Happy New Year! I hope you were all able to find an iota of rest and relaxation during the last two weeks of the year. Like the wizard Gandalf in Peter Jackson’s “The Two Towers,” “I strayed out of thought and time. Stars wheeled overhead, and every day was as long as a life age of the earth.” (Why yes, I did rewatch the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy over the holidays.)
But here we are on the other side of Jan. 1, and real life is about to rear its ugly head. As much as I’ve loved eating cookies with (and for) nearly every meal, I needed a reset after the holidays. So I went on a mini-tour of vegetarian and vegan soups that were satisfying and fortifying — and perfect for the upcoming cold front.
Ramen season is in full swing
A piping hot bowl of noodles and broth really hits when the mercury drops. There are plenty of ramen options all over the city, but I finally visited Ippudo V in Dumbo, the all-vegan offshoot of the popular Ippudo ramen chain, which I’ve had on my “need to visit” list since it opened this summer. (Not exactly the best time of year for ramen.)
Believe me when I say that you won’t miss the meat. I literally kept saying, “I don’t miss the meat,” while tucking into Ippudo’s interpretation of a rich tonkotsu ramen topped with frizzled enoki mushrooms and swimming with thick, chewy noodles. The secret is a lot of oil — avocado and a mysterious “housemade flavored oil” — and a generous helping of soy sauce. The best part is that this somewhat unsexy location means it’s easy to walk in and grab a table; I cannot wait to go back as soon as possible.
An ‘immunity broth’ to go
I wasn’t exactly surprised that Ippudo was able to pull off a great vegan ramen, since depth of flavor has never been the sole dominion of meat-based cooking. For another example, look no further than Chloe in Greenwich Village (formerly known as By Chloe), maybe the city’s most storied vegan restaurant after Pure Food and Wine.
Vegan food has become more widely available than it was when the chef Chloe Coscarelli came onto the scene in 2015, but the restaurant was still packed on a Friday afternoon. However, there’s no need to grab a seat if you’re dropping by for my absolute favorite of the restaurant’s three soup options. Just ask for a serving of the immunity broth — miso, turmeric, illegal amounts of garlic — ladled into a coffee cup from a countertop warmer and take it to go. It’s fortifyingly delicious. Who knows if it actually boosts immunity, but I will say that I’m the only one in my family who escaped this year’s Christmas Day celebration unscathed by a nasty cold.
Hot soup, cold drink
My final soup recommendation is a little farther uptown. Just before Christmas, some friends came into town and both are longtime vegetarians. That’s how we landed at Ánimo!, a small Mexican cafe that opened in October. Among the many vegetarian options on the menu, don’t sleep on the tomato-y sopa de tortilla with salty panela cheese. It goes especially well with a frozen margarita, which will always exist outside the narrow confines of “seasons,” “temperature” and Dry January.
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The post Three Vegetarian Soups to Greet the New Year appeared first on New York Times.
