Pala

I'm tired, folks. That about sums it up. After walking all over Manhattan for the last 3 days in search of all things yummy and vegan, I'm back at the 'rents house in NJ and am ready to get all nostalgic for the meals I already miss. There were so many good eats I can barely keep track, so I think it's best to just start at the beginning. I may not get through chronicling all 3 days by the time I get back to San Francisco on Sunday, but rest assured that I'll get through it all eventually - and that includes my trip to Philadelphia tomorrow to finally eat at Horizons. Thank goodness for this day of rest. My typing fingers, and my stomach, just can't keep up!

So, after a lunch on Sunday at the brand new Whole Foods in Paramus, NJ (awesome) I hopped the bus to New York, checked into my hotel, and then headed out to meet some friends on the lower east side for dinner. I had stayed down that way on a visit last summer, and walked past Pala many a time, mentally noting it as a place that would be great for vegans and others alike. They have a number of vegan pizzas, both with and without soy cheese, all of which are marked as such. Love it.

I started with a salad, while my others enjoyed some risotto balls. It's kind of hard to mess up a salad, but it's also hard to get it really right. Pala hits the nail on the head with a sweet balsamic, and just the right amount of salt and pepper. I then dug into the 'arrabiata' - a pizza of cherry tomatoes and hot peppers. Feeling a need for more greens, I asked them to add spinach and they happily obliged.










It was delicious, though not as spicy as one might think, and it could have used some olive oil, but still, yum. Plus: They had a bunch of dried oregeno, still on the stems, out on the table, which was both pretty and delicious. Minus: They served all our pizzas on one big slab which was great for presentation, but not so great for the probabilty of cheese contamination. They might want to keep the vegan pizzas separate. I'm just sayin.'

All in all, it was a nice place and I'd eat there again. The waitress was even kind enough to take this awesome picture of us:

Aren't we pretty?

Up next: A full day of eating my way through Manhattan with an equally epicurious vegan foodie friend. Mmmmmm.....