We love Harlem and everything about it! Seasoned Vegan is Harlem’s very 1st full-service Vegan restaurant and is truly a hidden gem in the neighborhood.
The food you love, veganized.
A while ago, we were invited by a dear friend of ours, to go up to Harlem and try this amazing local vegan restaurant.
Our answer immediately was “Yes! Of course!”. Our Founder is vegetarian, going on vegan and we just love everything we can learn about this growing lifestyle.
We really enjoy Harlem and everything about that neighborhood, from the restaurants, to the vibe, to the shops and nightlife. Everything there has a special taste. The uniqueness is hard to describe.
Getting there was, of course, super easy and in no time, we dropped off 110 Street Station Central Park North, on the 2/3 (red line).
Just a 5-minute walk from there, we arrived at Seasoned Vegan, Harlem’s very 1st full-service Vegan restaurant.
We were very lucky to be hosted exclusively by the owner, Brenda and her son Aaron Beener.
Our restaurant specializes in preparing a very unique type of cuisine: gourmet vegan soul food. We use the term “soul food” loosely because we are not referring exclusively to the typical cuisine of the Southern region of the United States.
This sounds great and extremely normal, right? Now, imagine back in the 1980’s, when Brenda decided to go vegan with her family! The entire community judged them and didn’t really get what they were doing, nor why.
In the beginning of this journey, during Thanksgiving celebrations, no one would invite them over after this dietary decision. Brenda even mentioned that they literally felt as if they were aliens.
But, as time went by, little by little people from their community started to open up, tried her dishes and now, every-single-person wants to be invited to her Thanksgiving parties! Haha!
The restaurant was finally founded in 2014 and is quite spacious, with great natural light that certainly give it more life! You can see through inside the kitchen and peek in to see how everything is prepared.
The dishes are organic and 100% vegan! If you’re the carnivore type, we truly recommend you to give it a chance and stop by. We are certain they won’t disappoint you.
It’s incredible how all the dishes we’ve tried are extremely flavorful and clearly made with love.
So, you might want to try:
- Lemon Crusted “Chicken” Nuggets: fermented soy chicken nuggets breaded and fries
- Stuffed Avocado: one avocado sliced, pitted and filled with almond meat and topped with cashew “cheese” and pico de gallo. Seasonal and Gluten free
- Raw Lasagna: raw zucchini sliced and cashew “cheese” layered into shredded spinach, topped with homemade raw marinara. Gluten free
In addition, for dessert we ate one of the best Red Velvet cupcake of our lives!
And still, if you’re not able to go there, or if you need to schedule a quick pick-up, you can do it all online, though their website. Also, take a look at an IGTV Video we did during one of our visits!
For the master chefs out there, stay tuned! Brenda has had plans of launching her own vegan cook book with yummy recipes. We hope it comes out soon!
Be sure to enjoy and explore the neighborhood before or after going to Seasoned Vegan!
So, if you’re also a fan of Harlem, you might enjoy some of the places that the beauty Africa Miranda shared with us!
Finally, to try some cooking at home and be sure how to stay fit and healthy, take a look at these bodybuilding meal plans for vegans. And try the handcrafted, dairy-free and SO delicious bite-size vegan cupcake flavors at Baked By Melissa!
Hours:
Tuesday – Thursday: 5pm – 10pm
Friday: 5pm – 2am
Saturday: 11am – 2am
Sunday: 11am – 9pm
Location: 55 Saint Nicholas Avenue
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Kim-Julie Hansen
*Last Updated on Feb/2020.*
