In recent months, the decades-old pioneering vegan East Village restaurant Caravan of Dreams was living a nightmare.
Saddled by debt, allegedly swindled by a business partnership turned sour, and bogged down by an evolving East Village along with the lingering effects of the pandemic, the oldest vegan eatery in NYC was teetering on the edge of serving the last of its signature dishes, like creamy vegan burritos, crisp risotto croquettes and yummy tofu scrambles.
“We were in danger of going under,” Angel Moreno, Caravan’s gregarious 76-year-old owner, admitted to The Post.
Moreno was $200,000 underwater in rent, debt and loans.
“I was borrowing money to keep it afloat, but it was not happening. So many people in the Village also moved away,” Moreno said. “I was asking people what we could do; maybe we’d turn it into a nonprofit or co-op.”
It turns out the hapless restaurateur’s saving grace was right under his nose.
Brandon Stanton, the Humans of New York mastermind who chronicles the extraordinary stories of ordinary New Yorkers on social media and through a series of popular books, just happened to be a regular customer.
“I don’t go out a ton, but when I do eat out, it was always at Caravan of Dreams,” Stanton told The Post.
“But it was a puzzle to me: the food’s excellent, the people were wonderful, but it didn’t have any foot traffic. I just never understood how the economics were working.”
As luck would have it, one day Stanton’s wife struck up a conversation with Moreno.
Not knowing he was talking to the spouse of a viral star with a legion of loyal followers, Moreno admitted the Caravan had hit bumps in the road that could derail the whole business.
The story was relayed to Stanton, and he tried to pry the proud owner’s sour tale out of him.
“He’s charismatic, but a tough interview,” Stanton recalled. “I came home with all of my notes and wasn’t sure how to even write his story.”
Eventually, after also speaking with Moreno’s partner, Mercedes Gallego, he crafted a post to his followers across Instagram and Facebook.
“Angel believes in his heart that Caravan of Dreams is contributing to a brighter future for the world,” Stanton quoted Gallego saying.
“And if he doesn’t keep it open, the world will lose that future. He won’t let go. He’s driven by faith. He thinks all he has to do is believe.”
View this post on Instagram Stanton included the link for the restaurant’s anemic GoFundMe, which had previously stalled out at a paltry $14,000.
Within days of the March 24 posting, Stanton’s followers took heart in Moreno’s story.
“I didn’t want to get his hopes up, but I had no idea it’d galvanize so much attention,” Stanton said.
To date, it has raised more than $300,000 for Caravan of Dreams — saving the business and wiping out its debt.
The formerly sleepy restaurant was also launched into viral influence, with customers queuing for hours in recent days, and the kitchen running out of ingredients.
Moreno was so taken aback that he was forced to recruit friends to bus tables and wash dishes to keep up with demand.
“We were overwhelmed — I couldn’t believe it. I was crying just reading the comments,” Moreno said.
Adds Gallego: “It’d be too cheesy for a movie, because you just can’t make this up.”
A native of Madrid, Spain, Moreno was a scholar in nutrition before moving to the United States in 1982. Inspired by his restaurant-owner father, he set out to spread the gospel of everything he learned.
It was a tall order: when Caravan of Dreams opened in 1991, veganism and clean eating were niche concepts. Even supermarkets like Whole Foods, with only a dozen stores by the following year, were a long way from going national.
“You discover in life what you’re good for, so I took a risk because I knew a lot about nutrition,” Moreno said. “I wanted to use my knowledge about pure organic food.”
His risk soon became an East Village staple, with vegan aficionados traveling far and wide to chow down on gooey Reubens made with tempeh, a mushroom-loaded shepherd’s pie, and fiery, immune-boosting libations like a smoothie made with turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves and basil.
Moreno was a welcoming host. “The pleasure of serving for me is natural,” he said.
For decades, the restaurant was chugging along and subsequently enjoyed the organic and vegan booms in the 2010s.
Aside from the economic fallout for restaurants from the pandemic, Caravan lost many of its loyal customers as the demographics of the East Village shifted.
“It started to become difficult to not just make it profitable, but sustainable,” said Moreno.
Seeking help as an exasperated Moreno approached his 70s, in 2024, he hired a manager he put his trust in.
“I needed support, and he came from a culinary school. Let’s just say he did things less than excellently.”
Moreno, who invested money with the manager, now claims that he was actually cooking the books, taking advances without Moreno’s knowledge, and putting the Caravan in a deep hole.
In a lawsuit filed last October in the New York State Supreme Court, Moreno accused the manager — identified in court documents as Abraham Gross, along with co-defendant Nachum Chusid, aka Nick Levi and M&N Funding Solutions, LLC — of a “fraudulent investment scheme” that promised a 20% annual return on $300,000 Moreno entrusted to them.
“We were going to go bankrupt,” said Gallego. “We had minimum stock, minimum everything!”
Judgment is still pending. Chusid and M&N Funding Solutions have moved to dismiss the complaint.
The Post has reached out to Gross and Chusid for comment.
“In many ways, New York is like a ‘Bonfire of the Vanities’ city,” said Gallego during a brief break from the now-bustling restaurant.
“It can be cold-hearted with everyone going for your throat. But what Humans of New York proved is that New York has a soul, and a lot of good people.”
What heartens Moreno and Gallego the most is the nature of the donations he has received from concerned supporters.
“Most of them are five and 10 dollars,” pointed out Gallego.
Stanton recently visited and was astounded by the change inside.
“The restaurant had so much energy and life,” Stanton said. “Angel only slept an hour the night before I went, and he was going table to table charming everybody.”
“I couldn’t believe the masses of people waiting outside,” explained Moreno. “Nobody was upset, everybody was positive. They came with the attitude of helping and to support us.”
“I like to study this kind of invisible energy,“ Moreno said, his voice hoarse from talking with his fresh crowds of customers.
“Magic happened — that’s the explanation I can tell you.”
