Reviewed by Linda Long

If one is a vegan, lives in New York City, and likes to go to theater and meet for dinner beforehand, it was a challenge. The famous theater district of West 40’s and low 50’s was a vegan desert. Not now! Centered perfectly in the area at 246 West 48th Street, near 8th Avenue, is P. S. Kitchen, a vegan gourmet restaurant in a hundred-year-old building with two intimate floors and an inviting bar at the entrance.

Note: Even if passing up the bar be sure to have one of their delicious and creative cocktails at your seat, with or without alcohol. Favorites are XO: smoked whiskey, beet juice, orange, raspberry, and maple, and The Bengal: mango, lemon, assam, turmeric, and Korean chili!

While having a nice cocktail of choice and perusing the menu it is clear that this is not the usual fare. For the dinner menu you will see three sections, Small Plates, Large Plates, and Desserts. There are about 5 dishes under each plate section and two special dessert offerings. Two of the best Small Plates are Crispy Artichokes with lemon emulsion and Maitake Bao, puffs of Asian buns with glazed mushroom, radish, kimchi, and onion.

Under the Large Plates favorites seem to be Buffalo Hen of the Wood with German purple sweet potato salad, house vegan blue cheese, and Ginger Rice Congee with sautéed oyster mushroom, spinach, and crispy yuba.

Desserts side on the emotion of home comfort but are plated like the best gourmet restaurant…Strawberry Short Cake with strawberry-rhubarb compote, almond cream, crunchy almond; Chocolate, Raspberries which is chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, and raspberry-calamansi purée.

The way the restaurant was born has a nice story in that Craig Cockran, the co-founder, is from Buffalo, NY, and became an animal activist and soon learned the best way to convince someone was to put a great plate of food in front of them. He came to New York City to learn about running a vegan restaurant and planed to go back to Buffalo but fell in love with Manhattan. After working with the best here, Candle 79, Blossom, and Peacefoods, he co-founded a vegan take-out chain with three locations in Manhattan named Terri. He then met an investor who worked in the theater district and wanted to have a vegan place to eat. Thus, P. S. Kitchen.

The P. S. as a postscript is for a reason. The restaurant is a social business meaning 100% of the profits go to charity. They also employ marginalized people who need a hand-up and not a hand-out. See the list of charities they work with on their site at www.ps-kitchen.com.

Jeffrey LaPadula is the Managing Partner and worked in finance until going to Peacefoods and became manager. Tim Carberry is the General Manager. Together they bring a wealth of experience and passion to the restaurant. Chef Onur Alawbeyonglu oversees the menu currently.

The philosophy behind the menu is that they want it to appeal to what people want even if not a vegan. The effort is to make the appeal very broad to cover most tastes.

They bring these concepts to additional menus for lunch and for brunch. Lunch has soups, salads, and sandwiches with offerings like the Beyond Burger with queso, thousand island, along with French fries; Fennel Tartine with caramelized fennel, spiced almonds, and orange supreme; and Columbian Potato Soup with avocado with a jalapeno, cilantro purée, and radish.

The brunch menu highlights French Toast with strawberry-rhubarb compote, strawberry butter and coconut whipped cream, and Biscuits and Gravy with seitan gravy on a homemade biscuit.

Worth a visit and definitely grab a show at the same time in this popular area. Although, the eating alone is great theater!