A wave of veg-forward cafes has hit New York in recent years, thanks to transplants from places like L.A. and Sydney, where they've totally nailed healthy food that looks and tastes good. The newly opened Orchard Grocer, on the Lower East Side, is not that kind of place. In fact, it's the first vegan cafe in the city that feels truly, well, New York, taking its cues from one of the city’s most defining cuisines: the Jewish deli.
Back up: a vegan jewish deli? Yes. As in, carrot lox, seitan Reubens, and butterless black-and-white cookies. And guess what? Even by non-vegan standards (note: I am not vegan), it’s really, really good.
The concept works largely because of the three owners: Erica and Sara Kubersky, and Joya Carlton. The Kubersky sisters are Queens natives who grew up frequenting the many delis that dot downtown New York with their Jewish family, while Carlton is a playful, vegetable-inclined chef who has logged hours at both Buvette and The Butcher’s Daughter. “The Jewish deli is a very Lower East Side thing, but, at the same time, the neighborhood is really changing,” says Erica.
That mix of old and new permeates every aspect of the shop: the bright-blue vintage-y awning on the outside; the sign on the wall reading, “Palm oil free: the only way to be!” on the inside. The classic glass display cases are filled with “tuna” salad (made with chickpeas), and the carrot “lox” is splayed out to look like salmon. Shelves of colorful condiments and treats line the walls (the feeling of abundance, Erica notes, is an essential part of the Jewish deli vibe). But look closer and the mayos, cake frostings, and pasta sauces are all dairy-, palm oil- and gluten-free.
“Sometimes vegetarians can be awfully serious,” says Carlton. “If we can engage people with a sense of wonder and creativity, then we can get them hooked on vegan food.” That playfulness is on full display on the deli menu. Consider that bagel with lox, named “The Edith” (all menu items are named for past and present cats who frequented MooShoes, the shoe shop the two sisters own next door). It’s an Everything Bagel from Orwasher’s topped with cashew cream cheese—whose fluffy secret is soaking the cashews in soy milk before blending them—and carrots cut razor-thin, cold-smoked and spice-rubbed in the exact same manner as lox, then glossed with the excess liquid from the soaked cashews to give them that fish-like sheen. The bagel is very photogenic, but, more importantly, the combo provides the same hangover-cure comfort you expect from a bagel and schmear.
Then there’s The Marlowe, Carlton’s take on a Reuben. Sure, a seitan-based Reuben is a vegan cliché. But this one—made with tangy, beet-brined seitan, a garlicky, safflower-oil-disguised-as-mayo dressing, Pickle Guys’ sauerkraut, and a vegan version of Swiss (Chao Cheese) that actually melts elegantly—is addictive. I didn’t expect anyone to believe me, so I asked Brooks Headley, chef-owner of Superiority Burger nearby, who recently told Carlton that The Marlowe was the best vegan version of a Reuben in town. “It’s just more thoughtful than most other vegan sandwiches out there,” Headley told me. “The ingredients they’re using and the way they’re using them—like getting really high-quality seitan and then thinking to brine it in beet juice—are really smart.”
But the most convincing endorsement comes from the Kubersky sisters’ entire, decidedly-not-vegan, Jewish family. Erica says they’ve all been in, multiple generations, and have given the food their stamp of approval. “My father is here four out of seven days a week,” she says, proudly. “He thinks we nailed it.”
Orchard Grocer is located at 78 Orchard Street in NYC.