Make no mistake, for good pizza, this girl will travel. Three trains and 45 minutes no less, but enter the non-descript DiFara Pizza on Avenue J, and after sampling the fare, the goods are certainly worth that wait. Amidst the bakeries, kosher delicatessens and laundromats that line this predominately Orthodox Jewish section of Brooklyn, in a small space you’ll find Dominick DeMarco, dressed in comfortable shoes and his flour-dusted apron, making thin Neapolitan pies the same way he’s been doing it for over forty years.

What sets DiFara apart from the legions of other pizzerias about town? DeMarco uses only the freshest and finest ingredients, buffalo and fresh mozzarella cheeses imported from Italy and after a few moments of watching him coax the dough, handle the pie in conspicuously non-wood-burning oven, no doubt you are in the house of a perfectionist. An artisan that serves up a wafer-thin crust, bits of fresh basil (grown in the window), and a lacing of extra-virgin olive oil through the sweet tomato sauce. The unveiling of the pie gets a ceremonial dusting of grana padana, administered in slow, deliberate, old-world style by the master himself.

Tip: Bring a book, folks. DiFara tends to make them in, with fans traveling as far as the West Coast to indulge in rustic, down-home pizza.

DiFara Pizza
1424 Avenue J
Brooklyn, New York
718.258.1367
Subway: Q to Avenue J

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Imagine for a moment the perfect pizza. A thin, flaky crust. Piping hot mozzarella cheese and savory toppings like sausage, homemade basil pesto, creamy mushrooms. Now imagine this pizza is healthy. You heard right – a pizza that’s actually good for you.

Featured on the Food Network’s show, “Recipe for Success”, twenty-something owner, Miki, a self-diagnosed lactose intolerant, couldn’t find delicious, guilt-free pizza that could be eaten anywhere. Seeking to make the ultimate American comfort food with the freshest, organic ingredients while giving customers the option to substitute traditional cheeses for rice/soy, coupled with an entrepreneur spirit – Slice was born.

It’s cozy space in Manhattan’s Upper East Side is clean, minimalist in decor and you’re greeted with soothing, indie music and spoken word. The tasty menu is penned on a chalkboard and the options are enough to make your mouth water, no doubt. I sampled the “Novice” – sundried tomatoes, pesto, organic mozzarella on an unbleached, herbed crust. That was just the beginning of my meal. Fresh, wholesome salads, homemade, gluten-free and chocolately desserts, I left without the heartburn from all the grease and oil that is the staple of traditional pizza joints that clutter the city streets. And although the slices are on the pricey side ($4), the portions are fair and the outcome incredibly delicious. Who knew healthy could taste so darn good?

Slices and pies range from “Dunce” to “Genius,” becoming more expensive as you get educated – $3.50 a slice/$18 a pie for a bruschetta-like “Dunce” to $24 for a “Master.” (A build-your-own “Genius” pie starts at $20, and toppings are additional.)

So, if you’ve got late-night cravings (they deliver!) or you just want to sample some tasty, healthy pizza, Slice is the perfect spot.

Slice The Perfect Food
1413 2nd Avenue
New York, NY 10021
Tel: (212) 249-4353

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You vote with your dollar, it’s as simple as that. Every purchase you make – from sheets to heirloom tomatoes, from washcloths to pet food, what you buy dictates the future of our environment and the value, we as consumers, place on it. For months I patroned my local supermarket simply for the fact that it is located a few short blocks from my house, but soon I grew sickened by the fluorescent overhead lights, the wilting legumes, the roach-infested aisles, and I sought produce and chicken elsewhere. I became one of the many Brooklyn-ites to cart home bags from Whole Foods on the subway: pricey, but luxurious greens, free-range chickens, gluten-free breads – until I learned that I could save a significant amount of my grocery bill (essential in these precarious times of living as an artist, working freelance) but still get locally-produced, sustainable, or organic foods.

