Where to Eat Whole30 in New York City

My Whole30 Weekend in New York City

When Courtney gave me Hamilton tickets, my first reaction was, “OH MY GOSH. YES! WE’RE SEEING HAMILTON ON BROADWAY!” My second was, “oh no, that’s while we’re on Whole30!” New York is the land of bagels, pizza, and friends who want to grab a drink when you’re in town – how could I be expected to go on Whole30? We actually considered trying to sell our tickets and buy tickets for another weekend, but then I realized – not every trip has to revolve around food and drink. I’m actually glad we decided to stick with our original dates because it meant we made it a date weekend, which is something we don’t do enough.

Also, if you can find Whole30 compliant food anywhere, it’s in New York City. After a bit of research, I found restaurants I was genuinely pumped about. Courtney came *THIS* close to breaking down at a rest stop en route, where I found him having poured himself a sugary gas station cappuccino out of sheer desperation. I talked (forced?) him off the cliff. It was dramatic. I pretty much said, “IF YOU’RE GOING TO CHEAT ON ME IT’S NOT GOING TO BE WITH HER!”  Instead he had a black coffee, an apple and an RX bar.

Anyways, dear readers, you aren’t my therapist. Let’s talk about good Whole30 restaurants in New York. I knew there were the easy fall backs like Sweet Green, Cava, and Chipotle, but I was hoping to find something I couldn’t get in D.C. For lunch on Saturday, I found a perfect spot just blocks from our Air BnB and the theater. Dig Inn is a New York City chain focused on farm fresh foods and quality ingredients.

The ingredients aren’t available online, but a manager had a cheat sheet and was able to walk us through what ingredients we could and couldn’t have. He even made us a special batch of the broccoli without the sesame crunch. Sweet potatoes were fair game, as were the apples, beets, cauliflower, and all of the meat proteins. The carrots and brussels sprouts were out. Overall, Dig Inn had a lot of Whole30 compliant options, and just required asking a few questions and enduring a quick lecture on why Whole 30 is not a smart choice nutritionally speaking to walk away with an awesome meal.

Dinner proved to be a bit harder. While I’d e-mailed Le Coq Rico in advance and been assured there would be lots we could eat, when we actually asked the waiter our options seemed far more limited. It turns out that nearly everything – even the vegetables – is made with dairy. Luckily we were sitting kitchenside watching the food be made, and between our very patient waiter and the chef, we were able to get a delicious Whole 30 meal. We cozily warmed our cheeks to the huge rotisserie as if to a fireplace.  The waiter even offered us vegetable juice mocktails – housemade beet, carrot and ginger – that made the night feel festive!

We’re originally planned to take the bus, but I wanted to squeeze in one more meal (okay, maybe all trips do revolve around food). Mostly because I wanted to eat at Hu Kitchen, which is an all paleo fast casual joint that looked delicious. This also gave us the opportunity to go on a run in Central Park, something we wouldn’t have done had we had our normal late night, heavy drinking New York City Saturday. It also gave us the opportunity to have brunch with good friends! It was great to go someplace where things were clearly labeled and designed for our diet, although it was frustrating that there were some things we couldn’t have due to seemingly arbitrary rules. I really wanted a breakfast burrito, but coconut wraps are now a no no (SWYPO!) so I had a bowl with sweet potatoes, veggies and an egg instead – something I could (and have been) easily make at home – and a side of too crispy bacon. You can also get food to go, but be prepared to pay way more than it would cost you to make it!

Had we been there longer, or on a weekday, there were even more places I would have loved to try!

Where to eat in New York City on Whole30:

Dig Inn – fast casual farm-to-table.
Hu Kitchen – fast casual paleo.
Locanut – paleo delivery.
Springbone Kitchen – unadulterated health food.
Le Coq Rico – poultry focused high end dining.
Sweet Green – fast casual salad chain.
Chipotle – fast casual Mexican chain.
Cava – fast casual Mediterranean chain.

Johanna