Last night after the NYU mentoring session, Kate and I headed over to Gusto Organics, NY’s first USDA certified organic restaurant, for an event hosted by NYU’s new Green Alumni Network. NYU has really been pushing the school spirit lately with all these food-containing events! While I didn’t actually have to pay for anything at this restaurant, my experience last night definitely made me want to return.

The latest craze in restauranting seems to be food with a philosophy. Gusto has jumped right onto that bus with the motto, “changing the world one meal at a tiime.” The decor was warm and peaceful with a candlelit feel and natural accents:

Kate and I had some of everything. We split four delicious empanadas, the flavor complexity of which no photo can possibly capture:

And a square of verrrrrrrry thin crust cheese pizza:

And two squares of grilled veggie pizza with zucchini and eggplant, mmmm:

I had two more squares after this. And then I was on a roll, so I peeled the veggies off of probably 5 more slices and ate them :-). Gusto also had free sangria for the event!!

I drank about half of this before I remembered I don’t like wine. So I poured out the liquid and ate the fruit. And did the same for another glass:

So anyway, with such prompt service and quality taste for a free event, I can’t imagine the possibilities for an actual paid meal! My NYU undergrad degree may be the reason I’m poor, but that school is certainly doing its part to keep me from starving now :-).

On the way out, I found a box full of pins for all different ny neighborhoods … including mine! Now I can rock my slope pride in style:

The meal plan today is wayyyy up in the air since my schedule involves a lot of commuting (slope to upper east side to bay ridge to village and back to slope) until 9ish again with food appearing at various junctures along the way. I’ll come back eventually to let you know how it all pans out!