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For gals who simply don’t want to leave Brooklyn in order to enjoy a fabulous meal or for jaded Manhattan foodies who are seeking escape, check out Al Di La, a Northern Italian Park Slope eatery guaranteed to answer all your dining prayers. Inside, the decor is simply elegant, sumptuous and warm with the tile floor, the rustic tin ceiling, flowered wallpaper, mismatched china and silverware, the dramatic red velvet curtain at the entrance and co-owner Emiliano Coppa’s grandmother’s crystal chandelier from Venice. Mind you ladies, I haven’t even begun to dish on the food yet. With an ever-changing menu inspired by Veneto, a region flavored by Venice and the countryside that surrounds it, chef and co-owner Anna Klinger, formerly of Lespinasse, local patrons have been flocking to this charming trattoria since 1999.

Start with baccala mantecato (salt-beaten cod) with grilled polenta or the buttery carpaccio served with argula and shaved parmesan. For your primi, or first course, sample any one of their homemade, decadently rick pastas, such as poppy-seeded sweet beet ravioli, brown-butter-slicked squash tortelli, and airy swiss chard-ricotta “malfatti” (misshapen gnocchi with fried sage). And just when you thought your mouth couldn’t water any more, the char-grilled organic chicken served on a bed of fennel and mash potatoes guarantees to delight.

With a bevy of divine desserts (chocolate and hazelnuts anyone? or maybe some delish ice cream spiked with scalding espresso?) and a friendly, communal atmosphere, no doubt Al Di La will soon be your favorite Brooklyn eatery.

Tip: For patrons who want to snag a table, warning, Al Di La has a no reservation policy, but delight in waiting at their cozy wine bar located just around the corner.

Al Di La
607 Carroll St
Brooklyn, NY 11215
(718) 783-4565
Cross Street: 5th Avenue
Subway: F to 4th Ave-9th St; M, N, R at Union St

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Soho could very well make you mad. If you’re not dodging speed-walking shoppers and street vendors hocking anything from watercolors to beaded necklaces, you’re escaping trucks barreling down cobblestone streets. Soho is most known for chic shoppes and swank cocktail havens (Thom at 60 Thompson or Mercer Kitchen, anyone?) – places to see and be seen – not for soothing soups and leafy greens.

Enter Olive’s – a tiny soup and sandwich shop, so delish and tucked away, that most don’t know about it and passersby are always confused about the long lines snaking out of the shop. For fresh, locally produced produce used in salads and sandwiches (they serve up the simple to the mind-boggling complex: everything from fresh mozzarella and peppers in basil oil to harvest greens – fresh, crisp arugula with goat cheese, root veggies, pecans, grilled asparagus, and a creamy vinaigrette or sample the roast beef with aioli on a bed of greens, nestled between a fresh baguette) check out this local spot that should be in your know.

Be sure to duck in for market greens and wholesome grains and specials which change daily. For the heartiest soups (Caribbean chicken to a tasty butternut squash) to rustic, rich desserts (pumpkin pie encrusted with pecans or sample their homemade PB&J cookie!), food at Olive’s is always served fast but never falls short on flavor.

Olive’s
120 Prince St | Btwn Wooster & Greene St
New York City
Subway: N/R to Prince Street; C/E to Spring Street; F/V/B/D to Broadway/Lafayette

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Want to dine like a celebrity or just get treated like one? Tempo, a sleek Park Slope eatery promises all the savoir fare of Manhattan dining without all the attitude. From the cream-colored stucco walls and crushed silk draperies, to the warm wooden tables and soft candlelight, the owners (all three working partners, veterans of Manhattan’s eminent restaurants, including chef Michael Fiore (of famed Babbo, are intimately involved in all aspects of the dining experience from the decor to the wine list) seek to offer a comforting environment and elegant fare.

Whether you chose to dine at the 20-foot-long cork-topped food and wine bar, or dine in one of the two stylishly appointed dining rooms, a night at Tempo will quickly become your weekend (as well as weekday) hot spot. Well-trained sommeliers are on hand to help the amateur enthusiast on their wine picks as well as the more adventurous connoisseurs and with an extensive wine list boasting a variety of grapes from regions in Italy, Spain, France and the U.S., diners won’t be wont for ideas.

