Caravan Of Dreams — Restaurant in New York

This is a long post so I’ll TL:DR right here: Just go. The food was amazing!! So good in fact we didn’t take pictures.

It’s NYE, possibly the most horrid day to try and do something without reservations in NYC. Me and two friend decide we should go visit Candle 79 as it’s the last day they will be open. Of course they are reservation based and we can only get bar seating, but there are only two seats available. We ponder if we should wait for the third seat to open up, or do takeout. We do neither and decide to head to Candle Cafe, same thing just a different branch. It’s closed for the night.

Now we are wondering what to do and all three of us have quite an appetite right now. We search vegan places nearby. It is however approaching 9:30 and most places are due to close at 10 sadly. We call ladybird it’s open to 1:30 (or something in that vein), it too is reservation based. Maybe we can try VSpot not the best service, but the food is decent. They too are closing soon. We come across Caravan of Dreams. We call and they have seating and are open to 11. The menu, and the pictures do not look pleasing, so as we head there we are searching for something else. We look at bare burger but that’s in the God Forsaken Times Square. So we start our trek to Caravan of Dreams and our only thought is we are so hungry we’d eat anything, but won’t be coming back.

We arrive. We look at the menu. It’s a lot healthier than we usually go for, but what are we to do. We ask the server a few questions he is enthusiastic, and assuring. We splits the Seitan Nachos, and the Tapas Sampler for appetizers. I get the burrito with Seitan, my friend the quesadilla, and her boyfriend the lemon cashew pasta with a burrito to go.

Now onto the food. The Tapas sampler arrives first, we get it with sourdough. It was absolutely delicious. The Ali-oli was our favorite. We devoured it and the only thing we didn’t like was the smoked eggplant it was absolutely disgusting, but none of us are really fans of eggplant to begin with. The nachos are a nice size, the chips are a bit soft so they break. We just decided to eat it more so with our forks. Still delicious.

Entrees I had the burrito with seitan. We all had a try of it and it was the favorite amongst us. It did however feel like something was missing. Maybe more salt, but I’m a sodium addict.

Quesadilla we all had a taste as well. My friend liked it. Her boyfriend said it was good, but flavor wise he didn’t care for. I don’t really remember the taste as I had tried the sauce that came with it, but it was far too spicy for me. Me normy friend liked the spicy sauce, but it was on the side so no harm.

Cashew lemon pasta. We all agreedrd it was good, but not our favorite. My friend’s boyfriend didn’t like bacon that came with it.

Now that the food exceeded our expectations my other two friends tried the drinks. Now these two are very picky drinkers. My friend had the sex on the beach it was sweet and just what she likes and her boyfriend had a hibiscus drink. It was so good he ordered three. He really appreciated the salt on the rim and didn’t even wait for the waiter to bring it to him, he just picked it up from the bar.

Price I found the bill to be reasonably priced as well as the portion sizes. 2 appetizers, 3 entrees, and 4 drinks was a total of just under $130. The burrito was probably most worth the price entree wise as the other two were $21.

Cons This place has a very hole in the wall vibe, and the bathrooms feel the same so they aren’t the greatest. Still very usable I just wouldn’t take a selfie in it.

Remember that burrito my friend’s boyfriend ordered to go. Halfway through service the other server went home, and didn’t end up putting the burrito in so we left with out it. He solved his despair by ordering his third hibiscus margarita.

We didn’t see any desserts besides a cake that looked a little dry.

Extra point When we called they said they were closing at 11. We arrived just before 10 and left before 12. They didn’t turn, or rush some of the...

Last night, I was ate at Caravan of Dreams. It had been my third time at the restaurant and yet AGAIN, it is still my favorite.

I was introduced to the restaurant by Scott Burnhard and it has become one of my most priced vegan eateries ever since.

On this special Sunday, my roommate Azali and I were fortunate enough to meet the owners. An older couple, Mercedes & Angel, DEDICATED to health and clean eating!

When asking questions about the creation of the menu, Angel is the orchestrator behind it all! He gives the chefs and cooks the concepts, and they create the genius masterpieces.

And by gawd, that menu IS GENIUS! Completely creative and exceptionally innovative.

If you LOVE plant based food, this is a PLANT BASED HEAVEN!

I quoted Angel on something that he said, that truly touched me. “[We] make food for the sick & the healthy,” he mentioned. “This food makes sick people healthy, and it keeps the healthy people healthy.”

I LOVE that concept. It’s truly commitment to sustenance and healing.

His wife, Mercedes, was amazing as well, when talking about the best, most optimal way to receive food, she wisely told us, “I used to think we are what we eat, now I understand we are what we absorb.”

