Di Fara Pizza

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: If you napkin dab a slice of pizza from Di Fara’s, you are dead to me.

“Place looks like a dump, you would think they would fix up the place.” This was the first words uttered by a bunch of Long Island residents that I just met in line, getting some pies to go after a night in Atlantic City. If it were not for its reputation, Di Fara’s would look like any other corner pizza place. Though I would rather use the words, “rustic” and “homey” (but I guess it is like telling a fat person that he is just “big boned”)it is what is going on inside that makes Di Fara pizza worth the trek all the way out to Avenue J. Inside Dominic DeMarco is quietly and methodically making pies. He works at a steady pace, not slow, not fast but all his moves are intentional and unfaltered as more and more people show up and orders keep piling in. He just quietly snips some fresh basil and drizzles olive oil over each finished pie and goes about making more pies. 

This is what a New York slice of pizza is. This is New York Neo-Neapolitan. This is not just food: it is edible art and history. Dom DeMarco makes me feel like a piece of shit, the dude is old and if I was his age, I would most likely be watching day time television sitting comfortably in my house. This man is cranking out pizzas everyday and doing it well. Though you can get toppings on your pies, it really needs nothing and the plain slice is all that I need. Actually, I am wrong, the peppers in oil they have in a little crock on the side is all I need with it. I burned the crap out of the roof of my mouth eating this but it was worth it, the cheese was salty and a nice pull and the tomatoes sweet. Pizza after the Jump!

Artichoke Basille’s Pizza

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: Apparently, sobriety may playa a pivotal role in pizza deliciousness

I am going to come straight out and say it: I do not get Artichoke Basille’s Pizza. After rave reviews, seeing throngs of people waiting outside and reading that it is a must eat, I eventually had my chance to stop and see what the fuss was all about here. The place is basically takeout only with a small ledge that you could barely fit a plate. I tired the grandma slice and their Margarita slice. 

The Grandma slice was half burnt. Not charred or anything, but the edges of the crust was just burnt, simple as that. If this was a person’s skin, I would be pretty sure they would have been diagnosed with cancer. The parts that were not burnt and edible were crunchy, oily and airy. This pizza was all crunch and cracker-like and the sauce was really acidic. The cheese did not really add anything to the slice, it was not horrible, but it was not that good either. The Margarita slice fared a bit better, lacking any outrageous dark stops but it overall, tasted the same as the Grandma slice except the addition of basil balanced out the acidic sauce. The slices here are nothing to rave about and I feel bad for tourists that come here, with guidebook in hand trying the pizza here. If time permitted, I would rather jump on the L train and go to BEST Pizza in Williamsburg. Maybe if I was a drunk NYU student on a Thursday night, I would understand the appeal of the pies here but sober, I’ll take a street gyro. Though people swear by Artichoke and that the square slice is the best there is on a good day, I do not have time and guru power to figure out and get a slice on a good day. So tourists, here is the warning, I suggest you bank your stomach on something a bit more consistent.

328 East 14th Street
New York, NY
http://www.artichokepizza.com/ 

Don Antonio

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: Fried dough salad is the anti-Atkins

Like the food nerd I am, I was excited with the opening of Don Antonio’s. A master Neapolitan pizza maker opening up their own place here in New York would make anyone that likes pizza perk up. However, the only catch is that it is located in Hell’s Kitchen. I rarely am in Hell’s Kitchen and it is a notorious dead zone for food. If I am in the area, it is usually, tacos or Sullivan St. bread. However, friend lives in the area so I do make the venture there and finally I made a stop here at Don Antonio. 

Angiolette- not just a tomato salad

The place is a bit hard to find sandwiched in between tall office buildings. I came in on a Saturday afternoon and the place had a few people but not horribly busy. The restaurant is actually somewhat small, but looks big because it is an alley-like design and the bar is quite big. The menu has a lot of pies and has the trendy Montanara pie on it. I decided to start off with the Arancini and the Fritattatine- basically similar to an Arancini but instead of risotto, its pasta. 

Arancini

Apparently, they somehow forgot to put in my order of the Arancini and the Fritattatine and took about a good half hour for it to finally show. Being nice, I gave them a good 15 minutes before I said something and realizing their mistake they gave me the Angiolette for free and as the waiter insisted, “I must eat something”.

