Meatless in Manhattan

The Popeye Pizza from Co. in New York
Photo courtesy of Squire Fox

I've said it before: I am a big meat eater. Or, more accurately, I am a small person who eats a lot of meat. The concerns of vegetarians rarely enter my psyche—until recently. When a few out-of-towners came calling I suggested we have dinner at the brilliant Momofuku Ssam, one of David Chang's East Village joints. I was vaguely aware that one of our number didn't eat meat, but there's always something vegetarian on the menu, right?
 
Ssam does indeed have one fleshless option: Bread and butter. The butter was from Vermont, but it was still bread and butter. The stuff you usually get for free. It seemed churlish to order it, so we didn't. Jack said he'd get a slice later. Ouch.
 
My awareness of the vegetarian cause was piqued further when I read a review copy of Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals, out in November. I loved Safran Foer's novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close; his latest is nonfiction, a passionate, unpreachy diatribe on factory farming that was inspired by the birth of his son. The author and his wife had flirted with vegetarianism for years—should they now go the whole hog and force their firstborn into it as well?
 
I knew a little about the gruesome conditions in which chickens are farmed but I didn’t know that 'bird brain' was a misnomer, that pigs are so intelligent they can play video games with their snouts, and that when you order a plate of sushi you're often responsible for the deaths of scores of fish as 'bycatch', including dolphins and seahorses. As for the ways in which all these animals meet their ends, well, suffice to say I found a new enthusiasm for fall vegetables the week I read it.
 
I’m not about to turn herbivore just yet (and, says Safran Foer, if you're going to eat any meat it should be beef, which is comparatively ethically farmed, so I can order burgers with a relatively clear conscience. Hurrah.) But I am planning on reducing my intake.

I’m allergic (in principle at least) to soy, and the idea of going to a vegetarian restaurant fills me with utter horror, especially if it's called Caravan of Dreams. So I've compiled a short list of favorite New York spots that have at least two decent veggie entrées, making them appropriate for meat and non-meat eaters alike. Let me know if you have any to add.

'Inoteca - because the truffled egg toast is one of NYC’s greatest dishes, and there are numerous salads and cheeses

Little Giant - they 'happily accommodate vegetarian requests' (don’t be put off by the menu on the Web site)

Locanda Verde - because I usually just order cicchetti and antipasti when I come here, and many are veg (the sheep's milk ricotta is To Die For) and there's a pasta dish for the ravenous

Boqueria - there are numerous tapas options, plus queso

Tamarind - if you're after veg Indian is a great option, and this is one of the best