Midtown Lunch

I think we all know that the words “healthy” and “pizza” should set off alarm bells for anyone who enjoys food. I enjoy pizza of all stripes and quality levels from fancy Neopolitan to trashily delicious Totino’s Party Pizza, but what I encountered at the newly-opened Stamina Grill on Nassau St. (btw. John & Fulton) made me utter the words “Oh, noooo.” out loud as I opened the box of my personal pie.

Stamina’s sort of in direct competition with a branch of the chain Energy Kitchen on the same block. Energy Kitchen has burgers and baked fries, while Stamina Grill primarily traffics in wraps, high protein plates and smoothies and drinks (and also baked fries). Most of the plates are more than $10 and while the all-day breakfast did sound appealing I was curious about the “guilt-free pizza” on the menu. I figured that the it would mean a lighter than normal dusting of the low-fat mozzarella and low-sodium tomato sauce on the whole wheat high fiber crust described on the menu. I ordered a personal pie ($5) and added bison and mushrooms (+$2.50) to approximate my favorite combination of sausage and mushrooms, to which the guy taking my order commented “Sounds good!” Yes, yes it did! Did I mention that I was absolutely starving?

Oh noooo! It was mostly the blanket of snow-white, oddly melted cheese that alarmed me. I was so hungry that I dug in, only to discover that the crust was so thin and non-crispy that you had to eat it either with a knife and fork or rolled up as a sort of pizza wrap.

This is how thin the crust was. I love thin crust pizza, but this was one of those lavash wraps masquerading as pizza crust which is only acceptable if it is nice and crispy and not completely blanketed with cheese and sauce. The only plus was the bounty of bison on here, and yes, there were many pieces of portobello mushroom on here but they were canned.

In closing, if you plan to eat at Stamina Grill I beg you to get one of the wraps (which I saw were the size of a large burrito) or one of the plates if you’re looking for your fix of lean protein and vegetables.

Stamina Grill, 80 Nassau St. (btw. John & Fulton), (212) 513-7020