Best Restaurants for Meatless Meals in NYC

Great vegetarian food isn’t hard to come by in New York City, just take a look at the city’s best vegetarian restaurants for proof. The restaurants create more than veggie burgers — we’re talking about tapas bars, pizzerias, Michelin-starred places and some of the city’s best burger restaurants. New York restaurants have something for everyone’s dietary needs from paleo to gluten-free to vegan. From high-concept cooking to comfort food, here are some of the best meatless meals in NYC.

Dirt Candy

Moving the popular vegetarian restaurant from a tiny East Village storefront to a space on Allen Street, Amanda Cohen strives to make people crave vegetables. During the move to the Lower East Side, she ramped up her menu and a space three times the size of the 18-seat original. The spot gives her room to create more vegetable-forward dishes like Korean fried broccoli; black radish spaghetti and ravioli; and mapo eggplant served with baby bok choi. For brunch, vegetarians settle for green eggs, zucchini pancakes and a radish and goat cheese omelet. Be sure to try the Brussels sprouts tacos, which are a big hit.

Superiority Burger

Brooks Headley turned his veggie burger pop-up into an uberpopular, ultra-tiny East Village brick and mortar, specializing in its namesake item, a veggie burger blend of lentil, quinoa and black beans. Other favorites on the ever-changing menu include a burnt broccoli salad; the Sloppy Dave, a meatless sloppy Joe made with tofu; and the daily gelato flavor. The Superiority Burger works under the concept everything is vegetarian and a lot of things are accidentally vegan.

by CHLOE

The og on Bleecker Street, by CHLOE, hit outside-and-around-the-corner line status, and its Flatiron location is just as popular. Cupcake-slinging vegan queen Chloe Coscarelli creates an entirely plant-based concept. by CHLOE offers counter service, meat- and dairy-free grab n’go treats, cold-pressed juices and meals. The restaurants are embraced by both vegetarians and meat eaters with options like avocado pesto pasta, a meatball smash or a burger that’s tempeh, lentil and chia seed blend. Weekend brunch options include scrambled tofu, pancakes and quinoa hash browns.

Dovetail

John Fraser’s vegetable-forward fine-dining restaurant offers guests a myriad of dining options, putting the focus on pleasure. The Upper West Side Michelin-starred restaurant Dovetail reopened in 2015 after just a month of top-to-bottom revamping. While you can order a la carte at the bar, Dovetail offers tastings and a fixed-price menu. For $120, a vegetable tasting menu comes with courses like trumpet mushroom carpaccio, acorn squash agnolotti and roasted beets with tofu.