• Vegetarian restaurants are popular in New York City.vegetarian pizza image by blaine stiger from Fotolia.com
  
  New York's famous restaurant scene is eclectic beyond measure, offering flavors and cuisines for all kinds of tastes and dietary needs. The Big Apple is home to a large number of vegetarian restaurants, many of which are located in and around the downtown neighborhoods of Chelsea, SoHo and the East and West Villages. Here you'll find all sorts of vegetarian restaurants serving Asian and Indian-inspired dishes as well as veggie fast food made with soy and seitan products. Whether you're in the mood for a hearty tofu salad or a lip-smacking veggie burger and fries, New York has hundreds of excellent options for vegetarians.
  
  

Angelica Kitchen

• Serving "simple, seasonal food that speaks for itself," this tranquil East Village restaurant is popular with New York City vegetarians. Start off with a hearty homemade soup like creamy white bean vegetable or one of Angelica's many small vegetarian plates such as soba noodles with velvety sesame sauce and pickled red cabbage garnish, curried cashew spread with sprouted chickpeas and crisp crudités, or agrarian salgado (mashed Yukon Gold potatoes and herbed seitan with dill-tofu sour cream and marinated kale). Main course offerings include Thai Mee Up (raw daikon radish, butternut squash and carrot served over garlic-lemon kale dressed with Thai tahini sauce) and Norimaki (veggie sushi accompanied by wasabi, pickled ginger and lemon-shoyu sauce). Fresh juices (carrot, apple, cranberry) are also available.
  
  Angelica Kitchen
  300 E. 12th St.
  New York, NY 10003
  212-228-2909
  angelicakitchen.com
  
  

Dirt Candy

• Opened in October 2008, this innovative restaurant may not be the healthiest vegetarian restaurant in New York, but that's part of the appeal. Chef Amanda Cohen serves what might be considered "vegetarian junk food"; even though the recipes contain no meat, Cohen embraces heavy cheese, butter and starch to create savory dishes that non-vegetarians and picky vegetarians can both enjoy. Filling dishes like kimchi doughnuts with grilled watermelon radishes, cilantro and wild arugula; eggplant with black olive fettucine, basil broth and ricotta; and parsnip gnocchi in a creamy root vegetable sauce with carrot crumbs are hard to resist. The homemade desserts (hazelnut popcorn pudding, sweet potato puffs with brown sugar ice cream) are equally rich.
  
  Dirt Candy
  430 E. 9th St.
  New York, NY 10009
  212-228-7732
  dirtcandynyc.com
  
  

Red Bamboo

• This staple of NYC vegetarian restaurants serves both vegan and vegetarian dishes often disguised as carnivore favorites. Amazingly, the Southern fried chicken, Thai beef curry and spaghetti and meatballs contain no meat. Using soy, gluten, fruit and vegetable ingredients, the chefs at Red Bamboo succeed in pleasing vegetarians with still fond memories of their meat-eating days. Red Bamboo's meatless dishes often look, feel and taste like meat, but they aren't. The vegan dessert menu features nondairy ice cream (pistachio, mint chocolate chip, butter pecan, chocolate), New York-style cheesecake (made from nondairy soy cheese) and soy milk shakes.
  
  Red Bamboo
  140 W. 4th St.
  New York, NY 10012
  212-260-7049
  redbamboo-nyc.com