My 13 yr old daughter has been a vegetarian (no meat, no fish, everything else is ok)for 1 1/2 yrs. We are going to NYC in August for 4 nights, and I'd like to be able to give her some nice dining choices. We went to Japan in April and it was extremely difficult to get good food for her there. I hope in NYC we will have good choices, not just Italian (although we will do that at least one dinner), but other types of food also. She does not like Indian.

We are staying at the Muse in the theater district on 46th St., and will definitely be trying out Zen Palette close to there (the one at 9th and 46th). Someone told me of a good place for casual lunch on 43rd btwn 8th and Broadway (next to Times Square Hotel) called Green Symphony.

I went to a great Thai place in Tribeca a few yrs ago, long menu, and will try to dig that place up- it would be great for her.

Other recommendations, especially for pre-theater dinners close to the hotel?

I think the Thai place in Tribeca might have been Ginger Ty...

Has anyone been to Kate's in the East Village?

Although this is not near your hotel, but Angelica's Kitchen in the Lower East Village (12th and 2nd Ave.) is a terrific vegan place that will wow non-vegans (including me).

That's fine, as we will be in the Village on Saturday morning, poking around, and then can head over to eat lunch at Kate's or Angelica's Kitchen.

What did you have at Angelica's Kitchen? Just trying to get an idea of the type of food, as I am not too familiar w/vegan.

Thank you for the recommendation.

emd, do you know menupages.com? You can find restaurants by cuisine and by area. When I look for vegetarian in the west 40s (where most of the theaters are) I get 2 listings, Zen Palate and Zenith. I must admit, I'm not a Zen Palate fan, partly b/c I they don't serve alcohol , but mostly I just don't care for the food.

Zenith sounds good though on 48th & 8th. Here's info
http://menupages.com/restaurantdetai...9&cuisineid=68

In the west 50s, there are 3 listings and I think a great one for you will be Vynl. It's a cool, retro diner place with well priced tasty food that's a mix of Asian/veggie and American. It's not strictly vegan but has lots of veggie choices, so it's ideal for a "mixed" couple like you two.

Mi Nidito at 8th & 51st. is Mexican and also not all vegan, but lots of good choices.
http://menupages.com/restaurantdetai...0&cuisineid=68

Candle 79 is considered by some to be the best vegetarian in the city. It's on the upper eastside so would be nearish the Met Museum or the Frick. I've been there and it's good.
http://menupages.com/restaurantdetai...neid=68&home=Y

Gobo is all vegan with Asian influences. 2 locations

1426 34rd ave btwn 80th and 81st
401 6th ave btwn waverly place and 8th st

Some other ideas:

pure food and wine
54 irving place btwn 17th and 18th

kate's (I've not been, but it's been recommended as a good veggie place).
58 ave b at 4th st

Counter in the East Village:
http://counternyc.com/

Caravan of Dreams. It features "live food".

http://caravanofdreams.net/

Spring St. Natural in Soho
http://www.springstreetnatural.com/

And yes, Angelica Kitchen is a vegan must.

There are no Thai places listed in Tribeca on menupages. Could it have been Wild Ginger in the village? They have several locations.

There are a few good Thai places near your hotel. I like Siam Inn and Pnngsri Thai gets good reviews.

Wow, mclaurie, now I have to choose from so many good choices! Excellent- thanks so much.

Will do a trip report on this one. And maybe we can meet up at one of the places on the above list that does serve vino! Let me see how the weekend shapes up and I'll post back on that. I think we will have Sunday free til we leave at for LGA around 3 pm.

Red Bamboo in the west village is excellent.

Zenith and Vynl are pretty close to the hotel and look GREAT.

I am also looking up all of the Village places as we will be there on Sat. morning/lunch.

We may go to the Met on Sunday so am keeping Candle 79 on the list too.

GREAT SUGGESTIONS! My daughter will be so excited. I have to admit that I do not cook this creatively for her- it is a bit hard having one vegetarian in the family at dinner time.

Can't give personal recos since I don;t do vegetarian - but besides the obvious (Italian, Chinese, Indian that always have vegetarian choices) you might want to try menureader.com. It lists over 80 vegetarian restaurants in Manhattan - and you can search by neighborhood - with diner reviews and actual menus to search.

Hangawi (a Korean restaurant) is the highest rated vegan or vegetarian restauarant in the Zagat survey with 25 points for food.

Franchia, Candle 79 and Gobo all have 23.

There are a total of 28 choices listed in these two categories.

There are several Thai places in Tribeca but I would not recommend any of them to a visitor. Two Asian places in that area with many vegetarian selections are Kori (Korean influenced) on Church Street and Nam on Reade Street (upscale Vietnamese). I eat at Nam often with vegetarian friends and they like it very much.
Before I list other options, please let us know if you are looking for strictly vegetarian places or just places that offer a good range of vegetarian selections. In the latter category for Thai food with a French accent is Elephant on 1st Street between 1st and 2nd Avenue. www.elephantrestaurant.com

Not too far away is the strictly vegetarian Tsampa, at 212 E. 9th Street, a small and very friendly Tibetan place with great noodles dishes and excellent unusual salads located in a mini-Japanese enclave of the East Village.

I do not care for Zen Palate at all, but if you do go there, make sure to go to the branch near Union Square and eat upstairs, not in the main cafe downstairs.

OK, two strikes now on Zen Palate, so I am dropping it from the list.

I think we could go either way- either restaurnats w/just vegetarian (I will eat vegetarian w/her) or ones that have a good variety for a vegetarian but also serve meat dishes. I do want to get in some strictly vegetarian just to impress my daughter who never really gets good vegetarian here (in the suburbs outside of D.C.- unless we go into D.C.).

I am so impressed w/the responses I am getting here- I never thought I'd get this variety and this number of options! Thanks to everyone. I wish we had a whole week!

emd:

I have to admit that I have no idea, nor can recall, what I had. It was about a year-and-a-half ago. All I remember is that I enjoyed the food for what it is, especially for a diehard carnivore like me.

I also enjoyed the wines that we all brought - it is a BYOB place, fyi.
I do remember bringing a bottle of a Ch. Beaune Bouchard '94 and a terrific '90 Ch. Lagrange. They went very well with our dishes.