coriander, labneh, lemon
These really reminded me of Lumpia Shanghai filled with lamb, but of course, this was plant-based. The saffron aioli was a nice dipping sauce.
Kofta
Cinnamon and cumin spiced beef, tahini, parsley, sumac
No one could say that I wasn’t getting enough protein in this meal. This was house-made soy protein cooked on real metal skewers. I enjoyed the flavor and presentation.
Lamb Tagine
Served over couscous with caramelized onions, prunes, raisins, cumin, roasted almonds, chickpeas, preserved lemon
My husband ordered this, and while it did not come in an actual tagine clay pot with a cone top, he said that it was very good. I tried it but didn’t particularly like the texture because it reminded me too much of actual meat, but I think if you were someone who really liked lamb, you might enjoy this.
Ekmek Kataifi
Phyllo layers, Madagascar vanilla cream, kataifi noodles, halva, lemon rose syrup, powdered raspberry
I was really hoping that Anixi was going to have knafeh/kunafa, but they didn’t have it this time. I’ve had plant-based versions of this dessert at a Yemeni restaurant in San Francisco and a Palestinian restaurant in Newtown, Australia. I dream about it afterwards and need to learn how to make it! I settled for something very close to knafeh as I love kataifi phyllo noodles. The server was so sweet and asked the kitchen to make it a birthday dessert for me.
Rose Malabi
Creamy cardamom and rose water custard, coconut shavings, pistachios, strawberry rose water syrup
I ordered this dessert too because I really love anything that’s rose-flavored.
Thank you, Chef Guy Vaknin and Anixi staff, for making my 50th so delicious!
Coletta
290 8th Ave, New York, NY 10001
https://www.colettanyc.com/
After visiting the NYC Public Library to see the original Winnie the Pooh bear and friends of Christopher Robin, we walked to Coletta. This is a vegan and kosher Italian restaurant in Gramercy.
Cultured Cheese Board
An artisanal selection of house-crafted cheeses with figs, pepperoni, fig jam, and crostini
There were five different kinds of cheeses and also these gigantic caperberries I had never had before. I enjoyed the cheddar and the one with a lot of dill. The soft ricotta was also on the following toast.
Whipped Ricotta Toast
Brioche toast with whipped ricotta, candied pistachios, truffle honey, fresh figs, and lemon zest
This was delicious, but it was a little bit small for $17. Truffle may be a theme in City Roots restaurants!
Carbonara Pizza
Their pizzas are around $25 and are the best deal on the menu. We got one from a specialty, limited-time menu. It was a Carbonara Pizza inspired by the carbonara pasta dish. It had a runny “egg” on top and pancetta, which is like Italian bacon. Of course, everything here is plant-based. When we got the pizza with a buttery, runny yellow on top, we were quite surprised, and it actually tasted pretty good.
Plantega at H-Yard Gourmet Deli
https://eatplantega.com/
Instead of going out for breakfast, we ordered online and picked up some of these breakfast sandwiches from H-Yard Gourmet Deli, which was near our hotel. They are one of the bodegas that carry Plantega, which is an awesome business that sells vegan ingredients for bodegas to make quick sandwiches. I ordered the Zohran Mamdani (named after NYC’s new mayor!) It’s a sandwich roll with Just Egg, Violife cheese, and jalapenos. And at bodegas, you can get fruit, and so we also got delicious, fresh berries.
Buddha Bodai
5 Mott Street New York , NY 10013
https://buddha-bodai.com/
So we needed to take a dinner-time train back home. Moynihan Station has some good plant-based options, like vegan ramen from E.A.K. Ramen aka Machida Shoten – try the Green House Shoyu or Veggie Miso and the Veggie Curry Over Rice. Unfortunately, schlepping soupy items could make for a mishap. The Amtrak train doesn’t really have a lot of vegan options, and their food car is closed on the way back from NYC, so we make sure to bring something to eat on the train. We got a meal delivered from Buddha Bodai, located in Chinatown. Normally, we like to eat in the restaurant. We enjoy this original location and also the split-off location, Bodhi. We got vegetable chow fun, taro fish, char sui bao, and watercress dumplings. Happy bellies! We got home in time to prepare for the snow in our area. A blizzard hit NYC the next day!
Where should I go the next time I’m in NYC? I’d love to try brunch at Willow, another City Roots restaurant! Overall, this bicentennial baby is just happy to be healthy and to have lived half a century!
-Cristina
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