Newsweek has an interesting take on the latest golden age of pizza in New York City. There's a cloud in the silver lining of the fancy-pants pizzeria boom—namely that Neapolitan and upscale pizzeria openings are outpacing the debut of really good typical New York–slice joints. (Oh, and I'm not just highlighting the following because I happen to be quoted in it; emphasis added.)
During the past six months, however, New York has been experiencing what The New York Times's Frank Bruni calls "a definite pizza moment"—a moment that threatens, I fear, to permanently alter what we think of when we think of New York pizza. Motivated by the new fad among foodies for upscale comfort cuisine, a slew of restaurateurs have opened pizzerias (Co., Tonda) serving Neapolitan-inspired pies enlivened with farm-fresh ingredients. Meanwhile, the premier purveyors of authentic N.Y.C. pizza are showing signs of strain. In January, Di Fara closed for weeks after aging pizzaiolo Dom DeMarco broke a kneecap. Totonno's burned down two months later. And the last of the storied slice slingers—Sal and Carmine's, Joe's—are few and far between. The result could be a coming shift in the city's balance of pizza power. "The New York slice is in danger," warns Sliceny.com editor Adam Kuban. "These highfalutin places are great, but they're a different thing. Losing the killer slice joints means we'll lose a way of life—walk in with $3 and eat your pizza on the street."
I never had a better slice in NY than DiFara's. I'd rather go to Totonno's or Spumoni Gardens than any Co. or Tonda. It may be in trouble of loosing support by foodie/yuppie types, but so what, who cares?
I'm with moesizlacks (part of the way).. Totonno's is the best pizza I ever ate: I practically grew up at Spumoni Gardens, and I have no desire to go to Co., Tonda, Motorino...
I hope there will always be real pizza in NY... meeting a young guy like David Rizzo at Rizzo's in Astoria gives me a lot of hope for neighborhood pizzerias.
@sean_taylor: Thanks for the news, though it is sad news. Someone emailed me over the weekend about the fact that S&C's was shuttered "for an emergency." Just found on a Bronx-based blog that Sal did indeed die. Such an unfortunately timely illustration of this Newsweek story.
Hallelujah. I am so sick of these upscale tasteless pizza parlors in the city. I recently ate at Keste on Bleecker and it was awful. The only flavor the mushroom pizza had was the delicious shitake mushrooms on it. Otherwise it was a soggy mess. And don't get me started on Co.. In defense of upscale pizza places though, I do like the clam pie at Franny's.
Does anyone remember La Marionetta on Greenwich Avenue? Now that was New York pizza at it's finest. I haven't had pizza that good since it closed over a decade ago.
the two have nothing to do with each other, it's not a zero-sum game. just because the foodies are getting behind some new neapolitan-influenced places doesn't mean that it's happening at the expense of new slice places opening or that slice places will go the way of the dodo. i would argue that the growing overall interest in pizza is what let artichoke hit the ground running in the first place. after all, if they weren't getting lots of mentions on food blogs they wouldn't have been able to build up their business as quickly as they did. the author of this story is taking a long-term trend (the lack of new pizzerias entering the upper echelon in nyc) and assigning short term reasons for it (the opening of fancy neapolitan style places).
i agree with sloppy. it might be counterintuitive but with exception of connoisseurs i think that often these two types of pizza places are not even competing for the same customers.
Its a strange article when talking about the possible death of slice joints and then highlighting a huge line at Artichoke for.... slices. It may not be as "exquisite" as Company or Keste but not everyone wants to go to a sit down restaurant or will pay $13 for an individual pizza, regardless of whether or not the mozzarella di bufala is imported from naples daily.
If anything, people should be excited that a slice joint like Artichoke could thrive and that it would hopefully compel others to open similar slice joints that deviate from the ubiquitous generic Famous Ray's type slice.
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8 Comments:
I never had a better slice in NY than DiFara's. I'd rather go to Totonno's or Spumoni Gardens than any Co. or Tonda. It may be in trouble of loosing support by foodie/yuppie types, but so what, who cares?
moesizlacks at 12:36PM on 06/02/09
I heard from a friend that Sal from Sal and Carmine is no longer with us. I'm hoping I have been misinformed.
sean_taylor at 12:56PM on 06/02/09
I'm with moesizlacks (part of the way).. Totonno's is the best pizza I ever ate: I practically grew up at Spumoni Gardens, and I have no desire to go to Co., Tonda, Motorino...
I hope there will always be real pizza in NY... meeting a young guy like David Rizzo at Rizzo's in Astoria gives me a lot of hope for neighborhood pizzerias.
passion4pizza at 1:21PM on 06/02/09
@sean_taylor: Thanks for the news, though it is sad news. Someone emailed me over the weekend about the fact that S&C's was shuttered "for an emergency." Just found on a Bronx-based blog that Sal did indeed die. Such an unfortunately timely illustration of this Newsweek story.
Adam Kuban at 1:30PM on 06/02/09
Hallelujah. I am so sick of these upscale tasteless pizza parlors in the city. I recently ate at Keste on Bleecker and it was awful. The only flavor the mushroom pizza had was the delicious shitake mushrooms on it. Otherwise it was a soggy mess. And don't get me started on Co.. In defense of upscale pizza places though, I do like the clam pie at Franny's.
Does anyone remember La Marionetta on Greenwich Avenue? Now that was New York pizza at it's finest. I haven't had pizza that good since it closed over a decade ago.
Franke at 2:09PM on 06/02/09
the two have nothing to do with each other, it's not a zero-sum game. just because the foodies are getting behind some new neapolitan-influenced places doesn't mean that it's happening at the expense of new slice places opening or that slice places will go the way of the dodo. i would argue that the growing overall interest in pizza is what let artichoke hit the ground running in the first place. after all, if they weren't getting lots of mentions on food blogs they wouldn't have been able to build up their business as quickly as they did. the author of this story is taking a long-term trend (the lack of new pizzerias entering the upper echelon in nyc) and assigning short term reasons for it (the opening of fancy neapolitan style places).
sloppy at 2:21PM on 06/02/09
i agree with sloppy. it might be counterintuitive but with exception of connoisseurs i think that often these two types of pizza places are not even competing for the same customers.
bobbob at 2:43PM on 06/02/09
Its a strange article when talking about the possible death of slice joints and then highlighting a huge line at Artichoke for.... slices. It may not be as "exquisite" as Company or Keste but not everyone wants to go to a sit down restaurant or will pay $13 for an individual pizza, regardless of whether or not the mozzarella di bufala is imported from naples daily.
If anything, people should be excited that a slice joint like Artichoke could thrive and that it would hopefully compel others to open similar slice joints that deviate from the ubiquitous generic Famous Ray's type slice.
ESNY1077 at 3:56PM on 06/02/09