I found love in a hopeless place. In the midst of the frozen tundra that is City Hall Plaza, there is a ray of sunshine called Cocobeet. And it is not your average juice bar.
One of the only all-vegan places I've stumbled across in the city, almost all of their food is also raw and gluten-free. And not just salads. I'm talking about butternut pumpkin pie, veggie quinoa sliders with a chipotle cashew sauce, brownie truffles (pictured above), cheezy kale chips, sandwiches on sprouted grain bread, vanilla chia pudding, acai bowls, zoodles with pesto, and the menu goes on and on.
If they were open 24 hours, I would probably never leave.
And of course, there are the juices. As a vegan food blogger and self-proclaimed health freak, I've tried a lot of juices in my life. And I've gotten bored. But Cocobeet's juices take the normal juice formula (green, orange, citrus, red) and add something new. Fennel in a green juice, sweet potato in an orange, jalapeño in a citrus. I was definitely not bored.
If you're not up to juicing, they also have a great selection of smoothies and health shots. I recommend the Mocha Espresso and Blue Coconut. Oh, and the cold-pressed latte. It has less acid than regular coffee, and it's made with sunflower seed milk, so it's nut-allergy friendly.
Of course, as a broke college student, I can't afford a juice cleanse, and nor do I really want to do one. I just like food too much. But I do like to buy a juice or smoothie every now and then as a treat.
For the price of two lattes, or a beer, I can get a cold-pressed juice made from SIX POUNDS of organic produce. I think that's something worth budgeting for.
