While on the field trip as part of the Main Street Vegan Academy, we walked past Palà Pizza at 198 Allen Steet, New York, NY. One of my classmates said they had vegan options so I went in to grab a menu.  Unfortunately, they don’t have paper menus to take, but they did give me a match book with a link to their website and told me the site had the full menu on it. I wasn’t able to look it up that day, but as soon as I did, I was so happy. It’s not just a pizza place that will throw some daiya on a pizza and call it a day. No siree. The entire back side of the menu is 100% vegan. There are almost as many vegan options as there are non-vegan ones. Considering how much love pizza, I knew Palà was a must go to.  Fast foward a week and our friend Janet was in town visiting for the weekend.  I decided that on our way to the 9/11 Museum we would have lunch at Palà.  This is not your run of the mill New York style corner pizza joint. These pies are of the artisinal variety. The restaurant is bistro style with wooden table and chairs and an exposed brick wall behind the bar.  Definitely not what springs to mind when you think pizza place. But the decor is exactly right for the food served.

Janet and I enjoying our starters

When we arrived, the side of the restuarant was completely open. The walls are similar to garage doors and can be raised and lowered. So even though we were inside, it felt like we were dining outside. So perfect on a beautiful spring day. Our server, George, was very friendly an immediately inquired as to whether anyone in our party had any dietary restrictions. Big points for that. I have never had a server ask that before. When we said we were all vegan he immediately flipped over the menus to the vegan side. It all looked amazing. Thankfully with 3 of us, we were able to try a number of items.

Rapa: just a few specks of the red onion, but lots of beets!

For appetizers, we selected the Rapa and the Carciofi al Parmigiano. The Rapa is a dish of diced roasted golden beets, ginger, red onions topped with daiya mozzerella style shreds, served over a bed of mixed greens. The beets were perfectly cooked – slightly firm and wonderfully sweet. The sweetness of the beets played well with the ginger and red onions. I am often wary of dishes with red onion as I find red onions can easily over power a dish. However, the Rapa contained just enough to say, “hi, we’re here,” but not enough to overwhlem.

Carciofi al Parmigiano

The Carciofi al Parmigiano is a dish of grilled artichokes, mixed greens, cherry tomatoes and diaya.  I am never one to pass up artichokes on a menu. Again, Palà did it right. 6 artichoke quarters surrounded the greens and tomatoes and the whole thing was topped with daiya. IT was lovely. The greens had a light vinaigrette on them and it worked very nicely with the artichokes. If there is any negative to the two starters, it would be the daiya. They could have omitted it without taking anything away from the food. I think they likely just copied the non-vegan versions of the items from the regular menu that had cheese on them. It sort of begs the question, why did they need to put cheese on these at all? But that is a topic for another time. This is about pizza!

After we finished our starters, the pizzas arrived. Three people means three pizzas. See, math can be fun!  Each oval shapped pie is served on it’s own peel (the thing they use to slide pizzas in and out of the oven.)  They are perfectly sized for one person to enjoy alone.  I think if you shared one, even with a starter, you might still be hungry after.  Janet chose the Porri e Salsiccia.  This pie is topped with veggie sausage, leeks, sundried tomatoes, pink peppercorn, hot pepper and diaya.  She liked, but said she would have liked more vegetables on it.

Porri e Salsiccia

Ethan opted for the Finghi e Salsiccia. This pies is generously topped with veggie sausage, mushrooms, hot pepper and daiya. On our waiter’s recommendation, Ethan opted for the gluten free crust. The peel the pie arrived on was even labled, “Gluten Free.” The people at Palà really do their best to avoid any cross-contamination. He liked his, but was not a fan of the gluten-free crust. It tasted like a crust that they left the yeast out of.  It is very thin and crispy. The regular crust is amazing. Crunchy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside. Seriously, one of the best pizza crusts I have ever had.

Funghi e Salsiccia with the gluten free crust

As for me, I went more traditional. I got the Romana. A simple pizza of mushrooms, fresh parsley, tomatoe sauce and daiya. I loved it. The sauce was very fresh and bright. Not over scented with herbs. Just a good tomato sauce. They do use a lot of daiya, and while normally I find less is more with it, on this pie, it really worked well. I would definitely order it again.  Note: this is one of only 2 pizzas that has tomato sauce on the vegan menu.

Romana: lots of yummy sauce and cheese

While we didn’t try any of the desserts, Ethan and I each sampled the Mora Nero cocktail, a mix of Hendricks gin (they had me at Hendricks), St. Germain elder flower liquor (that is what grabbed Ethan), lavendar syrup and blackberries. The mixture is very refreshing and not too sweet. It paired nicely with the flavors of the food.

Mora Nero

We will be going back to Palà for sure. There is much more to try on the menu. Mangia!

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