Winter 2022: Restaurant Updates

Two vegan Italian restaurants, a veritable croquembouche of bakeries, and a DC favorite’s first NYC branch.

Macaron from the recently closed UWS mainstay My Most Favorite Food (Yossi Hoffman Photography)

Openings

Coletta (vegan; certified by the IKC)
An Italian restaurant from City Roots Hospitality and Chef Guy Vaknin (of Willow and Beyond Sushi). Pizzas include Wild Mushroom Truffle with caramelized cipollini onions, lemon “ricotta,” fresh rosemary, crema, and red chili; pastas include “Squid” Ink Ravioli with fire roasted eggplant caviar, wild greens, lemon butter sage sauce, “parmesan,” and toasted pine nuts; and desserts include Cardamom Vanilla Panna Cotta with strawberry coulis, vanilla, fresh strawberries, and mint.

Galioto’s Delicatessen (vegan; not certified kosher)
Italian deli serving sandwiches, including Fig-etta Bout It with Smoky balsamic, glazed beet, house “ricotta,” caramelized onion, arugula, fig jam, olive oil, and vinegar. They also have pasta, salads, and “bites” including “Peperoni” Misti with eggplant, raisins, onions, peppers, tomato, olives, capers, and chili flakes. You can purchase their sauces and some of their “cheeses” in their deli case, plus they offer baked goods such as quiche, croissants, biscotti, brownies, and cookies. Note: their website features a photo that shows two Tony’s Chocolonely bars on display. All Tony’s bars are “Suitable for Vegetarians,” but some have milk. Those two flavors (dark almond sea salt and dark pecan coconut) are both “suitable for vegans.” I also confirmed with the deli that they only sell Tony’s bars that are vegan.

Magnolia Bakery @ Hudson Yards (dairy; certified by UKS)
They’re known for their banana pudding and their scrumptious cupcakes. This branch is located on the 4th floor (in between Shake Shack and The Body Shop, across from Zara) of the 20 Hudson Yards building.

Nuts Factory (dairy; certified by NKS)
Shuk-style store with nuts, dried fruit, halva, spices, and candy.

PLNT Burger (vegan; certified by DC Kosher)
A Washington D.C. mainstay, this is their first location in NYC. Burgers include many things (Beyond patty, tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, caramelized onion, PLNT sauce, potato bun), but they contain very few vowels (e.g. DBL PLNT BURGER), and of course there’s no actual meat. They also offer oat-milk based soft-serve ice cream and shakes, as well as cookies such as the PLNT carrot-oat-pineapple cookie, which, they claim, has a “unique sweet and filling flavor, the perfect compliment to a juicy burger.”

Raíz (vegan; not certified kosher)
Their Instagram tagline is “Plant-based Mexican. Let us surprise you!” The menu includes tacos (e.g. Baja: panko breaded oyster mushrooms, Mexican slaw, chipotle mayo), burritos (e.g. Sweet Potato and Kale: sweet potato, rice, beans, avocado, blanched kale, pico, and fried plantains), quesadillas, nachos, soups (e.g. Birria: slow cooked jackfruit, onions), and salads (e.g. Cactus Never Die: romaine, grilled cactus, tomatoes, radish, onions, and v. cheddar cheese).

scen (vegan; not certified kosher)
Fast casual from Matthew Kenney. VegOut Mag notes that scen is working towards becoming “the world’s first certified zero-waste restaurant.” They offer rice/quinoa bowls (including a Balance Bowl with sushi rice, soy maple glazed tempeh, edamame, mango, wakame, avocado, sesame golden beet, carrot ginger dressing, and furikake), sushi (including a kimchi swiss chard roll with pecan dukkha, squash, and cashew kimchi sauce), bagel sandwiches, and smoothies.

William Greenberg Desserts @ Hudson Yards (dairy; certified by NKS)
This branch is unique in that they offer “prepared sandwiches, handmade breads and housemade granola alongside its beloved black and white cookies, fruit tarts, schnecken and Mad Men–famous brownies.” Located on level 3 (between H&M and Bluestone Lane, across from Zara) of the 20 Hudson Yards building. Note: their website currently says 30 Hudson yards; they’re working on fixing it, along with removing the Plaza location which no longer exists.

Closings

My Most Favorite Food
This classic restaurant was founded as a bakery called “My Most Favorite Dessert Company” in Great Neck in 1982. It moved to Manhattan in 1986, eventually making its way to the Upper West Side after years in the Theater District (with a stop on Madison Ave along the way). While the storefront is now closed, the bakery “will continue to feature specialty cakes for any occasion, as well as the cakes, cookies, sugar cookies, brownies, pies, tarts, breads, challahs, gluten-free and vegan options that have graced your table for years.” I’m especially eager to try their sweet brioche challah as well as their seemingly Breads Bakery inspired Circle of Life challah.

Tamam Union Square location
This falafel place just opened a year ago before closing in January, but not to worry, they’re already looking for a new location. The Upper East Side location is still open.

Kosher Certification Updates

National Kosher Supervision (NKS) has posted a number of updates of late:

• Sherry Herring is newly certified.

The following are no longer certified kosher:

• 16 Handles @ 64th & 1st
• 16 Handles @ 98th & Broadway
• Baked Cravings

H/T Maddy Hoffman for the collective noun for bakeries