The Juice Press NYC

The Juice Press is take out/delivery juice cleanse and raw vegan establishment. All their juices are cold-pressed and organic. Everything on the menu is 100% organic as a mater of fact. With several locations around Manhattan, this place makes it simple to get easily absorbable nutrition, fast. After being here many times, I have never had a complaint aside from the odd time that the person in front of me decides to buy out the item I had come for. This is a pretty good indicator though of their popularity, nutrition and superior creations.

I've tried -

Juices and Smoothies:

(A) Complete Source - Formula: carrot, celery, parsley, spinach. according to norman walker this formula is the most assimilable source of protein. vegetation is the prime source of all nutrition, including protein, carbohydrates, fat, water, & salts.

Thoughts: Simple a great green juice complete with all the essentials.

(C) Sweet Potato Pie - Formula: carrot, sweet potato, 1/4 apple, flax, peruvian maca extract. sweet potato is a beta carotene gold mine! carrot is known to be a great liver detoxer. the sugars in carrots convert easily to a useable source of energy. sweet potato is a great source of vitamin c. you want that. trust me.

Thoughts: Though totally delicious, this is very sweet. With the maca extract and flax, along with apple and sweet potato, I think I prefer the taste to straight up carrot juice though it's still pretty similar. No shortage of carotenoids going on in this juice.

(E) Drink Your Salad -Formula: ripe tomato, carrot, celery, beet, parsley, kale, spinach, lemon, pinch of the following: cayenne, onion, garlic, sea salt. spicy! yes this has got some of the spicy but not overly spicy kick to it. people love it! it’s a hearty filling drink with great detox properties from all of the produce and spices used.

Thoughts: When they say 'spicy!' they're not kidding around. This one defiantly has a kick to it. I think I'd rather eat my salad unjuiced but if you're doing a cleanse, I don't see why not.

(H) Simple Green - Formula: cucumber, celery, lemon, aloe, kale, blue mana, pinch of sea salt.

Thoughts: My favorite green juice here. Very salty in flavor. Great for balancing your electrolytes.

(I) Doctor Green - Formula: pineapple, apple, lemon, ginger, kale. highly manufactured foods from which as much as possible of the nutritious matter has been removed is advocated, generally by those interested in its sale. such food would be advantageous only if it were possible to remove or surgically modify a great part of our digestive canal. drink as much as you can!

Thoughts: This flavor is tropical and fresh. Super easy to digest and a good way to get the nutrients from kale if you're not a big fan of green juice. I'd highly recommend it.

(M) Green Giant - Formula: blended spinach, kale, apple, coconut water, coconut flesh, raw cacao powder, spirulina, 1 date, squeeze of lemon, pinch of cayenne and sea salt. wow! this super blended green smoothie slash juice is what we like to call a smuice. this hits the spot for everything from a meal replacement to detoxing the blood, recovering from a hangover, or just keeping your digestive system healthy, this drink has it all.

Thoughts: If you're not a green smoothie person, prepared for the texture of plant fibers in your mix, this one might not be for you. The flavor is mostly of sweetness and spirulina. I think I prefer my smoothies freshly made than pre-bottled.

Cardamom Milk - Formula: organic unpasteurized coconut milk, cloves, cardamom, ginger, and coconut oil.

Thoughts: Wonderful. This blend of creamy texture and spices is even better than a soy chai latte, and the coconut fat would actually keep your blood sugar stable.

Raw Food:

Coconut Seviche - organic coconut meat, cucumber, red onion, tomato and jalapeno pepper marinated in cilantro and lemon dressing.

Thoughts: Interesting flavor. Having never tried the cooked version, it's difficult to asses the true comparison.

Ravioli - raw sliced turnip filled with cashew cheese, garnished with black sesame seeds and served with home made raw pesto.

Thoughts: Great raw vegan pasta. I love the use of turnip which doesn't seem to get too much attention in the raw food circuit. I suggest accompanying it by a salad if you want a full belly.

Acai Bowl - acai, banana, coconut, dates etc.

