Eating to Live on the Outside: Quintessence
I need a break! Good thing it’s a holiday. And luckily, Eating to Live on the Outside is staying close to home today. Just a quick train ride to Quintessence in New York City!
Yeah, Quintessence looks great. Their food is raw and full of cool fruits and vegetables, like endive, coconut and avocado. Here’s a first draft of food I might order:
Stuffed Endive
- Cashew cheese folded with chopped scallion in endive leaves; looks good, cashews are my favorite nut!
Stuffed Fofu
- Mock tofu stuffed with Nappa cabbage, shitake, seaweed and scallion marinated in cilantro sauce and topped with shitake mushrooms; plenty of awesome veggies here.
Greek Salad
- Romaine lettuce, onions, kalamata olives, tomatoes, fresh mint, oregano, basil and tossed with lemon juice and an olive-pumpkin-flax oil blend; I dig it, but oil on the side.
Sesame Sea Salad
- Sea veggies with chunks of cucumber, tomato and topped with sesame dressing and sesame seeds; provided it’s not salty, I’d give it a try.
Basic Bowl
- Mixed greens, kale, tomato, cucumber, sunflower sprouts, onion and your choice of dressing; the pineapple anise dressing sounds pretty good.
Caesar Salad with a Twist
- Romaine lettuce, tomato, crunchy cucumber, avocado cubes, tossed in our pignola miso Caesar dressing and topped with caramelized onions, black pepper and gamasio; looks interesting.
Endive Salad with Scallion “Crème Cheese”
- Endive, celery, capers and kalamata olives with sweet apple chunks and caramelized walnuts, tossed with lemon vinaigrette and topped with scallion cream cheese; sounds tasty.
Apple Coconut Salad with Lemongrass Dressing
- Green apple, coconut, basil, ginger and onion with a lemongrass grape seed oil dressing; again, oil on the side.
Arugula Sprout with Caramelized Walnuts
- Baby arugula, sunflower sprouts, mixed baby sprouts, goji berries and cherry tomato tossed with a sweet-spiced fig cardamom dressing topped with caramelized walnuts; hooray, goji berries!
Green Garden Soup
- Cucumber tomato, red bell pepper, lemon and dill; hopefully it’s not too salty.
Creamy Asparagus Zucchini Soup
- Creamy soup with rich asparagus and finished with caramelized onions and black pepper; I love asparagus!
Thai Lemongrass Soup
- Lemongrass broth with Thai herbs, marinated shitake, scallion and Nappa cabbage; looks pretty good.
Wow! Picking something was a tough decision, but I’d go with the Arugula Sprout with Caramelized Walnuts. I love the variety of ingredients the goji berries seal the deal.
Now, I’ve been too busy lately, but when the dust clears. I’ll REALLY pay Quintessence a visit. In the meantime drop a comment and tell me what you’d order.
Image credit: Quintessence Restaurant
