You'd think with yet another vegetarian friendly restaurant review that I might have somehow become a vegetarian or vegan by now - but don't worry, that won't ever happen! But 2 of my good friends, Anuja and Amy, are more pescatarians so when we do go out, we usually lean towards places that are more veggie friendly, or as we call it our Rabbit Habit dinner dates. We were originally going to go to By Chole - THE hot new vegetarian places in the West Village but the place was super packed so we decided to go nearby Ellary's Greens instead.
It's a cute unassuming place in the West Village that has a very eco-friendly, healthy and natural menu. The menu is made out of recycled cardboard for christ sakes. While the food does lean towards organic and veggie friendly, it does have fish, chicken, and bison meat on the menu. The menu caters to all kinds of diets - vegan, vegetarian, gluten free and diary free - so no complaining. We started with the avocado toast appetizer and the beet gnocchi appetizer. For my main I opted to go for the salmon burger ($15) and a side of chickpea fries ($10) for the table.
The avocado toast wasn't super innovative or different - it was essentially guacamole spread over multigrain toast and topped with tomato - but the ingredients were very fresh and tasty. I felt very healthy eating it. It's definitely something I could have made at home myself but it was still done well so no complaints here. Next, we had the beet gnocchi which had arugula, shaved parm and balsamic vinegar on it. I liked the idea of mixing beet with the gnocchi but the flavor of the beet seemed a bit lost in the gnocchi. Innovative but not sure how much value the beet added besides a pop of color.
I got the salmon burger because it came with alpha sprouts and tzatziki, two of my favorite healthy ingredients. I was afraid the burger wouldn't really fill me up but it was actually incredibly hearty and very filling. It was a nice reminder that you can still eat something in a burger form that doesn't have to be a big juicy meat burger. Given how filling it was, I regret ordering the chickpea fries because they were totally not needed and they were also kind of the dud of the night. I appreciate what they were trying to do but ground up chickpeas don't really taste like much.
While I was bummed that we didn't get to try By Choe, this was a pleasant substitution. It's definitely not a destination dining choice but it is a cute homey local option if you happen to live nearby or are strolling through the neighborhood and want something on the healthier side. Total bill: $32/pp with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
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