we all scream for (vegan) ice cream!

now back to the fun stuff! recently i was reading a blog that mentioned lula's sweet apothecary, an all vegan ice cream shop in the east village. having consumed dairy for most of my life i am always weary about vegan substitutes. i'm sorry daiya, your intentions are good but your vegan cheese sucks. tofutti has mastered the cream cheese but that's about it. when it comes to dairy, it's damn hard to replace. that being said i went to lula's with an open mind, but being the cynical asshole that i am i figured this place would suck.




boy was i wrong! the menu is small, only around 10 different ice cream flavors. what they lack in variety they sure do make up for in taste. i ordered the cake batter soft serve on a sugar cone. i felt as if i was licking the spatula in my momma's kitchen while she was making me a yellow cake ( that rarely ever happened though, my mom would rather hand me 20 bucks for the store than lift a finger in the kitchen). the soft serve was soy based, and i couldn't even taste the soy milk. it was the creamiest, most decadent ice cream i've ever licked off of a cone. joe ordered the peanut butter fudge, which i believe was cashew based. it tasted exactly like what i would expect from a homemade ice cream store using real cream and real eggs. i was so astonished, and elated! i have finally found a vegan dairy substitute i can write home about! they do shakes, sundaes, pints. they even have gluten free options. joe and i will definitely be going there after we move into our new apt to deflower our freezer with some delicious vegan ice cream.




lula's sweet apothecary has two new loyal followers.

lula's sweet apothecary
516 east 6th street
new york, ny 10009
646-334-8506
http://www.lulassweetapothecary.com

btw, lula's opens at 3pm daily.

the trip to conneticut pt. 2

the boys kept telling me how delicious the bakery was and i had no reason to doubt them, these were the same guys who brought me to the most amazing pizza joint i've ever had the pleasure of eating at. joe suggested i try a canoli, and boy am i glad he did. i've never been a huge fan of cannolis, i find them to be overly sweet and leave me feeling nauseous. i assure you this cannoli did not leave me feeling that way. the pastry itself was sweet and almost crumbly, the filling was creamy and melted in your mouth. if i hadn't met my calorie quota for the month i would have eaten like 3 more, but i felt guilty enough.



libby's cannoli was the perfect ending to a wonderful day filled with delicious food and good friends. i look forward to the day i return to new haven's little italy.


libby's italian pastry shop
139 wooster st
new haven, CT 06511
(203) 772-0380

the trip to conneticut

well, it's been a while. for the past 6 months i've been meaning to post on here but i always forgot. that ends today. today marks the true beginning of hammy on rye. i've been taking pictures here and there of really awesome meals, so i'll be backtracking today. so sit back and enjoy hammy on rye from here on out.



on april 25th joe, myself and our friends tim and rich drove to new haven, conneticut to meet chris at frank pepe pizzeria napoletana, or pepe's for short. i had seen pepe's featured on pizza nation (due to the rivalry with sally's, which is another popular pizza joint in new haven that pepe's nephew had opened), and other shows on the food network and travel channel. the story behind pepe's is like most old pizzeria joints: italian immigrates to US and makes delicious pizza in conneticut in 1925. their pizzas are baked in coal fired brick ovens, and the pies are thin crust. the menu is simple, not overzealous and the wait can be long.

luckily we didn't wait for long. chris had already arrived at pepe's, so he had secured a spot in line and by the time we arrived we were ushered to our table. so...the food. we went all out, ordering 4 pies for 5 people topped off with some of the most delicious root beer i've ever tasted in my entire life (foxon park to be exact).



a regular cheese pie, chicken and broccoli pie, veggie pie and a white pie, which i don't believe was on the menu. basically it was like garlic bread with lots of gooey, mouth watering cheese. i didn't try the veggie pie, because well, it was the furthest away from me. the cheese pizza was everything i had hoped for, the perfect amount of sauce to cheese ratio, and the crust was thin and crispy. the sauce was just the right balance of sweet and savory. as embarrassing as this is, we ALMOST finished all 4 pies, we each had about 4 slices to bring home. needless to say, we went ALL out.

the prices were fair as well. we each spent around 18 bucks, including tip...which is cheap for 4 pies and 2 bottles of soda. i left pepe's feeling like i was going to vomit, and yet completely satisfied. it deserves every bit of hype and praise it receives because it exceeded my expectations.




even though we had consumed as many calories as most of us would probably reach in a week, we decided we wanted to be total fat asses and go down to the bakery a block away.

frank pepe pizzeria napoletana
157 wooster st
new haven, CT 06511
(203) 865-5762