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.

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."

• The Catalan parliament passed a vote to ban bullfighting by including bulls in an animal cruelty law that protects certain animals from any kind of torture. Yahoooo!
• In other animals-are-not-for-entertainment wins, a charity claims to have freed the last dancing bear in India on Friday, December 18.
• The Brooklyn Paper says Red Bamboo Brooklyn's eminent closing is a sign of dying cultural interest in vegetarianism, and notes that RB owner, Jason Wong, is no longer a vegetarian. (Did everyone know that? I didn't know that.) Wong told The Brooklyn Paper, "The concern now is more about locally grown and less of a carbon footprint. Being a carnivore doesn’t mean you don’t care." This is true. It could also mean you are ignorant. What's your excuse, Jason Wong? And where is the hard, non-incidental evidence that vegetarianism is on the decline?
• Pups can thrive on a vegetarian diet, a report published in the British Journal of Nutrition says. But you already knew that.
• This is NOT a zebra. Prepare to be depressed.
• New restaurant reviews on Peacefood Cafe, Cocoa V, Sacred Chow, and HanGawi. Leave your thoughts for posterity, people.

• Ecorazzi announced their picks for top five animal victories of 2009. Check it!
• We ate Match Meats. I wasn't there, but I think I missed out on a good thing.
• Herbivore published a new book, The Art of Herbivore, or Somebody Give the Vegan Corndog a Handclap!. It's got every design they've ever made. Oooh la la.
• Missourians for the Protection of Dogs launched a signature drive to prevent puppy mill cruelty. Missourians: sign it. Everybody else: do what you can. Woof.
• Food, Inc. is now available on Netflix. That's it. I'm getting an account. Yes, I am that behind the times.
• Red Bamboo Brooklyn will close this month. DANG. Owner Jason Wong will re-open the spot as a non-veg restaurant with some of the same veg offerings.
• Sweet & Sara brings us more delicious, fluffy treats, now in the shapes of snowmen, angels, and reindeer! Santa, baby, please add the original s'mores to my stocking.
• New restaurant reviews on 71 Irving Coffee, Cocoa V, and, love of my Midtown lunch life, Green Symphony.

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.

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.

Am I crazy to think I can find a vegan roommate in New York City these days? How many of you live with other vegans? Did you try to have a vegan household and fail? How much of a priority is it for you? Me, I'm going a little bananas over the issue.

I've got a really nice place, for a reasonable price, in a nice part of Brooklyn. Just finding a roommate in general would not be that hard. But I've lived in a vegan house for many years now (longer than I've even been strictly vegan myself), and I've gotten pretty used to it. It really means a lot to me to live with another vegan. Not someone who is kind-of-sort-of willing to try to maybe be vegan in the house if that's the only way they can get the nice apartment. Believe me, Craigslist is hooking me up with plenty of such folks. And with even more who contact me without even mentioning the vegan thing (which is quite prominent in my listing). Does that mean they're so vegan they don't even think it's worth mentioning? Or does it mean they're too lazy or inconsiderate to even bother addressing the issue?

Obviously, not just any vegan will do; all the other stuff that makes a good match applies. They've got to tolerate my landgrabbing record collection, my curious cats, and my allergy to dirty dishes. But in exchange I'm willing to put up with all manner of idiosyncrasies from them, as long as we basically get along. That's what roommates is all about, right? (Well, and splitting the bills.) I'd settle for Felix and Oscar. I know we can't all be as tight as this odd couple:





So, what do you think? Should I give up? Do you have any encouraging or discouraging war stories to tell (either about the cutthroat NYC market or elsewhere)? And most importantly, do you know anyone who might be good for moving in with me? All the details are here.

Find these and more events in our calendar.

Monday, 6/1

Vegan Brunch release party: Celebrate the release of Isa Chandra Moskowitz's latest and brunchiest cookbook with vegan sausage and pink grapefruit mimosas made by the lovely lady herself. Free.
MooShoes, 7 p.m.
78 Orchard St., between Grand and Broome streets

Two vegan cookbooks released today: The Vegan Table, by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, author of The Joy of Vegan Baking, and The Vegan Scoop, by Wheeler Del Toro of Wheeler's Black Label Vegan Ice Cream

Tuesday, 6/2

Brooklyn Botanic Garden free admission Tuesdays (recurring event)

Wednesday, 6/3

The New York City Bar offers a free program on puppy mills and puppy mill legislation in New York. Register before hopping over. Free.
6-9 p.m., New York City Bar
42 W. 44th St., between 5th and 6th avenues

The second episode of The Goode Family airs at 9 p.m. on ABC. I didn't find the first episode to be overwhelmingly hilarious, but as a friend of mine said, "Considering this is a Mike Judge cartoon, it will get better if it manages to survive, because it will stop laying on the obvious. King of the Hill, for example, was never meant to be a laughing-out-loud affair, and it eventually managed to amusingly reconcile certain aspects of that particular culture war."

Thursday, 6/4

Edible landscaping workshop at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Learn to grow things in your tiny Brooklyn apartment that you can eat! Free. Register in advance.
6-8 p.m., Brooklyn Botanic Garden
1000 Washington Ave.

Food, Inc. premiers in NYC at the Museum of the Moving Image
35th Avenue at 36th Street, Astoria

Saturday, 6/6

Rally for Worldwide Day of Protest Against Horse-Drawn Carriages at Columbus Circle with Friends of Animals, the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages, HEART and mayoral candidate and current council member Tony Avella.
12 p.m., Columbus Circle

Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary's Spring benefit dinner for the NY Vegetarian Expo. $65.
5:30 p.m., The Women's Club of Albany
725 Madison Ave., Albany, NY

Catskill Animal Sanctuary's Shindig 2009 features six speakers, including Brian Shapiro of the Ulster County SPCA and Amie Hamlin of the New York Coalition for Healthy School Food. $10.
12-6 p.m., Catskill Animal Sanctuary
316 Old Stage Rd., Saugerties, NY