Posted by Adam Kuban, March 15, 2007 at 4:39 PM
The previous post reminds me that I was negligent in blogging this item about Cronkite and Fornino owner Michael Ayoub from the March 3 issue of the Brooklyn Paper:
Sitting at a table in his award-winning Williamsburg restaurant, Fornino, Ayoub was rightfully proud to be discussing his growing pizza empire. To call Fornino, or its newborn Manhattan sibling Cronkite, a “pizzeria” is a mighty understatement. What he offers—gourmet pies with homegrown and high-end ingredients, including homemade mozzarella and three types of specialty flour—is about as far from a plain old slice as you can get.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, March 15, 2007 at 3:16 PM
Restaurant-gossip site Eater, puts Cronkite Pizzeria and Wine Bar on its "Deathwatch" list.
Deathwatch: Cronkite [Eater]
Posted by Adam Kuban, January 25, 2007 at 12:09 PM
Robert Sietsema of the Village Voice hits Cronkite, the new pizzeria from Fornino owner Michael Ayoub. Sietsema notes the fact that the crowd is sparse despite the phenomenal pies:
There's nothing wrong with the pizzas, though, which come in two sizes: a 10-inch individual pie, and a 16-inch regular pie that easily feeds two. Made in a gas-fired brick oven, the crust is similar to what one finds in Central Italy: thinner than the standard American pie, with crunchy areas competing with squishier ones. Our favorite that first evening was Tartufo, the most expensive pie on the menu ($36/$51). The pizza melts three cheeses—fresh mozzarella, ricotta, and fontina—as a creamy platform for a blizzard of shaved black truffles, which look like wood ash on white snow. Very Japanese, visually speaking. The pungent odor assails the nostrils, and the truffles leave a miraculous aftertaste that persists for hours. Do I love this pizza? You bet! It would be worth it to go hungry for the day to split this gem with a friend. There is a problem devouring it first thing in the meal: Nothing else on the menu can top it.
If you don't want to get that spendy, he says, six other pizzas he and his tasting party tried were "spectacular," with the exception of the one topped with pesto, which, he says, is "like a toxic chemical spill on your pie."
That's Dough Way It Is [Village Voice]
Posted by Adam Kuban, October 27, 2006 at 3:46 PM
Michael Ayoub (left), the pizzaiolo behind Williamsburg's Fornino, will be opening a Manhattan location on November 6.
To be called Cronkite Pizzeria & Wine Bar, it will be located at 133 Norfolk Street on the Lower East Side [map].
"The neon sign is on its way as we speak," Mr. Ayoub said by phone from the new pizzeria.
Unlike Fornino, which uses a custom-built gas-assisted wood oven, Cronkite's pizza cooker will be a custom-made gas-fired brick-lined oven from Marsal & Sons. "I wanted to do a wood oven here, but the DEP didn't want to hear any of it," Mr. Ayoub said. "I can get the temperature with gas—700 degrees on the deck—and I'll still use DOC tomatoes, make my own mozzarella, use all the same artisanal ingredients as Fornino. The difference is going to be negligible."
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