Monk Shoes, Champs Consolidates & Doughnut Wisdom

• Monk shoes have been popping up (and buckling down) all over the place, and Bourgeois Boheme has them with brogue details in black and brown. Snazzy. Yes, snazzy.

http://www.bboheme.com/images/graham_black_270x270.jpghttp://www.bboheme.com/images/graham_brown_270x270.jpg

• Earlier this month, the Vegetarian Food Festival took NYC by storm. In addition to scarfing down a Faux Gras sandwich and emceeing a doughnut-eating-contest, I took some photos of gentlemen with personal style who were on line (for 3 hours) or wandering around the area. Also threw in a picture of Chef Ayinde Howell cheering after serving up his famous mac-n-yease, and some fun costumes from Foodswings.

• Although it’s a bummer whenever a veg establishment closes it doors (as what happened to Williamsburg’s Boneshakers), it’s cool that they were able to consolidate with their other location, Champs, and now in addition to being a bakery, Champs offers an edited version of the Boneshakers menu including a yummy weekend brunch. I swung by on saturday and scarfed down a Tofu-Benedict on sourdough with vegan hollandaise sauce and a side of greens and mac-n-jeeze. I love my neighborhood!

• Dunwell Doughnuts, the Brooklyn start-up featured a really interesting article on food activism today:

We believe that a vegan doughnut could be a tremendous ambassador for vegan food.  Also because we stepped into this believing that we wouldn’t simply be making a good doughnut “considering it’s vegan,” but an AMAZING doughnut, heck, perhaps even the best doughnut you could find, vegan or non-vegan alike.  Opening a shop would allow us to share this treat with people AND create a place for that much needed community.


6 Comments

joshuakatcher, April 25th 2011 | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in accessories, activism, animal rights, food

Good Love: Champ’s Family Bakery

Champs Family Bakery had its soft-opening this week, and I was able to swing by, as its cases of confections are located dangerously close to my apartment. Co-Owner power-team Megan Blackburn and Brad Baker of Boneshakers took some time to show me around and give me the details on their new endeavor as well as some sacred secrets I am happy to share with you.

Champs is located in the historic, Italian, Graham Ave. neighborhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn on a quiet, tree-lined street. The signage reads like a old-time boxing-gym logo, and the interior – soon to be filled with tables and chairs – has a very Brooklyn, warm, lived-in feeling with exposed brick, wooden ceilings, and terra-cotta tile floor. Resting up against the brick wall were three photos: Mike Tyson, Rue McLanahan,  and Georges Laraque in fancy gilded frames, waiting to be hung. “That whole wall is going to be filled with framed photos of famous vegans”, Brad informed me.

Megan and Brad also informed me that eighty-five percent of the ingredients they’re using are organic, their shortenings are healthy oils that are  non-hydrogenated, and, in addition to being 100% vegan, they’ll soon be offering gluten-free and sugar-free options. The most exciting news happened when Megan spilled the beans about the croissants. That’s right… they will be offering the only vegan croissants in New York.  Flaky, yummy, light, croissants. Did I mention how dangerous it is that I live one block away from this place? With cookies, muffins, scones, cupcakes, cakes, whoopee pies and custom pastries all made on the premises, this is a long-awaited NYC essential: our very own vegan bakery! They’ve even got some Italian flare happening with pignoli cookies, and I am praying that they do some more NYC classics like rainbow cookies, black and whites, cannolis, butter cookies, rugelach, and macaroons. Pretty please?

I sampled the carrot cake cupcakes, which were moist, sweet, perfectly spiced, and topped with a generous mound of cream-cheese frosting. Then I tried the rocky-road cookie, the chocolate-chocolate-chip scone, the chocolate-chip cookie, and finally, the blueberry muffin. I washed it down with iced coffee from Gimme! Coffee, which is possibly the best coffee in NYC – smooth, no acid, and velvety.  I’ll certainly be back for more. If you haven’t been to Williamsburg Brooklyn, now is the perfect time to come for a cup of coffee and a pastry.

The Details:

Champs Family Bakery
176 Ainsle Street (at Leonard St)
Brooklyn, NY 11211
718 599 2743

15 Comments

joshuakatcher, August 3rd 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in food, news, organic, restaurant, vegan, vegetarian

Bone Shaken

boneshakers

Food gets me in a tizzy! If you live in NYC and haven’t gotten bone-shaken yet, Boneshakers is a yummy little sandwich n’ pastry café in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. It’s totally vegetarian, mostly vegan, and is as cute as a button on a messenger-biker’s fanny-pack. It’s a beacon of glimmering light on an otherwise desolate street just near the BQE. Their hand-drawn menu is clever, and the selection does not disappoint. I asked one of their hip employees which ‘knuckle’ sandwich I should get if it were my last day on earth. She recommended the big, bad Magnus which is a veggie patty, tempeh bacon, spicy aioli, lettuce tomato, and sprouts on toasted rosemary focaccia. For dessert I had to try each of the amazing chocolate chip cookie, moist cupcake, and the banana choc-chip muffin. The muffin was your typical muffin, but the cupcake and cookie were outstanding!

Tattoos and bicycles are not on the menu, but there are plenty of them to be seen! So, if you’re into that sort of nonsense, definitely check out this spot. It was fun, yum, and I’ll certainly be back.

boneshakers1

2 Comments

TheDiscerningBrute, March 31st 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in food, green, organic, restaurant, sex, vegan, vegetarian