The Angiolette is a salad of baby tomatoes, fried pizza dough strips and baby arugula. The pizza strips are under there…somewhere under the mountain of tomatoes. Apparently baby tomatoes are like Zimbabwe dollars and they were like giving that stuff away. This was the heaviest salad I ever had that did not contain meat. It was basically a deconstructed pie. The dough strips were light and crispy and came out piping hot. However I cannot really say the same for my Arancini or Fritattatine. They came out warm, but you could tell they were fried, and left in the window for a bit and cooling off too much. Both the Arancini and Fritattatine were donned with a cheesy, carbonara-like sauce. The outer shells of both were nice and crisp but they were just warm in the middle. The pasta in the Fritattatine was borderline raw and al dente and both were just heavy and cried for some kind of sauce. Also they were just sadly thrown onto the plate like a Jean Claude Van Dame movie in a bargain bin.

Fried noodle thing

 After a messy start, I was hoping for the pie to be a saving grace, I decided to go with the Griella, which is a mozzarella roulade of parma cotto and arugula and topped with more, surprise cherry tomatoes. The pie came out hot and it was good overall. The mix of tart tomatoes balanced the richness of the mozzarella. They were easy on the char here and the pie had a good enough chew, but I was expecting a bit more puff and airiness to the pie. The dough was a bit mono toned from the taste to construction. I thought the fried dough from the comped salad tasted better and had a lot more flavor. 

Griella

I think I may have overhyped this place in my head. Don Antonio’s I felt after eating here, is not a place that I would be going out of my way to go back to again. It unfortunately did not leave me wanting and craving more. The mix of the service hiccups and less than stellar appetizers rubbed me the wrong way. The pie was good enough, but it did not blow my mind and currently I am not rushing back to try it again. Or according to Eater, I cannot do that anyway because it is closed. Maybe after their DOH reopening, service as well as the pie will be stepped up. 

Upskirt

Don Antonio

309 West 50th Street

New York NY 10019

Pizza Vomito Santa Marta

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: All the slices of pizza here are bigger than my head. Is that a good thing?

I avoid eating pizza when I travel South bluntly put, it does not look appealing at all. Even the ones that claim that they have wood fired ovens, the pizza comes out looking like undercooked frozen pizza or you attempted to reheat a pie with a blowtorch. However, I could not help but notice that in Santa Marta, there was a lot of pizza being made…on the street. These carts had gas pizza ovens and the proprietors were actually rolling out fresh dough and making pizzas. 

Curiosity may of killed the cat, but it just makes me hungry (not for cat) and I finally rolled up to one to see the pizzas they were making literally in an open kitchen. They are sold by the slice and reheated as such so I started off simple with a ham and cheese topped slice. First thing to notice is that crust does not exist. The toppings go all the way to the edge. Those that do not like crust, come to Colombia. The next I noticed is it is a pretty pale pizza. As an advocate of pizza char, I was a bit apprehensive about how this will taste. Queue flashbacks to frozen pizzas in College.

However, I was surprised that the pizza was actually pretty good. The crust…well the dough element I guess I will call it was actually a bit crispy and spying a bag of cornmeal on the side I think helped. The tomato sauce was clearly canned or some sort so it was on the sweet side but the saltiness of the ham and cheese worked well with it and also, they were easy on the tomato sauce which ensured an edible product.

I was feeling good, then I encountered a pizza guy setting up on the side street in from of a flower shop with a sign in proud, dripping letters, “Pizza Vomitto 6ta”. This obviously caught my eye and weirdly hungry. I of course, had to try this Pizza Vomitto. Having already experienced the culinary creation of the Colombian hotdog, heavy on the toppings was no surprise to me but the stuff they put on it, left me laughing. It starts off with the tomatoes sauce base, then the cheese like any normal pizza. Next comes an array of meats, sausage, ham, pepperoni, and shredded chicken.

