New York City has an astounding variety of places to eat, from sandwich shops to temples of haute cuisine. But in between the steakhouses, the sushi joints, and the street meat carts, what's a vegetarian to do?

I've lived in NYC for over a year, and I spend most of my free time exploring the city's food scene and recording my experiences in my food blog (lifewithfoodanddrink.blogspot.com). I'm a vegetarian with a large group of carnivorous friends, so most of my restaurant visits are to non-vegetarian restaurants. But every now and then I rope someone into a trip to a vegetarian place, of which there are several in each neighborhood. This past weekend, I visited Counter, an organic vegetarian restaurant and martini bar in the East Village.

Counter is definitely on the upscale end of the vegetarian-restaurant spectrum. It specializes in organic wines and cocktails and creative, thoughtful vegetarian food. Together, my friend and I sampled the hummus appetizer, which was smoky and flavorful and came with puffy triangles of flatbread; the penne with pesto, broccoli rabe, sun-dried tomatoes, and portabello mushrooms; and the Mediterranean Amuse salad. All the food was solid and made with high-quality ingredients. Counter also thoughtfully notes on its menu which of its dishes are raw and which have cheese, which makes ordering easy and stress-free for vegetarians, vegans, and raw-foodists alike. We were too full to order dessert, although their crème brulee and raw macadamia pistachio tart both looked tempting. Next time, perhaps!

Counter is a friendly and welcoming destination, especially if you're in the East Village. Stay tuned for more veggie news from the Big Apple!