NYC Day 3 – Sanctuary Guest Suites + A Night Out On The Town (pt 1)

We got up this morning and spent a few hours working on our computers, out of our friend Dan’s place, before checking in over at Sanctuary Guest Suites (SGSs).

This place has become a home away from home. The manager, Mario Cornejo Negron is incredibly kind and our experience at SGSs has been nothing but positive, both times we stayed. We had stayed one night back in September for a Mercy for Animals’ fundraiser event. This time we got to stay a bit longer and it was absolute bliss.

This place is seriously in an awesome location for veg heads. Located in the East Village we were surrounded by vegan (and vegan-friendly) restaurants. I’m talkin’ walking distance to places like Lula’s Sweet Apothecary, Caravan of Dreams, and Pala, to name a few. It’s also just around the corner from a Whole Foods store and a Metro stop. Oh and yes, the street it’s on feels completely safe too. No matter the hour, we never saw super sketchy folks hanging around. And it’s well lit too.

Not only is the location sweet but this place totally rocks in terms of cleanliness and size. We stayed in a total of three different rooms and they were all very well kept. Not to mention ginormous for NYC! Every room had at least two queen sized beds. One room had a futon that folded out into an equally large bed and also had a free washer and dryer. IN THE ROOM! I’m willing to bet most apartments in that area don’t even come with a washer and dryer! ;)

I took a pics with the built-in camera on my phone before we made a mess of it. Look at how gorgeous this place is.

One of the best parts of staying at SGSs is the outdoor juice bar that’s just a few blocks away. It’s called Juicy Lucy’s and I was there almost every morning! :D

One morning we enjoyed some juice and cake slices by Yossi’s – Om nom nom – while relaxing out on the adorable little balcony off of our SGSs room. What a perfect way to start the day. Actually, it was perfect for me but just before we settled into the balcony Ethan bumped one of his shins into the corner of the bed frame. It wasn’t funny at the time but looking back on it now it’s hard not to LOL. Poor E, hopping around on one leg, kinda like this. ;)

After a bit of work we decided to walk over to Caravan of Dreams to check out their brunch menu. Oh yums!! As mentioned in a previous post, this restaurant is 100% vegan and as it turns out, their food is mighty delicious. The vibe is pretty cool too. It’s super down to earth with interesting art on the walls. I liked the servers too. They were consistent in not being around too much (you know what I mean) but just enough to keep our waters filled and to make sure we were all set.

I ordered the Scrambled Tofu (capers and paprika, sauteed mushrooms and leafy greens) and it was incredibly tasty. Every bite popped with flavor and having a tortilla wrap on the side was perfect for creating an edible scoop while adding a nice texture to the overall dish. And yes, I got another freshly pressed juice! I can’t get enough and the veg restaurants in NYC never let me down. Almost every place we went to offered fresh juice. I could get used to this!

Ethan had the Mediterranean Brunch (Spanish rice, seitan, sauteed greens, tomato, ali-oli).

Ethan: So this is how you do Spanish rice right! I am a huge rice fan. When I’m not dining at a restaurant, I am making mounds of brown rice and steamed veggies. I love this stuff. The whole dish was well prepared and the flavors all were complementary, however, I could just eat this rice all day. This brunch item seems to be popular as a quick glance around the room revealed more than a few Mediterranean Brunches. Add fresh squeezed orange juice and organic locally roasted coffee and we’re off!

After Caravan of Dreams we thought it would be a good idea to head to Lula’s Sweet Apothecary. When is it ever a bad idea to go to this amazing all-vegan ice cream joint?! Well, it’s a bad idea if they’re closed. Which they were. Thankfully there was a very nice sign on the door informing us that they had some flavors, just a few blocks away, over at Sustainable NYC (local, organic, fair trade, re-purposed, biodegradable, and alternative energy products).

It turned out to be a great detour because Sustainable NYC rocks and we probably wouldn’t have even known about it otherwise. They have a little cafe within the store, which sells vegan soups, sammys, and of course Lula’s ice cream. Yay! We also found some cool vegan products like homemade soap and Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary t-shirts!

Oh and I got a scoop of Lula’s peanut butter chocolate chip ice cream. IT. WAS. AWESOME! So incredibly peanut buttery, smooth and creamy. I’m droolin’ over here…

I just realized that this post is getting super long and I still have four more places and some new friends to talk about. Eeek! Stay tuned for NYC Day 3 (pt 2). Please and thank you. :)