Preparation on how to receive the BEST nutrients from food is even more important than the food itself!

But let’s get into the DETAILS!

There is LIVE Music Daily at 7:30pm, so please come to dinner and catch a vibe.

Our waiter, Christian, was AMAZING!!

He first served us the Seitan Nachos, which were savory, flavorful, and absolutely delicious. Easily one of my favorite appetizers.

The owner, Angel also insisted that we try the Warm Hummus & Pesto Zattar. TO DIE FOR!

We were offered the Peanut Sesame Noodles which are, Gluten Free, Organic Noodles made from Quinoa! I thought that was so cool! There is of course peanut butter, made in-house and topped with sesame seeds. I’d describe this dish as very subtle! So, not my favorite, since I prefer food packed with flavor. It is a light peanut sauce, served warm and has a very very slight sweetness.

There is a complimentary side Salad that comes with EVERY Entrée. And my roommate ordered the RAW Pizzetta, while I ordered the Huitlacoche and Chorizo Quesadilla.

Azali said the Pizzetta was BOMB! She described the dough as a happy medium between chewy and crunchy. She described the taste of the pizza sauce as creamy with a bit of a tangy flavor.

The Huitlacoche and Chorizo Quesadilla was INCREDIBLE! It was super spicy, which was a shock to me, and it’s served with a vinaigrette micro green salad, fresh diced mango, and a dipping sauce. The flavors were literally a perfect balance and the dish was BIG and incredibly filling. SO GOOD OMG!

For drinks, I ordered the Hibiscus Iced Tea, of which I added a lot of agave — it comes unsweetened. And Azali ordered the Organic Piña Colada. She said it was delicious.

For dessert, we chose to share the Warm Brownie Sundae which came with coconut cream based icecream & coconut whipped cream atop baked, rich dark chocolate brownies and fresh, sliced, strawberries.

Angel also offered us Pancakes. Which are the most tasty Gluten Free, Sugar Free, and Dairy Free treats you will ever taste. They came with blueberries inside. And he requested a scoop of both house made strawberry & chocolate icecream, with two small mounds of coconut whipped cream. Literally so good! And that STAWBERRY ICE CREAM?! I don’t even like strawberry flavors like that… delicious.

The last of a long night of treats & sweets, was their Creamy Macchiato. Their Macchiato is a health powerhouse. It’s Gluten Free, Coffee Free, Caffeine Free, and made with an array of ingredients including Chicory Root & Roasted Dandelion Root, which gives it the taste of coffee. It was a subtle sweetness from the Coconut Cream so if you want it more Dulce, request added agave.

I cannot express enough how MAGICAL the night was! Third time is the CHARM! And I...

I am not vegan, but I really enjoyed the flavors and textures of the food and left the restaurant completely stuffed. Would definitely recommend coming here with a group of people so you can try different things!

Came here with two other friends on a rainy Tuesday night and did not have to wait long to be seated. We ordered:

Caravan Sampler ($18) - I love trying new foods, especially as someone who knows very little about vegan foods and this dish is perfect for that! Nice variety of food and I especially loved the mango salad, but I wish something interesting could have been done with the olives, instead of just having a side of plain green and red olives. It felt a bit like someone ran out of ideas on what to put on the sampler plate so they just dumped some leftover olives onto it. Besides that, a great dish.

Miso and Maple Glazed Squash and Sweet Potato Platter ($20) - A great hearty dish. It was my first time trying tempeh, so I didn't quite know what to expect especially since it was served smoked, but I actually enjoyed it! Also, the squash and sweet potato were cooked well, soft and sweet.

Huitlacoche and Chorizo Quesadilla ($21) - Quesadilla is cut into three super large pieces with a generous serving of avocado and chile de arbol sauce. Probably my favorite dish of the night.

Warm Banana Nutella Royale ($10) - (for dessert) From other Yelp pictures, I thought the pancakes were going to be like crepes, but they had a slightly more grainy texture (not bad, just interesting). It comes with the three house made coconut milk vegan ice creams (chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry), which were more tangy than regular ice cream. Overall, an interesting dish, but probably my least favorite of the night.

Overall, I was really amazed at how powerful and distinct the flavors were in all the dishes, especially since a lot of the flavor of non-vegan food derives from the meats themselves. Prices were a bit steep, but portions were generous.

*Fun facts(!!): Along with learning about vegan ingredients, I also learned a couple other fun facts about the restaurant! Apparently the water is filtered six or seven times (including a UV filter) (tasted the same to me though... my palate is probably not refined enough to detect the subtleties of such pure water...) At around 8pm, there was a live band duo in the back- great addition to the...