Then the vegetable, of chopped red onions, peppers and corn and that gets all thrown into the oven. When it comes out, they are not done yet, with the addition of parmesan cheese, a squirt of Caesar dressing, mayonnaise (mayonnaise is a popular topping I noticed) and finally, a blanket of potato sticks.  I have no clue how this creation first came out, but I can assume the Vomitto name is very, very figurative rather than in the taste and look. In broken Spanish and cursing 9^th grade me for not paying attention in Spanish III better, I asked from what I could understand, it was created for late night clubbers which makes sense. 

The taste? It was actually good. You could actually taste all the ingredients and they all worked together somehow. The potato stick topping on the pie is great, adding a lot of crunch to it. It sort of reminds me of back in school, and what I will occasionally do, sticking potato chips into my sandwich. The pizza in Colombia surprises me ad being interesting and not bad. It is obvious that we cannot compare this to the pies in New York or even a Neapolitan pie but it is a pizza in its own right and it tasted better than some of the pizza I have eaten in the US. The pizza here is more closely related to a heavily topped flatbread and they are quite stringent on getting an even layer of toppings that encompasses the whole pie canvas ensuring a perfect bite each time. So do not be turned off by the pizza in Santa Marta and give it a try, the Pizza Vomitto is worth a try and if you actually finish the whole thing, I applaud you, for I ate ¾ of that thing and it sat in me like a rock. 

Forcella: Montanara Pie

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: I was told that I was able to have a topping on the side when ordering the Montanara. Only in NY.

We like to scoff at these Midwest fairs that basically fry the hell out of everything and people pretend to be shocked and say things like, “oh my gosh, how can you really eat a fried stick of butter” but they really mean, “oh my gosh, why am I not eating one?” However, ever since Forcella introduced the Montanara pie, New York is one step closer to achieving fried nirvana, or a prescription to lipator. 

I tried it at their newest location on Bowery and the basic run down of the Montanara is that the pie dough is fried in olive oil (hey, olive oil is healthier than butter!) and then gets the Margarita treatment (tomatoes, mozzarella, basil) and finished off in the oven. The pie is a tad smaller than your average Neapolitan pizza but for the price tag of just a 10 spot, how can you complain? The pie, despite taking a bath in oil, is a lot less greasy than you would expect. The fryer treatment turns the pie into a different animal resulting in a little extra chewy and accentuates the flavors of the dough. Only criticism on this pie is that the bottle lacks any char what so ever, something that a good Neapolitan pie should have. At least it had some decent char action on the top of the pie that gave it a hint of smokiness. This is a pie that should eat quickly though, the last couple of bites where the pie started to get cold the greasiness of the pie started to set in. The Montanara pie is now springing up everywhere from PizzArte in Mid-town and at Don Antonino in Hells Kitchen. The Montanara pie is worth trying at least once and it is not as “unhealthy” as you would suspect it to be and should not result in you getting a firsthand replay of that incident at the Heart Attack Grill.

Forcella

334 Bowery St
Manhattan, NY 10012
http://www.forcellaeatery.com/

Osteria Philly

Om Nomz Hero note to self: Everyone should eat more chicken livers

I am a notorious Philly/6^th Borough hater and Yankee fan; here were the only good things that came out of Philly:

1.       Sandwiches/hoagies

2.       Rocky

3.       It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

4.       The Constitution

However, with all kidding aside, I started going to Philly a bit more and realized that it was not as bad as I made it out to be and that it has a growing food scene that rivals some of the places in New York. While I still will continue to hate the Philadelphia Phillies as much as I hate the Red Soxs, I am now coming around to the Philadelphia dining scene especially with my visit to Osteria.

Osteria is co-owned by Mark Vetri, one of the biggest chefs in Philadelphia and most knowledgeable American chefs on Italian cuisine. The restaurant under the helm of the very capable hands of Jeff Michaud. Osteria is considered one of Philly’s top restaurant and easily one of the best meals I had in a while. 

Salumi slicer is always a good thing

Osteria is located in North Philly in the non-Killadelphia part of town. The restaurant is spacious and if you can, request a seat on the side terrace that if is a beautiful greenhouse like space that is perfect view of the church next door and soaks up all natural light. Service was great and friendly though the host did that annoying thing where even though I said reservation for one, and confirmed on the phone a day or two before did the, “Oh, just you?” Yes. Just me, after doing some quick math and counting with my fingers, I can affirmatively say, yes I am dining alone\sarcasm.

