One More Time: Home on 8th

Despite my uneasiness over the disposable dishes they use to serve meals in-house, I decided to give Home on 8th (near Madison Square Garden) another try.

The vegetarian steamed dumplings, $5.50. They taste as bland as they look in this photo. Skip these.

The Peanut Butter Lover's Tofu (with carrots, broccoli and cabbage in a peanut-vinegar sauce), $9.95. I'm a peanut butter lover. Heck, I'm a borderline peanut butter enthusiast. But can I get some tofu and veggies with this peanut butter sauce?

I paired it with a teany peach berry green tea, $2. Okay, but so much cheaper and eco-friendly to brew your own at home and sweeten with agave nectar. Learn about the health benefits of agave here.

So that was take 2. I don't think take 3 will be on the horizon soon. I'll stick with my favorite, Empire Hunan, in Fair Lawn, NJ. Those disposable dishes just irk me too much. There's unfortunately a need for disposables sometimes, but it doesn't seem necessary here. I often look out the window on my bus ride to work each day and view the mini-landfills of trash on the roadside (consisting of water bottles, Doritos bags, Dunkin' Donuts cups, you name it) and think about our excessive waste and how we pollute, yet people justify the killing of geese, starlings, and even deer for supposedly polluting. Trying to cut down on our waste, and educate others on this, is a great resolution for the upcoming Earth Day and always.

Looking for vegan restaurants in New York City? Check out this Friends of Animals guide. (PDF)

Home on 8th: Good Vegan Chinese, Check, But...

Brown bagging lunch is usually my preferred way to go, but recently I decided to try Home on 8th, a Chinese restaurant that has a sizable vegan and vegetarian section on their menu. Is it the best Chinese food ever? No. But if you're looking for a quick meal before a show at Madison Square Garden, or you work nearby and are craving Chinese, this an option.

A feast: Tangy Sweet And Sour Soy meat, carrots, peppers, onion and pineapple; brown rice; miso seaweed soup; and two spring rolls, $9.75 for the lunch special.

This place did lose some points for the styrofoam soup bowl and the hard plastic container my meal came in. They have a plain by pleasant enough seating area, and I don't see why reusable dishes can't be used. And styrofoam? I remember being inspired as teenager watching R.E.M.'s 1989 concert for their Green album, captured on my now outdated VHS copy of Tourfilm, when Michael Stipe told an audience member, "That better not be styrofoam, pal." That's my kind of rock star.

What's wrong with plastic and styrofoam? They both take between 500-1000 years to decompose in a landfill, according to GreenMuze. Styrofoam is thought to have the second worst environmental impact behind aluminum production, according to the California Integrated Waste Management Board.

Home on 8th, 391 Eighth Ave., between 29th & 30th St., New York City.