Delice & Sarrasin
Vegan restaurant · West Village ·
Vegan French bistro offering plant-based haute cuisine and crêpes
Vegan French bistro offering plant-based haute cuisine and crêpes
"If you're looking for a meal that feels classy and celebratory, going for French is a natural default. Though the staples are butter-smothered, meaty, caramelized, and sometimes bloody, Delice & Sarrasin in the West Village brings plant-based reinterpretations on French classics with all the indulgent flavors of the omnivorous originals and leaves no crumbs. The tahini-based foie gras végétal, boeuf bourguignon, and brie roti végétal are particularly authentic dupes for the real thing. And though the escargot and aiguilette de canard aren't too close to their inspiration, chef Yvette Caron's takes on the dishes are delightful in their own right. Her team makes converting French cookery vegan look easy. The hardest decision you'll face here is deciding whether you want the orange creme brulee or the lavender-infused rice pudding."
"Delice & Sarrasin is a vegan French restaurant in the West Village where the dishes look exactly like plates coming out of a kitchen in Paris. The tahini-based foie gras, buckwheat crêpes with smoked “salmon,” and orange crème brûlée are all quite reminiscent of the dishes they’re based on. If you’re a vegan who loves French food, this should be your go-to spot." - neha talreja, bryan kim, kenny yang, willa moore
"Considering butter is to French cooking like chocolate is to, well, anything chocolate, no one would blame you for wondering how the hell there’s such a thing as a vegan French restaurant. That’s what Delice & Sarrasin in the West Village is, and when dishes arrive at your table, they’ll look exactly like plates coming out of a kitchen in Paris. While this place really excels at mimicking the appearance of “real” French dishes, not every item tastes like them. The oyster-mushroom escargots and pea-protein poulet have flavors that are pretty removed from snails and chicken legs (although both are good). However, the tahini-based foie gras, buckwheat crêpes with "smoked salmon," and orange crème brûlée are all quite reminiscent of the dishes on which they’re based. If you’re a vegan who loves French food, this should be your go-to spot. photo credit: Delice & Sarrasin" - Kenny Yang
"In the West Village, I found Délice & Sarrasin, a charming French bistro where vegans can bide their time in style with meatless haute cuisine crafted by head chef Yvette Caron. She deliberately sprinkles the menu with animalic terms—“Brie,” “duck,” “salmon”—while serving only vegetal reinterpretations, a tactic intended to welcome omnivores as well as vegans. By the metric of approximating the mouthfeel of real animal foods, the crab cakes—served with a savory cashew-based tartar sauce—are beyond reproach: they’re made from dehydrated lemon peel, yellow bell pepper, and seaweed marinated in soy sauce with a wheat-flour crust, and my longtime pescatarian father kept insisting, half-jokingly, that “this is crab cake.” The tournedos Rossini’s pan-seared Impossible Burger, standing in for filet, fooled us both, and while PETA has called that fatty, iron-dense patty “probably the unhealthiest veggie burger on the market,” in other words, it’s delicious. Caron’s cruelty-free foie gras—made from tahini, cashews, garlic, onion, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and cardamom—arrives fruitier, nuttier, and silkier with homemade fig jam and sourdough, a satisfying alternative to a product produced by force-feeding. For escargot she uses thinly sliced oyster mushrooms glazed with white wine and a sauce of pulverized cashews, coconut, garlic, and parsley; they don’t masquerade perfectly as snails but stand out on their own. Perhaps the best dish in the house is a ratatouille that isn’t trying to be anything else: coarsely sautéed garlic, onions, eggplant, zucchini, tricolor peppers, and heirloom tomatoes combined with herbs so that every bite retains the full, distinct flavor of each ingredient. (Entrées $14–$35.)" - David Kortava
"New York City vegan cafe Delice & Sarrasin tried to purchase extra stock to cushion itself against the impending shortage but was told there simply wasn’t enough to go around for everyone." - Beth McKibben
