We’re still recovering from the food coma that was our recent trip to New York City, but one must-visit for us was the new Bed Stuy vegan joint, Toad Style.
Picture a take out style restaurant created by a vegan kid who loves fried food, video games, and kung-fu, and you’ve got Toad Style. Actually, as far as I know, that might be the story behind Toad Style. But, regardless of back story, Toad Style is well worth a trek out to the Bed Stuy-Bushwick border, just don’t visit when you’re “kinda hungry”—there is a lot of bread here and most everything is deep fried in the classic fried chicken style…which is fitting for a neighborhood chock-a-block with traditional fried chicken take out places.
We settled on two sandwiches on our visit—the vegan báhn mí (coconut-crusted fried oyster mushrooms, pickled daikon + carrots, cilantro, hothouse cucumber, lime aioli, five-spice mushroom paté, and house chili sauce—and their BBQ pulled jackfruit (tender smoked jackfruit, house BBQ sauce, Brussels sprouts slaw, fennel jam, and spicy pickles—and rounded things off with fried pickles with creamy horseradish sauce and fried lemon + rosemary brined cauliflower with sweet chili mustard sauce. So, yeah, not the lightest of meals, but goooooooooooooooooood. And, for the more gluten free eaters, the batter on those last two sides is actually gluten-free.
Word on the street is that Toad Style’s vegan eggplant parm (served on soft garlic bread) is to die for and their grilled cheese (with tiger figs and house almond cheese) sounds awesome, so I think we’ll be due a trip back next time we’re in New York. Shouldn’t be for another few months, so I think we should have time to work our appetite back up.
In the meantime, let us live vicariously through you—get thee to Toad Style, young warrior.
