Serious Eats–Slice overlord Ed Levine here has been on my case about getting to the new Frank Pepe's in Yonkers for a while now. He wanted to see how it stacked up to the original in New Haven, Connecticut.
See, the Frank Pepe family has been on a small tear in the last few years, opening branches of the famed New Haven pizzeria throughout Connecticut—first in Fairfield, then Manchester, then at the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville.
Then they opened one in Yonkers, New York. This was sort of a big deal in pizza circles, since there's a fair amount of rivalry between New Haven– and New York–style partisans.
When the New York Timesbeat us to the punch on blabbing about Yonkers Pepe's, I knew I'd hear it from Ed.
But here's the thing: Nobody has approached this from the correct angle—namely comparing the two head-to-head to see how well Yonkers Pepe's does against the New Haven original. That's where Slice comes in. We're adding some context to this saga. Peep the photo gallery for the comparisons.
"Starting with the pre-ferment gives you a dough that's more resilient than most make-at-home pizza crusts."
[Photograph: Caroline Russock]
Homemade pizza is something that I try my hand at fairly frequently and although it's never bad, many times the dough isn't exactly where I want it to be. I suppose that I just hadn't found the ideal pizza dough recipe until I came across the Pan Pizza from The Grand Central Baking Book. It's really one of the best dough recipes I've tried in a while.
This dough is a thick-crusted base that can stand up to a lot of toppings, similar to a Sicilian-style. The dough has a lightness that belies its dense look, which comes from a technique that was new to me, at least as far as pizza is concerned—the pre-ferment.
Basically you mix yeast, water, and flour and let it sit for an hour. After it bubbles up into a starter, you mix it in with the rest of the ingredients for the dough, a little more yeast, olive oil, salt and flour. The dough is kneaded and left to rise again for another hour.
Posted by Adam Kuban, February 8, 2010 at 11:00 AM
Today's Pizza Obsessives Q&A features frequent Slice commenter seriouspizza. You might think you know him from the comments. But you ain't seen nothin' yet. —The Mgmt.
Name: seriouspizza Location: About 4,300 miles from a decent pizzeria Occupation: Part Time Pizzaiolo.Full Time Antagonist Website: I'll use yours. [Do you have a photo we can run?] You're fucking joking.
What type of pizza do you prefer?
Neapolitan. The proper type.
The Pizza Cognition Theory states that "the first slice of pizza a child sees and tastes ... becomes, for him, pizza." Do you remember your first slice? Where was it from, is the place still around, and if so, does it hold up? On that note, has your taste in pizza evolved over time?
I agree. My first pizza was a pizza, not a slice, in the Santa Lucia area of Naples (mid '70's). I could never find it again. I look every time I return. It's like my first-ever girlfriend, infected me and fucked off. That stays with you for life.
My tastes remain steadfast.I know what I like and how it should be. That's why I'm such an opinionated cunt.
I had higher hopes for this video of the Pizza Plotter when I saw the headline "Print Your Own Pizza" on Hack a Day.
Looks like all it's doing is applying sauce — and way too much sauce at that. Call me when it prints crust, sauce, and cheese and then throws it in the oven. And then you could use the laser pizza cutter to slice it.
You might have some leftover pizza from your game-watching party last night. (How 'bout them Saints?!? Oh, yeah!) This week's Slice Poll question is: Do you eat your leftover pizza cold or reheat it?
The Chicago-area pizzerias in this article all recommend calling an hour to 90 minutes ahead if you want your pizza for kickoff or halftime. Better decide what you want now and reach for the phone soon! See also:The Best Delivery Pepperoni Pizza »
Posted by Adam Kuban, February 7, 2010 at 12:30 PM
Interaction/industrial designer Matt Brown has come up with something really random and fun here. It's a self-slicing pizza. Instead of using one unbroken round of dough, Brown has cut up the dough into pieces and then worked them together in various overlapping patterns so that when you grab a "slice," the pizza decides how large (or small) it will be. It all depends on how the tessellated pieces were arranged with their neighboring bits.
This was Brown's first self-slicing pizza experiment. He says he'll toy with different patterns to see how it affects the pull-apart experience.
My assignment was to search for the soul of New Jersey pizza. What is its essential nature? With thousands of pizza joints in the state, it's an impossible task. And yet, after much eating, driving, tasting, and talking to makers and experts, I came up with a few theories:
1. Pizza is highly subjective. 2. Our pizza roots run deep. 3. New Jersey pizza came into its own after 1945. 4. Techniques vary.
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