Littly Italy of the Bronx

Arthur avenue in Little Italy

It’s always an adventure being in the Little Italy of the Bronx, which I visited yesterday. This neighborhood, with its many unique Italian restaurants, pizzerias, bakeries, pastry shops, and gift stores is a hidden gem. It is not as well known as the Little Italy in Manhattan but has as much, if not more to offer food-lovers, both vegans and non-vegans.

The indoor market that is on Arthur Avenue in Little Italy is a world unto itself. It is a cornucopia of Italian food and fresh produce, and has an “old world” kind of feel to it. You will often hear Italian spoken here, by both the merchants and some of the customers, though luckily it’s not required that you speak Italian to order food. Similarly, you don’t have to understand Italian to enjoy the performances of the Italian singers that occasionally come by. It reminds me of the Reading Terminal market in Philadelphia, except it isn’t as big, and there aren’t any Amish.

The Cafe Al Mercato in the market has a very long menu of various pizzas, pastas, salads, and sandwiches. They make a delicious vegan pizza or focaccia. I highly recommend it.

If you are ever in New York City, you should definitely visit.

Vegan pizza with Daiya vegan cheese

It was pizza night last night, and I wanted to try something new. This is the first time I have ever used Daiya vegan cheese.

I used some pizza dough I got from the local Stew Leonard’s supermarket.

 
 

 
 
 
 
I got the Daiya from the local health food store for $5.99, which is pricey so I won’t be getting this very often. The sauce I got was from the Stop and Shop supermarket, and I got the Stop and Shop brand(roasted garlic tomato sauce) which tastes very similar to the gourmet Rao’s brand pasta sauce, but less expensive than Rao’s.

I added a dash of cayenne pepper since I love it spicy and put it in the oven for 20 minutes. Here is how it turned out.

It was better than expected. Very yummy and filling. Vegan cheeses have come a long way over the years. Still, even some soy cheese alternatives often have added casein, a milk protein, which makes no sense. Daiya is 100% vegan, as well as soy and gluten free.