Pure Food and Wine with a Special Visitor

I love when out of town friends come to New York. I have lived in this city my entire life and know it like the back of my hand. I love sending friends a list of places they must check out, things to do, places to eat etc. It is even better when I get to enjoy these adventures with them.

This week my friend Jean has been in town from Chicago for work. Jean is a very new friend, we only met in September (through a mutual friend) and it was love instantly. She's into green juice and smoothies, loves vegan food, and coolest of it all just finished training to be a doula. Seriously, I love this girl.

When I heard that Jean had never experienced the raw vegan mecca that is Pure Food and Wine I knew she had to make a pilgrimage. On Monday night Jean, myself and my childhood bestie Alli (she introduced me to Jean) went to Pure for an amazing dinner.

We started with a few appetizers to share. Sharing dishes is my favorite way of eating- I like to try as many menu items as possible. First we had the Philly Roll which had a cashew cream cheese, avocado and spicy kim chee filling. Yum! It was the perfect balance of creamy and spicy. So good. Must make at home!

We also got an order of the King Oyster Mushroom "Scallops" to share. I love king oyster mushrooms and am always surprised at how their taste and consistency really does remind me of scallops. The miso sauce on the bottom of the plate was also lovely. For my entree I had my most favorite dish at Pure. The Hen of the Woods Tacos Al Pastor. These smokey, spicy jicama tacos are filled with smoked guacamole, and topped with hearts of palm and pickled onions. The combination of the smoked guacamole and the tangy onions is perfection. I have since been craving this dish all week.

There are many amazing desserts at Pure. Many. But since it was Jean's maiden voyage I insisted that we get the Mint Sundae. Just reading the description on the menu make my mouth water : chocolate, fresh mint, and mint chip ice creams, mint chocolate cookies, chocolate sauce and vanilla cream. Seriously? I feel fully confident saying that this is my favorite dessert on the whole planet. And that includes some non-vegan, gluten packed things I have eaten in my (not so clean) past.