I’ve got a bit of a confession that I’m not enthralled to be divulging… Sometimes, when I’m at a loose end or there is no wet paint to watch dry, I stick a Zoella vlog on YouTube. There, I said it. Let me hastily point out that I’m by no means a fan, just somebody who likes to peep in from the sidelines occasionally and check that she is still the insufferable whinge bag that my social media circle paint her out to be. I’m not hoarding hundreds of her inordinate advent calendars, don’t worry.
Credit where it’s due though (I say through gritted teeth) finding myself procrastinating via one of her New York vlogs a couple of months back did land The Butcher’s Daughter with a spot on our edible NYC itinerary.
The Butcher’s Daughter is a plant-based cafe, restaurant and juice bar with roots in New York’s trendy Greenwich Village and further downtown in Lower Manhattan‘s Nolita. The vegetable slaughterhouse as it so wittily refers to itself is also a popular hot spot in Venice, Los Angeles but our very first visit to see The Daughter was at the whitewash hive of activity on Hudson Street in the West Village.
Across all of its venues, The Butcher’s Daughter serves breakfast, lunch, dinner and weekend brunch which is 100% vegetarian, mostly vegan and gluten free. Being the unwavering carnivores we normally are, I was interested to see how we would fare at an eatery which promises just as much satisfaction with seasonal plant-based produce. However after indulging at TAO, sinking our teeth into southern-style meat dishes at Root & Bone and getting tipsy on breakfast cocktails at Beauty & Essex earlier in the week, I thought it might be nice to swap naughty for nice and detox our systems a little bit anyway.
Arriving on a sunny Sunday morning, I wasn’t surprised to find a queue of people patiently waiting for a table outside but we were quickly seated indoors at a cosy table for two by the kitchen. The stylish interior strikes a balance between the clinical white minimalism of a slaughterhouse and the rustic, botanical charm of something you’d find on the first page of Pinterest. A decor amalgamation that I’m in no doubt is 100% intentional.
We relaxed into our fresh, airy and chilled out surroundings with a Brass Monkey smoothie ($10) – a delicious muddle of frozen banana, peanut butter, almond butter, honey, sweet almond milk and maca root. So good in fact that I just had to go and rustle up my own peanut butter and banana smoothie recipe to sip on while writing this blog post to satisfy my craving for more. The Brass Monkey was just one of a myriad of smoothies and fresh pressed juices available on the menu, all containing wholesome ingredients like kale, hemp protein and bee pollen, along side a list of $4 Elixir Shots.
If that just sounds all too sober for you, you might find yourself enticed by a rather unique mimosa menu, from Pineapple, Jicama & Lemon to your classic Grapefruit or Blood Orange. If you do indulge in a breakfast tipple or two, let me recommend a couple of plates from the brunch menu for when you need to level out your head a little. We agreed on going for something sweet and something savoury to gratify both palates and decided on the 9-Grain French Toast ($13) and the Egg Sandwich Platter ($15).
The health-conscious french toast was comprised of 9-grain bread soaked in an almond milk & egg batter with banana, market fruits, whipped strawberry vegan butter and pure maple syrup. There ain’t no Hershey’s crossing this threshold. The strawberry butter was a tad savoury for my liking but the rest was sweet, light and fresh as could be. Our savoury counterpart was a sandwich stack of toasted 9-grain bread, two eggs, cashew carrot cheese, avocado, kale and tomato jam, which came served with a generous helping of roasted potato hash. The hash was absolutely mouthwatering and the sandwich was the kind of goodness that true soul food should be made of. However I do think the use of the word ‘platter’ on the menu is a little misleading.
All in all, if you’re on the hunt for vegetarian and vegan restaurants in New York or just looking for a bite to eat that is going to feed mind, body and soul then you should most definitely put The Butcher’s Daughter on your list. Turns out Zoella does have some good ideas after all.