If you are growing bored of anonymously eating the same dishes at the same old restaurants, Nasturtium might be for you. Nasturtium is the newest vegan dinner party in town. Hosted by Chef Scott Winegard, a friendly six-foot-something hardcore guy who has worked in the kitchens of various restaurants including Pure Food and Wine, Broadway East (back when it was veg), and Angelica Kitchen, the dinner party aims to bring his signature fresh twist to vegan dining and socializing. As a gardener does with the spicy, carefree edible flowers which inspired its name, Winegard plants seeds in the form of a delicious meal made of seasonal, locally-sourced ingredients and hopes that friendships and a colorful evening will grow.

Thank you, New York City. On Thursday, January 28th, in a little over two hours, we sold $1,450 worth of sweet and savory treats at our Vegan Bake Sale for Haiti! Not too shabby for a little bake sale in the corner of a bar on a frigid winter night. Sodopreca and Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti (ARCH) will receive their checks soon!

Extra special, cherry-on-top thanks to those of you who baked! We had the most fantastic line-up of treats -- Hostess-style cupcakes, personal pizzas, gourmet chocolates (thanks, Lauren at Sweet Compassion), spinach pies, brownies and cookies of all sorts, doggy- and heart-shaped gingerbread cookies (courtesy of Patti at Baked Ideas), more cupcakes (thanks to everyone who made cupcakes and Allison at Minor Treat) and even bagels!

This week's Vegan Drinks marked our 21st event in NYC. (Vegan Drinks is now in 19 cities! Welcome, Nashville!) To celebrate, we gave away Sambazon, Alex Jamieson's new book, Living Vegan for Dummies, and a couple of sets of the "Cookin' with My Crawdaddy" vegan cajun cookzines. (Thanks for the donations, everyone!) DJ Lil Ray kept the standing-room-only crowd happy with the good tunes as everyone patiently waited for their chance to order a drink or devour an apple cider donut.

We're hosting a vegan bake sale for Haiti at this week's Vegan Drinks NYC on Thursday, January 28 from 7:00pm to 9:00pm at Angels & Kings bar! More than 30 talented bakers want to sell you amazing sweet and savory baked treats. Please come with small bills and big to-go containers and buy, buy, buy! All proceeds will be donated to Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti (ARCH) and the Dominican animal rescue group Sodopreca. Angels & Kings will also be donating a portion of its sales to the Haiti relief effort.

This month's Vegan Drinks marks our 21st event! DJ Lil Ray will be present to rock your world. Sambazon is bringing some of their açaí juice by for drink specials and giveaways. And, we'll give an autographed copy of Alex Jamieson's new book, Living Vegan for Dummies, to one very lucky winner. (Thanks, Sambazon and Alex!)

As always, the drinks are cheap ($3 domestics, $4 imports and $1 off well drinks) and the crowd is cool.



We'll turn down the music around 8pm and encourage people to promote themselves, their groups and/or causes for 30 seconds. If you represent a veg*n or animal rights group, come prepared with your (very short!) spiel and literature.

Check out our map of restaurants near Angels & Kings where you can grab a bite after the event. And if you haven't already, link up with Vegan Drinks on Facebook and MySpace.

Vegan Drinks is held from 7pm-9pm at Angels & Kings, 500 East 11th Street (btw Ave A & Ave B), New York, NY 10009.

The main reason you should be getting your tickets right now to this Saturday, January 23rd's Mercy for Animals Celebrating Compassion gala is of course to support the grassroots group's amazing work on behalf of animals. But another great reason is the gala's exciting and mouth-watering menu featuring vegan foodie heavyweights like Match premium meat alternatives, VeganTreats pastries, Daiya cheese, So Delicious ice creams, and Frey Vineyards organic wines!

A few exciting highlights: chicken vol au vent, crab thermidor, and chicken-stuffed zucchini using Match and a baked lasagna with Match Italian sausage and Daiya cheese. (Yes, there are options for you silly folks who don't do fake meats too!) Catered by the Queens-based, all-vegetarian company Natural Delights, the gala will use local produce, 80 percent organic ingredients, and fresh herbs. Check out the full-menu after the jump.

Get your tickets now!

There are so many things that are just not right about Los Angeles. It's 80 degrees in January, bars close at 2 a.m., and rush hour starts at 2:30 in the afternoon. BUT! Then there are other things that are trying for good, they really are, but they just aren't quite making it -- carpool lanes that trap you inside like a high-security prison; a public transportation system that goes from nowhere to nowhere because Beverly Hills, which is smack dab in the middle, wouldn't let us regular people ride through it; and a restaurant grading system with a curve that looks like a ride at Six Flags.

