The sign has arrived at 130 E. Seventh St. … where Team Ravi DeRossi (Death & Co., Cienfuegos, Proletariat, etc.) is opening an upscale vegan restaurant here just west of Avenue A.
DeRossi told Eater more about the project last month:
DeRossi says that this is something he's been wanting to do for 10 or 20 years, but finding a good vegan chef has always been the "biggest obstacle." Now, however, he's found that chef in Andrew D'Ambrosi, who currently runs the kitchen at DeRossi's Carroll Gardens seafood restaurant, Bergen Hill.
The way he tells it, D'Ambrosi put a hen of the woods mushroom dish on the menu that DeRossi, who "always hated mushrooms," loved. That dish turned out to be vegan, and so from there DeRossi had the chef begin experimenting with other vegan dishes, offering them as specials at Bergen Hill. Two years later, they've pulled together a list of about 20 that will make up Avant Garden's vegan menu. Those include things like charred onion with chimichurri and seasoned breadcrumbs, and roasted carrots with orange, honey, pumpkin seeds and quinoa, as well as that hen of the woods dish.
In addition to Avant Garden, DeRossi is launching a nonprofit, BEAST (Benefits to End Animal Suffering Today), which will host regular fundraisers for animal rights organizations, per Eater.
No word on an official opening date just yet.
As we first reported on May 5, Avant Garden takes over the storefront from Gingersnap's Organic, who decamped to the West Village in January.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Veggie friendly Avant Garden in the works for former Gingersnap's space on East 7th Street
9 comments:
First came FroYo, then Mac and Cheese, then Cronuts. Is the newest in, vegan? Because all the really good vegetarian places have closed.
Ahem, I's vegan but $15 bucks for seared onions and carrots is beyond me budget.
Vegan is not a fad..it's a healthy, conscious, kind, planet-saving way of life...and it's here to stay. Looking forward to this spot.
In its current manifestation -- especially eating out -- sorry, it's a fad -- and a lazy one. Eating vegan is loads cheap if done at home. Same for the current fad with cold-brewed coffees, one of the cheapest and easiest beverages to make. But there needs to be a social connection -- whether at the Bean or at Dirt Candy -- and of course a lot of profit otherwise it's meaningless, that is, to fadistas as well as businesses that cater to fadistas.
Who is this guy? (rhetorical question)
I can't determine if I think the name is clever or silly...but I think I'll go with clever.
Of course it's an upscale place - does ANYTHING open around here that isn't an "upscale" place? Even when the only thing "up" is the rent, and therefore the prices they charge customers?
Net result for a lot of people: Eating out is kept to a minimum. I don't want to be paying $$ to bloodsucking landlords by patronizing these new places.
Ah yes, vegans -- the “Hezbollah-like splinter-faction of the vegetarians, the vegans, are a persistent irritant to any chef worth a damn.
To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living.
Vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit, an affront to all I stand for, the pure enjoyment of food. The body, these waterheads imagine, is a temple that should not be polluted by animal protein. It's healthier, they insist, though every vegetarian waiter I've worked with is brought down by any rumor of a cold.
Oh, I'll accomodate them, I'll rummage around for something to feed them, for a 'vegetarian plate', if called on to do so. Fourteen dollars for a few slices of grilled eggplant and zucchini suits my food cost fine.” -- to quote the forthright Bourdain, icymi.
No applications filed with Dept Of Buildings for either signage, demolition or renovation of restaurant. Why are so many restaurants doing illegal work and then crying foul when they are caught? No way should these type of creeps be protected.
Neither did they post the required notice that they were applying for an SLA license - the CB3 SLA committee didn't see a problem.
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