Vegetarian Tacos

The Grey Dog's Coffee
33 Carmine Street
New York, NY

For a good year or so I was pretty devoted to this tiny café. Its exposed brick, kitschy country theme, and early twenty’s hipster staff, made me nostalgic for my college years in Upstate New York. The food has an ultra-comfort food theme with a slight cosmopolitan twist. For example, their thick sliced sour dough grilled cheese accompanied by dense corn chowder – thickest of the thick soups – helps me fall asleep at night. The cosmopolitan twist translates into their version of the quesadilla with wilted spinach, roasted tomatoes and goat cheese.

For me, what makes them so current and loved by their NYU followers is their thoughtful and delicious offering of vegetarian options for almost all their dishes. There was a summer where Jay and I went to the Grey Dog at least twice a week for their Caesar salads. His was topped with grilled chicken, mine with grilled tofu. And of course, the Grey Dog has excellent coffee.

So after being holed up in my apartment this one winter day, I decided to visit my old hang out. Stepping into the little restaurant I realized again why my bi-weekly visits had ceased: it was packed. I walked up to the counter and glanced up to their chalkboard menu. As if bright neon lights circled it, my eyes immediately closed in on one of their newest additions to the menu: Vegetarian Tacos. It looked appealing enough – vegetarian chicken, asparagus and carrot slaw. Hmm, and its vegan. To brighten my glum day, I ordered a banana strawberry smoothie.
The tacos arrived with a side of mesclun greens and diced red cabbage tossed lightly with balsamic vinaigrette and parmesan shards. Hold the parmesan and you can have a full vegan meal.
Jay summed it up best after taking a bite, “There’s nothing Mexican about it, but it’s still good.” He was right. The taco designation was indeed obligatory because the package arrived in tiny little wraps or soft tacos. Nonetheless, they were good, and I must say, very cute. The soft tacos were grilled after assembly giving the wraps a sort of quesadilla crunchiness. The vegetarian chicken, also grilled, had a nice smoky flavor, the asparagus was steamed and seemingly undressed, and the fresh carrot slaw gave the whole experience a clean and crisp ending.

I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the vegetarian chicken. It’s hard to get a good substitute in restaurants. My personal favorite right now is Quorn, which work well in soups, salads, and stir fries. I even used their little tenders to make a mock version of Ina Garten’s delicious Chicken Hash recipe. While I remain loyal to their Griller Crumble, I find that Morningstar offers the worst chicken strip substitute. They are mushy and flavorless.

Today I was satisfied with my selection, but as noted earlier, there was nothing Mexican about it. Which I suppose is ok. I support food appropriation or in culinary terms fusion. Actually, they reminded me of petite chicken wraps, especially when accompanied with a side of remoulade. So my final word is no they were not mind blowing, but I truly appreciated them. Sometimes I see my friends eating these convenient chicken wraps at catered luncheons and I’m envious. With my vegetarian option, I feel like I'm now part of the chicken wrap club.

Trying to Call Me Out

For the record I do eat fish, which in formal terms, makes me a “Pesci-Vegetarian.” There are people who would take out the latter portion of that designation, based on the first part.

I understand where you’re coming from. I do. Fish are animals. Vegetarians, technically, don’t eat animals, ergo I am not a vegetarian. But really, what are the reasons I stopped eating meat? Is it because I morally object the consumption of animals? Actually, no. I’ve never actually come up with the answer to that question. I am an animal lover and watch nature shows on a regular basis. If you’ve ever watched a lion hunt down and eat wildebeast, it makes you wonder. Yes, I know we are the only the animals that have a conciousness, therefore we should know better – I know my Deepak Chopra. It still doesn’t answer my ethical question. I won't even go into the health aspects because I can slam down a plate of cheese fries with (mushroom) gravy faster than you can blink. Then is it because I’m an environmentalist? Did you know that the majority of the world’s grain production is actually used to feed livestock? Or that global water shortages and pollution have been, at least partially, attributed to the water consumption of the livestock industry? That must be it. Not really. Don’t get me wrong. You’ll find Seventh Generation dish soap in my kitchen, I separate my recycables, and before moving to NYC I’ve even kept compost heaps – even before it was en vogue to be green and people thought I was just a trash-saving-nut.

