So, some of you know that I used to work at Peanut Butter & Company in Greenwich Village. There were a very few upshots from working there: one being meeting my former girlfriend/now best friend and another being her introducing me to Lifethyme.
Lifethyme is probably my favorite and most visited health food store in the city. Why? Let me count the ways:
It's in the heart of beautiful Greenwich Village. This is the Jefferson Market building, a former library. Check
this photo!
Lifethyme has a kickin salad bar with tons of raw options:
Raw marinated onions, raw mushrooms, zucchini pasta, sprouted lentils, cucumber salad. The salad bar is no more expensive than other salad bars around the city but as a money saving tip, I will mention that most salad bars (including this) are half-price after 7 pm.
tofu salad, spaghetti, grilled zucchini, curried chickpeas, too much to remember...
Prepared foods deli case! Tons of raw and vegan options.
A juice bar! They also have demonstrations with samples from the bar and specific companies randomly, which is nice.
Fruits and nuts in many a variation:
Plus
kale chips, granola, cookies, raw truffles, sandwiches, raw falafel, raw sushi rolls, etc. It's overwhelming. I narrowed it down to this meal yesterday:
Raw zucchini noodles in marinara over
red leaf lettuce with
grilled tomatoey tofu. The noodles were fantastic. Most of their raw creations are. For whatever reason, the tofu was kind of bland. BYOPepper + Salt.
Lifethyme does have seating upstairs if you so desire. I took my lunch to nearby Washington Square Park:
It's a nice little oasis, as long as the NYU kids aren't out in full force. Most of the time you can sit and chill and get some free entertainment - be it people watching, a chess game, a cello player, someone offering you weed, someone screaming obscenities, or, on the particular day I was there - a person practicing bagpipes!
Across from the park are some beautiful rowhouses (now owned by NYU), including one lived in by Henry James as he wrote
Washington Square.
If you are inclined toward peanut butter, it's just on the
south side of the park. More reccomendations for that area are the
Dosa Cart,
Vegetarian Paradise 2, and
Sacred Chow.
I love this are but somehow I've missed Lifethyme all this time! I must get there, it looks amazing! Thanks for the tour, you're making a lot of people jealous now :) Have you ever been to Red Bamboo? That's where I end up whenever I'm in that neighborhood. Great pics, those houses are gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've ever been to Red Bamboo... I've heard it's a lot like VP2.
DeleteOh, I know, haha I WISH I could live in a place like tat.
what a great review! i love lifethyme, but i've never had their hot bar...going to have to remedy that! and i had no idea you used to work at pbco!!!! wow i bet that was awesome. :D
ReplyDeleteHaha PBco was an adventure. Definitely try some of their bar stuff - do you ever try the deli case stuff?
DeleteLifethyme sounds like a wonderful market. I love places like that! Plus, a tasty lunch in a nice park can't be beat.
ReplyDeleteYeah I love little stores like that too. Luckily it was a nice enough day to enjoy the park.
DeleteI can't believe that Lifethyme has never made my list of places to visit. Well, after this post, that has got to change.
ReplyDeleteOnly vegans would put a place like this on their to-visit list ;)
DeleteYou have an unlimited number of options in the City, don't you. Sheesh.
ReplyDeletemaybe? What are other cities like??
DeleteJust WISH we had a place like this right by us!
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely nice but I try not to make it a habit of going too often.
DeleteAll the salad bar options sound interesting and delicious...not just your average shredded carrots and cherry tomatoes etc. I'm really enjoying this tour of NYC...it's sort of like taking a little trip without leaving home.
ReplyDeleteYeah! And it's not really more expensive than other salad bars, which I appreciate.
DeleteI've said it before, I'll say it again - really enjoying the vegan's eye view of New York.
ReplyDeleteThat place looks sweet. You had me at 'raw truffles'...actually, you had me at 'kicking salad bar'. Then once more for good luck at 'raw truffles'.
Glad you like it! I had to really keep myself from buying the truffles...
DeleteOhhhhh! How is it that I didn't read this post *before* I got back from spending my last day in New York/the US (FOR THIS TRIP JUST FOR THIS TRIP RBEATHE HANNAH BREATHE) visiting Garden of Eden, Health Nuts, and Whole Foods?! I want to run back outside right now to go here, but I've already spent so much of the monies on raw snacks and chocolate...
ReplyDeleteP.S. I wish I knew what you looked like, so I could've spent these past few days scanning the streets for you ;)
It's probably for the best. I'm overwhelmed enough by this one place and I've never even heard of Health Nuts....
DeleteYou mean you don't have horn-rimmed glasses and perpetually wear a fruit hat?
DeleteSo jealous of this place! What a cool place. I consider people watching fantastic entertainment. :)
ReplyDeleteThe best part of people watching is the free part :)
DeleteLooks pretty amazeballs.
ReplyDeleteThat's almost the word I would use.
DeleteHoly crap is that a nice salad bar. A few health food stores in the city have things like fresh baking or the odd sandwich/soup, but nothing like that. And that park sounds like the one we have downtown...minus the bagpipes, cello (but replaced with bad busking), and chess. Ha ha!
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite ff posts! LifeThyme also has the most sparkling produce I've ever seen. Also, Dr. Cow cheese :-)
ReplyDelete