Champs Diner, Brooklyn New York

Jay and I were in New York at the end of December and made a point of stopping by Champs Diner in Brooklyn. An old friend of mine works here so it's been on my list for a long time. I typically get overwhelmed when I go to an all vegan restaurant, since I've become accustomed to only having an option or two on the menu to choose from. As you can see, I went a little overboard at Champs.

We started out with the loaded nachos. I haven't had nachos in the longest time, so I figured this was a great place to get my fix in! It's not too difficult to order vegan nachos at a restaurant - simply omit the cheese and sour cream and our left with tomatoes, avocado, beans, onions, etc. - most people aren't too thrilled at the idea of sharing a plate of nachos with no cheese on it. They were delicious. Great ratio of chips to toppings. Jay loved the cheese and sour cream. The sour cream was really thin and smooth, which is one of the main criteria Jay judges my sour cream substitutes on - great consistency. It was not readily apparent what you were eating was vegan - job well done.

Jay went for the grilled cheese. As you can see from the pictures. It was quite decadent. Look at that melty cheese goodness in the photo above! Jay absolutely loved it. It had that amazing quality of being so good you kept on eating it even though you swore you couldn't fit anything else in your stomach. You just couldn't imagine leaving any on your plate and you didn't want the taste to stop.

One of the things I liked about the menu was the ability to add toppings to your grilled cheese. As you can see, Jay went with tomatoes  - other options included avocado or jalapenos.
Jay's comments - "it's awesome! So cheesey and melty!" That's high praise coming from a grilled cheese connoisseur.

I went for the Eggs Benedict, since they're something you can really only get if you go to an all vegan restaurant. They were awesome. I don't really know a lot about Hollandaise sauce, but this was great. It had a lemony twist to it, which helped offset the richness of the dish. The tofu eggs were thinly sliced and crispy, so they had a great consistency, although I was expecting more of an egg flavor. There wasn't anything to replicate yolk.

There were enough other things going on in the dish that you didn't miss it too much, but I had been expecting some yolk. I really liked whatever was used for the ham. Ham was one of my favorite breakfast meats before I went vegan, and I always looked forward to baked ham at Christmastime. Vegan ham isn't something you see too often, so I appreciated the thought and the execution!

Vanilla sundae with chocolate sauce and whipped cream may be my favorite dessert after a big meal. It's simple but delicious, with so many different flavors and textures. When I saw it on the menu I knew I had to have it even though it was getting late and we had to head back to Boston (I got it to go). The Brownie Sundae took me right back to my childhood. Everything in it was done perfectly - the whipped cream was light and fluffy, the ice cream was rich and smooth, the sauce was chocolatey, the brownie was moist on the inside with a great crust. The only change I would make about it is the ice cream to brownie ratio. There was way more brownie than ice cream, I would have preferred it to be more balanced.

One comment Jay had about the menu was the descriptions. The menu items were in large part described using non-vegan words. Jay's grilled cheese was said to be a cheddar-mozza mix, but clearly there was no cheddar or mozza in it. We were both very curious about what it was. Is it store bought vegan cheese? what kind? Did they develop it themselves? What is it made out of? Soy? Cashew? Rice? Almond? Tapioca? Same goes for the ham that came with my dish. It was simply described as ham. I've never seen vegan ham at a grocery store or found a recipe for it online, so I don't even know where to start in guessing what it was made out of. Take for instance the Buffalo Chik'n Sandwich -  "spicy buffalo chik’n, greens, tomatoes, sautéed onions, ranch dressing on a hero" - what is it exactly? Tofu, seitan, tempeh, TVP? Is it Gardien or made in-house? I think one reason I decided to go with breakfast instead of lunch was that for many of the sandwiches I wasn't exactly sure of what I was getting. 

I often hear many non-vegans comment on this - "You say your recipe is vegan cheese or vegan chicken or vegan meatballs, but what is it actually? Why don't you just call it what it is?" I think as vegans we tend to use non-vegan descriptions because we think that it will be easier for others to understand and relate to, but I think it might turn people off because they don't know what they're eating. Thoughts?

Overall we loved Champs Diner. It was tough making a decision on what to pick and there's a ton left of the menu we want to try. Jay said he would go back to New York to eat there again - I'd say that's high praise coming from a non-vegan!