Green restaurants in NYC

Angelica Kitchen

Like Moosewood in Ithaca, the 33-year-old Angelica Kitchen was pushing organic, plant-based cuisine back when most Americans were gripped by the fact that McDonald’s had recently turned eggs Benedict into a perfectly portable breakfast sandwich.

Mantra: Support small, diverse and local farms while minimizing impact on the environment; keeping prices affordable; and not eating anything that was ever part of, or once resided in, an animal.

Habitat: The menus are recycled, the staff wears organic T-shirts, and electricity is wind-powered. There’s also a 10-cent credit on takeout orders if you bring your own container, and any leftover food deemed legally reusable is donated to City Harvest; the rest is composted.

Sustenance: Uses mostly organic ingredients sourced from as close as possible—veggies from Maine, beans from upstate’s Cayuga Pure Organics and tofu from Fresh Tofu in Pennsylvania.

Hydration: Juices squeezed from local fruits and vegetables, and purified tap water (no bottled of course).

Wild card: This has nothing to do with the environment, but Angelica deserves a nod for making squishy blocks of soy bean curd actually seem appetizing.

Eco Carbon Footprint-Green-O-Meter score:

Angelica Kitchen
300 E. 12th St., 212-228-2909