Gallery: Sunday Pizza Night at Colicchio & Sons

The pizzas are, perhaps, Neapolitan-inspired—in the sense that they're small, have a puffy end crust, and are fairly restrained as far as toppings and balance go.

[Photograph: Adam Kuban]

Just for scale, I've placed a dollar here. The pies probably about an inch less in diameter than Neapolitan-style pizzas you might be used to. Maybe a little larger than a pita bread in diameter. Even a moderate eater could easily put one of these away.

[Photograph: Adam Kuban]

This was one of my favorites of the evening. The smokiness and spiciness of the chorizo played nicely against the clams, which were mercifully shucked. (I hate when places do the in-shell thing.) Check out the pizza bubbles on this one.

[Photograph: Adam Kuban]

The crust was very tender, with only a hint of crispness. No chewiness at all. I'm guessing these pies were made with a very wet dough, given the texture and the puffy pizza bubbles that erupted in the cornicione of most of our pies.

[Photograph: Adam Kuban]

And here's a cross section of the end crust. Believe it or not, this is the same slice, from different sides. The crust at Colicchio & Sons reminded me of Serious Pie in Seattle, though the end crust was not quite nearly as uniformly as puffy and airy as the pizzas at Serious Pie. But the tenderness, moistness, and just-barely-there-crispness were dead ringers.

[Photographs: Adam Kuban]

Here are upskirts from two different pies. Though the doneness of the bottom varied widely from pie to pie (there were a few slices that were even blacker than the one on the right), the interior of the crust seemed to remain fairly consistent.

[Photographs: Adam Kuban]

One of my least favorites of the evening. The prosciutto overpowered the artichoke, which I barely remember tasting. In fact, when I looked at the online menu today, I though, "What? There was artichoke on that?"

[Note: Photos beyond this are mostly gratuitous pizza porn—a photo of the oven, of dessert, and of additional pictures of the pies you've already seen. Feel free to peel off here.]

[Photograph: Adam Kuban]

Colicchio & Sons uses a Wood Stone oven, which is gas-fired. Though the Tap Room makes decor out of artful stacks of wood, there's only a few sticks of wood in the oven, perhaps for a subtle flavor accent. Here, you can see the pizza bubbles well up.

[Photograph: Adam Kuban]

Affogato, Italian for "drowned," as you pour the shot of espresso over the ice cream. Great stuff. There are three desserts on the Sunday night menu, this ($9), Peanut Butter Parfait (next photo), and a cookie plate.

[Photographs: Adam Kuban]

We also tried this one ($9) but skipped the cookie plate. (We're cookied out from our chocolate chip madness.) This was my favorite of the two desserts.

[Photograph: Adam Kuban]

See what I mean about gratuitous? The same pizza you saw earlier, just the whole thing.

[Photograph: Adam Kuban]

Since I don't have much to say about this one, I will gossip a bit ... While we were there, Natalie Portman was in the "Dining Room" portion of the restaurant. I guess she must have been eating a vegan menu.

[Photograph: Adam Kuban]

Here you can see all the pizza bubbles. This was the puffiest of the pizzas. More gossip ... former New Jersey governor (and former senator) Jon Corzine was there last night, too.

[Photograph: Adam Kuban]

Here you can see the toppings on this one a little more closely. This (and the Roasted Tomato) was my favorite pizza of the night. I initially thought the pork belly would be fattier than it was. Instead, it was like really thick, properly cooked not-too-fat-not-too-crisp bacon. Balanced by the earthiness of the mushrooms, with the zestiness of the Parm.

[Photograph: Adam Kuban]