Pride Month – Two NYC Restaurants that Give Back

Pride Month is almost here and the perfect way to celebrate the contributions from the LGBTQIA+ community is to support those businesses and to continue to raise funds and awareness for equality. To celebrate and recognize LGBTQIA+ owned businesses, here are two restaurants to support.

Isle of Us located at 1481 3rd Ave, NYC - Isle of Us is a marketplace and café offering healthful made-to-order, prepared foods and pantry provisions produced from locally sourced ingredients. The marketplace within the cafe features party provisions from local businesses with an evolving selection of consciously curated brands that you want to support. As an LGBTQIA+ owned business, and for PRIDE Month, the marketplace items will feature LGBTQIA+ owned brands ranging from home goods, sweets to munchies with spices and sauces. In addition, the neighborhood cafe and marketplace will serve a rainbow bowl named "Big Gay Bowl” ($16) with kale, roasted peppers, sweet carrots, turmeric chickpeas, charred broccoli, marinated cabbage, pickled onion, avocado, tahini verde, puffed rice crunch and  "Big Gay Iced Coffee” ($6) on the drinks menu with cold brew, raspberry rose oat milk foam, glitter. The cafe will donate $2 from each bowl and $1 from each cold brew to Born Perfect, a survivor-led campaign created by the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) in 2014 to end conversion therapy by passing laws across the country that protect LGBT children and young people, fighting in courtrooms to ensure their safety, and raising awareness about the serious harms caused by these dangerous practices.

Trust Bae located at 1204 Broadway, NYC - As part of the LGBTQIA+ community, Chef Frances Tariga has pushed through many boundaries to get to where she is today. Being a female chef in a male-dominated industry and coming out at a young age in another country, she has proven to herself with each step. To represent those 'steps’ and layers to get to where she is today as a TV personality and chef-  she created a housemade Rainbow Sapin Sapin. Sapin Sapin is a filipino mochi comprised of coconut milk and freshly grated coconut meat. This PRIDE dessert has a deeper meaning to Chef Tariga as it is an extension of herself. The rainbow sapin sapin at Trust Bae will be rolled in golden sesame seed and cornflakes and in the bed of fresh coconut, served in a coconut shell with banana leaf then garnished with pulled sugar and gold. Colors and flavors to create the rainbow include - Purple- ube, Green - pandan, Orange - kamote / sweet potato, Red - beet, Yellow - ripe jackfruit, White - coconut. Pride Month, a portion of proceeds from the dessert will go towards The Center, a community in New York that provides programs for health, wellness and community connection. The Center is where everyone is celebrated for who they are and is the heart and home of NYC's LGBTQIA+ community, something relatable to chef Tariga. 

Photo Credit: Provided by Trust Bae