Food Review: Sun In Bloom

Sun In Bloom
460 Bergen St. Brooklyn, NY., 11217, 718.622.4304

Today marked my first venture into the world of gluten free restaurants. Sun in Bloom, located just down the hill of the Bergen St. subway stop in Park Slope has been serving up vegan food for just over two years. The brainchild of Aimee Follette, their mission is to create a haven from the city for their patrons to enjoy conscientious cooking that still manages to be delicious and healthy.

I arrived without a reservation on a Sunday afternoon looking to accomplish two firsts: my first proper Sunday brunch in New York, and my first official "gluten free" meal at a restaurant. The wind was as crisp as an apple but the sun shone through a perfectly clear sky and spread its warmth on my bare skin. The world seemed pristine and clean. It was easy enough to see that there were no free tables before we even walked in the door. The only server, a facial hair masked Buddy Holly glasses wearing hipster type (sigh... this is Brooklyn after all) confirmed what we knew but "there are many tables about to clear." This gave us time to browse the menu.

"So the rule is," I started to my guests, "we each get something different and I get to try everything." After all, I was the one who would be stuck eating this sort of stuff in the foreseeable future. The brunch menu is just like the restaurant, concise yet creative. The blog claims that 98% of diners are not vegan, but looking around you wouldn't know it. Women fill most of the hardwood chairs and seem strangely at ease draping a yoga stretched arm over an iron and distressed wood table, their dainty hands clutching mason jars full of green juice. It's like lululemon meets restoration hardware.

"So do you know what you're having?" Asked my server, his thick black beard partially hidden by his blue plaid shirt buttoned all the way to the top.

"I'd like the gluten free pancakes." This was brunch after all, and if I'm at a gluten free restaurant I want to see how they manage at convincing me that I'm NOT gluten free, right?

"We're all out of the pancakes." They were all out of some other items too, a sign of negligence or popularity - probably the later. He ended up steering us smoothly towards three of the remaining menu options to the point where we were sure they had been our first choices all along. I got the Miso Tofu Scramble which was served atop quinoa and black beans with a lovely turnip hash and some collard greens cut into thin fettuccine style strips. Joe got the BLT made with what we guessed were oil soaked shitake mushrooms that had been oven roasted to crackly perfection, and Lili settled on the gluten-free brunch tart.

I must say the first bite of my scramble had my mouth leaping for joy. The zing of the miso made my pulse race, the quinoa and black beans were simply prepared and modestly seasoned and the collard greens seemed to add color and texture and not much more. I had a second bite and then passed it along for my companions to try. They each took a small forkful of the scramble, and just like that my breakfast was finished. Where had it gone? Joe's BLT was positively addicting - all two bites of it. And the gluten-free brunch tart, was a winner with a rich and crunchy crust, and the most silky roasted garlic and sage tofu quiche, underneath a layer of butternut squash and topped with shitake mushroom bacon (the same as before) and caramelized onions. I just wish they had put the rest of the tart on her plate as well, or at least another 1/8.

I left feeling very healthy and very... er... light? I was starving. I ordered one of their famous cookie sandwiches to go and ate it (inhaled it may be a better description) with my own pb&j, apple, chips with hummus, yogurt and cereal. Don't get me wrong. The food was wonderful, and I enjoyed every bite. I just wish there were more than 3 of them (bites that is). Which leads me to wonder why a restaurant that serves vegan food serves so little food. I know fiber is supposed to suppress appetite and all, but this is ridiculous. Surely quinoa, beans, and tofu cost less than a normal breakfast steak and eggs, so why the same price tag for a mere snack? Don't vegan's get hungry?

Sun in Bloom: ** $29 for meal, appetizer, dessert and drink.


The numbers:
12:49 -> 121 Sun in Bloom miso scramble 40c, bite of Larabar 10c and 1 unit of Novolog.
2:36 -> 89 HUNGRY!! pb&j 55c, cookie sandwich 80c, apple 20c, coffee 2c = 157 = 4 units.
4:19 -> 76 It's low because I thought the cookie may have had more sugar than I originally calculated. Turns out I probably guessed correctly. Had a snack of chips and hummus 10c with my vitamins.
9:00 -> 102 Nice! Dinner of brussel sprouts w/kale 18c, yams 55c, salad with sprouts, tomato, cucumber, avocado, onions 30c, quinoa salad with pepitos, kiwi and citrus 70c, grapefruit 26c = 199 = 5 units.
11:37 - 112 Good, worked out and had an apple.
12:40 - Took 6 units of Lantus. I like how 6 units worked today.

Workout: Erg - 5000m, 19:23.3 @ 1:56.3 r22
Translated: I'm way slow and out of shape and only rowed 3 miles but it's a start.

Day 41