Bread and olive oil

Cursed with only one stomach, I wanted to eat everything on the menu but I decided to go a bit easy which was hard because the semolina bread, grissini, sea salted foccacia in their bread basket made it hard to resist. I started off light with the porchetta tonnato. This is a variation of the classic vitello tonnato but instead of veal, they use porchetta, which they make with the belly and cure it. It is topped with Italian tuna, not something that is considered to be in the same class as Bumblebee, arugula, celery and parmigiano. To the uninitiated that have not had a vitello tonnato, the combination of pork and tuna sounds like a car crash in your head but once you taste it, it makes sense. The porchetta is slightly rich and nicely salted and the briny fishiness of the tuna works well together. The addition of the bitterness of greens rounds everything out. More Food After the Jump!

Roberta's

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: If Bumfuck was an actual place, the restaurants there would be amazing and tasty

Sometimes you need to go out of your way to get good food and as annoying as it maybe to take the L to Brooklyn, it places like Roberta's makes it worth it. Roberta's is located is a desolate area of Brooklyn and coming out of the Morgan Ave station can make you a bit uneasy. It looks like there is a bunch of warehouses, the street is pretty empty and there are random shady menacing  looking hipsters that have questionable hygiene. Once you actually find Roberta's that feeling does not really leave you as the entrance is tagged up, and has no signs of food being served here. Anywhere else and not having prior knowledge of its existence you would easily walk by it, and if you were driving, most likely check to make sure your door was locked. However, you would miss out on some great tasting food.

Once you enter in Roberta's you are transported to a busy restaurant. Well, you are not stepping into a Jean Georges, the tables are wooden and aged and long picnic tables rule the room. The scrawled tables, rock music and dim lighting, it seems more like the dive bar I would sometimes go to in college (Corner Tavern @ Rutgers anyone?). However, the food being served here is nothing like the setting suggests with simple fresh and food that you would find at a 3 star establishment or in this case, a 2 star New York Times. I came here about 40 minutes after it opened, and the place was almost filled. Anybody that claims they like food, is doing themselves a disservice by not visiting here at least once and if not for their pizza.

 I went with the Beastmaster which automatically one of the best named dishes ever. Thankfully not like that show that was on the WB and after Xena and Hercules (I watched a lot of tv as a kid) the pie consists of tomato, mozzarella, gorgonzola, Berkshire pork sausage, capers, jalapenos, red onions. I generally do not mess with a pizza by making substitutions or adding stuff on but its rare when I can throw an egg on top so that is what I did. I mean, the addition of the egg is always a plus.

The pizza came out mouth roof burning hot. Not a fault on them, more like one on me, but I see it as a consequence of eating tasty fresh made food. the pizza was thin crusted and a great amount of char on it. Normally thin crusted pies do not have much going on in the taste of the dough because the trade off of a crispy pie is sometimes you cannot taste the flavors of the dough. However, in this case, the dough was flavorful and crispy which I have rarely enjoyed. the topping combination was great, the sausage was juicy and the jalapenos was a great spicy kick. On the side they have chili oil which if you are a spicyhead, is a must. the Egg addition was of course a good idea and the runny yolk was great to soak up with the crust.

Though I only stopped by quick to try the pizza, it is more than enough of a reason to come back here for dinner service or again to try their the rest of the menu. The service was great and is worth a trek out.

Roberta's
261 Moore St
Brooklyn, NY 11206
www.robertaspizza.com

Motorino

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: Learn how to pronounce stracciatella

I profess my love for Neapolitan pies often and frankly, it is what I think is what pizza should be. Motorino is a standby and a place that makes one of the best in New York City. Thankfully, the Earth only swallowed up the Brooklyn location but the East Village location is still going strong. Though smaller, everything is practically the same.

Though I usually go for the meatballs, the octopus salad is a great starter though pricey. However, it is worth every penny and a must order. It looks simple enough with a mixture of tender octopus, celery (which i noticed is the natural veggie pairing) and soft fingerling potatoes the chili flakes is what gets me in this starter. The chili flakes adds that little bit of heat and brings everything together.

