Vegan Pizza Safari .........

About a month ago I received an e-mail from Scott’s Pizza Tours announcing their new tour...

NYC Pizza Safari: Learning to Love Your Vegan

It sounded interesting and I made a mental note of the date. 
As it turned out, I was free that day and the weather report was good.  The night before I purchased the last ticket.
I have taken Scott’s two other tours, both of which I plan take again with friends.
http://www.scottspizzatours.com/  http://amusebouche1.blogspot.com/2010/09/big-yellow-school-bus-pizza-tour.html  

http://amusebouche1.blogspot.com/2010/04/i-had-slice-today.html

We met at Keste’ located at 271 Bleecker Street and home to the USA branch of Associazione Pizzaiuoli Napoletani. APN is an oversight group which inspects and approves Neapolitan pizzerias. Guidelines govern not only the use of specific types of flour (ex: Caputo) and tomatoes, but specify that each pizza must be hand-formed to a width of 13 inches and baked in a wood-fired oven at 900° Fahrenheit. Keste’s Proprietor/chef/pizzaiolo: Roberto Caporuscio is president of the USA association.

http://www.kestepizzeria.com/home.html

The oven is dome shaped and wood fire…..

The dome allows for better heat distribution much like a convection oven…..

Pizza in a minute 30…….

Roberto’s magic…….

Our first pie….

Classic Neapolitan soft supple crust made with fresh yeast, fresh crushed San Marzano tomatoes, minced  garlic, and whole basil leaves…….

Next across the street to John's.......

 
Classic NY style coal fired oven pizza minus the cheese……

Cooked tomato sauce, roasted tomatos, garlic, basil….
The crust was crisp, cracked when folded and slightly charred…..
Much higher oven temp....

Next....
Two Boots... an enigma

http://www.twoboots.com/

Louisiana (boot shaped) meets Italy (boot shaped)

Their pies are anything but classic…..

Pie One

 Mrs. Peel think The Advengers….

Roasted veggie and garlic with a bread crumb binder…..

The crust was some what thick and bread like…..
Classic gas fired deck pizza oven....

Pie Two

Earth Mother

Whole Wheat crust with fresh veggies…..

Named for Bette Midler…

The crust can be anywhere from one to two inches thick, bread like and heavy…..

Open wide......
That is a quarter slice of Earth Mother...

Last stop…….

Slice on Hudson Street ……

Just down the street from White Horse Tavern

http://www.sliceperfect.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Horse_Tavern_(New_York_City)

So far we went from classic Neapolitan to classic NY Style sans cheese…….

To vegan veggie and now organic…….

Scott  brought vegan “cheese” for this tasting…….

At Slice.....
 the crusts are prebaked, allowing each slice to be made to order, rather than reheated..... 
Good concept but the crust reminded me of a water cracker….

But I love the menu.......

Taste One

Crust topped with "marinara" (vegan) and Diaya (vegan) shredded “mozzarella”….

Diaya "Mozzarella" Ingredients….

Filtered water, tapioca and/or arrowroot flours, non-GMO expeller pressed canola and /or non-GMO expeller pressed safflower oil, coconut oil, pea protein, salt, vegan natural flavours, inactive yeast, vegetable glycerin, xanthan gum, citric acid (for flavor).

Ok in a vegan setting, not bad for what it is.....

http://www.daiyafoods.com/products/mozza.asp

Next slice….

Cracker crust with "marinara" and Teese Vegan “Cheese”…..

Teese Ingredients……

Organic soymilk (filtered water, organic non-GMO soybeans), tapioca starch, soybean oil, corn maltodextrin, palm oil, salt, carrageenan, vegan natural flavors, corn-derived lactic acid (vegan), titanium dioxide (naturally occurring mineral).

Sorry......No......

http://www.chicagosoydairy.com/teese_vegan_cheese/

Best slice of the day……

Herb crust, caramelized onions, organic hummus, kalamata olives
I will be back for the.....
Honey whole wheat crust, all-natural marinara sauce, caramelized onions, organic arugula, goat cheese…..
or
Herb crust, sundried tomato pesto, part-skim organic mozzarella cheese, sauteed eggplant, kalamata olives

I like this menu….

Might be..........

Does it fit the food pyrimad....?

Burger & Barrel NYC....

The other day my wife and I met our friend Fred in NYC for lunch. On the recommendation of the blog Serious Eats New York/ A Hamburger Today I chose Burger and Barrel in SoHo.

http://www.burgerandbarrel.com/ http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/11/burger-and-barrel-josh-capon-review-soho-nyc.html 

AHT rated their burger one of the top five in NYC.

It was the best one I have had so far.

They are located at 25 West Houston near the BDFM Broadway-Lafayette and the NR Prince St. subway stops  ……..

We arrived before noon and we were the only customers…..

When we left at 1:30 it was full………..

We debated between the tuna tartar, beef carpaccio or short rib tacos as a starter……..

My wife and our friend Fred chose The Classic burger ($13) which comes topped with onion rings, tomato, lettuce and American cheese. Their choice of fries was sweet potato, which were excellent……

My wife had an Anchor Steam ($7) from the barrel; Fred had a merlot ($8) also on tap, from the barrel……

The burger is made with grass fed beef and is a blend of chuck, brisket , aged rib eye and short ribs………

I chose The Bash Burger ($14) which is topped with onion rings, caramelized onions, bacon jam, pickles and American cheese. My starch choice, a side salad is also available, was Tater Tots. They seem to be making a resurgence. These were dusted with fresh rosemary, perfect…….

The Bash Burger was the winner of the Peoples Choice Award at the 2009 Rachel Ray Burger Bash

I ordered a bottle of Keegan’s Porter ($8) aka Mothers Milk from Keegan Ales located in the Hudson Valley.........

http://www.keeganales.com/

B and B also has a full bar and wide selection of premium wines by the glass.

Oh, the service. Our waitress Jess could not have been more helpful, was extremely funny, personable and never intrusive.

All in all a great affordable lunch with friends.

We passed on the $45 White Truffle Burger topped with white truffle slices, robiola cheese and truffle aioli ........