Thoughts: This raw food bowl can substitute as a healthy dessert or a morning meal instead of cereal. The natural way fruit can sweeten something to the point it can be this scrumptious is amazing to me.

Raw Oatmeal - raw oats, cashew milk, dates, spices and topped with coconut flakes.

Thoughts: Sweet and easily digestible with only whole fruit as sweetener, this deliciously fibrous treat is full of wonderful flavor with it's blend of spices and is completely satisfying.

Rating 10/10

http://thejuicepressonline.com/

One Lucky Duck

One Lucky Duck is the take out companion of Pure Food and Wine. They prepare small batch, take-out, raw vegan sweets, juices, smoothies and ice cream. There is a small amount of seating where you can also get an array of salads and savory dishes. Walls are covered in nuts, truffles, cookies, coconut oil, sweeteners, dog treats an supplements. The vibe is cozy but busy.

This is one of my favorite vegan establishments in NYC so far. Needless to say, the list of things I've tried has been over several visits:

Smoothies:
cacao or carob latte – $9
banana, cashew milk, cacao or carob, vanilla

Thoughts: This is by far my favorite thing I've tried here so far. I get mine with carob and no sweetener. It's satisfying, thick and creamy.

green mango – $9
mango, cucumber, cilantro, coconut water, lime

Thoughts: Marvelous! If you love the taste of coconut water and want a good way to get in some cleansing greens, this is where it's at. The taste of cilantro is not overpowering so with the combination of cucumber, mango and lime, this makes for a deliciously fresh taste.

Sweets:
mallomar – $6
chocolate coated pecan cookie with vanilla cream GF

Thoughts: With a thick dollop cashew based cream on the top as its marshmallow and a crunchy chocolate dipped base, I'd say they're better than their mass produced counterparts by far. Trouble is, I could easily eat more than one, and if you want to be satisfied, two is a little overkill financially speaking.

moon pie – $9
chocolate brownie vanilla cream sandwich GF

Thoughts: If you're really looking for something raw vegan that seems to mimic its original texture, this is pretty close. I still have no idea how they got the cake portion to have the fluffiness of real wheat flour cake and still have it raw and gluten free. Not really for me though the flavor was great.

lemon bar – $8
almond coconut crust, tart lemon custard GF

Thoughts: I tried these as some free samples. While I'm not a huge fan of lemon desserts, these tasted much like a traditional lemon bar, but with better texture. I was pleasantly surprised.

chocolate caramel bar – $5
chocolate dipped pecan caramel bar O

Thoughts: I was a little underwhelmed by these. Felt there was a bit too much of the bar base and not enough of the caramel filling. **I wouldn't chance this one if you're gluten sensitive.

chocolate ganache tart – $12
chocolate ganache filling, chocolate crust GF

Thoughts: Coming from a self proclaimed chocoholic, this is an obvious favorite. Served with cashew cream, it is absolutely addictive. That being said, it's very sweet and may have you bouncing off the walls after if your blood sugar is out of wack or you haven't eaten enough solid food ahead of time to balance your nerves from the caffeine in the cacao. Also, the price for this seems a little steep for raw vegan tarts since I'm used to the $5-$7 slices in Canada but for NY the average seems to be $12-$14 though outrageous, it's in the ballpark for the city as I see it.

orreo cookie – $3.5
vanilla cream filled chocolate cookie GF

Thoughts: I don't know why but I tend to love raw desserts generally because of their moist texture due to fresh ingredients. This one just tries too hard to be like a real oreo. It's dehydrated to the point of a packaged cookie. Still tasty and one of the cheaper options if you're just looking for a sweet snack.

linzer cookie – $5
spiced hazelnut and almond cookie sandwich, raspberry jam GF

Thoughts: This is my favorite raw vegan cookie I've ever tried. The flavor is spicy and outstanding. The raspberry jam layer in the center is just perfect; not too sweet. Coupled with a smoothie, it's my breakfast made in heaven.

Rating: 9.5/10