What follows is a mish-mash of some of our favorite posts, our top-choice pizzerias, books we like and think you should read, and other fun slice-and-pie miscellanea. Buon appetito!
I've had a lot on Slice lately about Scott's Pizza Tours, but you know, there's another pizza tour out there, one that's been around for a bit longer and that takes folks through perhaps the best pizza borough* in the city. And that tour, my friends, is Tony Muia's A Slice of Brooklyn Pizza Tour.
Muia started his tour in 2005 and has been taking pizza-hungry folks around Kings County ever since, mixing stops at Grimaldi's and L & B Spumoni Gardens with spin around neighborhoods such as Bay Ridge and Bensonhurst. It's thanks to Muia that I can point out the house where Joe Pesci's Tommy DeVito character gets whacked in Goodfellas (it's in Bay Ridge) and that I know which pizzeria John Travolta's Tony Manero buys two slices from, eating them as a double-decker, in Saturday Night Fever (Lenny's in Bensonhurst).
Posted by Adam Kuban, January 19, 2008 at 11:00 AM
I'm obsessing over this Japanese stovetop pizza oven that looks like it would replicate the ideal baking conditions of a traditional Italian pizza oven. I say "looks like" because, honestly, could this thing really work? I have my doubts. Not to mention that the pies that come out look incredibly small.
I love this pizza-themed Lego vignette (left) by "Big Daddy" Nelson, a Hawaii-based Lego ambassador. Looks like it was made with pieces from the Lego Pizza to Go set (No. 6350), which is now discontinued and super hard to get. Trolling through his Flickr photos, I also found this playful representation of Seinfeld's Soup Nazi.
Posted by Adam Kuban, December 18, 2007 at 6:00 AM
Or, 'This Is Where You're Ordering Pizza From Now, Park Slope'
Peppe's Pizza & Panini
Address: 597 Fourth Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11215 (b/n 17th and 18th streets, Park Slope; map) Phone: 718-788-7333 Website:peppepizzapanini.com Oven Type: Gas-fired, steel-deck oven Hours: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily Payment: Cash and cards Price: $16 for large plain pie (18 inches); $12 for small (12 inches) Recommended Options: Order the plain pie and ask for a mixture of regular mozz, fresh mozz, and the imported Pecorino-Romano. The Skinny: This newcomer to the Park Slope pizza scene is being compared to Di Fara, and while that side-by-side is a little premature, it offers a stand-up pie that's miles beyond that of any conventional-oven pizzeria currently operating in the neighborhood. If you live in the Slope, this is your new go-to delivery pizzeria.
A whole pie with fior di latte (fresh mozzarella). The lighting in my kitchen blows, so this doesn't look as good as it tastes.
Even so, apart from visits to Franny's on special occasions or delivery orders placed solely to stave off hunger when all other late-night options are closed, I hardly look forward to eating pizza in the neighborhood.
Enter Peppe's Pizza & Panini, which actually has me excited again about Park Slope pies and slices.
So the Friday after Thanksgiving, Ed Levine emails me some message about how he's going a pizza tour with Bob Kinkead (of Kinkead's in D.C.) and Mark Furstenberg (founder of the BreadLine and now a baking consultant and author).
Ed's all like, "These guys are totally serious about pizza and bread. We're going to Franny's ..." Blah blah blah. And I'm like, "Where's my invite, yo? What am I, chopped liver?" Whatevs. I had plans, anyway. I just wanted a chance to turn down the invite.
Anyway, on Monday, Ed's all like, "You have to see this crazy spreadsheet they had for evaluating and ranking pizza. It was insane!"
Ed asked Kinkead to send a copy, which he did. And that's what you're looking at above. Check that thing out! Kinkead says, "I have included The rubric we showed you and another score card I made [after the jump], which we didn't end up using. I still have not gotten around to tallying up and writing down our conclusions, but I'll send it when I do. There were 14 places total."
Posted by Adam Kuban, November 20, 2007 at 1:00 AM
Slice reader and graphic designer Norman H. manages to combine the concepts of coal-oven pizza and stoking a coal-fire in a brilliant little creation that's at once novel and obvious in a why-didn't-anyone-think-of-it-before way. Thanks, Norman!
Frankie and Mary Lou Cappezza, the former owners of the now-closed Corona Heights Pork Store, are my culinary E. F. Huttons. When they talk, I listen. So when they told me I had to check out Rose & Joe Italian Bakery in their old Astoria stomping grounds, I wasted no time getting there.
As usual, they were right. Rose & Joe's wondrous braided semolina bread has plenty of character and flavor. But as good as the bread is here, Rose & Joe's ultimate triumph is their Sicilian pizza.
In the back of the bakery a young woman sells slices: plain, broccoli, and sausage. The crust is crisp, slightly doughy, and surprisingly light. So don't thank me when you bite into your first slice of Rose & Joe's pizza. Thank Frankie and Mary Lou.
Most Sicilian pizza is just too thick for me, but Rizzo's in Astoria is the home of the wondrous thin-crust Sicilian slice. For 40 years, Joe Rizzo has been making thin-crust Sicilian pizza the way his father learned in Sicily. That means he uses homemade sauce (slightly sweet), full-cream mozzarella that lies ever so gently on top of the light—almost demure—crust, and just enough Romano cheese to give his pizza a little zing.
When you walk into Rizzo's, all you'll see on the counter are rectangular trays of fresh-out-of-the-oven Sicilian pizza. After years of maintaining Sicilian-only pizza purity, Rizzo's is now making conventional Neapolitan pizza. I can't tell you how it is, though, because I refuse to order it on general principle—I come here for the Sicilian slice only.
