I’m a vegetarian, not a vegan. It’s an important distinction to be made because I consume dairy products. I love cheese in my food. I love it in a sandwich, I love it on top of potatoes, I love it melted.

Now that that’s out of the way, vegan Italian food sounds like a tough sell given that without good tasting cheese, what is Italian food? My friend who eats everything but goes on these vegan diet cleanses every few days took me to the new talk of NYC vegan food scene – 00+Co. Now why would someone name their restaurant in ASCII code beats me.

Anyhow, for our appetizer we ordered, Sweet Potato Cavatelli ‘cacio pepe’ (that’s fancy for pasta) with wild arugula and dehydrated olives. This was delicious. I missed me some fluid cheese, but overall it was good:

Known for their pizza, we ordered the Tomato, Caramelized Eggplant with olives and oregano. Keep in mind, this did not have real cheese. Pizza without real cheese is like, well, pizza without real cheese.

Surprisingly, what we were served worked as a plate. It did not feel like cheese but the texture made it to be a good enough substitute. If you have a vegan friend, this pizza will not make you hate your friend.