One would be forgiven for thinking that the menu at Apizza! in New Paltz would be limited to the crispy-bottomed, coal-fired pies that have made the restaurant a local mainstay since its 2021 opening. While the restaurant does serve up dozens of delicious pies every day, Apizza! has also become a quiet hit among vegan diners looking for authentic, seasonally influenced Italian specialties they can enjoy.
“It’s such an amazing vibe in the restaurant when people are comfortable with the food options,” says Adam Monteverde, who founded Apizza! with his partner, Lauren Mias. “It makes the whole experience better for everyone, and you can never make someone happy the way you do with vegan stuffed artichokes.”
A Woodstock native and CIA graduate, Monteverde worked in high-end kitchens across the country, including a Michelin-starred restaurant in San Francisco, before returning home to the Hudson Valley to open Mexican Kitchen in New Paltz in 2015. At Apizza!, Monteverde pays homage to the homey Italian dishes he grew up eating around his family table, but with a refined spin.
Monteverde’s goal is to make sure the menu has something for every diner, no matter their dietary restrictions or preferences. Local ingredients define the direction of the menu, with produce from Story Farm in Catskill making an appearance in several dishes each week. Many dishes pass through the impressive coal-fired brick oven at the center of the restaurant. The distinctive texture and flavor is a large part of what has made other coal-oven pizzerias, including Grimaldi’s and Lombardi’s in New York City and Frank Pepe’s and Sally’s Apizza in New Haven, so popular.
Regularly rotating vegan options include the aforementioned braised stuffed artichokes with garlic, parsley, lemon, and housemade breadcrumbs; rosemary-roasted delicata squash with pomegranate seeds; creamy escarole and white bean soup; and pasta fagioli, the traditional Italian pasta and bean stew. Craving a slice of ‘za? Vegan cheese is available at no extra charge.
Monteverde also knows that the entire dessert section of Italian restaurant menus is often off-limits for vegan diners, so he always makes sure that there’s an option that is as equally dairy-free as it is delicious. A particularly popular dessert is the white wine-poached pears, an updated riff on an old Italian recipe.
No matter what dishes land on the table, rotating daily house cocktails and wines by the carafe always match what’s on the menu. Medium-bodied, Central Italian classics like Montepulciano and volcanic Sicilian varieties like Etna Rosso and Etna Bianco anchor the list and pair well with a diversity of dishes, while a few expertly curated natural wines are always available to lend a bit of fun flair to any meal.
Apizza!
This article appears in May 2024.