Primarily Mediterranean, the menu is influenced by Tuscan flavors. I savored the organic chicken served with okives, preserved lemon, saffron, ginger, coriander leaves, along with chick peas fries. Alongside a creamy polenta appetizer and a special butternut squash soup, the food was complex in seasoning and preparation, sumptuous and elegant in presentation. All the while, the attentive staff always ensured our wine glasses were tapped and our needs were always met. I left feel incredibly pampered and ultimately satisfied.

In Park Slope? Make Tempo your essential eating stop.

Tempo Restaurant & Wine Bar
256 5th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11215
Between Carroll and Garfield Streets
Subway: R to Union Street

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I admit it, I’m an unabashed downtown snob. I get nosebleeds traveling above 23rd Street; I’m of the belief that if I want haughty East Side stroller moms and college kids barhopping, I can frequent some of the uber-trendy areas of Brooklyn or Battery Park. However, with the lure of a dear friend moving to the Upper West Side and the promise of a fabulous burger, how could I resist?

It was a soaking day outside and our party of three fled inside the cozy, chic eatery, SQC, brought to you by renowned chef, Scott Campbell (Windows on the World, Union Square Cafe, Le Cirque with Daniel Boulud, QV with Joachim Splichal, Montrachet, and his nearby Avenue). Bringing French technique with his American sensibility and passion for hospitality, the menu is a celebration of New American cooking that includes elements of Californian cuisine, classical French accents and influences from Asia and the Mediterranean-a tribute to the melting pot that has become this country’s collective cuisine. But on a rainy day, all a girl wants is a cheeseburger with fries. And good converation.

With outstanding presentation, organic produce and beef, we settled for three hours in the most coveted booth – a place to see and be seen. And the food was delish. And there were no pesky waiters obsessing over table turns. And my tea was brought to me in a cute cast iron pot. Clearly, SQC is a winner for this snob who now might venture uptown a little more often.

SQC
270 Columbus Avenue
between 72nd & 73rd Sts.
Nearby Subways: C,B: 72nd St./Central Park West; 1,2,3,9: 72nd St./Broadway

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Scottadito, the sumptuous Tuscan organic eatery, is quite easy to miss while you’re breezing by after your long shopping trip at the coveted Park Slope Food Coop. However, a chalkboard announcing salads made from the produce of local organic farmers and free-range/organic chicken specials, attracted me to this cozy osteria toscana. And did we mention the two magic words: Pre-Fix? Fabulous for anyone on a budget.

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Poor Dorothy once lamented: There’s no place like home! There’s no place like home! However, after sampling a savory carrot muffin at the fab organic bakery, Babycakes, and then enjoying a sumptuous late breakfast at nearby Brown, I think Dorothy would think twice before clinking those ruby shoes. Brown, an all-organic cafe, is reminiscent of outdoor Parisian sidewalk cafes – no pesky waiters turning tables and food that is fresh, delicious and simply made. Brown doesn’t try so hard to be inviting and “natural”, it achieves it with ease by evoking a decor with savoir fare touches; from its cafeteria-style hardwood tables and benches, to potted blooming orchids, the Hester Street eatery is a space decked in sunlight run by a staff who is courteous, friendly and fast.

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For a city that touts itself as gastronomically forward, I’ve been hard-pressed to find delicious organic eateries in the form of restaurants and bakeries, and the answer is to not to erect a Whole Foods on every city block (although I humbly appreciate the gestures on Houston Street as well as the market in Union Square), or to sell one or two items on a lofty menu as if this way of life, organic, healthy living, were a novelty.

So it was with great pleasure (more like me crying tears of joy) that I discovered Babycakes, a sweet bakery in the Lower East Side, whose pristine 50′s style storefront is a welcomed fresh face amidst an otherwise bleak block. But trust me, there is nothing 50′s about the treats inside: 100% organic; free of glutens, refined sugars, eggs, wheat, casein, soy and dairy products, owner Erin McKenna (who was devastated to find that she was allergic to gluten and dairy and had to forgo her childhood love of chocolate chip cookies) created healthful recipes, which caught satisfied the finicky palates of her coworkers and a bakeshop was born. Cold-pressed coconut oil replaces the artery-clogging vegetable oils and guava nectar (instead of the corn syrups, fructose and cane juice, which has been proven to cause diabetes) provides the wholesome sweet taste in the delicious carrot muffin that I managed to down in record speed.

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