This week, Coletta, by celebrity chef Guy Vaknin, just opened its doors in New York City. I was already a fan of his other restaurant called Beyond Sushi, so I was pretty curious to check this out.
Coletta is a small and intimate restaurant located just east of NYU on the east side of Manhattan. The restaurant itself is a romantic setup with a small and intimate nature.
I have to say that most of the entrées were exceptionally well done vegan versions of mainstay options I would see at other restaurants. For example, we started with the “Tuna“ Crudo, which was confusing because it matched raw tuna quite well. In addition, the crispy “calamari“ was made with king oyster mushroom rings and actually tasted better because it did not have the traditional fishy flavor or, oftentimes, that rubbery texture.
We also tried the Buffalo Chick’n Pizza as well as the Steak Marsala. The steak (made with seitan), in particular, had the taste of a steak although the texture was slightly different. The Buffalo chicken was almost entirely spot on.
Finally, we ended off with the Coletta Tiramisu which was actually better than a tiramisu I’ve had at most places I’ve gone to.
Overall, this is certainly a vegan’s delight but also can appeal to the non-vegan in the crowd too. The dishes we had that were remakes of traditional non-vegan meals were exceptionally spot on. Coletta is certainly somewhere we will be going back to.