Every parent knows the moment. Somebody says “where should we eat?” and four people answer at once, none of them in agreement. If you’re looking for a family restaurant Upper East Side families can actually agree on, here is our honest pitch: a neighborhood pizza shop is about the most forgiving place a mixed-age table can land, and Two Boots at 1243 2nd Ave, in the 60s, is built for exactly that kind of table.
What makes a restaurant family friendly isn’t a gimmick. It’s a menu where the toddler, the picky nine-year-old, the teenager who suddenly eats like a linebacker, the plant-based sibling and the parent who wants something interesting can all find their plate without a separate trip. Pizza does that better than almost anything, because one order can split five ways and nobody has to compromise much.
Below, parent to parent: ordering for every age, sauce skeptics, the vegan lane, a day out from Carl Schurz Park to Museum Mile, and feeding a whole class.
Key Takeaways
- Two Boots Upper East Side (1243 2nd Ave) is a neighborhood pizza shop where one order can cover toddlers, picky eaters, teens, vegans and adventurous adults.
- Pizza Face, our kid-friendly face pie, comes in a small size only, and white pies like The Meg help with kids who skip red sauce.
- A deep vegan lineup made with Daiya non-dairy cheese means plant-based family members get real pies, not a side salad.
- For bigger groups, from school events to birthday crowds, our Upper East Side catering page covers drop-off orders with 24 to 48 hours’ notice.
Check Out Our Menu!
The Family Test: What Parents Actually Look For
When you’re the one holding the coats, “family friendly” comes down to a short checklist.
- Can everybody find something? A menu that only works for adults, or only for kids, leaves someone unhappy.
- Can we share? Food that splits easily, like a whole pie or a plate of knots, is gold.
- Is there a plain option? A cheese pie or knots with marinara isn’t boring; it’s a peace treaty.
- Is there something for the grown-ups? The Cajun side of our menu is where that lives.
- Does it work for different diets? Vegan siblings and veggie-only cousins need real choices.
- Can we take it home? Some nights the family restaurant is the couch, and you can order through the Order Online button on our location page.
Two Boots holds up on that list. Phil Hartman opened the first shop on Avenue A in the East Village in 1987, and the menu has always made room for both the plain-cheese crowd and the crawfish-and-andouille crowd. The name says it: two boots, Italy and Louisiana, one crust.
Why We Think of Ourselves as a Family Restaurant Upper East Side Neighbors Can Rely On
Plenty of lists rank East Side restaurants. We’d rather explain what a pizza shop does well for a family and let you decide.
The crust. Our cornmeal crust gets crisp at the edge, so it holds up when a small person dangles a slice sideways for a while before eating it.
The sizes. Whole pies come in 10″, 14″ and 18″. A 10″ can be the adults’ experiment while an 18″ cheese anchors the table, or two 14″ pies, one red and one white, cover a family of four.
The names. Our pies are named after pop-culture icons, so ordering becomes a game. Kids like saying “The Dude” out loud; teens like looking up who Emily Litella was.
The location. We’re on 2nd Avenue in the 60s, on the same everyday loop as school pickup and the walk home. A family friendly restaurant should fit into that loop instead of requiring a plan.
Ordering Across the Generations: One Table, Five Appetites
Here’s the practical part. Picture a typical Upper East Side family table on a weeknight: a toddler, a picky grade-schooler, a teenager, a vegan sibling or cousin, and a parent who wants to try something new. This is how we’d build that order.
| Who’s at the table | Pie to order | Add-on that keeps them happy |
|---|---|---|
| Toddler or preschooler | Pizza Face (small only) | Garlic Knots with a side of marinara |
| Picky grade-schooler | Create Your Pizza, starting from cheese | A house-baked chocolate chip cookie as the reward |
| Sauce-skeptic of any age | The Meg, our “very white pie” | Basil Pesto dipper for the crust |
| Hungry teenager | The Dude or Cleopatra Jones | Meatball Parm sliders on garlic knots |
| Vegan sibling or parent | Vegan Larry Tate or V for Vegan | House Salad (it’s vegan) |
| Adventurous adult | The Bayou Beast (marked spicy on the menu) | Cajun Ranch dipper |
| Grandparent who likes it classic | Grandma Bess on a thin, square Sicilian crust | Caesar Salad |
Pizza Face is a face pie that only comes in a small, and that’s the point: it belongs to the youngest person at the table.
