As I’ve mentioned before, I work for Bai (who makes Bai5) as a community manager (running social media). It’s a bit of a whirlwind as we’re growing really fast, but I get to do a lot of fun projects. Last week I got to go to New York City to do some guerilla sampling around the NYU campus.

I love the city so naturally I had a blast. One of the many wonderful things about NYC is the abundance of good food and amazing coffee. If you’re ever near the city and are a coffee lover I HIGHLY recommend downloading the app “Coffee (in)Touch.” It has hundreds of independent coffee shops on the map of NYC with ratings and detailed info. It’s my go-to for finding new places. I’ve never been disappointed by this majestic app.

I had this incredible cold brew from a coffee shop, Madman Espressso that I found on the lower east side using the app.

 

Another app I love using in the city is Foursquare. Now that it’s basically turned into a Yelp type app I like it even better. I always search for vegetarian/vegan friendly places and almost always have good luck with it. I stopped by the Grey Dog Cafe near Union Square. I had this incredible sandwich on toasted challah bread with avocado, arugala, pesto, celery and goat’s cheese. Rul Gud.

The next morning I set out to find a smoothie joint I had seen one of my favorite Instagramers post about called Liquiteria. As previously mentioned I’m addicted to superfood smoothies and this place looked awesome. The only problem was trying to pick what I wanted out of their extensive menu. I ended up choosing the “Blue Velvet” which had acai, blueberries, vanilla whey protein, coconut butter, coconut sugar, almond butter and vanilla almond milk. I asked for the almond butter on top instead of bleneded in and it might just have been the best decision I’ve ever made.

That afternoon I opened Foursquare back up to find more veggie/vegan places for lunch. I wound  up at the Peacefood Cafe which is all vegan and had a lot of raw vegan as well. I had the Tahini Sprout sandwich which had mixed sprouts, creamy avocado, cucumber, onions, shredded carrots and miso tahini with poppy seeds spread. The sauce is what got me. It had that creamy tahini taste with a hind of sweet miso. Damn.

I often choose what to order based on the following criteria: Avocado? Pesto? Variety of Veggies? Any Nuts or Cheese? Rosemary? Ginger?

If it has any of that list than I’ll definitely give it a try.

Then it was back to the work grind. Post hustle I picked up more iced coffee because you know, “when in rome.” I tried Stumptown Roasters for the first time and got a small cold brew. HOLY CRAP. It tasted like a rich espresso drink I was in heaven. So much so that I needed to document the moment with a coffee selfie.

Later that night I met up with ma gurl Fran who just moved to Hoboken. I’m obsessed with her view of the Manhattan skyline.

Naturally we got sushi because that’s how we do. (I also enjoyed a grapefruit margarita)

There was salmon, avocado, mango and some crispy things (technical name). Whatever they were the whole thing was quite satisfying.

The next day I met up with my sister and her boyfriend in Brooklyn (yes it was trek and a half)

But all was well because I got and almond butter cup smoothie from Juice Press near flatiron, which I enjoyed on my walk back to the train.

It’s always a pleasure New York!

 

Question Time:

• What Ingredients do you look for on a menu?

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