Tribeca, a neighborhood in Manhattan known for its rich history and vibrant dining scene, offers a variety of healthy restaurant options for those looking to maintain a balanced lifestyle without sacrificing culinary enjoyment. From Australian-inspired cafes to Mediterranean eateries, Tribeca caters to diverse dietary preferences, including gluten-free, vegetarian, and options focused on fresh seafood and vegetables.
Australian Cafe Culture: A Healthy Start
Australian restaurants have made a significant mark on New York City's healthy dining scene, and Tribeca is no exception. These cafes often prioritize fresh, local sourcing and offer menus that cater to various health-conscious preferences. Two Hands Hospitality, for example, embodies this community-focused approach, serving breakfast through dinner with an emphasis on sustainability.
Springbone: Embracing Real Food
Springbone stands out with its commitment to real food, avoiding processed ingredients, refined sugar, and seed oils. They focus on minimal grain and sugar, opting instead for more vegetables and better meats. This dedication to wholesome, unadulterated food is what co-founders Sam & Jordan sought when they were young professionals struggling to find nutritious meals in New York City.
Springbone prides itself on delivering simple, yet nourishing food that tastes and feels just like it was made in your kitchen.
The Power of Bone Broth
Springbone highlights the benefits of bone broth, rich in collagen, gelatin, glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate, amino acids (glycine and proline), and hyaluronic acid.
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- Collagen and Gelatin: These are the most abundant proteins in mammals, making up all human connective tissue.
- Glucosamine and Chondroitin Sulfate: Typically sold as expensive joint supplements for athletes.
- Amino Acids Glycine and Proline: These anti-inflammatory amino acids are superstars of gut health and digestion, and are essential building blocks to a strong immune system and muscle repair.
- Hyaluronic Acid: This nonsulfated glycosaminoglycan is given as an injection to arthritis patients to lubricate their joints.
Mediterranean Flavors: A Healthful Indulgence
Mediterranean cuisine is celebrated for its health benefits, emphasizing fresh vegetables, lean proteins, and healthy fats. Pera Soho, for example, is a Mediterranean restaurant that uses a variety of Mediterranean ingredients and cooking methods to create signature dishes. Reviewers praise the restaurant for its delicious and flavorful food, with one mentioning that her partner who has gluten intolerance and veganism was well catered for. They also have outdoor seating with a heated and fan-equipped courtyard for a comfortable dining experience.
Neighborhood Transformation and Culinary Evolution
Tribeca's transformation from a warehousing and manufacturing district to a haven for artists and eventually the wealthy has significantly influenced its culinary landscape. The area's quiet streets have increasingly become one of the city’s best neighborhoods for dining, while still retaining much of its Victorian-era commercial ambiance. The boundaries of Tribeca - the “Triangle Below Canal” - run from the south side of Canal Street on the north and both sides of Chambers Street on the south, to the Hudson River on the west and Broadway on the east, though the borders are somewhat elastic, especially on the south.
Other Healthy Options in NYC
Expanding beyond Tribeca, New York City offers numerous other healthy dining options:
- Cafe Mado (Prospect Heights): Known for its extremely seasonal and extremely delicious vegetable dishes.
- Lola’s (Nomad): Excels at fresh, light cooking with surprisingly deep flavors.
- Uzuki (Greenpoint): A great spot for hearty bowls of soba noodles that are gluten-free.
- Bunna Cafe (Bushwick): An Ethiopian restaurant with vegetarian dishes.
- ThisBowl (Noho and Nomad): Makes fancy salads with flavorful dressings and perfectly-cooked protein.
- Beet & Carrots (Bay Ridge): A farm-to-table spot with tons of vegan options.
- Atla: The sister restaurant of Cosme. They serve flax-seed chilaquiles, and the bright space is good for a daytime meal, although it’s also open for dinner.
- Loring Place: Offers a huge menu with a lot of vegetables, so you could have zucchini fries and some kind of vegetable pizza made with whole wheat dough.
- Shuka: A Middle Eastern spot.
- Elias Corner: Does simple grilled seafood for dinner.
- Miriam: Serving Israeli mezze plates or some fish.
- Ruby’s: Serving salads, grain bowls to pasta, but we usually just go with one of the chicken sandwiches.
- Banter: Has both a quinoa bowl and chia pudding bowl in addition to a burger and a pulled pork sandwich.
- Baba Cool: They’ve got locations in Fort Greene and Williamsburg. Their salmon, poached in a sweet coconut broth and served with a snap pea and mint salad, will do good work offsetting the margarita you’re probably going to drink.
- Cookshop: This American restaurant in Chelsea is casual, but nice enough for difficult-to-please parents, and the menu has vegetarian options, as well as a few different salads and seafood dishes.
- Soba-ya: Get one with tuna or salmon sashimi, and it’ll be like that bowl of poke you just had for lunch but without the unnecessary fried onions and spicy mayo all over the top.
- Pura Vida: The food at this blindingly white counter-service spot is decent enough-especially if you just really need a kale caesar wrap with lightly dressed greens and big shavings of parm. Or some chicken between bread, with aioli on the side.
Notable Restaurants
- Market Table (West Village): Where farm-to-table cooking meets NYC energy.
- Soothr (East Village): Specializing in family noodle recipes from throughout Thailand.
- Casa Mono (Union Square): A tapas bar restaurant inspired by the cooking of Spain’s Costa Brava.
- Little Ruby’s Cafe: Offering approachable all-day fare, specialty drinks, and a full coffee program.
- Nobu Downtown: Indulge in Chef Nobu’s famous signature dishes including Rock Shrimp Tempura and Black Cod Miso as well as traditional Japanese favorites and sushi.
- Little Owl (West Village): Serving seasonal Mediterranean-American cuisine with fresh, local ingredients.
- Cecconi’s Dumbo: A modern day classic Italian restaurant near Brooklyn Bridge park, specializing in hand-made pasta, wood-fired pizza and other Italian staples.
- The River Café: Offers a seasonal New American menu that highlights the finest and often rare ingredients.
- Mission Ceviche Union Square: Price: Moderate• Seafood• Gramercy Park
- Lucky's Soho: Price: Very Expensive• Steakhouse• SoHo
- Zizi Limona: Zizi Limona is a Middle Eastern spot in Williamsburg that works for pretty much any casual dinner situation.
- abcV: At abcV, Jean-Georges’ vegetarian restaurant in Flatiron, the plant-forward food is bright and beautiful.
- Sonnyboy: Sonnyboy is an Australian cafe on the LES from the people behind Banter.
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tags: #healthy #restaurants #Tribeca