CHESKA'S

As one of the healthy and gluten-free pizza options in New York, Cheska’s distinguishes itself as a quality fast casual restaurant suitable for pizza lovers and vegans alike. The Restaurateur Club had the opportunity to visit this restaurant on Saturday, May 4 and learn about its origins from Cheska Mauban herself.

In our discussion with Cheska, all of our members had the chance to learn about her experience with managing the restaurant and what it’s like to build a business from the ground up. Having experimented with countless recipes and different ingredients for the dough and crust, Cheska has been persistent and diligent in her efforts to create a delicious and healthy pizza that everyone can eat.

The outside of the location is decorated with a distinctive boxwood coating to complement the yellow theme of the restaurant’s branding and create a very cozy neighborhood feeling. A large menu atop the greenery showcases pizzas made from sweet potato and cauliflower crusts, completely gluten free - our favorites were the Mushroom Madness and Avo Addict Club pizzas. Despite all of the complexity of these pizzas’ constructions, all of Cheska’s pizzas are made in-house for a fresher, made-to-order experience.

The pizzas themselves were a pleasure to behold and eat. With a faint drizzling of olive oil, garnish of red pepper flakes, and generous portion of melted mozzarella, each slice was carefully decorated with the perfect balance of toppings and garnishes. The signature cauliflower crust also played an important role. With a faint crunch on the outside leading to a softer interior, the crust provided a welcomed variety of textures, complementing the smoothness of the cheese and the other toppings.

Cheska explained that that she takes pride in the freshness of her produce for toppings and garnishes. In her personal experience, getting the recipes right was all about recommendations from friends for everything from how to cut sweet potato to which produce delivery guy was best. The results of these insights were clear: in the Avo Addict Club, the sharp contrast of the cherry tomatoes and the kick of the jalapeños created a wonderful harmony with the freshness of the mozzarella. Accompanied by red pepper flakes and the eponymous slices of avocado, each slice of pizza added to an experience that was over too soon.

We came to Cheska’s to learn about entrepreneurship and representation in the restaurant industry of tomorrow, and Cheska patiently answered all our questions. As she thoughtfully explained, starting one’s own business is not for everyone; it’s a hands-on, expensive, risky endeavor. But in her experience small business development in the real world taught the kind of creativity and perseverance one can’t learn from a classroom.