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Sheepshead Bay's Benny's Brick Oven embellishes a straightforward Italian menu with a few twists—it's entirely kosher and about ten percent vegan. With its parquet floor, clustered blond wood tables and glass display case filled with pre-cut slices, it looks the part of corner neighborhood hang-out. But the menu has enough unusual items to distinguish this joint from your everyday pizzeria. Crusts can be whole wheat, corn or spelt; pies without cheese allow roasted tomatoes, broccoli, spinach and garlic topping to speak for themselves; creamy pasta dishes, like the penne a la vodka, are done the old-fashioned way. It takes some extra time to bake the fresh dough around the soy chicken stromboli, but the spicy melt of chopped onions, mozzarella and meat substitute may be this restaurant's signature dish. — Keach Hagey

Vegan whole wheat pizza slice, $4