Dave and I celebrated 13 years of marriage last Saturday.
Here’s why it’s still working after thirteen years. Dave, the omnivore, says to me “Let’s go to Candle 79!” To which I replied, “One, thank you for suggesting a vegan restaurant and two, let’s try a new place.” I then say to him “Let’s go out for lunch instead of dinner to celebrate.” He asks why and I say “Because you have a triathlon tomorrow and you will want to go to bed early.” We get each other.
So last Saturday, on a gorgeous, warm, sunny October afternoon in Manhattan, we ate at Blossom for the first time.
Sparkling drinks and a happy couple — bring on the feast!
We split a starter and a salad.
Black-eyed Pea Cake ~10 Crispy cake of yukon gold potato and black-eyed peas, topped with chipotle aioli.
Caesar Salad ~ 9/12 Fresh romaine lettuce & herbed croutons in our own Caesar dressing.
We were both equally wowed by each. I think I favored the black-eyed pea cake. Dave loves a (traditional) caesar salad so he was very impressed.
HELLER ESTATE Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 (Carmel Valley, California) $11 glass
Dave opted for breakfast.
French Toast ~ 11 Served with maple syrup and tempeh bacon.
He loved the french toast (and asked the server “is there crack in that bread?”) but was luke-warm on the “bacon”.
I can’t refuse a new way to enjoy seitan.
Seitan Scallopini ~ 18 Seitan cutlets in a white wine lemon caper sauce, served with mashed potatoes and sautéed kale.
I loved the seitan dish! The potatoes were so creamy, the wine sauce was flavorful and, hello? Kale and seitan? Win!
While we were offered a dessert menu we declined, because we wanted to take the afternoon anniversary party across the street to Cocoa V, a vegan chocolate and wine bar (yes, you read that right!)
We walked in and were in heaven. Chocolates, truffles, cupcakes, wine, coffee, milkshakes. Pinch me! We settled down — well, actually, Dave first headed out to hunt down an ATM as Cocoa V is a cash-only establishment — and made some big decisions.
He opted for the “butter finger” bar.
Holy vegan chocolate bar, that was GOOD!
Me? I opted for the edamame clusters and a salty caramel truffle
and simply basked in a choco-wine-caramel euphoria.
The Cocoa V manager treated us like a king and queen for our anniversary (which is why our plates were decorated so beautifully). She saw our eyes bulge out of our heads when someone ordered a butter finger milkshake so she brought us a sample (as well as a sample of a citrus crunch truffle).
I could tell you that it ended there. But it’s not true. We took two cupcakes to go (a red velvet and a vanilla) and some hot cocoa mix. We had the cupcakes for dinner.
It was one of the sweetest, most delicious anniversary celebrations yet. But we’re just at thirteen years. We have many more to enjoy!
Side note: The next day Dave competed in a sprint triathlon. He came in eighth place overall and first place in his age group. Impressive, right? Even more impressive is that eight months ago he broke his leg in two places. It was his first triathlon post-injury. My husband is a rock star!
Blossom
187 Ninth Avenue, NYC 10011
Phone: 212-627-1144
Cocoa V
174 Ninth Avenue, NYC 10011
Phone: 212-242-3339
Pingback: A return to Blossom NYC