Simplicity is the theme here and I went with the Stracciatella. It is a white on white pie. Stracciatella covers the canvas of this pie and it is topped with basil, olive oil and sea salt. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. A food network show could not even produce such tasty greatness. The stracciatella oozes and its puree like consistency has got you almost slurping up the cheese. You can taste every part of this pie and though people are deterred by this pie because of the lack of tomatoes, I urge you to try it or the douche-y answer, I think there is a 99 cent slice place about 4 blocks away.

Motorino
349 East 12th Street
New York, NY 10003
http://motorinopizza.com/

Peking Duck Pizza @Tainan Costco

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: Fact, everyone in the world loves Costco Chicken

I have been behind on posts lately mainly due to the fact that I have been traveling and was in Taiwan so there will be a lot of Taiwan posts! In Taiwan I was in Taipei and Tainan so a lot of interesting stuff.

First up, is a quick post on my visit tot he Costco Tainan that recently opened. I went there with relatives and the place was packed. To answer the question that is burning in your mind is yes, you can buy bulk taquitos...and banana milk.

I of course had something to eat at the food court and besides also having the super deal of a drink and a hotdog thei also had a few other things that you cannot get at your local Costco. Clam Chowder which did not seem like an option in the 75 degree heat, beef bulgogi, a shrimp bake (too big for me to down, given I completed a Thai food chowdown), mango shaved ice and of course pizza. the pizza jumped out at me there was one slice I saw on the menu I needed to get: the Peking Duck Pizza. They had the pepperoni, the Hawaiian, a seafood and the combo but the siren call of the Peking Duck Pizza called my name.

The picture looked better than the slice, the slice looked like....well a dark, wet mess. I guess you can classify this as a New York Neapolitan if you want to play that game but it is like your typical Costco pizza. the Peking Duck Pizza is comprised of duck, hosin/plum sace, scallions and yes cheese. Thankfully, I am happy to report that this is a "white" pie and has no tomato sauce. I have a tough stomach, but I do not think I would be able to eat it if it had tomato sauce on looks alone. The pie, despite on the wet side was actually tasty. There was actual pieces of duck on it and the slice was slightly crispy and chewy that gave it a great texture. In fact, I will go as far to say that the pizza construction here taste better than the Costco I have been to in the US. Underskirt shot in fact shows an actually browning underneath.

I am happy that looks are very deceiving. Sure pizza purists and anybody on the VPN certification board is calling blasphemy on this right now, but hey this is Taiwan they are doing things differently here and if you do not want the pizza when you are here, there is always the clam chowder.

Dozzino: Neapolitan in Hoboken

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: Be selfish, do not save pizza for others later

The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about food in Hoboken is red sauce Italian and booze food: fried or covered in cheese or both. Yet, the thought of a carefully constructed Neapolitan pie is something that you would not expect to find here but like most of my food-ventures, I am humbly proved wrong on what I come to expect. Just a few blocks down from the best mozzarella ever, is Dozzino that is still a fairly new place that opened about two years ago.

I visited Dozzino and had an early dinner there and sat in the front/bar (I do not believe they have a liquor license) which was minimal and spacious and had a single flat screen that had the end of the Rutgers game going on, making any New Joosey native comfortable. Plus we beat Pitt somehow so that is always a plus. I decided to go full on fatty and order two pies, I got the La Pizza, which is basically a Margherita pie, tomatoes, mozzarella, basil and the Dino, which was tomatoes mozzarella and Mortadella. Interesting enough, they have a FAQ /glossary that go through all their ingredients and what there are which is nice for people that are not food nerdy like me and knows the difference between a grana pandano and a regginao. Proudly toting sourcing mozzarella from Lioni Latticini and meats from Salumeria Biellese, I was excited to try their pies. Pizza after the Jump!

Otto Enoteca Pizzeria

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: I hate revolving doors.

It is easy to pass by Otto that is located in the Village and close to the NYU campus. Besides the maroon awning, you could mistake it for a NYU administration building. Inside Otto is modeled to have a timeless yet suave look of a Euro train station that you can imagine if this was Roman Holiday and combined a traditional enoteca. Maybe add in a weird sewer stench (no doubt given the Euro Zone lately, the sanitation department is most likely on strike) and street urchins making passes at your pockets and it will be just like that!  Above the hostess stand is a faux timetable of “trains” destinations to major European cities, specifically cities in Italy. 
  


