Please visit my profile to see the location of my blog, Marty's Flying Vegan Review, for the full review, some flying pictures, and pics of this meal.
Our first stop in Riverhead was at the one and only health food store, The Green Earth Natural Food Market. It has a modest selection of items that I might be able to use but most notably missing soy (or other) milks from the fridge and no Daiya cheese. Without my two go to items what could I get? A smoothie. I just told the proprietor to mix some fruit, a banana, veggies and some greens and this is what I got. Not bad at all but for nearly 10 bucks, wow. All the same, better to have a ten dollar smoothie made with organic fruits and veggies than a Diet Coke anyway. I don't mean to say there's nothing of value here, just that whilst on the road there was less of what I needed for my cooler bag. There is a Cafe Menu and Smoothie Menu online but I didn't see anything obvious in the store hanging on the walls. There were two hot crock pots of soup and although they smelled good enough, to be honest, they might have benefited from a swipe with a wet rag. I might have just missed the late afternoon soup rush but still. I know a small business, especially a Health Food store on the East End of Long Island must be a struggle. I'm glad to support them with my smoothie money and perhaps one day will make it back for something more substantial.
I drank this much before I even though of taking a picture.
Whilst waiting for my smoothie I asked where one might procure a decent vegan meal and was told the Athena Grill might be able to serve up a decent plate of grilled veggies. (I personally consider this an oxymoron and an insult to and by a chef). I wasn't thrilled but then the proprietor of Green Earth suggested a Turkish place next to the Aquarium. In case you didn't know, in Greek, that means "Fish Prison." Knowing a bit about the history between Turks and Greeks I thought it worth a go.
Perhaps there would be fireworks. After following the GPS around in a few circles, (in a pretty small town no less), we fount this:
It's actually the side of this:
And if you look there are outdoor tables under umbrellas and a really nice river to look at.
Since I used to live on the water and my flying partner was from Cincinnati and didn't have as much water gazing in his logbook as I, this was my view. Still, much nicer than the side of the building.
The menu had a few possibilities and although the Babaganoush has yogurt, (no surprise), so does the Hummus. I asked the waiter, "Really?" He said, "Sure!" Huh. OK, so I explained the vegan thing to him and out of the few things he suggested only one had Feta cheese, which I queried him about and he said, "Sooo, no."
I got the Eggplant with Tomato Sauce ...
The Falafel wrap with no yogurt sauce. (It still came but on the side in a plastic container).
and the Spicy Mashed Vegetables.
This was my favorite dish of the night. It was the Eggplant dish. It had a bit of garlic but a really nice hint of sweet. I liked the soft chunks of eggplant, (I don't like when eggplant has a hardness left in it), and the other veggies, while very well stewed, still held their shape. The only thing I wish was that there wasn't so much oil laying on the bottom as you can see 2 pictures down.
The Spicy Mashed Vegetables were also good but nothing over the top. The main spice came from the raw garlic and the texture was like a nut paste. I thought it was a decent enough spread for the pita. I would have liked it to really pack a wallop in the spice department and when I asked for hot sauce they brought me the traditional hot sauce of Turkey, apparently, Trappy's Louisiana Hot Sauce. I would have preferred a Schrug, or other mid eastern, southeastern Europe chili based sauce.
As you can see on the left, there's mostly water in the bottom of the plate, on the right, mostly oil.
The Falafel was good, certainly above the barre, but could have used a bit more spice. I enjoyed that it was cooked a bit longer than most and had a decent crust which added to the texture of the bit. I got nervous, however, when the plate ... read more