5
Angela Gu -
11 months ago
If you're like me and have lived in New York for many years, you may associate shawarmas with late-night drunk food. This was one of the reasons why I hesitated to visit this place at first, despite it being highly recommended as one of the best restaurants in PV for vegans.
Being a vegan myself, I ordered the falafel sandwich and watched Sammy, the owner, cook everything from scratch in his one-person kitchen. To be honest, my expectations were low because all the falafel I've had in the U.S. have been bland and dry, but was I blown away by this one. Sammy’s falafel sandwich is a warm, hearty, comforting meal packed with flavor. The falafel is moist and well-seasoned, the garlic sauce and hummus do well to bring out the flavors of the falafel, and the warm pita wraps everything together like a hug.
I've had the pleasure of getting to know Sammy as a person. We talked all about his passion for getting people healthy. Having not had the most healthy lifestyle when he was younger, Sammy is very conscious about food and nutrition. He does marathon trainings on the side and uses the menu as a way to play around with food to see what types of food can help sustain one's energy without any spikes or crashes. This is food that not only tastes delicious and keeps you feeling full but also gives you enough energy for the whole day. My favorite thing about Sammy's food is that it does not create gut inflammation, which means I can eat here every day without any digestive problems, and believe it or not, that is hard to find here.
One of the things I love about this place is that you can see all the spices he uses on the wall behind the counter, which makes the food feel so much homier. This is the what a home-cooked meal tastes like. As a health-conscious person myself, I prefer to eat foods like this more than foods that get marketed as "healthy" such as smoothie bowls and salads because these traditional recipes carry the wisdoms of people who understood how to heal the body with food and only food.
Pictured:
- Vegan soup (not on the menu but you can order)
- Kitchen with wall of spices
- Falafel plate
- Oatmeal pancakes that Sammy made for me one day because he was making breakfast for himself and generously asked if I wanted any (unfortunately, I don't think this is available to be ordered, but you can always ask)