Saturday, January 4, 2014

NYC December 2013

Catching up on posts I've been meaning to post is one from our trip to NYC in December. We went a few weeks before Christmas to enjoy the lights and atmosphere of the city during the holidays. Jason & I have been to NYC many times, and I've done numerous posts of all the fabulous places we've been. New York is really a special place for us and the first place we ever traveled together to! We have many favorites and spots that we usually flock to, however each time we go we still try to visit somewhere new.

For new as far as museums go, we finally visited the Moma - museum of modern art. I've been wanting to visit this museum for years but the price just seemed too outrageous since there were so many other free museums to see in the city. However, Bank of America card holders are able to visit museums in many cities in the US for free the first weekend of each month - which included the MoMa when we were visiting! I was beyond excited. The art was fun to walk around and see and we spent a couple of hours wandering the many floors of the museum.

For dinner, we tried Johns on 12th. We had passed this restaurant during one of our previous trips and saw it was an Italian restaurant featuring an entire vegan menu. Jason loves Italian and I love vegan food, so we knew we had to try it!
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The outside looks pretty small, as is the inside, and you definitely need a reservation - but it is all well worth it! Even with our reservation and arriving 15 minutes early, we were told to stand at the bar area until our table was ready. It was jam packed, which I took it as it must be good. We saw that Guy Fieri had visited and left his mark on the ceiling there as well. We were excited to finally be sat and look over the menu.
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This was the vegan menu - so many options!
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For an appetizer to share we chose the vegan Bruschetta - which was garlic-grilled bread with avocado, basil, and tomatoes. This was absolutely amazing - I'd go back just to eat this again. This can be super easy to recreate at home, which I have yet to do, but definitely see happening soon!
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For my entrée - I chose the Seitan alla Rosa - with artichokes, fire-roasted peppers, in marsala wine mushroom sauce. I'm not a fan of mushrooms, at all, but I really wanted to try their seitan and the veggies that came with it sounded great. This dish did not disappoint - I loved everything even the sauce. However, I was so curious about the vegan alfredo sauce on the menu. I didn't want an entire meal of it - but wanted to give it a try. I asked our waiter if there was any way I could have a small side of it to add with my dish - and they did not disappoint!
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I could have eaten this with a spoon. This was absolutely delicious, and way more than I expected! The wait staff at Johns were absolutely great and I loved our entire experience. We wanted to try their vegan cannnolis after - however we were both too full to have dessert. This will definitely be on our list to try next time!
Although we have many more places in NYC to try each time we visit, I know Johns of 12th Street will make it on our go-to list!

Johns of 12th Street
302 East 12th Street
NYC 10003