Thursday, January 21, 2016

Raw food celebrity chef Matthew Kenney bringing vegan pizza to 2nd Avenue



Workers have cleared out Winebar at 65 Second Ave. between East Third Street and East Fourth Street... and the signage is up to note the incoming concept: plant-based pizza and a wine bar from chef Matthew Kenney...



The new place is called 00 + Co., where Kenney will be "crafting the future of food®" ... (per the sign).

Here's an explanation on the name via Latest Vegan News:

[I]t refers to the high quality flour the team will be using in the pizza dough. As far as cheese, 00 + Co will incorporate a variety of nut-based creations. All pizzas will be wood-fired, of course, and the emphasis “will be on pizza with an abundance of vegetables, pestos and other condiments complementary to the spirit of traditional pizza,” Kenney’s team says.

Raymond Azzi, who owned Winebar, is a partner in 00 + Co. The restaurant is on this month's CB3/SLA docket for a beer-wine license.

Slightly off topic, but who misses Viva Herbal Pizzeria?

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

Get the fuck outta here.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, you kill one great place -- Viva Pizza -- and bring in a charading impositor. Veganism is no longer trending, dude, except of course, where you think it is: at the high end. But, then, is that, ethically and economically, truly vegan? Bring in some good ole corporate mush for those timid foody wannabes, I say. They'll hardly know the difference if priced right and liquidated.

By the way, right across the street at 5th and Second, the unassuming Atlas, with great staff, and family owned, has been selling an awesome gluten-free vegan pizza that is, as you would say uassumingly "plant-based."

Anonymous said...

It was a pizza ship before it was a wine bar. Good riddance.

Giovanni said...

"As far as cheese, 00 + Co will incorporate a variety of nut-based creations."

What kind of nuts? How about a Cronut Pizza? Because this is just what every New Yorker wants on their pizza. Nuts.

Anonymous said...

i miss Viva more than words can express.

Anonymous said...

Gross. Not even Pizza Squirrel would eat shit like this.

Anonymous said...

Ah, another big dose of expensive pretension, just what no one needs.

"Plant based pizza" - DUH!! Is the cheese going to be made from plants? Because most pizza is ALREADY "plant-based" - until you start putting pepperoni on it...

Anonymous said...

Always wondered, what kind of person comes up
with such crap-o stuff and thinks other people
will want it.

Anonymous said...

This actually was a decent wine bar: good assortment, not overly expensive and rarely full of screaming idiots, because they don't go to wine bars. It was a great go-to place for meeting up with friends.

And now...great, artisinal crap food.

ariela said...

I miss viva!!!

Anonymous said...

Is that "OO" as in "ooh ooh ah ah"? Like the sound Koko the monkey would make?

Anonymous said...

At a vegetarian restaurant for lunch one day, a friend visiting from Europe asked me what tofu turkey was. I told him anything on the menu with "tofu" before the protein meant it was a fake version.

It is sad how people's obsessive traits have been exploited by capitalist to a point that some live in fear of eating anything that does not follow specific food dogma. We know a diet of veggies over meat and sugar are the best way to go but do we really need to micro manage everything going into our mouths?

Faking a food we all grew up with like pizza is the wrong approach because it will always taste like a pizza made by someone that has never had an actual pizza before and was not sure how it was suppose to taste or its ingredients. Vegetables come in a huge variety or taste, textures and properties. Use some imagination and create something new not more tofu hot dogs.

Anonymous said...

Raw food is over-rated.

Anonymous said...

I'm cracking up at all of these comments. They are all SO woefully off the mark. Wake up people. Vegan food is here to stay - better for your health, the environment and the animals. Why in the world anyone still buys the old corporate brainwashing that humans should (and need) to consume the breast milk of another species is insane. Lastly, why not give something a try before you pretend to know: A. what it is B. what it will taste like and C. that it will suck Close-minded and stuck in the past much?

Anonymous said...

Crap, I liked sitting outside here in the summer. Fuck nut cheese.

camarrtyy said...

Don't worry. 6 months and they're g-o-n-e! These businesses are really laundries. The investors launder their cash then the business closes down as a loss before anybody's the wiser. Who cares... really.

Anonymous said...

I'd prefer a Chase bank over a friggin VEGAN pizza crapola anyday

Anonymous said...

Vegan Pizza? What will the Martians think when they invade? Will we see protesters out front with signs that says "Pepperoni Lovers Unite" or will we see the new (think they are hipsters) residents of the neighborhood make it a success? I say..yech. Toss another meatball on mine please. Now that's Italian!

Anonymous said...

"raw food celebrity"?

Anonymous said...

I'm all for it. I am vegan and pizza is one of the few foods I miss since becoming vegan.

- East Villager

Anonymous said...

Did everyone in the comments section wake up on the wrong side of the bed today? So much misdirected rage.

Anonymous said...

+1 on the Chase branch.

Anonymous said...

"Raw food is over-rated." and under cooked.

I got nothing against vegan food, however I don't like "food dogma" which always has the scent of religion on it.

Anonymous said...

No, we did wake up on he wrong side of bed. So fed up with trending overpriced vegan place, of late. So the continued horror begins with these pizza abominations from their proposed menu:

* Smoked oyster mushroom with walnut cream, green harissa, and lemon.

* Confit tomato with smoked almond ricotta, arugula, and chile.

* Almond cream with potatoes, capers, shiitake “anchovies”, oregano, and baby kale.

And these are just the pizzas!

The dude -- the school and restaurant -- is from LA area, Venice, Santa Monica, so what do you expect?

But the good news for some adventurous soul and veganite from the nabe, the restaurant is looking for a General Manager and Chef de Cuisine.

Anonymous said...

Celebrity in which universe? Not this one.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting the menu 4:41 Sounds delicious.

Anonymous said...

Wow. People like me and my family, who live in the EV, and all have a dairy allergy, highly appreciate good food like this! Let's give it a chance!

Anonymous said...

Not optimistic about this place. Vegan/veggie places have been on the decline in this neighbor, and the menu here sounds... fussy. The chef here has a philosophy about food, but can he cook?

Scuba Diva said...

My 2¢:

Having been a vegan for over 14 years, I welcome any new vegan places in the 'hood. Those of you who eat the Standard American Diet have no idea what it's like to go to a restaurant and only have one possible thing you can order off the menu.

Worse, if you go to a restaurant with a group of omnivore friends, everyone will sample your food out of curiosity and you have to either order double or leave hungry because you can't sample any of theirs.

What is wrong, by the way, with having a menu with food that's edible by a larger segment of the population, that causes less pollution and animal suffering, and happens to be healthier? Sounds like a win-win situation to me.

Slightly off topic, but who misses Viva Herbal Pizzeria?

Yes, of course; I went there all the time. I believe Cafe Viva on the Upper West Side (Broadway near 97th street) is owned by the same people—or at least has a similar menu. I haven't been, but it's definitely a place I'll check out if I'm in the neighborhood.

DrGecko said...

Just to be clear, this isn't the vegetarian celebrity chef who keeps getting arrested for masturbating on the subway. They're difficult to tell apart, but that's a different vegetarian celebrity chef, I'm pretty sure.

Anonymous said...

Recently went to (vegan) Avant Garden on 7th St. at 6pm on a Sunday and the place was packed with reservations for the rest of the night. By Chloe on Bleecker regularly has lines around the block. Superiority Burger (veg) was voted best burger - of all burgers - by GQ - and has a constant mob of people....these places are NOT on the decline. Thankfully, the opposite is true - and they are more delicious than ever!!

Anonymous said...

Yes! More vegan options, please...