Lula’s Sweet Apothecary

I never thought vegan ice cream could be this good, let alone vegan soft serve. What do they put in it to make it so rich and creamy? It is an amazing mystery to me. And vegan whipped cream – I always understood this to be a culinary impossibility but Lula’s Sweet Apothecary has is and it is deliciously whipped cream-like.


And the vegan treats don’t stop there; they also have vegan sugar cones and cake cones stacked up in glass jars and toppings galore that are all cutely organized in the old fashioned apothecary drawers behind the counter. Menu regulars include sundaes, flurries, floats, and shakes, all old school style. The ice cream is hand packed daily with nine changing flavor choices. And of course you can get a New York egg cream, but, as the menu informs, that will be without the eggs and without the cream.


This vegan dream of a dessert bar is located on 6th Street between Avenues A and B – you’ll know it by the motley crowd of hipsters, cyclists, and hippies standing outside silently eating and licking Lula’s sweets.

Taco! Taco! Taco!

Thanks to HBO On Demand I recently saw this funny and bizarre short film, Taco! Taco! Taco! It is about two dueling taco shacks in Southern California and the insane lengths that the taco purveyors go to in trying to put each other out of business. I won’t spoil the ending but here is a funny picture from the filming of Taco! Taco! Taco!’s flickr page.


Tacos as clothes: a new trend? I’ll leave that to a separate blog post.

Fashion aside, and with tacos on the brain, I’d like to share with you about my own favorite taco shanty. It’s called Snack Dragon Taco Shack and it’s in the East Village.


Here is why Snack Dragon is so great: They are open until 4am and the décor of this tin hut is college-dorm-room-charm at its best. With year-round Christmas lights and multi-colored everything, the festive styling’s of Snack Dragon can only be beat by, say, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama. Tee-Hee!


But the food has to be the selling point, and on this front, Snack Dragon delivers. There are six types of tacos on the menu, three of which are vegetarian I am very happy to report. However, the fish tacos are the one’s that you just have to try. The fish is grilled, not fried, and it is topped with chipotle coleslaw and radishes – yes, radishes! Not exactly typical but amazingly delicious; the crisp zing of the radishes is the perfect compliment to the heat and char of the fish taco.


You have the eat it to believe it!