Dining Out in New York City - Cafe Gitane

Avocado Toast - Lemon Juice, Olive Oil, Chili Flakes - Cafe Gitane

My favorite vegan chef, Chloe Coscarelli inspired me to dine at Cafe Gitane, with two locations on Jane Street and Mott Street, I visited Mott Street in Nolita. It's a buzzing cafe with a European feel.

It's not the type of place where you feel overly welcomed as a guest, at least for me. In fact, I sometimes felt like I was inconveniencing our waiter just being there, but when you reach a certain level of popularity I guess it just doesn't seem necessary to treat your patrons like valued customers. It also could have been that I wasn't the model or celebrity they may be used to for diners. We grabbed aggressively stalked a seat at the bar, because the wait for a table was 45 minutes. Be warned it's small and often crowded, especially during brunch hours. Our bar stools were actually great because we had an up-close and personal view of the cooks at work preparing beautiful lattes and gourmet food. 

Moroccan Couscous - Cafe Gitane

I knew immediately I'd be ordering their famed Avocado Toast, but chose to be kind and split this with my boyfriend. The seven-grain toast is covered edge to edge with mashed avocado then doused in lemon juice and olive oil with a generous sprinkling of chili flakes. I liked it, but I've got to be honest, I've made a better version at home. I like when the toast is crunchy and this was softer with a heavier lemon flavor. Sharing left me with enough room to test another other vegan-friendly dish, the Moroccan Couscous, which definitely was not a sample size. This heaping tower of couscous is a work of art, speckled with color from the red peppers, raisins, toasted pine nuts, potatoes, and topped with hummus and eggplant. It's served with a vibrant green oil and two small pieces of bread with more red peppers. For $14 you get a full meal. I loved this. It was hearty, filling, flavorful, creamy, nutty, and fresh-tasting. I took home half of it, but ate that later in the day. In addition to my meal I got a Latte, but was disappointed to find they only serve soy milk, for some reason I figured almond milk would be in their supply. It was still great quality coffee. 
My boyfriend got the Baked Eggs Sandwich and thought it was pretty darn good. We would come back, but not during peak hours.

Tip: CASH ONLY

Cafe Gitane

242 Mott Street

New York, NY 10012

Cafe Gitane Website

Latte with Soy Milk - Cafe Gitane