Profile

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; 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. — Keach Hagey

Vegan whole wheat pizza slice, $3.75