Rizzo's
Address: 30-13 Steinway Street, Astoria NY 11103 (Queens, between City Avenue and Dunway Street; map) Phone: 718-721-9862
At Denino's, the pizza box says it all: "In Crust We Trust."
They should trust their crust, because it is light and crisp and pliant.
Denino's is a classic red-brick tavern pizzeria (with a separate dining room), but it is just as welcoming to kids after a little league game as it is to middle-aged softball players coming in for a pie and a brew after a game.
I'm crazy about Denino's sausage pie, which features fine sweet Italian sausage made fresh every day by a local butcher. If you want to go vegetarian, try the white pie, made with mozzarella, onions, fresh garlic, and a splash of olive oil.
After 53 years, you might think the Denino family has gotten bored with making pizza. Not so, according to third-generation co-owner Michael Denino: "We still put our heart and soul into every pie."
Denino's
Address: 524 Richmond Avenue, Staten Island NY 10302 (at Hooker Place; map) Phone: 718-442-9401 Related: All Denino's entries on Slice
Michael Bauer, food critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, continues his Pizza Friday series on his blog Between Meals with a trip to Pizzaiolo in Oakland, California. Pizzaiolo makes a Neapolitan-style pizza and is owned and helmed by Charlie Hallowell, a longtime pizza-maker at Alice Waters's famed Chez Panisse:
Bauer says:
Crust: The thin crust has well-formed blisters that shatter into a dozen pieces on contact, and a chewiness that gives the jaw a good workout.
Pizza tried: The classic Margherita has a restrained swipe of savory tomato sauce, pools of buttery mozzarella and shards of intensely flavored basil. We also tried a pizza with chunks of ground sausage, basil, and orange and yellow gypsy peppers, enhanced with a last minute drizzle of fragrant olive oil.
Giuseppe Pappalardo, an owner of Joe & Pat's in Castleton Corners, Staten Island, mastered his craft at three legendary Staten Island slice establishments: Nunzio's,Ciro's, and Tokie's. His slices are distinguished by a superbly thin, crisp crust.
"They're easier to digest," he says, "so you can eat a lot of them."
And believe me, I do.
Giuseppe's son Angelo has now joined him at the pizzeria. He's a serious chef whose last stop was at Esca in Manhattan. I'm sure he'll do wonders for all the other food at Joe & Pat's. The only way he could improve the pizza is to make it with fresh mozzarella.
Salvatore Pollito is a pie man, no two ways about it. Ten years ago he opened a solid slice joint in Queens. Then, when he felt he had mastered the art of the slice, he decided to tackle coal-fired, brick-oven pizza, inspired by his many ttips to Totonno's and Patsy's. He has done that successfully at Bella Via, which, with its brick walls and big windows, is one of the more cheerful pizzerias I have come across.
Pollito had a local guy build the oven at Bella Via, and tucked it into the back of the place in full view of the salivating patrons, who watch as he turns out beautiful pies. Pollito uses low-moisture, slightly aged mozzarella, Italian tomatoes, and fine locally sourced sausage on his pies. His crust is fairly thin, bready, and soft and doesn't have much chew to it.
Bella Via
Address: 47-46 Vernon Boulevard, Long Island City NY (at 48th Avenue; map) Phone: 718-361-7510 Related: All Bella Via entries on Slice
A slice from Nunzio's is a pristine exercise in elegant pizza minimalism. It's not very big, so pizza-by-the-ton Ray's fans should go elsewhere. Yet everything about it is right: the ratio of sauce to cheese, the crisp yet pliant crust, and the tangy sauce enlivened by fresh basil. I love the sausage Nunzio's puts on its slices. It's nubby, loaded with flavor, and has plenty of fennel in it. Nunzio's even looks the way a pizzeria should: It is a white stucco shack with a tiny dining room brightened by black-and-white photos of the original Nunzio's in South Beach, Sraten Island.
Nunzio's
Address: 2155 Hylan Boulevard, Staten Island NY 10306 (at Midland Avenue; map) Phone: 718-667-9647
Ladies and gents, the always opinionated DJ Bubbles has checked in once again. Because I never know when he's going to strike, I'd been unofficially calling his stunning dispatches "drive-bys." Now I'm formalizing it. Here's the DJ Bubbles Drive-By on Isabella's Oven. It's a must-read, so do click through the jump. —Adam
Words by DJ Bubbles | It has been said before that having a great meal can be a transcendent experience. When someone has poured all his soul, energy, and being into something so divine, you can taste it in every bite. It isn't something that happens all that often in these times, but when it does, you don't soon forget it. To say that I had one of these experiences this Saturday may be true—I'm still not sure. How is that possible, you ask? That's a good question, and all I know is it happened on my second trip to Isabella's Oven after a very mediocre first visit. The difference in pie quality was immediately apparent after I had my first slice of an individual Margherita while sitting on Isabella's outdoor patio. However, the questions regarding this newbie's consistency linger, and I have to ask myself—was this past Saturday the beginning of a beautiful friendship or a flash in the pan, mere pizza fool's gold?
My name's James, and I'm a fan of your site. Waaaaay back around 2001 or 2002, I wrote and recorded a song. It's called "Dom," and it is about a certain pizzaman in Brooklyn, about whom you know a little something. It's a little out of date now.
Listen to "Dom":
Dom
I know the guy that makes the bestest pie in town
His ass is not under the bridge
You will not find him in Coney Island
You will not find him in Bay Ridge
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