Barry’s Bootcamp muscles its way into TriBeCa this month with one of its biggest locations yet, featuring its famous interval-training workout in a dance club atmosphere, a fuel bar replete with protein shakes and healthy snacks, and digital lockers in a pristine locker room stocked with Malin & Goetz products. But Barry’s Bootcamp joins a coterie of healthy lifestyle businesses in TriBeca, extending the area’s tradition of offering New Yorkers some the best and healthiest choices in the city. So we decided to take a tour of “healthy TriBeCa” to see how a New Yorker could live the good, clean life without ever leaving the confines of the Triangle Below Canal Street.
Restaurants:
LE PAIN QUOTIEDEN: If you haven’t tried Le Pain Quotidien yet, breakfast is the perfect time to go. There are two locations in Tribeca (81 West Broadway, 2 River Terrace), both opening at 7 AM on weekdays. Virtually everything on the breakfast menu is organic and/or natural, and that includes the pastries in the bakery as well as the menu items. We love the omelettes, especially the smoked salmon & scallion omelette, and the pains au chocolate are to-die-for. The coffee menu is as vast as that of any restaurant, which is, of course, a requirement for breakfast.
CAFÉ SPICE DOSATERIA & LASSI BAR: For lunch, we head somewhere new. The exterior of this brand new spot (Café Spice, 270 Greenwich Street) looks remarkably like a Whole Foods Market. Probably because it IS a Whole Foods Market, or at least is buried inside one. Just opened, the dosateria and lassi bar offers made-to-order dosas. For the uninitiated, a dosa is a hugely popular street food in Southern India, a pancake or crepe typically folded over and stuffed with various fillings. To go along with your dosas, Café Spice offers an array of sweet lassis as well (a yogurt-based drink), in traditional mango flavor and some less-than traditional choices, too.
BRUSHSTROKE: It’s dinner, so you might as well splurge. But in this case, you’ll be splurging on the freshest ingredients, thoughtful, delicate preparations, and unbeatable sushi, not calories. Brushstroke is David Bouley’s Japanese venture with Yoshiki Tsuji, and after just over a year in business has been called one of the best Japanese restaurants in the country. Many diners opt for the Kaiseke-style multi-course meal to get a wide variety of flavors, but if you’re craving sushi, you can always stick to the sushi menu. The menu changes regularly to reflect the seasons and the freshest ingredients, but recent healthy offerings included Yuzu-perfumed rosy seabass, and chilled summer vegetables in a dashi broth. And they offer a full vegetarian menu as well.
Food:
TRIBECA GREENMARKET: If you live in TriBeCa, you probably know about the Wednesday and Saturday farmer’s market that operates from 8:00 AM – 300 PM year round on those days, but if you’re just visiting or you haven’t been yet, be sure to stop by Greenwich St between Chambers and Duane for the freshest produce, artisanal cheeses, honeys, and cured meats, flowers, and a rotating crop of unique vendors.
BELL BATES NATURAL FOODS: This is probably the oldest store of it’s kind in the area (opened in 1885!), and the selection is well-curated and varied. Along with being a full-service health food store, Bell Bates has a salad and soup bar, deli, and a large selection of vitamins and home products. Find Bell Bates at 97 Reade Street.
BARRY’S BOOTCAMP FUEL BAR: Need a quick protein or energy fix on the go? Stop in at Barry’s at Sixth Avenue and Laight for a Peanut Butter Protein Shake, a Chocolate Birthday Cake Protein Shake, or another one of the tasty, healthy options. The fuel bar managers are diligent about the calorie counts and the nutrients so it’s easy to stay healthy while feeling like your splurging on a sweet treat.
Healthy Services:
SWEET LILY NATURAL NAIL SALON: The issue of toxins and chemicals in nail products has been much-covered in the press over the last couple of years. Sweet Lily Natural Nail Salon at 222 West Broadway addresses that problem by incorporating healthy alternatives, as well as fresh fruits, vegetables and essential oils in all of their treatments. Alongside their honey walnut manicures and lemon vodka pedicures, Sweet Lily offers a full array of waxing and a boutique filled with hand-selected beauty products. Their “Cold Feet” pedi soak is particularly hot right now (recently featured in Cosmopolitan).
HALE ORGANIC SALON: You know that smell when you walk into a salon, the rich, fragrant bouquet of chemical hair products. It probably brings up pleasant memories, and it might just be killing the brain cells that house those memories. Enter Hale Organic Salon at 91 Franklin Street. Not only do the stylists at Hale use clean products (such as John Masters Organics), but anything that produces a fume is relegated to a sealed-off Fume Room in the back. Walking into Hale Salon is literally a breath of fresh air.
GREEN CHOICE CARPET CLEANING: While Green Choice is located in SoHo, your TriBeCa home is well within their service area. Green Choice uses its own proprietary green cleaning solution that is derived from coconut palm kernel and other vegetables, and actually lists the ingredients of its cleaners on the website. If you’re trying to keep your home clean, might as well keep it green too.
While we’re on the subject, there’s a great organic wine selection at Chambers Street Wines, delicious healthy and organic Vietnamese cuisine at V Café, and to calm you down after a hectic day, the Natural Woman spa treatment at the Tribeca Beauty Spa. So what did we leave off this list? Add your favorites in the comments!