The Best Vegan Restaurants in New York City

Dirt Candy on the Lower East Side proved vegetables could carry a fine-dining room years before it was fashionable — the menu is vegetarian with most dishes vegan or easily made so, and the tasting-menu energy makes it a special-occasion standard. A few blocks east, Avant Garden keeps things candlelit and fully plant-based, with small plates built around vegetables you can actually identify.

For old-school comfort, Superiority Burger in the East Village has been proving a counter-service veggie burger can outdraw the steakhouses since 2015 — the namesake sandwich, the gelato, the brusquely perfect burnished potatoes. Avant Garden a few doors down keeps things candlelit and fully plant-based. And Jajaja Mexicana brings jackfruit carnitas and a pastel patio to plant-based Mexican cooking.

Brooklyn's vegan institutions turn over fast — Modern Love and Champs Diner, both beloved, are gone — which makes the survivors matter more. Dun-Well Doughnuts has been frying vegan doughnuts in East Williamsburg since 2011; the rotating flavors sell out, so go before noon.

Superiority Burger's East Village counter is arguably the most famous veggie burger in America — the menu flips constantly, and the gelato is vegan. Queue at off-peak hours, then walk off the meal along the East River parks.