I know what you're thinking, "Did you say restaurant grading system?" Yes, yes I did. Thanks to the LA County Department of Public Health, restaurants are assigned a letter grade based on their inspection, and then are legally required to post said letter grade, in the form of a 12" sign in their front window. Here's the thing though, pretty much every restaurant you see gets an A; there are no Ds or Fs (in open facilities), so how reliable is it? If most places are getting As, what does that say about a B? That it's really kind of like a C-? It passes, but you KNOW there is definitely stuff they're doing wrong. And a C? That's probably akin to an F; you're risking your life by eating there and what's on the plate is anybody's guess.

What if this program existed in New York? My guess: there would be no restaurants and the city's inhabitants would die of malnutrition. It's sort of an unspoken understanding that when you eat food in NYC, it's at least a little bit dirty. My palette has even acquired this taste because to me, B stands for Better in LA cuisine.

Well guess what, East Coast folks, prepare to have your minds blown and your stomachs turned. (WARNING: This is not for the faint of heart.) Go to this website, type in the name of your favorite eatery, and behold their abysmal score (lower is better). You too can know whether your regular lunch spot has mice infestations, rat infestations, or both! And lest you think that vegan restaurants aren't prey due to their lack of meaty supplies to be fed upon, think again. Some of my favorite spots are just one (1!) point away from having to spin their OPEN signs around.

What did you find? Comment!

It's TIME. Time to get tickets for MFA's Celebrating Compassion Gala, Saturday, January 23, 7 p.m. to midnight. Tickets are $75 (c'mon, I know you spend that much on ice cream every month!) and they buy you a chance to get all fancy shmancy and accidentally totally on purpose bump butts with Dan Piraro, Peter Max, Jane Velez-Mitchell, GirlieGirl Army's Chloe Joe Davis, Discerning Brute Joshua Katcher, Nellie McKay, and a bunch of other awesome vegans and animal supporters. And of course it's another opportunity to EAT. There will be vegan hors d'oeuvres from Natural Delights and Match meats, desserts provided by Vegan Treats and SO Delicious, and booze! Also a silent auction and an awards ceremony, all to benefit MFA's efforts to help other animals.

So that's Prince George Ballroom, 15 E. 27th St., January 23 at 7 p.m. MFA has the deets. E-mail questions about volunteering your pretty face and bankrolling MFA to Matt Rice.

Guys, so much happened this week, I don't know where to begin. So let's just start with restaurant openings, yes?

• Sun in Bloom opened Saturday, January 2 and, because I am a man of my word, I went for brunch. It was good. Really good. I mean, check out that loaded burrito -- avocado, beans, tofu scramble, and all sorts of tastiness up in that bitch. And no nutritional yeast, thank you.
• On that same magical day, Vinnie's Pizza in Greenpoint opened. Almost makes you want to move back to Greenpoint, doesn't it? (Actually, no, Pizza Plus is right here and I'm laaaazy.)
• Babycakes opened its LA location Sunday, January 3. I know, you're in NYC and you can't do a thing about it except drool. Well, drool on this!
• And in restaurant closings, Red Bamboo Brooklyn closed.
• The New Yorker profiled Whole Foods co-founder and CEO John Mackey.
• Food, Inc. is online and free, so no more excuses.
• Hospitals in the UK's publicly funded healthcare system will take meat off the menu to cut carbon emissions and costs, The Guardian reports. Yes, less pollution AND less expense! ALL SIGNS POINT TO NOT EATING ANIMALS.
• 
  Sweden is using bunnies as fuel. They are shooting bunnies, "deep freezing" them, burning them, and then calling it biofuel! COME ON. BUNNIES, NOT BIOFUEL.

It happens every year — well, it could. Cast as little Clara or Marie in the Nutcracker, every night you have to take off one of your shoes and hurl it at the Mouse King to deter him from devouring your precious Nutcracker. But you're concerned about this stage direction, key plot point though it is. Is this violent action reconcilable with the vegan way?

At the very least, you can make sure the shoe you throw is a vegan shoe. Before choreographer and animal activist Cynthia King — an alumna of The Boston Conservatory, The Ailey School, and The Rod Rodgers Dance Company — opened her Brooklyn dance studio in 2002, a canvas shoe with a leather sole was the concerned dancer's only option. I confirmed this after purchasing a bizarre pink plastic pair of something that came to a point in the middle and molded to the arch with all the flexibility of a flip-flop. Whatever it was, it was not a dancing shoe.

