Kesté Pizza e Vino — Restaurant in New York

Life-changing pizza. 🍕

I'm so serious. My husband has Celiac Disease, so he can have no gluten even through cross contamination. Gluten-free pizzas are notoriously dry, brittle, thin, and just unimpressive and sad, and it's been years since my husband has found one enough like actual pizza to satiate his cravings for something as simple for most people as Papa John's. When planning our New York trip, I came across this place, and I knew from photos of the GF pizzas that we had to go.

I am so glad we went! The environment of the restaurant is incredible and feels SO relaxed. All the servers seem to work in tandem and I rarely saw anyone who didn't look at ease or completely happy to be working there - which is amazing, especially at about 9pm! Emilio was our waiter, and he was so wonderful! Energetic and kind, answered every question we had, and knew immediately what to do when my husband mentioned Celiac Disease, because he has it too. He told us, "This is your second home." And while we are from several states away down in Georgia, he was right! We feel connected to this place.

We had pizza at three different places on our NYC trip - Don Antonio, Carnegie Pizza, and Kesté. They were all good, but Kesté was the absolute clear winner for us, with Don Antonio being a good second that's closer if you're uptown. Carnegie was pretty good, but not at all on their level.

Ohhh, Kesté's food. 🤤 The appetizer and the dessert were incredible, but the pizza was the showstopper. My goodness, it was absolutely unreal. The crust was soft, fluffy, buttery, and tasty in every way. They use an imported flour from Italy which has wheat (be aware, if you have a wheat allergy!🌾) but is gluten-removed and safe even for Celiacs. I think that makes a huge difference in the crust! This is Neapolitan pizza of course, and very different and more upscale than the more Americanized pizzas from places like Domino's or Papa John's, but if you're gluten free and missing pizza, it will more than scratch that itch for you. Plus, if I hadn't looked at the regular, gluten-containing pizza at the next table over, it would've been hard for me to believe it was gluten-free, because it just looked and tasted so much like classic pizza crust. My husband ordered a calzone (something almost nobody even attempts in the gluten-free world), and he literally cried while eating it because it was so incredible.

It was SUCH good food and good service that the next day, we ordered pizza from there for lunch and had it delivered. Then, a few weeks after we got home, we ordered the same pizzas to our home - all the way in Georgia. They arrived perfectly packaged and preserved in dry ice, and everything was so tasty. We will be doing that again.

I truly cannot recommend this place, Emilio, and their amazing, literally life-changing food enough! If you have Celiac, this is a haven for you! I'm also sure they'd be able to help with any other dietary restrictions if you asked, because they were so incredibly kind and helpful. Go in person if you can, for that homey feeling of warmth. If you can't make it all the way here, order it on their website and have deliciousness delivered to your...

I just emerged from an October No Pizza Challenge and had to get something legit upon my return. The area of the Financial District that I work in (further south and west) doesn't have great options, but this place was right on the edge of my geographic range for lunch and looked pretty legit/high end. Easy call.

Fulton Street is not one of my favorites; it's chaotic and busy for most of its length, especially closer to Broadway where all of your cheaper eating options are clustered together. Keste is on that weird block where the businesses are actually set back a little from the road, opposite/diagonal from the Turkish bath place, and despite oodles of scaffolding had a lot of signage that quickly directed me to the entrance without incident.

As soon as I walked in, it was clear this was a popular restaurant. I eat lunch in FiDi all the time, but I think this is the busiest establishment I've been to, which is saying something. I honestly don't know enough about this place to confirm if this is a combo of a decent spot for locals and tourists alike, but given that it's less than two blocks from the Seaport area, I can make an educated guess. I also ended up sitting at the bar near two very obvious out-of-towners who tried to order off-menu, were rebuffed, and then saw my normalish pizza and asked for that.

The aforementioned pizza was the Diavola (about $18 or $19), which is basically the bougie version of pepperoni pizza except the soppressata is a bit spicier. I was pretty hungry and ate the entire pie. All of the ingredients were pretty solid, though I wasn't crazy about the dough/crust. Based on the reviews, I'm in the minority here but it was too chewy and didn't have a lot of give to it. It could have used a little bit more time in the oven to acquire some more crispness. Let me be clear - Neapolitan pizza is not standard, by the slice NY pizza. You usually have to eat the first few bites with a fork and knife, in my experience. But when you pick it up and over half the slice has already been consumed? It shouldn't still be flopping at that point. Again, other reviewers seem thrilled by the texture/consistency of the dough, but I wasn't one of them. The soppressata was the star for me; the meat was slightly charred and very flavorful.

The service was very good. When I dine solo I rarely have an objection to securing a spot at the bar, especially at lunchtime - the facetime with the bartender will usually guarantee quick turnaround times and consistent communication. That certainly happened here. I also grabbed a glass of Pinot Grigio ($12), which was a little dry for my taste and I thought the pour was a little weenie but I didn't regret the purchase. The total bill with tip came to just under $40 - a LITTLE pricey for this area but not by much. And because this pizza is practically made instantaneously, I was in and out relatively quickly.

Would definitely come back, though I might strategically schedule the visit for an off-time to avoid the...

4.5 stars, but I'm feeling generous. :) Came here on a Sunday afternoon. Recently went gluten and dairy free, so I've been jonesing for a slice of pizza for the past couple of months. This place is very careful to avoid cross-contamination, which is great news for my friends with celiac.

The staff was nice and attentive. We ordered the gluten-free angioletti appetizer, a gluten-free marinara pie for me, and a normal marguerita for my mom. When the angiolettei came out and I sunk my teeth into the breadstick, I could not believe it was gluten-free! So fluffy and flavorful. The tomatoes and arugula were good as well, though the garlic was pretty strong in this dish.

When the pies came out, our server accidentally brought me a gluten-free marguerita instead of the marinara, but the problem was quickly rectified. When I got my pie, it looked great--nice char on the thin crust. Anybody who has toasted anything gluten-free knows how difficult it is to get char, but the ovens here get the job done! The pizza tasted perfect--the tomato sauce, garlic, olive oil, and basil all played nicely with each other, and I didn't feel like there was too much of anything on the pie. The texture had a nice, soft crunch to it, but just the right amount of pillowyness that it wasn't akin to flatbread. My mom thoroughly enjoyed her normal marguerita pie as well!

The price is about right for the food--$5 for a normal pie and gluten-free costs $4 more, but the ingredients are high quality and the portion size is generous. I was only able to eat half the pie at the restaurant, and I think this is a great place to come and split a pie with a friend.

If you find the trek to Fulton a bit arduous, there is another location on Bleecker. If that is also too far for you, then I have some good news: right now, Keste is considering making a line of frozen pizzas that can be sold in stores. Nothing is finalized yet, but that would be pretty amazing! If you're zealous for their gluten-free dough, you can call them up and ask them to send it to you, but you will have to pay for shipping and handling.

Anyway, I'm very grateful I discovered this place online, and I look forward to...