Whoa.

My life has changed dramatically recently.

A couple weeks ago, Christina took me to Curly’s, a vegan and vegetarian restaurant on 14th and 2nd. Whoa. WHOA, people!

I ordered the vegetarian sloppy joe – the classic ground soy beef, peppers, and onions in a sweet and tangy sauce on a roll with a half order of curly fries.

Whoa.

It was the best sloppy joe I’ve ever had, although my only recollection of eating them was at my elementary school cafeteria ages ago. It was sweet and delicious and had the texture of a real sloppy joe. While I will say the fries were just regular frozen fries, the sandwich more than made up for it. I was converted. (Let’s recall the time I tried to make this myself) Major fail.

I was pretty sure Curly’s was going to reside in my top 3 list of favorite restaurants in NYC but I had to make sure. Hey – I can’t make any big claims on the blog without being 110% sure. So… I took Derek there just two days later

He ordered the Dragonbowl Z which was organic short grained brown rice tossed with grilled vegetables, arugula, feta, golden raisins, sun dried tomato, scallion, extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar and soy sauce with a roast red pepper drizzle.

I took a nibble and it was amazing.

But the pièce de résistance was this Dragonbowl Q which had quinoa, avocado, soy chicken, tortilla strips, mango, corn, black bean, tomatoes, lettuce in this wonderfully creamy (but vegan) spicy dressing.

Oh.my.god. I think I was in heaven. Totally possible.  Christina had ordered this when we went out and the waitress highly recommended it.

My life has changed forever.

The combination of flavors was so completely amazing. Spicy from the chipotle dressing and sweet from the mango with all different kinds of textures and flavors mixed in there. And if you know me at all, you know I’m pretty particular about different textures mixing, but this meal was phenomenal! Derek, a vegan for 10+ years, concurred.

If I could only eat one food for the rest of my life…well… it would be pizza – let’s get serious here. But this Dragonbowl Q would be a really close second.

It’s healthy AND delicious! And not too badly priced at about $11. If I’m ever unreachable and you need to find me, chances are, I will be at Curly’s.

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I also want to say, after my love affair with Mumford & Son’s “Sigh No More” album, recommended to me by my brother, I turned my attention to Matt Wertz, who my friend Beth had recommended. His “Under The Summer Sun” album is my current fixation. I highly HIGHLY recommend you download the album. And if you’re not big into commitment, here are the list of my favorite tracks in order of preference so you can download a song or two.

Red Meets Blue

Waiting

I Will Not Take My Love Away

The Way I Feel (awesome bass)

With You, Tonight (this would have been my #1 a few days ago but it’s been on constant repeat in my iPod and my head so it’s moved down quite a bit now)

Honestly, all of the tracks are really really great.

Tags: Curly's, dragonbowl q, Matt Wertz, music, sloppy joes, vegan, vegetarian