By Leila Molitor

Let’s get one thing straight: adding mushroom powder to fries does not make them magical. Collagen in a cocktail will not make your skin glow in the middle of a Tuesday. Adaptogens in aioli don’t make your sandwich more enlightened. Yet somehow, across Chelsea, Williamsburg, and SoHo, restaurants are piling functional ingredients into plates nobody asked to fix.

The result? Overpriced meals pretending to be a science experiment, served on Instagram worthy boards. The flavors rarely survive the branding. Your kale salad might now contain ashwagandha, but that doesn’t make it edible, enjoyable, or even relevant to your day. It just makes you feel like you’re participating in a wellness startup pitch while paying $21 for leaf water.

This is not to say wellness is inherently bad. Good restaurants can use superfoods, herbs, and adaptogens thoughtfully — ingredients that complement the dish rather than hijack it. Balance, technique, and taste still matter. If you’re going to charge $21 for a salad, it should taste like food, not a lab report.

Here are five NYC spots where wellness is done right — thoughtful, flavorful, and far from gimmicky:

• ABC Kitchen (Flatiron) – Ingredients shine naturally, flavor first, health benefits optional but real.

• Westlight (Williamsburg) – Innovative cocktails, smart use of botanicals, no spiritual insurance claims required.

• Shuka (Union Square) – Mediterranean plates with herbs and functional touches that actually taste delicious.

• Blue Hill (Greenwich Village) – Farm-to-table brilliance, thoughtfully sourced ingredients, wellness without pretense.

•Dirt Candy (Lower East Side) –A creative, veggie‑forward restaurant known for treating vegetables like the stars they are

The real question: are you eating food, or are you swallowing branding disguised as health? NYC can do wellness — it just has to respect flavor first, trend second, and your wallet somewhere in between.

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