Bread and grissini- easy to stash for later



 A fresh freshman out to lunch with the parents, stated loudly that the faux schedule were names of bigger parties that were waiting to get seating and the city names were the last names of the parties. I do hope that private school education is put to good use Mom and Dad, and hope to god she is not going to be a poli sci major. However, if I am wrong, my apologizes to the Napoli family. Sarcasm aside, Otto feels to one of the most accessible restaurant in the Batali Empire and family friendly yet could pull of a respectable casual date here (I mean, if I went on dates this would be fine, right?). 

Bread

The bread comes out in a neatly wrapped parcel and a pack of grissini, I guess it adds to the “in motion” type of theme going on here at Otto. Note, they do not give you any olive oil or butter and if you want to, you must ask for it specifically. The bread crusty and springy and a nice sourness that I actually could have eaten on its own but not everyone is weird like me and since I was not dining solo for once, we got some olive oil which I believe they use at all the Batali restaurants. The olive oil is quite good, grassy and buttery and smooth throughout. The antipasti are a must at Otto especially the vegetables. I generally do not praise vegetables but the vegetables are a must get here at Otto. We opted to go for one of the constants, the cauliflower alla Siciliana and the season-like one the autumn corn with fregola, (bead-like pasta). Covering the USDA Dinner plate slot, we got the octopus, celery and lovage (herb).  Enough Bread! Food After the Jump!

Motorino: Italian for scooter or something but they got pizza!

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: Those that have not eaten a Neapolitan pie have been doing a disservice to themselves

I admit, I rave and coo about Neapolitan pies way too much. The obsession is only comparable to a Korean teenager discovering StarCraft (Zerg fo life!). I never really realized that I had a problem or weird obsession with it until I had an afternoon to myself and I was really craving for a nicely charred and chewy Neapolitan pie. So much so that I travelled all the way to the original Motorino location in Brooklyn and proceeded to eat a pie and meatballs on my own. And then, still feeling peckish, I went to Forcella a couple blocks away and ate another pie. The point that I realized I really like Neapolitan pies and is probably one of my favorites foods after pork is that the next day, I kind of wanted a Neapolitan style pie…something light like a Margherita. I am pretty sure that this is the reason that I am single; I mean, no one of the opposite sex should find this an attractive quality, at all. If you do however, call me.

I have sampled the pizza at the Motorino East Village location and given I had a nice afternoon; I decided to make a trek to Brooklyn, to the original location of Motorino. Motorino opening in 2008 is part of the second wave of the revamp of New York Pizza opening after Franny’s and the grails of all, Una Pizza Neapoletana (RIP). Motorino is now a member of the pantheon of pizza greats in New York in which many New Yorkers use as a catalyst of a quality Neapolitan pie. Food After the Jump!

Forcella NYC: Your New Source for Neapolitan Pies

Om Nomz Hero note to Self: After eating at 2 Neapolitan pizza joints in succession under an hour, I have come to the conclusion, it is not possible for me to get tired of eating Neapolitan pies



Hidden on Lorimer Street- sadly they do not sell furniture nor books

When I first discovered the joys of a Neapolitan style pizza, one of the places that I first visited was Olio Pizza e Piú. It was somewhat hip, new and also had a crazy Italian sounding name with accents and such so I had to try it. In addition, their main guy was a man named Giulio Adriani, which is a sorcerer of pizza, I mean if you ever see a picture of the guy, he looks like Dumbledore (hey, it’s a Harry Potter weekend right?) decked out in Caputo flour gear.



More awards, plaques on the wall than my Doctor's off

To say this man knows Neapolitan pizza is an understatement, it is asking if Jay-Z knows how to rap. He is an instructor for the Vera Pizza Neapoletana association (VPN) which teaches and certifies Neapolitan pizza joints all over, straight up Obi Wan status. Unfortunately, the pies at Olio were on the level of “ehh” and wet and I never went back. Adriani has recently showed up back on the pizza radar with the quiet opening of Forcella, in March and SeriousEats recently did a profile on the place giving it a rave review, I needed pizza, pronto.

