Viva Herbal

This past week my old roommates and I decided to get together to catch up over dinner. Sounds simple, but picking a restaurant can be quite tricky with us. Two are vegetarians, one is a sometimes vegan, and one keeps kosher. This typically lands us with kosher pizza, which can get tiring. We decided on Viva Herbal, which specializes in vegan and kosher pizzas, pastas, and calzones. Despite the variety of the menu, we all settled on pizza, ordering the Picante (soy sausage, roast red pepper, mozzarella cheese)



the Bella (pesto sauce, mozzarella, sauteed spinach, onions and feta)


and the Santa Rosa (tomato sauce, sundried tomato, mushroom, roasted garlic, calamata olives, miso tofu).

Everything was amazing- and absolutely loaded with toppings. My personal favorite was the Bella-all of the flavors went together incredibly well, and the pesto sauce was a refreshing change from the typical tomato. We each got 2 slices, but 1 would have been more than enough. While I really enjoyed my meal, I wouldn't recommend it as a place for meeting up with people. There is very little seating, and the noise from the kitchen makes it difficult to talk. If you're looking for a healthy quick meal solo though, make sure to check Viva Herbal out!
Address: 179 2nd Ave, New York NY10003 (btw 11th and 12th)
Phone:(212) 420-8801
Average Price: $3 per slice
Grade: A

Mozzarellis

This weekend my roommate and I had a delightful guest in town, who happened to be gluten free. This posed a somewhat interesting eating challenge for us, as not many affordable restaurants in New York city have gotten on the gluten free bandwagon yet. After some heavy menupages perusing, we turned up Mozzarelli's, which claimed to have the best gluten free pizza in the city. The interior wasn't anything fancy, it looked just like any other quick cafeteria style pizza place. However, they had just as much gluten free pizza as regular pizza which is definitely unusual. Our gluten free friend Sarah ordered a slice of the gluten free cheese ($4), and a slice of the gluten free veggie($4), which had mushrooms and spinach on it.

I ordered the regular pizza with pumpernickle dough, spinach,mozzarella and ricotta on it($2.50). My slice was delicious, even though it was a bit underheated. It was absolutely loaded with mozarella, and heaped with ricotta and spinach, which I love! The dough was sweet and soft, definitely a welcomed change from typical pizza dough!

Now I usually hate gluten free bread, but I must admit that Mozarelli's gluten free pizza was almost as good as the real thing! The dough was slightly chewier, but the heavy toppings definitely eliminate any strange taste it may have had. If you're gluten free, or even if you're not, Mozarelli's is definitely a good go to for pizza!
Address: 38 E 23rd St, New York 10010
Phone: (212) 475-6777
Average Price: $2.50-$4