It’s certainly an added bonus to be kinder to the earth through my diet. Truly my vegetarianism came about after going to a DIY punk rock show. It was my junior year in college and a friend asked me to sell his band's merch while they performed. How fun! I watched the blaring bands, not really understanding their lyrics or how anyone could find enough of a melody to be tapping their feet or bobbing their heads. This really wasn’t my music – I preferred melodic, over-emotional pop rock like the Smith’s or New Order. So I watched a nearby television keeping close guard of my silk-screened beefy T’s, pins, and stickers. My stomach turned. I watched a chicken get hooked by its neck as it struggled down the conveyer belt. I watched pigs crammed shoulder to shoulder standing in their own filth. I watched a cow cry – yes they cry. Realizing that what seemed like an innocuous punk show was actually a vegan benefit, something changed inside me. I knew that what I was watching was wrong. More importantly, I knew it was unnecesarry.

I started by abstaining from red meat. I was never a big steak fan anyway. Then came the chicken, and other varieties of poultry. Luckily, I wasn’t exactly a regular duck or poussant eater back then. It made sense to think that fish came next. I felt empowered by my decision. I felt political.

Then I went home to Queens for the holidays. Maintaning a proud face, I dropped the news on my family days, or maybe even hours before our holiday meal. Having a Filipino background, I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty. If you know anything about Filipino cuisine – you’ll know that the foundation of it is pork. But after seeing what I saw at the concert, knowing full well that it was a propaganda video and feeling empowered by my newest political action, I was ok with eating sides and dessert for dinner. My family received my news with a grain of salt. I got a few “Of course’s,” some “Right’s,” and at least one “Are you serious?”

It’s an understatement to say that pork is merely the foundation of our cuisine. Truly it is part of our heritage. In case you don’t know, the Phillippines has a vast colonial history – from the Chinese, to the Spanish, and finally to the United States. The Filipino people have a diminishing indigenous history with its final remants only to be found in our food. Right now Filipino cuisine contains elements of Spanish dishes from beefy stews, to rich flans; and from the Chinese we’ve retained savory noodle dishes. The food is a wonderful amalgam of all that is great from these cultures. What have we retained from American culture? Unfortunately, it’s presence brought mainly a love of western designer fashion labels, malls, and fast food joints. Not too mention the braggard way of most Filipinos, including myself. But I’ll cut my diatribe short. I’m giving you an elementary review of our culture because, I will admit, that it is this that keeps me from being a whole vegetarian. You’ll see in many cultures that have sustained much historical damage that they often display a maniacal foodie streak. Jewish people are the greatest example. Culturally, they are one of the biggest foodies I know, and I don't think I need to go into their history. So much of their cultural and historical tradition lies in food. Italians and their love of curing meat and aging wine are another great example. Mussolini couldn’t kill off proscioutto di parma if he tried.

And so, knowing all of this and gaining a better understanding of my cultural history I’ve yet been able to kick the habit of eating fish ten years after that punk show. It makes my mother feel better that instead of using pork, she can use shrimp or fish in her Pancit. It comforts her to think that if we go to a Filipino restaurant together, she can order a whole fish, grilled in banana leaves. I should also mention the comfort that I gain. As an immigrant, it’s nice to have one foot, or fork, still firmly planted in the country I was born in. I know it sounds strange to put so much emphasis on consuming fish, but it’s true. I wholly realize that the fish industry has its own negative ramifications on the environment. I also know that all those rumors about fish not having feelings or their inability to feel pain is probably a myth as well. As my eco-friendly dish soap insists, I’d like to think that I’m only doing my part – albeit I could do more – to preserve our enviroment, and frankly some civility in treating animals.

You can use vegetarianism in technical terms. I like to think of it as a political one. You don’t have to agree with me, but stop calling me out on my fish eating, because at the end of the day I’m still doing less damage to the earth – and that's still a little bit better than most people.