People in this town are convinced they are bagel experts. They know the best shop, the appropriate hour to stop in and what combination of toppings rounds it all out. What makes a NYC bagel better than the ones in other cities? It's not the water, it's the attitude.

The gluten-tolerant SuperVegan staff members want to help you locate the best bagels in the bagel capital of the world:

Deborah Diamant insists that Bergen Bagels (473 Bergen St., Brooklyn) toasts her whole wheat everything bagel before applying a liberal layer of scallion tofu.

Jason Das can be found eating a whole wheat sesame bagel with scallion tofu, cucumber and tomato at Bagel Bob's (51 University Pl., Manhattan).

Olivia Lane, who buys her bagels at Earthmatters (177 Ludlow St., Manhattan), thinks bagels are best nude, like all great things.

Patrick Kwan loves Bagels On the Square (7 Carmine St., Manhattan) where he orders a toasted sun-dried tomato bagel with sun-dried tomato tofu for an über tomato kick.

Tod Emko keeps it simple at Bagels & More (331 Lexington Ave., Manhattan) with plain tofu on a whole wheat bagel.

Our vegan accountant, Kim, is a fan of Terrace Bagels (224 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn) and thinks toasted plain bagels with sliced tomatoes is a tasty, economically sound meal.

What's your favorite bagel, Dear Reader?

This is one of Supervegan's posts for Vegan MoFo 2009.

Today's was, in all likelihood, my last — and I have to say, best — meal at Madras Café, the beloved East Village kosher vegetarian Indian restaurant (that beats the pants off the 6th Street cluster). Reviewer evelinemater tipped us off to the restaurant's closing, which could happen any time, says owner Manny, and could be as soon as Saturday — eep! If you're hankering for one of their dosas, a garlic paratha, or some channa saag, get thee to Madras immediately! This is your last chance!

Or maybe not. Manny says he plans to reopen Madras, with the same menu, at some unknown location on Long Island (please be in Farmingdale, please be in Farmingdale). He owns another, non-vegetarian restaurant in Flushing that will remain open.

So tonight I say a tearful Farewell, Madras. Farewell to your creamy coconut korma, your succulent soy chunks, your veggie-packed biryani, your vegan lassis, your spicy coconut chutney, and even your fluffy white rice. Goodnight, Madras. Goodnight sweet Madras!

This is one of Supervegan's posts for Vegan MoFo 2009.

UPDATE, 11/13: Madras is still open with no update on when they will close. Why do they play with us so?

Being a touring Vegan musician is never easy; there's a delicate balance between starving and knowing what, when and where you can grub. If you travel throughout a region enough, you get to know the standbys, the health food stores and the one-offs.

Sometimes it's the potato chips that save you. Other times, it's the grocery store hummus and pita. Every so often though, you get a treat and find a new veg*n place you never knew existed.

I flew into Portland on Friday to attend this year's National Animal Law Conference at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, OR. I visited the "Brooklyn of the West" to make my jeans fit tighter and attend conference sessions on issues relating to the criminal prosecution of animal cruelty, the link between domestic violence and animal abuse, the intersectionality between animal rights and human rights, and so on and so forth.

But, in honor of Vegan MoFo III, you want to hear about the food, right? For the first time in a very long time, I received a vegan meal on the plane. I stopped requesting them long ago, but my Continental Airlines frequent flyer profile still lists me as a scary, radical vegan. Much to my surprise, about an hour into the flight, a box containing a vegan soy patty with cheese on a whole wheat English muffin appeared on my tray table. It was surprisingly good. A partially frozen fruit cocktail, a Sara Lee "bagel", Smart Balance (the vegan kind) and a packet of Mrs. Dash, which I'm still not sure of its intended use, accompanied it. Continental gets thumbs up on the English muffin sandwich and for getting me to Portland on time.

My first stop in Portland was La Bonita for some of the tastiest black beans to pass through my digestive track. For only $6.95, I procured a large plate with two soft tacos, a heaping mound of rice, a liberal portion of beans and chunky guacamole. Good job, NE Portland.

To fall asleep, I count the leaves of kale in Bliss's Harvest Plate. The chocolate chips in Birdbath's vegan cookie. The dollops of vegan cream cheese on a bialy. The grains of salt in a basket of Mother's sweet potato fries. I love me some very particular foods from all over this vegan-friendly city. Let's face it—you can't get everything you want from one source. There are far too many outstanding vegan dishes in New York to settle down at any one restaurant all day, so, to have the perfect day of vegan eating, you're going to have to move around a little bit. This is my theoretical favorite foods day.

Brunch at home. There are two things that ruin the first and most important meal of the day for me everywhere else. And please, for the love of brunch, correct me if I'm wrong on either of these points. 1. All restaurants make tofu scramble with nutritional yeast, which I can't stand, and 2. No restaurant serves Lady Grey tea, anywhere. (I am kind of a packaged tea aficionado, which I realize gives me absolutely no cache in the real world of people who don't throw tea parties on Boxing Day.) There is not space or time here to describe the elaborate spread that would make the perfect brunch. But there was in this post, in which a few SuperVegans gathered to test recipes from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's latest cookbook for the potatoiest, scrambliest brunch in the land.

A recent announcement on the Brooklynian message boards that a Franklin Avenue "holistic and organic" coffee shop would soon open sans cow's milk sent folks in a typing frenzy that the shop was destined to fail. Within two weeks, far in advance of the shop's opening, the owners posted on Brooklynian that they would offer organic cow's milk after all.

But, for a few days, I was able to bask in the thought of my corner coffee shop as a truly vegan-friendly establishment. I wasn't surprised to learn that cow's milk would be offered, and I'm still thrilled that such a wide variety of non-dairy milk and vegan pastries will be available. Franklin Avenue is experiencing a bit of a renaissance, so one more reoccupied storefront is a good thing. (I would be remiss not to acknowledge that gentrification is driving up prices in the few local grocery options, but there's not enough room here to do that type of unpacking.)

