Cocoa V Chocolat in New York. Vegan Wine, Chocolate, and Cake. Please Foster RaRa.

Cocoa V Chocolate & Wine Bar

174 Ninth Ave. (Chelsea), Manhattan.

212.242.3339

Our trips to New York go like this:  Land.  Subway to Lower East Side.  Eat.  Walk.  Eat.  Walk.  Eat. You can see where/how this is going.  I am a big "Blossom" lover and wanted to check out this Vegan Chocolate & Wine Bar.  We were both drained but managed to suck down a bit of wine & a little chocolate.  I was truly hoping for Dr. Cow Raw Vegan Nut Cheese plate, but they were out of all the cool stuff when we went!

 It's a cozy little place, soft lighting.  Good for dark circles under the eyes.

 A nice selection of chocolate but I was kind of hoping for some sugar free or raw chocolates too, since that is all the "rage" now (and I don't "do" sugar generally".  Beautiful chocolate & cakes, but "traditional" style.

Many Sinful Delights.  I can't believe people still don't understand you can totally indulge & be animal free!  

Compassionate Truffles.

I wanted this but knew the "sugar" buzz would make me too crazy.  Since we already had espressos. (After downing dosas!)

This was beautiful.   While I have a personal preference for raw desserts, my favorite childhood cake is a lemon poppyseed Bundt cake.  Anything Bundt makes me want dark coffee & flour.

 Fully stocked with Vegan Cupcakes.

The wine was great after a long day of travel.  We didn't drink all of this.  Only about a dozen bottles.  Kidding.  My hubby could have done some damage, but he was already pretty zonked.

Very small "kitchen" in the back.

 A nice refuge from the cold & very quiet when we went.  My hubby rested a bit and I scheduled my Jivamukti classes online.  Nearly signed up for a "hula yoga" class but ended up with live music yoga instead.  Totally wussed out of the hula thing, AND I am a big fan of real music.

We split this chocolate concoction.........Figured a tiny sugar buzz would pair well with the wine.  I was right.  I love the concept of this place.  It is cozy.  It's a little pricey for not having more of a food menu.  But for sugar & wine, which are both pretty popular in NY, then it is fabulous.

I would probably just go across the street to Blossom next time, since I have to have "food" with wine and we adore Blossom.  The owners have a little ever changing vegan empire going on in this city.....with V Note, Blossom, Cocoa V, Blossom Du Jour, Cafe Blossom and apparently a new Blossom Bakery.  What I remember most about the original "Blossom" is that there were pictures of animals on the walls and they were unapologetically ethically vegan.  It made me feel warm & fuzzy on the inside while we paid the bill for artistically done seitan & a killer chocolate ganache.

And the dogs..............It is cold outside so riding along with Pj & www.gatewaypets.com to do the East St. Louis Feedings has been a little more difficult and the rescues have "felt" more urgent.  A few dogs have limps, either from arthritis aggravated by cold weather, or actual issues, and we still have a major shortage of foster homes.  Fosters don't have to provide money, just a place for the pup to stay & some love.  Even if you have a garage or a basement, call them if you would consider being a foster.


RaRa has waited patiently.  All I can do is post and hopefully this gets shared and hopefully a suitable foster in this area, is able to help save RaRa's life.

 This is Martha. A Cat Queen is fostering her, but she may still need a forever home.  Pj adored this kitty!

 And Knuckles.  Knuckles has a limp and Pj is keeping an eye on it.  He may have to be pulled soon because it may actually be something dislocated.   Check out the "home" behind him.  Once again, sort of a common backdrop for these kids.

 It is about 20 degrees or a bit less today.  This is when you sport the polartec leggings beneath the jeans.  And just be prepared because you never know if you are going to be climbing in a ditch or walking through the brush.

 Friends of GPG are going to start trapping & releasing these kids.  Of course, they are actually not "feral" because they let Pj pet them and always come for food.  So if anyone wants to foster them, they are up for grabs.  We just don't want them to keep growing, so it is great to try to reduce the population of future homeless animals.

 This guy is totally sociable and actually follows the car!  He needs a real home.  He is the friendliest, most normal of all the cats.

 I need a foster!

 This is "Horton's girl".  Several of the houses along our feeding route look like this.  Collapsing.  The dogs often find debris, old cushions, insulation, etc...to burrow in a bit.  She was shivering a little, either from the cold or from fear.  FYI, these dogs are all street dogs, living in East St. Louis.  In general, their trust must be earned through daily feedings or we must trap them in order to do rescues.  They will not just "hop" in the car, in general.  We always need fosters.

 This is Pj petting Horton.  The rest of Horton's pack has already been rescued.  Jonesy & Mischa (who took nearly forever to rescue because she would not cooperate) are at K-9 Carnival, learning how to be "regular dogs" before they go to their fosters.  Horton got lonely so took up with the "new girl".  Womba was rescued, but unfortunately, escaped from her foster within the first 24 hours and was last spotted near the Archgrounds/riverfront area.  We are still on the lookout for her.

 Horton.

This is RaRa.  RaRas was in our documentary several years ago.  She has lived her entire life on the streets but  for some reason no one has been knocking on our door to foster her.  We work on "triage" or if we have a foster ready.  So emergencies get pulled quickly and if we have a foster for a particular dog, we can pull them.  But sometimes, neither of those things happen, and a dog ends up living years on the streets.  It's like you see an entire continent starving to death, or thousands of children orphaned and you personally cannot take every single child into your home, or you personally do not have the financial means to support all of those people.  However, you do what you can.  You do not turn a blind eye on the suffering that exists simply because you cannot put a band-aid on all of it.  You help as many sentient beings as possible.  I still pray that someone will foster RaRa.