As they say on Cribs- where the magic happens

Located in Brooklyn, a few blocks down from the Lorimer stop I came here from brunch and arrived a little after 12. I apparently was the first one there and had that awkward moment of standing in the basically empty space and roaring pizza oven, wondering if it was open. For future reference, they open at noon for brunch and in my defense, no where on their website or online menu does it say what time they open. After a bit of a rocky start, I ordered a Capri salad and since I got there stupid early, I wanted to try the fried pizza mentioned on SeriousEats, however, Adriani was not in yet so I opted for the other interesting and brunch suited pie, the Carbonara. Food After the Jump!

Keste Pizzeria

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: Eating pizza like this, you never leave the crust. It is a sin.

 This is where real magic happens. Harry Potter ain't got shit on this Oven

One of my favorite television characters is from the old and still great Dave Chappelle Show where he has a character called Tyrone Biggums, who is a crackhead. He would do ridiculous things like through a 80,000 dollar crack party and did crazy stuff and always said, “I want the crack baby”! I laugh because he has the crackhead shakes, rubbing his gums, and doing anything for crack. Naively, I sit back and laugh, because I could never stoop to this level over something.
I realize I am Tyrone Biggums when I am walking down Bleecker on a cold Saturday night. I have the same signs when I am craving a Neapolitan pizza. I thinking about eating it, salivate like a Pavlovan dog, maybe I even get the shakes too but I can not help it. I even want to break into a car and steal the radio because I know a radio is at least worth a pie or 2. No regular slice can compare to a steaming, lightly charred, chewy pie with creamy mozzarella with specks of bright red tomatoes. It is like when they remade Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, you can not compare to the original and it is not the same.

 Thankfully, unlike a crackhead, I have dignity and assets and did not need to sell stolen car radios or my body to get Neapolitan pizza. New York now has multiple places where I can get my fix but one of the standbys and the best Neapolitan pizza places is Keste Pizza. When it is a cold day, like frozen runny nose cold and people are waiting outside at 6pm on Bleecker Street, this place is worth going to. Especially on Bleecker Street and the surrounding area, it is like trying to find a Hippie at Burning Man: you do not have to look far to find one.

Pizza Pronz after the jump

Nomad Pizza

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self:  GPS is awesome


I realized today as I was leaving the house for work, that I have not seen grass since Christmas. Although I do enjoy a Winter Wonderland, I do not want a Winter Wonderland for four consecutive weeks. I found this little piece from a review of Nomad Pizza back in the summer and just reading it and looking at the pictures of hot steamy pies just warms me up, as well as crave a chewy, steamy Neapolitan pizza in this cold weather.

 

I had my first Neapolitan pizza when I was in Naples. I unfortunately, was not fully culinary aware at the time so I underappreciated the value and my experience of such a special pizza. One thing I did know and learn was that:

1. There was more to pizza than the Neo-Neapolitan pizza I was used to eating

2. Getting drunk in front of your parents, although good idea at the time is pretty awkward

3. Neapolitan pizza is like no other and is by far, my favorite style

Now, for those of you that are not food nerds/losers that do not read and research food constantly or in this case, read Ed Levine’s Slice of Heaven, there are many types of pizzas. Not going into a whole food history, Wikipedia-like lesson, generally the pizza that we know that comes from your local pizzeria is characterized as New York Neapolitan pizza, the step child of the original Neapolitan pizza. True Neapolitan pizza has stringent standards to be called a true Neapolitan. There are actual government, bureaucratic rules to this set by the Italian government and the city of Naples. You have got to love the Europeans, only they would set laws on food standards, better that the United States doing the whole “freedom fries”. The rules range from the construction (hand formed, 12-14 inches, 0 or 00 flour), to the ingredients (San Marzano Tomatoes from San Marzano, Italy and fresh as hell mozzarella from region around Naples like Campania or the Southern Apennine Mountians). Bascially you get the idea that this is no ordinary style of pizza but the main gist of it is the usage of the best and freshest ingredients and producing the best pie one can create.  As ridiculous as these rules may seem to you (read normal people) these standards create something unlike any other pizza. Neapolitan pizza has a texture and taste that is unlike anything I have ever eaten.