Before I moved to Crown Heights, I did not expect much in the way of vegan eating beyond the options available in the neighborhood's many fine West Indian restaurants. Since my arrival, I've amassed a diverse handful of go-to options when I need a quick vegan fix near my new home.

A couple of weeks ago The Village Voice pitted Baby Cakes against Doughnut Plant in a Doughnut throwdown (Babycakes won!) Yesterday they issued a veggie dog challenge in which LES' Crif Dogs and Park Slope's Bark went head to head.

We would care if either of these two options were actually vegan.

You see, while it's nice that Bark uses Field Roast, they also happen to slather their dog in butter and mayo and serve it a non-vegan bun. Crif Dogs gets points for having both a vegan dog and toppings but falls a little short with their non-vegan bun* (And really, what's a hotdog without a bun?)

According to our handy-dandy restaurant guide Foodswings is the only place serving up all-vegan hotdogs. (although, to be fair, Kate's Joint should probably get a mention).

Any SV readers out there know of a good places to get an all-vegan hotdog? If you do, dump em' in the comments section below!

*I've called Crif Dogs various times to confirm if their bun was vegan and have gotten mixed answers over various tries

This is one of Supervegan's posts for Vegan MoFo 2009.

Yesterday, the Village Voice ran a piece that pitted vegan favorite BabyCakes against (once thought vegan, but never was) Doughnut Plant. Let's listen in:

[The} three of us (one who was particularly ill-disposed towards vegan baked goods) cut off bits of the doughnuts and compared them. The Doughnut Plant clearly won in the looks department. The three of us guessed, with varying degrees of certainty, that they would taste better as well.

And such is the myth that vegan food is both uninviting and bland; it is the scourge of the food we love. But, I'm happy to report that looks aren't everything y'know - let's get back to the show:

It turned out that the Doughnut Plant's confections taste, well, doughnutty--sugary, cakey, insubstantial.

They then go on to say:

By contrast, Babycakes doughnuts really don't taste much like doughnuts, lacking that simple sugar taste.

And the verdict?:

We are shocked to report, however, that flavor-wise, they were the clear winners. (emphasis mine) The cinnamon-sugar version is intensely, fragrantly flavored with cinnamon and vanilla. The jam version is filled with flavorful raspberry preserves, with the same quality cake underneath. "This is what you want with a cup of coffee," said one of us.

Winner, yes, but, leave it up to the ol' Village Voice to end the piece with a swipe:

We take it all back, Babycakes. It is possible to make a tasty, vegan, gluten-free, baked doughnut. But let us never speak of vegan, gluten-free cupcakes. (emphasis mine)

Living in New York City, I often take the ease of being a vegan for granted; the sheer multitude of options is definitely the impetus for my obliviousness. Every so often, a tour, a road trip or vacation will act like a bucket of water and splash me back to reality.

It's in those rare moments when I do come across some grub, that I truly appreciate vegan food in all its glory. Even a short trip can lead you spiraling towards a vegan dead zone if you're not careful.

So, while on a quick jaunt to Nyack, NY recently, I was pleasantly surprised to find not only an option, but a deliciously viable vegan option to boot!

The first time I ate at Swingers I likened it to Kate's Joint, my beloved East Village diner, which may not be widely believed to be beloving worthy anymore. I was so happy! Not entirely vegetarian but surprisingly vegan friendly (surprise due in part to the cow portraits as wall art), Swingers has two locations (one in West Hollywood and one in Santa Monica) with near identical pop punk decor, sort of like when you get neighboring hotel rooms and they're mirror images of each other. Did I mention the waitresses wear goth catholic school girl uniforms?

Sadly, there is no Unturkey Club. Or Buffalo Wingless burgers. I don't think I've ever had a less edible veggie burger than the one at Swingers. But I'm getting ahead of my complaining... I have been to Swingers lots of times for lots of reasons: it was very close to where I was picketing during the writers strike and they gave us free foods (rumor on the street had it that the generosity was due to Drew Carey, a fan of writers, being a part owner), it's one of the few places in LA that's open almost 24-hours, non-vegans always suggest it as a compromise and it seems like a fair one. But here's what I've finally come to realize--explosive diarrhea is not a compromise I am willing to make anymore. I've tried their vegan pancakes (with and without chocolate chips), I've had their vegan sloppy joe, I've eaten their vegan nachos, their tofu chilaquiles, the vegan cobb salad, the vegan cheesecakes they used to carry and every single time, without fail, I spent the next morning paying a non-monetary price of the bathroom kind.

I'm not sure what they're doing over there. Is it the water? It tastes like it could be the water. We are close to Mexico, and this is starting to feel like a third-world country (we're paying our government employees in IOUs whaa?), but that's ridiculous. Even when I abstained from drinking their undrinkable tap water the results were the same. Is the vegan cheese not really vegan after all? (Maybe Operation Pancake needs to do some sleuthin'...) Possible, but a li'l casein wouldn't make me that ill. I have an on-the-stronger-side stomach (not quite carbon steel, stainless maybe. And here's the thing: I have talked to other vegans and they have said The. Same. Thing.

So let this be a warning to you, dear SV readers. Learn from my repeated suffering. I gave them many too many chances, thinking like an abuse victim that this time would be different. This time they wouldn't hurt me. THEY ALWAYS HURT ME. From the inside so you don't see it, and where it's easy to forget. But just like that lady from the Modern Love column in the NYTimes last weekend, I will no longer take part in this suffering. There is better vegan food out there for me in Los Angeles. Maybe not after 10pm, but still...