November 22, 2009
Has the NYC Department of Health Delcared War on Reheated Pizza Slices?
[Photograph: Turbulentflow on Flickr]
An alarming piece of reader mail today from an undisclosed Manhattan pizzeria should send shivers down the spines of any slice-loving New Yorker. If this is not just a single instance of overzealous enforcement by the NYC Department of Health, the following could have serious ramifications for the majority of pizzerias in the Big Apple:
I am having a huge problem. I run a pizzeria, and we have gotten a warning from the Board of Health saying that pizza is not allowed to be used off of the slice display.
This, of course, has to do with the fact that the cheese cannot be left between 40°F and 140°F and then reheated. No matter how hot the oven is, it is still a violation according to the Board of Health.
My question is, how do i comply with their regulations and still produce a quality product?
How do I comply and still serve people in a reasonable amount of time?
Could you please post this or start a forum to discuss it?
I am extremely frustrated and I don't know how to handle this logistically.
Thank you very much,
[Name and location redacted]
------------------------------------------------------------
Holy. Crap.
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South Slope's Lucali Spin-off to Be Called Giuseppina's
The blog Eater brings word via photographic evidence (above) that "Lucali II," the spin-off pizzeria from Mark Iacono's brother, Chris, will be called Giuseppina's. Wow. Doesn't quite roll off the tongue the way Lucali does, does it?
Giuseppina's (aka Lucali II)
691 6th Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11215 (South Slope, at 20th Street; map)
Pizza Madness 2009: Los Angeles — Pizzeria Mozza and Antica Pizzeria
From the Slice inbox: "Waiting for your review of Mozza and Antica. Please get to it soon. Thanks. —Pizzafreak" OK. Here you go, Pizzafreak. My blathering about "Pizza Madness 2009" continues ... —The Mgmt.
Until I touched down at LAX on Thursday, October 29, most of my knowledge of Los Angeles came from CHiPs, The Rockford Files, the Terminator franchise, and The Closer. I had a feeling I'd be in for a shock.
It came pretty early. On the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and North Crescent (straight-up 90210 territory), I saw both a Bentley Continental ragtop and a Lamborghini Murcielago filling up at a gas station. I was waiting for a bus. Instant loser.
Well, at the bus I boarded was up-to-date, clean, and cheap ($1.25 was the lowest fare I'd seen this whole trip). And it dropped me at the corner of Santa Monica and North Highland 20 minutes later. From there, it was only a short walk to Pizzeria Mozza.
This was lunch, though it came at 3 p.m., which was about the best reservation for three I could get a single day in advance. I was meeting Slice West Coast contributor L.A. Pizza Maven and AHT L.A. burger dude Damon Gambuto. Some quick impressions of Mozza and Antica Pizzeria, after the jump.
Customized Pizza-Themed Keds
Lauren of the blog Pizzalicious points out that you can make customized pizza-themed Keds.
Sure enough. Go to the Keds Collective customizer and you can upload your own images onto the upper, tongue, heel, outside quarter, and inside quarter. The shoes start at $60 for women and $50 for kids. Sadly, men's options are "coming soon."
I think Lauren's design is just about perfect, but I wanted to get into the shoe-design business myself, so I whipped up a pair of my own (after the jump).
How to Teach Your Kids About Good Pizza
In a recent New Yorker book review of Raising the Perfect Child Through Guilt and Manipulation, Macy Halford boils down the book's central tenet:
So how do you put the philosophy into practice? First, become fluent in the language of groupthink, and use it to invite your child to examine things critically as a member of a team: "'Can you believe they have the nerve to call this pizza? This doesn't even come close to __________' (fill in the blank with the name of your favorite pizzeria)."
I think the Slice family, of which you are all part (awwww, warm fuzzy feeling), is far too large, diverse, and opinionated to succumb to groupthink, no? [Hat tip to Girl Slice]
Cheeseburger Pizza at Nite 'N Gale: Too Much Pickle
Serious Eats Chicago contributor Daniel Zemans checks in with another piece of intel on the Windy City pizza scene. --The Mgmt.
[Photograph: Mark Blitstein; remaining photographs: Daniel Zemans]
Nite 'N Gale
346 Waukegan Avenue, Highwood, IL 60040 (map); (847) 432-5244; nitengale.com
Getting There: Metra Union Pacific North train to Highwood; restaurant is visible from train platform
Pizza Style: Cracker crust
Oven Type: Gas
The Skinny: Highwood institution puts out a good cracker crust, but misses badly with its cheeseburger pizza
Price: 10" cheeseburger pizza is $12.50
Nestled between Highland Park and Lake Forest, leafy suburbs that have been home to great wealth for over a century, sits the town of Highwood, the socioeconomic stepchild of the North Shore. Highwood has been home to a variety of waves of immigrants since the 1870s, including a sizeable group of Italians that came around the turn of the 20th century and built a community that remains there today.
Nite 'N Gale has been in the Fiocchi family since it was founded in 1947 and has been passed down from Geno to Marvin to Kyle, who owns it today. From it's dim lighting to oversized worn down leather booths to the large bar that dominates the main dining room, Nite 'N Gale oozes 1950s Italian restaurant and lounge. The menu includes a variety of traditional Italian-American favorites, including Chicago specialty Shrimp DeJonghe, as well as a number of decidedly non-Italian dishes (Cajun chicken?). Obviously, I was there for the pizza. Specifically, I wanted the cheeseburger pizza, a pie the restaurant is so proud of that it one of only two preset toppings combinations listed on the menu.
The cheeseburger pizza is basically a ground beef pie that, after being fully cooked, is topped with slices of tomatoes and pickles, as well as ketchup and mustard.
Pizza Bike Ride This Sunday to Di Fara, L&B Spumoni Gardens
Making its way around Twitter today attached to the hashtag #bikenyc is word that there's going to be a pizza bike ride in Brooklyn this Sunday, November 22, weather permitting.
Meet at Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza at 11 a.m. From there, the ride will hit Di Fara and then L&B Spumoni Garden.
I'm thinking of joining this ride, but if a lot of people join in (and, hey, the more, the merrier), I'm just wondering how things will work at Di Fara. A large group of cyclists descending on Di Fara would be a recipe for waiting forever for pizza. Still, seems like fun.
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