The decision to betray my principles and buy real, foot-shaped ballet slippers was traumatic and confusing, and none of you will have to make it, thanks to Cynthia. In 2003 she worked with a local shoemaker to develop gorgeous, durable, and affordable ($24.95 per pair) split-sole canvas shoes, using vinyl instead of suede on the bottom (your feet won't know the difference!), that hug the foot like a sock and create a more flattering shape than any of the Capezios, Sanshas, or Blochs of the pre-vegan past. So even though I'm told that Capezio can now do a special-order vegan slipper with a six- to eight-week waiting period (if so, they keep it quiet on their website), I'm sticking with Cynthia's. They're available immediately from her website and from Karmavore in Canada, and are simply the best slippers you're going to find.

Hold on to your avocados, guys -- Bergen Street in Park Slope is about to get even better. Vegetarian restaurant and vegan bakery Organic Heights will close this Thursday, December 31 (sad!) and reopen as Sun In Bloom on Saturday, January 2 (exciting!). Captains of the new ship are Aimee Follette, Tony Lastella, and former SproutCraft co-owner Eric Levinson (whom you might remember as the dude lavishing us with his raw vegan cheese at Vegan Drinks a few months back). My delicate heart skipped a beat when I realized SIB's new address is the same as Organic Heights's addy, so I spoke with Eric to learn about the new menu, hours, pricing, and most important, WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE TEMPEH REUBEN?

The menu, designed by Eric and spruced up by his partners, will feature living, organic, vegan fare, and raw, gluten-free breads and desserts, not straying too far from Organic Heights owner Mark Zumoff's vision for his own restaurant. The juices will stay, and SIB's Norwalk Press juicer, which the owners expect to provide better quality, less oxygenated juice, is new to the spot. Eric says the spiffy new juicer will enable SIB to offer bottled juices and nut milks "for grab-and-go customers, to serve the morning commuting crowd as well as the stroller mafia."

Bottled fresh juice is one of a few planned conveniences. "We're also looking to create a membership program where people can order entire meals for their family and pick up dinner after work, dessert, breakfast, and lunch to bring to work the next day, all in one stop. We want to make this kind of lifestyle more accessible, more available, and more fun," Eric said.

So here's the million-dollar question: will it be 100 percent vegan? "We haven't decided whether to serve milk," Eric said. "It's one thing to stick to your guns and your ideals, but if only one customer out of 10 wants almond milk, you have to kind of watch out for the bottom line. It's such a small thing to do, to just have that one pitcher of milk out there. We'll offer a good quality milk from a nice, organic, small farmer."

It's been a buzzy holiday weekend in the vegan news department. Tonight we catch up on all the goings-on since Wednesday.

• Obama poster artist Shepard Fairey immortalized Sea Shepherd Captain Paul Watson with a print of his very own. Posters measure 18 x 24", are signed by Watson, and cost $55 each. Buy 'em at Obey Giant. PAUL WATSON CAN NEVER DIE.
• The California-based Animal Legal Defense Fund released its 2009 State Animal Protection Laws Rankings. (Old news? Yeah, sort of. Still worth reading? Totally.) ALDF ranked New York in the middle tier -- not laying down the law with the best or permitting certain atrocities with the worst. Illinois ranked highest and Kentucky lowest. Read the full report here (PDF).
• In other ranking news, the Humane Society gave the Obama administration a B- for animal protection. Full report right here (PDF).
• Ingrid Newkirk reminds us via Huffington Post why it's awesome to be vegan, and then she rhymes with food.
• Vegan Twinkies are BACK. No Whey! Kitchen is going to fill the hole left in your heart by the closing of Vegan Honey Bake Shop. No Whey! sells to restaurants and is taking private orders for a limited time.
• Karen Davis, president of United Poultry Concerns, will deliver her lecture "The Social and Secret Life of Chickens" at the New York Public Library's Mid-Manhattan branch on December 30. That's 40th Street and Fifth Avenue, 6th floor, 6:30 p.m. this Wednesday. BE THERE.
• Your average dog eats a LOT of meat, VegNews reminds us: "research teams found that a medium-sized dog consumes approximately 360 pounds of meat and more than 200 pounds of grain each year. The agriculture needed to sustain this kind of companion-animal diet emits twice the greenhouse gas emissions that come from driving an SUV 6,200 miles per year."
• MEANWHILE, Annalisa Lazzaro of NYC asks The Ethicist whether it's cool to feed her cat a vegetarian diet. Duh! And you've got to be resilient! If one vegetarian -- or better, vegan -- kitty food doesn't work out, try another one. Then try cooking for Mr. Pus. Why support animal cruelty or slaughter in any way if you can avoid it, right?
• Don't know what to do with your sad, leftover shepherd sticks candy canes? Vegan Cookies brings us this recipe for peppermint candy cane chocolate chip cookies AND shows us how to crush candy canes. Holiday anger issues: resolved.
• Cafe Blossom's UES location opened, so go there and eat everything.