Posted by Adam Kuban, December 30, 2008 at 9:45 PM
"Our pizzas are not always round."
Clockwise from top left: Co. opened with a soft launch this evening; there were actual people from the general public in the dining room. As FOS Kathryn Yu said, from the outside, it looks less like a pizzeria than a fancy Asian restaurant. One of the stars of the evening, the Ham and Cheese pie. (You can click all images bigger.)
When I checked in late afternoon to find out if Co. really was opening on Friday, the gentleman in the dining room told me, "Yes—and tonight, too." It was a sort of soft opening. With the place just a couple block from Slice–Serious Eats HQ, my workmate Alaina and I went to check it out. We were joined by her husband and a couplefriends.
First up, the Boscaiola: tomato, mushroom, buffalo mozz, pork sausage, onion, chiles. After all was said and done, the table agreed that this was one of two standouts tonight. This was one of my favorites from the preview I went to, and I was glad to see it made it onto the actual menu.
Next out of the gate was the Special Pie: brussels sprouts, béchamel, cantal, buffalo mozz, shaved chestnuts, and smoked bacon. It was good, but the brussels sprouts overwhelmed the rest of the flavors—even the bacon to some degree. This one was not in the preview I had.
The basic Margherita and its upskirt.
The Margherita arrived next. It was excellent, but I have to say that this is one of the rare occasions where I've liked topped pizzas more than a plain pie. Its crust was light and crisp, with great hole structure and plenty of yeasty flavor, but it was still beaten out by the Boscaiola and one other. (You're going to have to keep reading to find out which one.)
The Flambé was the next to hit the table. It has caramelized onions, Parmesan, buffalo mozz, and lardons. It's a white pie, and though the menu does not list béchamel as one of its components, I believe it was present, as this one was very heavy. The lardons were porky goodness, but even with five people splitting it, we found it was quite the gut-buster.
Oh, I just realized that I revealed in the opening photo that the Ham and Cheese pie was one of the two stars of the evening. Well, that's why its photo appears twice here, I guess. It's topped with pecorino, gruyère, buffalo mozzarella and prosciutto and has a few of caraway seeds incorporated into the bottom of the crust. Not that you can see any in the upskirt here:
Co. will be open officially on Friday, January 2. It will serve dinner only for now—though we're told that it may start serving lunch as soon as late January (which in Jim Lahey time means March 2010. Just kidding; we're keeping our fingers crossed that it really does start lunch service by late next month). Hours are 4 p.m. to 11 or 11:30 p.m., depending on patronage, according to a Co. employee.
Co.
230 Ninth Avenue, New York NY 10001 (at West 24th Street; map) co-pane.com
That was some mighty fine pizza and may replace Una Pizza Napoletana as my #1 pick (It certainly doesn't hurt that Co.'s pizzas are more reasonably priced.) My favorite pizzas of the night were the Margherita and the Ham and Cheese.
The thing about Slice is that the site is pretty monomaniacally focused on pizza, so I rarely go into snack items or appetizers. We did have the pinto bean toast and the chicken liver toast. We ordered two toasts each—the chicken liver was devoured while I was the only one eating the pinto bean toast, if that tells you anything. (Though I really do like the pinto bean toast.) To me, it doesn't make much sense to have toasts/bruschetta on the menu of a pizza joint, since it's all just bread, bread, bread.
Just had an awful margherita pizza at Co.. Sat next to a chef at the bar who agreed that it, and the rosa pie, was nasty. The flavor in my mouth as I left was the burn from the gas oven on the crust. The staff was abominable. I had to clean off the countertop myself, and never got a napkin or utensils. I will never go back.
Maybe they need to take the cheese off the Flambé. And was the "bechamel" you were tasting creme fraiche? I love a traditional tarte Flambé which is just creme fraiche, bacon, onions -- no cheese and more than rich enough between the bacon drippings and creme fraiche!
Last night, we watched the waiter tell the two diners next to us (who had waited for 40 minutes for a table and who had ordered 20 minutes prior to this) that the restaurant was OUT of PIZZA DOUGH. It was not even 10PM. The manager, at first refused to even come to the table to talk with the diners, and when he finally did show up he refused to cover even the cost of the drinks. The couple was irate (and rightly so) and one of the diners used the f-word at which point the manager kicked them out of the restaurant.
We were still discussing the horrible treatment the couple had received when NOT TEN MINUTES LATER, the hostess sat another group of 3 diners at the SAME TABLE. We waited for the waiter to come over and humbly apologize for a lack of dough, but instead they brought them FOUR PIZZAS! SO, it appears that you have to be SOMEONE in this town to get decent service (and possibly even PIZZA) at this restaurant.
DO NOT GO TO CO.
The pizza was fine, but nothing amazing. Definitely not worth a 45 minute wait. And definitely not if you need ANY customer service!
