Vedge kiosk at Bryant Park

Like many public spaces in New York City, in the run up to Christmas Bryant Park hosts an outdoor marketplace selling gifts and food.  What makes the Winter Village at Bryant Park unique, is that over the past three years Frank DiPrisco, the guy who runs the place, has been veganizing the market (see an interview here).  Most of the food kiosks are 100% vegan or offer substantial vegan options. I tried Raaka chocolate, Marty’s V burger, Super Mac + Cheez, Chimney Cakes with vegan Nutella, This Pie Is Nuts Key Lime pie, and steamed veggie dumplings at Vedge – all were vegan and all were excellent.

The Winter Village is open Saturday, Sunday and Monday only, and #veganBryantPark is a trending hashtag.

Steamed veggie dumplings at Vedge

The Vedge Kiosk

The Dumplings: a kiosk called Vedge sells vegan Chinese food including steamed veggie dumplings.  I confess that I was hungry and the dumplings were good, so my dining companion and I wolfed them down without taking a lot of notes and the lady behind the counter spoke only limited English so I couldn’t really grill her for details.  But the dumplings, including the wrappers, are home made and steamed on-site.  The wrappers were the perfect thickness, thin but just strong enough to hold the filling, which had a savory, healthy cruciferous greens flavor.  Your get four steamed dumplings for 5 bucks.

The Dipping Sauce:  Vedge has a couple of dipping sauces available.  We tried the “brown sauce” which was a soy and vinegar mix that had been flavored with what I initially thought was ginger. However, the lady at the kiosk said it wasn’t ginger, but the only details she would give me was that it was “Chinese home cooked flavor”.  What ever it was, it was really good.

The Location:  The Winter Village is at Bryant Park, which is between 4oth and 42nd Streets between 5th and 6th Avenues.  Vedge is on the 42nd street side of the park, closer to the NY Public Library end of the park, it is kiosk H9.  Vedge is not related to the phenomenal Vedge restaurant in Philly.