Keith Wagstaff of the Feedbag blog has an interview with Mathieu Palombino, the Belgian-born chef-owner of Motorino in Williamsburg. We wrote about the pizza at Motorino on Tuesday, and the Feedbag's piece is a nice complement to the tasting intel. Snip:
What does it take to make good pizza? Pizza is always good, even when it’s bad. Its never something you will spit out of your mouth, even if it’s not done properly. What makes a pizza good is the quality of the ingredients. It’s a very simple thing. It’s just a piece of dough with just a few ingredients, so you have to choose your ingredients very carefully. It’s a simple thing, but it can become very complicated to make your pizza better than the guy next door.
Palombino also reveals that he makes the mozzarella for his pies himself each day and that he thinks Fornino is one of the city's best pizzerias—but declines to give the names of places he thinks are overrated.
I'm going to have to pull out the Truth Hammer, though, and give this Keith Wagstaff a knock on the noggin:
[Matthieu offers me some pizza; I tell him thanks but I have to get back to the office.] Do you offer pizza to go?
Yes. Agreed, PG. I know about the bit about pizza being better right out of the oven. But if the people in the office want a pizza and request it, this sort of negates fresh from the oven! ;)
I think he's smart for doing delivery/take-out. Most people don't care enough to go in and have the pizza fresh from oven—and probably couldn't care less. Why miss out on that business? Especially in this economic climate.
It doesn't seem to be hurting Chris Bianco's bottom line. I guess the business model is win the James Beard award and deep six the take out. I do understand though. It definitely is a way to supplement operating income. However, if people are standing outside waiting to get in, making pies for takeout can make the wait longer for those customers. I noted when I was at Lucali's that Mark declined take out orders because he had customers waiting outside. BTW, I hope no one reading this sees me taking a pie home to my wife and son when I visit Mororino this weekend.
@PG: Yeah. I think take-out/delivery is fine for a place during slow times. You're right about Mark at Lucali. I remember him saying he did take-out only when it was slow enough to do so. Seems smart.
"It’s just a piece of dough". Working on something for 12 hours plus, makes it the most important ingredient. If anything, it is the other way around. Quality crust is what keeps you going and not the toppings.
I agree that the dough is the the most important ingredient, but it's very easy to screw up the best dough you can find by topping (or overtopping) it with inferior or unimaginative ingredients. Once you taste Mathieu's pies you'll realize that he already has a very good handle on creating a superior crust. What impressed me most though was the quality of his ingredients ad the combinations he chose. And each pie had a very nice balance in terms of the quantity of each topping used in relation to the others. I hope to soon have some photographic evidence posted to support my opinion.
This is interesting... In a previous post, I had mentioned that my pizza here (as well as my girlfriend's) was definitely undercooked, overly dense, and doughy. It's possible that the reason for this was that Matthieu himself didn't make the pie. At the time i went (approximately 6:30 pm on a wednesday), there were two other individuals making pies .... and they definitely weren't belgian. Matthieu wasn't even in sight as far as i can tell. If that is the reason, he might want to excercise a little quality control over his employees -- cause it sounds like anything he makes himself is awesome.
@crob77 That is a very good observation. Although I didn't notice which pies of the three we had were personally made by Mathieu, once you see my photos it will be apparent that he was orchestrating their creation. His style is not to be the only one to personally make the pies alla Anthony Mangieri, Mark Iacono or Chris Bianco. However, it was clear to me that he is constantly concerned and involved with the quality of his product. In terms of his crust, the pies I had were not as light and airy as the ones I've had at UPN, but then again who's is? They still were lighter and airier than any others I've had. Except perhaps with the exception of my own.
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12 Comments:
See Adam, even though MP sells his pies to go, he admits that they are not the same as right outta the inferno.
Ciao,
Paulie Gee
pauliegee at 6:48PM on 10/23/08
Yes. Agreed, PG. I know about the bit about pizza being better right out of the oven. But if the people in the office want a pizza and request it, this sort of negates fresh from the oven! ;)
I think he's smart for doing delivery/take-out. Most people don't care enough to go in and have the pizza fresh from oven—and probably couldn't care less. Why miss out on that business? Especially in this economic climate.
Adam Kuban at 6:58PM on 10/23/08
It doesn't seem to be hurting Chris Bianco's bottom line. I guess the business model is win the James Beard award and deep six the take out. I do understand though. It definitely is a way to supplement operating income. However, if people are standing outside waiting to get in, making pies for takeout can make the wait longer for those customers. I noted when I was at Lucali's that Mark declined take out orders because he had customers waiting outside. BTW, I hope no one reading this sees me taking a pie home to my wife and son when I visit Mororino this weekend.
Ciao,
Paulie Gee
pauliegee at 7:40PM on 10/23/08
Cool he gave props to Fornino. They're somewhat in direct competition with him, being about 10 blocks away and all (yes, I counted).
BrianPrestonCampbell at 7:41PM on 10/23/08
@PG: Yeah. I think take-out/delivery is fine for a place during slow times. You're right about Mark at Lucali. I remember him saying he did take-out only when it was slow enough to do so. Seems smart.
@BPC: Fornino is in my Top 10.
Adam Kuban at 8:33PM on 10/23/08
I'm glad to see the Truth Hammer out again.
Laurel E at 9:56AM on 10/24/08
"It’s just a piece of dough". Working on something for 12 hours plus, makes it the most important ingredient. If anything, it is the other way around. Quality crust is what keeps you going and not the toppings.
Q80 BurgerBelly at 11:35AM on 10/26/08
I agree that the dough is the the most important ingredient, but it's very easy to screw up the best dough you can find by topping (or overtopping) it with inferior or unimaginative ingredients. Once you taste Mathieu's pies you'll realize that he already has a very good handle on creating a superior crust. What impressed me most though was the quality of his ingredients ad the combinations he chose. And each pie had a very nice balance in terms of the quantity of each topping used in relation to the others. I hope to soon have some photographic evidence posted to support my opinion.
Ciao,
Paulie Gee
pauliegee at 1:57PM on 10/26/08
This is interesting... In a previous post, I had mentioned that my pizza here (as well as my girlfriend's) was definitely undercooked, overly dense, and doughy. It's possible that the reason for this was that Matthieu himself didn't make the pie. At the time i went (approximately 6:30 pm on a wednesday), there were two other individuals making pies .... and they definitely weren't belgian. Matthieu wasn't even in sight as far as i can tell. If that is the reason, he might want to excercise a little quality control over his employees -- cause it sounds like anything he makes himself is awesome.
crob77 at 11:17PM on 10/27/08
@crob77 That is a very good observation. Although I didn't notice which pies of the three we had were personally made by Mathieu, once you see my photos it will be apparent that he was orchestrating their creation. His style is not to be the only one to personally make the pies alla Anthony Mangieri, Mark Iacono or Chris Bianco. However, it was clear to me that he is constantly concerned and involved with the quality of his product. In terms of his crust, the pies I had were not as light and airy as the ones I've had at UPN, but then again who's is? They still were lighter and airier than any others I've had. Except perhaps with the exception of my own.
Ciao,
Paulie Gee
pauliegee at 12:03AM on 10/28/08
I would like to clarify that I indeed tasted the pizza the week before the interview, and it was delicious. I will not be Truth Hammered!
Kwagstaff at 4:44PM on 12/15/08
Very well, Keith! The Truth Hammer has been put back in its velvet bag. (I'm just havin' a little fun, you know, right?)
Adam Kuban at 4:49PM on 12/15/08