Eterea

Of all the Overthrow Hospitality restaurants, this may just be my favorite (though it’s nearly impossible to decide). The cocktail list is inventive and tasty, the dishes are original and exquisite, and the ambiance is exactly what I want on a Friday night date — with myself or someone else.

I can't speak highly enough about Etérea and Overthrow Hospitality (the restaurant group that operates several vegan restaurants in the East Village). This is not our first visit to Etérea and we frequent the Overthrow restaurants even though we're not vegan ourselves. We had a last minute large party reservation, and they were able to accommodate us (early dining helps in that regard) and made sure everything went amazingly. The manager from Overthrow even stopped by on his rounds to make sure we were happy. The restaurant put together a tasting menu that hit most of the high points of the small-ish, blur well thought out menu. As always when dining with Overthrow, people were amazed that the dishes are all vegan, and even the dedicated carnivores among us were plenty happy. Standout dishes include the corn ribs, broccoli, and tacos.

Etérea is my new favorite restaurant, period. The fact that the entire menu is 100% gluten free means the world to me, that is the kind of intentional choice in designing an experience that makes it so easy to include everyone when you’re gathering friends or family or going on a date and they ask “where can you even eat?” It’s hard AF being a vegan with celiac disease. I generally have to knowingly choose to get sick to go to my other favorite vegan spots because they just don’t have a protocol for gluten free and it’s inevitable that I’ll be unintentionally glutened. Just not having wheat in the item is not enough, you need a separate prep area and separate plateware, silverware, pans, and FRYERS and everyone needs to be trained to keep those separate things safe—it’s a lot to ask of restaurants that have items with gluten on the menu and rare as hell that it’s safe to eat out. The interior design is absolutely beautiful, even the door is a work of art. The staff are so warm and give excellent recommendations. The food is incredible. Everything is so perfectly crafted and flavorful. My favorite thing (and the favorite of everyone I bring here) is the corn rib elote, the sauce is perfection and the house-made vegan cotija is 🤌🏽 The flautas, the birria tacos, the seasonal specials, the cocktails, honestly you can’t go wrong. Just order as many things as you can and eat family style. And then come back on the weekend for brunch and bring a bunch of people and have chilaquiles with your corn ribs!