I agree with AverageJoe because I saw same thing, actually people who sat down were investors of this worse pizza place in NYC so for them was easy to get pizza and for us regular customers who are paying to this people NOT!!! Also Adam Kuban is friend of Jim(owner of this place), so everyone who is reading this realize why he left such good feedback on pizzas. What to say about manager, unprofessional, no respect for customers, rude.... should I go on?? I think his name was GUY funny name but worse thing is that I think he never worked in restaurant business before. Waiters was polite and nice, especially ours, this guy was from Serbia if I remember it right. Very talkative guy, explained menu and food, very fast with drinks,smiling and knows the restaurant job. Only good hiring in that place are waiters, manager is WORSE IN WORLD!!! Please don't go here if you don't want to wait for 2 hrs just to sit down and then 1 more hr to get this worse pizza in city!!!!!
We are coming to NY in a month and I am already dreaming of eating here. The pizza looks WAY better than anything we get in the UK! I really want to try brussel sprout pizza. Great pictures!
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14 Comments:
ooooooh, that looks so damn good
foodinmouth at 9:43AM on 12/31/08
"Click me bigger >>".
I love it when food gives me sass.
Tam Ngo at 9:56AM on 12/31/08
That was some mighty fine pizza and may replace Una Pizza Napoletana as my #1 pick (It certainly doesn't hurt that Co.'s pizzas are more reasonably priced.) My favorite pizzas of the night were the Margherita and the Ham and Cheese.
Alaina Browne at 10:29AM on 12/31/08
wow, i can't wait to try this place, the marg upskirt is perfection. good to see he's got pizza bianca on the menu.
sloppy at 11:14AM on 12/31/08
Thanks for the great review! The pizza looked amazing!
Just curious, what kind of ham did they use for the ham and cheese?
Are they planning to have more desserts other than gelato?
How were the appetizer/snack items?
kobetobiko at 2:09PM on 12/31/08
The "ham" is prosciutto. Not sure where they get it from.
Adam Kuban at 2:33PM on 12/31/08
The thing about Slice is that the site is pretty monomaniacally focused on pizza, so I rarely go into snack items or appetizers. We did have the pinto bean toast and the chicken liver toast. We ordered two toasts each—the chicken liver was devoured while I was the only one eating the pinto bean toast, if that tells you anything. (Though I really do like the pinto bean toast.) To me, it doesn't make much sense to have toasts/bruschetta on the menu of a pizza joint, since it's all just bread, bread, bread.
Adam Kuban at 2:35PM on 12/31/08
Oh man...Great pix! I've gotta try this. Thanks, Adam!
sean_taylor at 8:43PM on 01/02/09
Just had an awful margherita pizza at Co.. Sat next to a chef at the bar who agreed that it, and the rosa pie, was nasty. The flavor in my mouth as I left was the burn from the gas oven on the crust. The staff was abominable. I had to clean off the countertop myself, and never got a napkin or utensils. I will never go back.
Franke at 11:07PM on 01/02/09
Maybe they need to take the cheese off the Flambé. And was the "bechamel" you were tasting creme fraiche? I love a traditional tarte Flambé which is just creme fraiche, bacon, onions -- no cheese and more than rich enough between the bacon drippings and creme fraiche!
Aiceegray at 3:25PM on 01/05/09
Last night, we watched the waiter tell the two diners next to us (who had waited for 40 minutes for a table and who had ordered 20 minutes prior to this) that the restaurant was OUT of PIZZA DOUGH. It was not even 10PM. The manager, at first refused to even come to the table to talk with the diners, and when he finally did show up he refused to cover even the cost of the drinks. The couple was irate (and rightly so) and one of the diners used the f-word at which point the manager kicked them out of the restaurant.
We were still discussing the horrible treatment the couple had received when NOT TEN MINUTES LATER, the hostess sat another group of 3 diners at the SAME TABLE. We waited for the waiter to come over and humbly apologize for a lack of dough, but instead they brought them FOUR PIZZAS! SO, it appears that you have to be SOMEONE in this town to get decent service (and possibly even PIZZA) at this restaurant.
DO NOT GO TO CO.
The pizza was fine, but nothing amazing. Definitely not worth a 45 minute wait. And definitely not if you need ANY customer service!
AverageJoe at 1:34PM on 01/07/09
I agree with AverageJoe because I saw same thing, actually people who sat down were investors of this worse pizza place in NYC so for them was easy to get pizza and for us regular customers who are paying to this people NOT!!! Also Adam Kuban is friend of Jim(owner of this place), so everyone who is reading this realize why he left such good feedback on pizzas. What to say about manager, unprofessional, no respect for customers, rude.... should I go on?? I think his name was GUY funny name but worse thing is that I think he never worked in restaurant business before. Waiters was polite and nice, especially ours, this guy was from Serbia if I remember it right. Very talkative guy, explained menu and food, very fast with drinks,smiling and knows the restaurant job. Only good hiring in that place are waiters, manager is WORSE IN WORLD!!! Please don't go here if you don't want to wait for 2 hrs just to sit down and then 1 more hr to get this worse pizza in city!!!!!
Diner1966 at 7:02PM on 01/07/09
The bottom of that pizza looks amazing, you just know its is nice and crispy from being cooked really fast at a really hot temp. perfection
NewEnglandFoodie at 3:36PM on 01/28/09
We are coming to NY in a month and I am already dreaming of eating here. The pizza looks WAY better than anything we get in the UK! I really want to try brussel sprout pizza. Great pictures!
Iheartcupcakes at 3:55PM on 01/31/09