The Dude is “our Cajun bacon cheeseburger pie” (ground beef and andouille, tasso ham, cheddar, mozzarella) and tends to vanish around teenagers. Cleopatra Jones is the hearty pick without jalapeños.
The Bayou Beast (spiced shrimp, crawfish, andouille, jalapeños) is marked spicy on the menu, so maybe not for the little ones, but it’s the pie for a parent who wants a taste of Louisiana.
The sliders are underrated share plates. Chicken Parm, Meatball Parm (andouille meatballs) and Eggplant Parm come on house-made garlic knots with marinara and fresh mozzarella, and they’re easy to cut in half for a kid who’s “not in a pizza mood.”
Garlic Knots (three per order) are tossed in butter, parsley, garlic and Parmigiano with marinara on the side. Skip the Hot Knots with small kids; they’re doused in jalapeño pesto and marked spicy.
Sauce Skeptics, Topping Pickers and Other Small Critics
Every family has one: the kid who scrapes off toppings, or declares tomato sauce “too red.” Here’s how to avoid a standoff.
White pies solve the sauce problem. The Meg is the gentlest: provolone, parmigiano, ricotta, mozzarella, roasted garlic and oregano. Larry Tate adds organic spinach, plum tomatoes and fresh garlic on a white base, a sneaky way to get something green onto a plate.
Create Your Pizza is for the micromanager. It starts from a cheese pizza and they add only what they want. Let them order it themselves.
Dippers rescue the crust. Plenty of kids leave it, until there’s Marinara, Basil Pesto, Sweet Red Pepper Pesto or Cajun Ranch to dunk it in. The Jalapeño Pesto dipper is marked spicy, so save it for the adults.
The calzone is a wild card. Some kids who refuse pizza will happily eat a Classic Calzone with marinara because it looks like something else. Parenting is strange.
If anyone at your table has a food allergy, please ask the staff about ingredients before you order.
Plant-Based Kids and Vegan Siblings Get a Real Menu
In a lot of places, the vegan family member gets a side salad and a sympathetic look. Our vegan lineup is a full lane built mostly on Daiya non-dairy cheese, and several pies mirror the regular ones.
- Vegan Larry Tate: organic spinach, plum tomatoes and fresh garlic with vegan ricotta and Daiya. Order it next to a regular Larry Tate and the table can compare.
- V for Vegan: artichokes, red onions and wild mushrooms with sweet red pepper pesto and basil pesto, plus Daiya.
- Earth Mother: spinach, roasted garlic, roasted peppers, wild mushrooms, red onion and marinara, with no cheese at all.
- Vegan Mr. Pink and The VCBGB: the vegan chicken options, good for a kid who likes the “regular” versions.
- Vegan Cleo, Super Vegan and Vegan Tony Clifton round it out.
The Vegan Calzone and House Salad are vegan too. The point for families: the vegan pie isn’t a substitute, it has a name and a personality like everything else.
A Family Day Out on the East Side, Then Pizza
Raising kids on the Upper East Side means a lot is a walk or a short bus ride away.
Carl Schurz Park. At East End Avenue around 86th Street, Carl Schurz Park runs along the East River, with a playground, lawns and a riverside walk, and Gracie Mansion inside the park. It wears out small legs on a Saturday morning, and families near 86th Street often treat a park morning and a pizza lunch as one plan.
John Jay Park. Closer to home, John Jay Park sits by the river near East 77th Street, handy for after-school play.
Museum Mile. Head west to Fifth Avenue for a rainy-day gallery crawl. Kids told “don’t touch” for three hours deserve a pie they can pick up with their hands.
