"I don't think a drunk college student cares about whether there's San Marzano tomatoes on their slice," Jason Feirman, 25, who writes a pizza blog called I Dream of Pizza, said of the $1 pizza trend. "It's a good business model. They're not catering to food blogs. The idea is to turn out these pizzas as fast as they can."
They talked to me, too, but I sound like a Grade A moron. My own fault. Mr. Fernandez simply quoted me talking about the "hole structure" of 99¢ pizza.
Yeah, I know, right? Tool Academy, are you accepting applications for the spring semester?
Another week, another high-profile pizza happening, man. Today, Pulino's Bar & Pizzeria, the long-awaited pizza joint helmed by San Francisco arriviste Nate Appleman (late of A16 in the City by the Bay).
Though to call it a "pizza joint" would be a bit of an understatement. The latest in Keith McNally's restaurant group (oh, he of Balthazar, Pastis, Schiller's, etc.), it's totally McNalley'd out—a large, airy space that's overall French brasserie in feel with a bit of New Haven throw in for good measure in the oven area. (Peep the gallery and see if you don't think the dual oven action and white tile doesn't remind you of Frank Pepe's.)
While it's too early to report objectively on the pizza, we know you want your pizza porn, so I headed down there today for snaps of this week's model. While a full-on raging critique will have to wait, I will say that I liked what I had. Mr. Appleman's "Bowery-style" pizza is a nice mixture of New Haven– and bar-style pizza. Once he and the crew get their sea legs, we'll be back.
Pulino's Bar & Pizzeria
282 Bowery, New York NY 10012 (at Houston; map)
212-226-1966; pulinosny.com
123 East 41st Street, New York NY 10168 (map); 212-557-4992; previtipizza.com Getting there: 4/5/6/S/7 to Grand Central, but I'm sure most of you reading this will walk Pizza style: Classic New York slice Oven type: Gas-fueled brick-lined oven The skinny: A great, well-considered and properly built Margherita slice—one we can finally recommend in Midtown Price: $2.50 plain slice; $5.50 for two plain slices and a can of soda
Ah, Twitter. Sometimes a colossal waste of time; sometimes a boon to eaters. Last week, @itryilike tweeted to @Slice shortly before her lunch break: "I need a good, not-too-greasy slice in Midtown East. I'm huungry any suggestions?"
But before I could tweet back to itryilike (I rec'd Little Italy on 43rd and Fifth), our friend Zach Brooks at Midtown Lunchtwitted outhis pick: Previti Pizza on 41st Street near Lexington.
Oh, yeah. Previti is the place Zach wrote about back in December 2009. Place looked good, I remembered. I had filed it in my notes to try but hadn't gotten there yet. And thus this whole Twitter exchange had me hopping on the train to the Grand Central area.
Long story short: Previti makes a great slice—for Midtown or anywhere. This is one place I don't need to say, "It's good ... for Midtown." Zach was dead on with his rec here.
Among pizza-eaters there seem to be various crust-eater types*: those who leave the crust as "pizza bones," folks who relish the crust and eat every bit, and those who like to dip it in something to give it a little extra oomph. This week's Slice pizza poll asks which one you are (with a subset of answers on dipping preferences for the dippers among us).
* Yes, we've covered similar ground before—"Types of Crust Eaters"—but not in a poll, all pseudo-scientific-style.
That was therapeutic, wasn't it? I think this week's little group session on "charring" vs. "burned" helped us all work through the issue and come to a better understanding of carbonized crust, of ourselves, and of each other. Though folks in the gimme-char (72%) and the char-it-not (29%)* camps may never see eye to eye, I think the discussion helped us all see the others' arguments, thanks to lots of great insight in the comments.
* Yes, I'm aware that adds up to 101%. I think the polling software rounds up with a hand that's a little too heavy.
Every week, Pizza Girl (Diary of a Pizza Girl) stops by with insights and a behind-the-scenes look into the world of pizza-delivery drivers. Take it away, PG! —The Mgmt.
Domino's Triton No. 1, an experimental pizza-delivery vehicle, at the Pioneer Auto Show, a museum in Murdo, South Dakota. It's a future that never came to pass, as most pizza drivers use their own cars for delivery. [Photograph: Hugo90 on Flickr]
Once upon a time, long, long ago, there were no such things as a GPS. This was before the "delivery fee" was even a twinkle in the Noid's eye. Cellphones were built like bricks, and pizza delivery dudes were all dudes. And in this land of my pizza-delivery forbears, drivers carried maps made of trees but mostly carried maps in their heads.
Whenever one of the older drivers starts going on about maps and stopping in at convenience stores for directions I shudder. Not only do I have a terrible sense of direction (though being a delivery driver has improved it at least within my delivery area) but I have a smartphone. My phone is my best friend out on deliveries. I can look up directions (I won't get started on how Google Maps seems to have a fundamental misunderstanding of one-way streets and solid objects), find where I am, call the store, call the customer, Twitter my tips. Granted, that last one probably isn't essential to a good delivery, but it keeps me sane.
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