finally, a slice of nyc pizza

in lieu of working, i spent the day roaming around the city with a good friend, searching for bookstores, until finally finding the perfect books for the day, catching some great holiday sales, and of course eating gluten-free food. the first place we stopped was mozzarelli's on 38 east 23rd street, another one of these gf-friendly places i have been reading about, but not quite getting too. i have now tried several gluten-free pizzas in various places throughout manhattan, but this place has been called “the best gluten-free pizza in nyc,” then again i have heard that tagline before. but still, i couldn’t help get one review out of my mind i read on yelp or city search, where a brooklynite said he traveled the boroughs just to get a piece of gluten-free pizza this good. so, i found myself standing in the storefront, perusing the menu with a myriad of gluten-free options, and of course, ending up with a slice of pizza. hats off to the guy from brooklyn because this is to date the best gluten-free pizza i have ever had (sorry mom).

it didn’t hurt that the restaurant is located right across the street from madison park, which on this particular day was sunny and inviting. we found a bench, and ate our greasy, cheesy slices on top of the brown paper bags, and paper plates they were served to us on. the weather was great, and even new yorkers seemed to be smiling today—perhaps because we all we not in our cubicles. i went for a traditional slice of cheese with thick marinara sauce smothered underneath the globs of mozzarella cheese, but it was incredible. beyond the flavorful pizza sauce, it was the crust that sold me. let’s be honest, gluten-free carbs are not typically the tastiest. but, this crust was soft inside, crunchy outside, and tasted rich from the buttery dough. i’m smiling just writing about it.

for all the gluten-free people out there, this is a must on the food list. i was pretty satisfied with my midday meal, so after we rested in the park for a bit, we headed up to central park with our books and blanket in hand. by the time we made the trek all up to central park, we had worked up our appetitive again. or perhaps we were just craving dessert on this summer day. we hopped into a little frozen yogurt shop near the park to end this gluten-free dining experience. we took our desserts with us to the park, laid out our blanket, grabbed our books and just relaxed. I must admit, there really isn’t much better than a beautiful day in central park, with an ice cream, blanket and a good book. sometimes, it just takes a day off to make you realize how much there is to enjoy in life.