The 86th Street errand run. Shoes, school supplies. A slice to go plus a Bombini keeps everyone moving.
| East Side family outing | What to order after | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Morning at Carl Schurz Park | An 18″ cheese pie plus a Pizza Face | Big and simple after a lot of running around |
| After-school play at John Jay Park | Garlic Knots and a 10″ Larry Tate | A quick, shareable snack before homework |
| A rainy day on Museum Mile | Grandma Bess and Eggplant Parm sliders | Classic flavors for tired museum-goers |
| Errands near 86th Street | Slices to go and a couple of Bombinis | Easy to eat while walking |
| Friday family movie night at home | The Meg, The Dude and a Vegan Cleo | One white, one meaty, one vegan |
| Grandparents visiting for the weekend | Mr. Pink and Cleopatra Jones | Full flavor without the menu’s spicy flag |
About those Bombinis: they’re savory Cajun hand pies, and they’re only on the menu at our Manhattan locations (the Upper West Side, the Upper East Side and the West Village). Kids tend to like them because they’re portable and self-contained, which is a fancy way of saying fewer crumbs in the backpack.
If you prefer to sit down and eat, our earlier post on dine-in pizza on the Upper East Side talks about the shop as a casual neighborhood spot.
Feeding the Whole Class, the Team or the Birthday Crowd
Sooner or later every Upper East Side parent gets volunteered to feed a group: a class celebration, the end of a season, a birthday at home.
Start with our Upper East Side catering page. Catering is drop-off delivery with 24 to 48 hours’ notice, packages sized by group, and vegetarian and vegan options. The catering FAQ mentions regular Two Boots pizza parties for offices and events for 500+ guests, so a classroom is well within range.
A simple formula for a kid-heavy group:
- Make most of it plain. Cheese pies are the backbone. Plan for more than you think.
- Add one white pie (The Meg) and one vegan pie (V for Vegan) so nobody is left out.
- Add one pie for the grown-ups, like Mr. Pink or Cleopatra Jones.
- Round it out with Garlic Knots, sliders, a salad, cookies and the Gluten-Free Brownie.
For a smaller gathering, skip catering and order whole pies through the Order Online button on our location page.
Conclusion
A good family restaurant is one where everyone leaves full and nobody had to give in. On 2nd Avenue, that’s what a neighborhood pizza shop is good at: Pizza Face for the littlest, white pies for the sauce skeptics, The Dude for the teenager, a real vegan lineup for the plant-based sibling and a Cajun pie or two for the parents.
Come by Two Boots at 1243 2nd Ave after the park, after the museum or after a long week, or plan your family order from our locations page.
FAQs
Is Two Boots Upper East Side good for kids?
We think so. There’s a dedicated kid pick in Pizza Face, plus plain cheese pies, white pies with no red sauce and garlic knots with marinara, in sizes that suit a mixed-age family.
What should I order for a toddler or a picky eater?
For a toddler, Pizza Face is the go-to; it’s a kid-friendly face pie that comes in a small size only. For picky eaters, Create Your Pizza starts from a plain cheese pizza so they can choose their own toppings, and The Meg is a mild white pie for kids who don’t like tomato sauce. Garlic Knots with a side of marinara are an easy add-on.
Is there a kids menu?
No separate kids menu is listed. Pizza Face is the menu item made for kids, and plenty of regular items work well for children, including cheese pies, garlic knots, sliders, the Classic Calzone and the house-baked chocolate chip cookie.
Are there vegan options for kids?
Yes. The vegan lineup includes V for Vegan, Earth Mother, The VCBGB, Vegan Cleo, Super Vegan, Vegan Tony Clifton, Vegan Larry Tate and Vegan Mr. Pink, most made with Daiya non-dairy cheese. The Vegan Calzone and the House Salad are vegan too, along with several dippers.
Can we order for a kids’ party or school event?
Yes. Our Upper East Side catering page covers drop-off orders for groups, with packages by group size and vegetarian and vegan options. Catering needs 24 to 48 hours’ notice. For a smaller get-together, ordering a few whole pies online works well.
Is there anything gluten-free?
The only gluten-free item listed on our menu is the Gluten-Free Brownie. There’s no gluten-free crust on the menu. If anyone in your family has a food allergy or sensitivity, please ask the staff about ingredients before ordering.
