Thursday, November 25, 2010

A Snail of Two Cities

As if it's not enough that you can gorge yourself on Cinnamon Snail food in Hoboken and Red Bank, NJ, recently we (yes, you too) had the opportunity to enjoy the bounty of the beauteous truck in New York City at the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market, as well.


New York, New Jersey: no matter; since there is no limit to how much Snail food I can consume it is my duty as a vegan to support wonderful vegan entrepreneurs, I'll gladly cross state lines for an outstanding donut... or four.



A couple of weeks ago VM and I visited the Snail in Red Bank on the last day of the Farmer's Market.


There was a huge line the entire time we were there, and we were there a good, long while stuffing our faces with Snail grub buying kale and whatnot.


Since VM daydreams about the miso glazed shitake mushroom sandwich with grilled onion, olive tapenade and arugula on 7 grain bread, she had to order it yet again.  I've said it before and I'll say it again: this is eons beyond your typical vegetarian mushroom sandwich.  Ironically, I'd describe it as the mother of all mushroom sandwiches!

This picture doesn't do it justice; it's not easy to balance a sandwich on your lap and take a worthy photo.

Because I can always count on a bite of VM's sandwich, I tend to vary what I order and have never been disappointed.  This trip I went with the miso teriyaki seitan sandwich with grilled onions, arugula, wasabi mayonnaise, and 5 spiced fried sunflower gomasio on a toasted baguette.  For those of you questioning the quality of food that is served from a truck, kindly re-read the previous sentence.

I know this picture is worse, but take my word for it: delectable!
On to dessert.  Do you know what happens when two fantastic vegan masterminds combine their superpowers?  Magic.  (Please reference Lula's Sweet Apothecary's rocky road and/or caramel marshmallow graham ice cream flavors filled with Sweet & Sara marshmallows for proof)  Wanna know what happened when the Cinnamon Snail met Sweet & Sara?


Yep, the epic smores donut was born.


A chocolate glazed donut covered in graham crackers, Sweet & Sara marshmallows, and even more fudgy, chocolate goodness; as an added bonus, it is also filled with chocolate ganache.  Behold one humongous bite in:



For those of you concerned that the ganache filling was anything other than overflowing, I took yet another picture when I was two thirds of the way through.

I do it for the fans.
So, notice anything unusual about VM and I sharing one donut?  Are you impressed by our admirable restraint?  Don't be; we had a full box of scrumptious Snail creations at home waiting for us!

But eventually we exhausted our personal supply of Snail yummies.  Luckily, it was only shortly thereafter that we learned that The Cinnamon Snail would be participating in the New York Gourmet Food Truck Bazaar.  I'd like to say that we we were first in line, but it was much more serious than that; we were a half hour early!


Not to worry, as soon as the truck was open for business the crowd was steady and seemingly filled with an equal number of fans and curiosity seekers.  I overheard one man say to his companion, "I've never heard of it, but there's unusual stuff on the menu."  Get used to it, man; we're taking over the world.

Attracting vegans and non-vegans alike: this couple ate some non-vegan dumplings before moving on to the Snail!

We were only intending to have a donut each as breakfast, but who can resist everything else?  Besides, VM and I decided it would be much more health conscious of us to share a sandwich than to start off our day with sweets.  I deferred to her and she chose her favorite yet again.  Yes, it's that good.  Unfortunately, I was so busy trying to out-eat her that I forgot to take a proper picture, so you'll have to make do with this one that was taken from space:

Tip: if you ask nicely, Adam will gladly cut your sandwich in half for you.  Of course he may do it even if you're a terd, but why wouldn't you be nice, meanie?

To reward ourselves for having shared a nutritious meal, we treated ourselves to some donuts.  A creature of habit, VM couldn't pass up her favorite: the cinnamon sugar coated apple cider donut.  Like everything of Adam's, this was as good as ever and possibly better.


We both wanted to try the autumnal maple glazed donut with toasted coconut, so we did!


It was fantastic.  It tasted very similar to the apple cider donut, but instead of the cinnamon sugar it was coated in a delicious maple glaze and smothered in freshly toasted coconut.



And, finally; how could I have been expected to pass up the chocolate peanut butter cookie dough donut


Covered in chocolate glaze, chocolate fudge, and scrumptious chunks of dark chocolate...then filled with chocolate, peanut butter insanity.  Notice the shape of the filling?



It was also filled with love:


If you don't know, now you know; the Cinnamon Snail rocks.  Do yourself a favor and follow them on Twitter and Facebook to find out where they'll be when and support them in every which way you can: all vegan, all the time.  Organic too!

5 comments:

  1. WOW. I hit up Cinnamon Snail when it was at the HK Flea Market a couple months ago and got that same mushroom sandwich- I think the olive tapenade really makes it. But I was kind of disappointed with the dry apple cider doughnut, so I'm super jealous of your more adventurous and yummy doughnut choices!

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  2. Love this post. I hope I can also enjoy the Snail sometime soon.

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  3. My Vegan Gut:
    Say it with me now: Jer-sey, Jer-sey, Jer-sey!

    Dianne:
    VM & I love things that are crispy, so if the apple cider wasn't your thing I'd highly recommend one of the filled and/or glazed varieties!

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  4. Okay, I think you need to have the Snail park outside your new home for the housewarming kegger!

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  5. I think I could single-handedly keep the Snail in business if was perpetually parked in my driveway.

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