Vegan day 264: John’s Pizzeria of East 12th Street
John’s Pizzeria Vegan?
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| seitan alla rosa |
What?
First of all.. I am a village girl and an Italian one at that so John’s Pizzeria- hello.. which one? Apparently if you are googling away you better type in John’s of 12th Street or the word vegan. Vegan and Italian- not necessarily two words one would generally see together. I don’t eat pasta or white flour pizza so me and Italian are not that compatible really. I am Italian so I can say that – lol.
Anyway, I think many people see this restaurant because it’s over in the VEGAN ROW neighborhood, as I like to call it. It’s becoming easier to find vegan options even if the restaurant itself is not vegan. This is the reason why I GENERALLY will choose the East Village to dine out– yes.. it’s like that. If one is too crowded, you move to option two. Today, however, this was the destination for a few reasons. I saw the word vegan on the awning last time I was on 12th Street. Is this because the chef or owner is vegan or because the neighborhood has many vegan restaurants and they want to be included- I don’t really know, Quite honestly, I’m in either way. Sure, I am a hard core vegan as in wanting to go to restaurants that are completely vegan so I don’t have to be a pain asking a million questions nor would I have to worry so much. I also enjoy supporting full on vegan restaurants- I am loyal like that! On the flip side, it can’t always be about me hehe.
Reality check- I have non-vegan friends, as in almost all of them, unfortunately lol. My friends are wonderful though as they love trying new restaurants. I think they may even have chosen this one. The good thing was that it was on my list! So in we went. I think it’s a WIN-WIN for a restaurant who wants to include vegan options and showcase it. This place didn’t just have vegan options; they had a whole menu labeled “vegan”- that’s hot!
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| portabella with polenta |
John’s has that old school Italian flare for sure with respect to ambiance, menu and waiters. Waiter #1- however, not so attentive. Luckily, we had a waiter #2 who was much better for us. I really enjoyed my food! I surprisingly loved the vegan caesar salad. You may think that salad is normally vegan but it’s not due to the anchovy that is usually in the dressing and also the grated cheese. They used dried or baked mushrooms in this salad which gave it a very similar taste- I loved it! They also had vegan grated cheese so that was a plus for detail. The SEITAN alla Rosa was very good except that mine was not hot so they had to heat it up again. They could probably upscale the mushrooms or cook them a bit more. I don’t mind food on the more raw side- actually, I prefer it but not un-marinated white mushrooms. I ate every last drop so don’t get me wrong- it was delicious! My friend had portabella mushrooms with polenta which was also very good.
The dessert was incredible- hands down: Vegan almond coconut PANNA COTTA!
Disclaimer: The information given here is for educational purposes only. You should not use this to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified health care provider.
[Thursday, September 20th 2012 blog]
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