new kosher vegan friendly brooklyn

[ryaish]

Just ate at a wonderful new place. Natural Village Cafe. Went with my dh after a funeral late Saturday Night. The place was so soothing. Stone walls and healing crystal set in an alcove.
We had the best soups ever. I feel like soups are the test of a place. Especially a kosher place. Loved the tomato barley, full of flavor, not a fake wimpy watery soup.. All organic veggies the owner told us..
We had the goat cheese salad and the bass with mushrooms. Yum..
The pasta we didnt try, but I was impressed that it was made with artichoke flour and offered specialty pasta, spelt, rice, quinoa etc.
I think even the nonkosher community will find that this place is a find. but for the kosher community to find a place under great hashgacha vaad harabonim of flatbush, rav meir goldberg cholov yisrael,where you can get quality and health we were thrilled. check it out..let me know what you thought of the soups!

[Joe Berger]

can anyone share a link to this place/menu?
it's hard to find such a generic named place.

[GilaB]

I'm assuming that it's this website, the first hit for Googling 'Natural Village Cafe:'
http://www.naturalvillagecafe.com/
That said, I agree that it's a very generic name.

[Joe Berger]

thanks; i was using google maps in brooklyn. being the first hit on a google
search is more expensive than most kosher places are willing to pay, hehehe.
their menu link does not seem to do anything, so i still don't know what it is.

[berel]

here's the direct link to the menu

http://www.naturalvillagecafe.com/men...

[Joe Berger]

nice, thanks. yeah, I would not call this a Vegan anything place,
more wholesome, organic etc. prices on the high side, but at
least the hashgacha is local VAAD, not some out of town rabbi.

[cheesecake17]

the poster called it 'vegan friendly.' what that means is kind of up to the individual. mike's bistro has a few vegan options.. does that mean it's vegan friendly?

[Joe Berger]

I just think Vegan is misapplied to this discussion, and not "up to the individual" unless you think what defines keeping Kosher is "up to the individual" too. Just like a kosher place needs a proprietor sensitive to kosher issues, I would not call any place Vegan "friendly" unless they had a designated menu section, or a proprietor who was Vegan himself. The Vegan list of no-no's is far more extensive than non-Vegan's can imagine.
http://www.veganwolf.com/animal_ingre...

[queenscook]

Actually, anyone who keeps strictly kosher should have no trouble imagining how difficult it is to be strictly vegan. These days, it would be a rare person who would only go by ingredient labels, if they were what I'll call "strictly" kosher. I'm not trying to start an argument here, just pointing out that with all the chemicals, additives, flavorings, colorings, etc., very few could trust that they know exactly what's in their food. And with that as a comparative, imagining the difficulty in being absolutely sure there are no animal products at all, down perhaps to non-bone char sugar, and without a widely used system of vegan "hashgachot," so to speak, it's probably very hard indeed.

[ryaish]

I the original poster shouldnt have written vegan friendly. It is actually much more suited to the gluten free celiac folks... There were lots of options in that regard. In general I think you are right the higher price was the commitment to organic and it was a pleasant change from the usual lack of taste and quality ingredients...As for the late night funeral, it was indeed unusual, as it was night so the body was flown to Israel, which is how we ended up out and hungry on a Saturday night!

[cheesecake17]

I'm very friendly with several vegans, and I know what being vegan implies. I think it's up to the individual to decide if a restaurant is vegan friendly or not. If most of the items have cheese (or meat) or fish or eggs or honey and those ingredients can't be easily left off or a new dish created, I wouldn't call it vegan friendly. The menu to this place (to me) looked very heavy on animal based products. But some might call this place (or others) vegan friendly.

Sorry if i was confusing in my wording.

[berel]

I'll probably give it a try the next time we're in Brooklyn looking to eat out

[GilaB]

FYI, goat cheese salad and bass aren't vegan; the bass isn't even vegetarian.

[ganeden]

A funeral late Saturday night? Not something one finds on a typical Saturday night. I don't run into "healing crystal" even in California, thankfully. I guess it takes all kinds.

[berel]

perhaps it was a non-Jewish funeral

[zsero]

Is this on that island, which used to be the Corner Cafe (which I've never in my life seen open)?

PS: I just looked at the menu - cheap it ain't! And I have an automatic prejudice against any web site that plays music at you without asking first, and a greater prejudice against one that doesn't even offer an easy way to turn it off.

[ryaish]

It is in Brooklyn. And I dont have the menu with me, but I remember thinking that the fish and salad was a pretty good deal...

[berel]

ok, but where in B'klyn?

[zsero]

The address is 2 Ave I, which puts it right under the F train, near Shoprite and the Tomato King. Which is why I asked whether it's on the island, where there's long been a sign for a kosher cafe, which I think must have closed years ago.

[berel]

I'd expect to pay more for organic food

[cheesecake17]

The menu looks the same/similar to most of the other dairy places in Brooklyn. More expensive though.. but that's probably because of the organic ingredients.

Surprised though that regular white pasta isn't offered.

[berel]

there's a link underneath the copyright statement to turn the sound off

[zsero]

It shouldn't be hiding there like that. If they must start the music without permission, then the off switch should be prominent. Between that and their prices I'm not inclined to give them my business; on the other hand, the location is VERY convenient for me, so I might do so one day when I'm at Shoprite and/or the Tomato King.