Entries tagged with 'Openings'
Posted by Adam Kuban, October 10, 2008 at 11:30 AM
Above: Before and ... after some progress. Click me bigger » Progress photographs courtesy of Anselmo's Pizzeria
What would be New York City's latest coal-oven pizzeria, Anselmo's Pizzeria Restaurant, looks like it's making some progress after failing to meet its previously stated July 4 opening target.
Says the Red Hook pizzeria's Roger Fischer, "I'm 90 percent done. The oven is taking a long time to build."
From everything I've ever read or heard about custom oven jobs, they always take longer than expected. A couple more pix, after the jump.
Continue reading »
Amy Langfield of NewYorkology tells us that La Pizzetta, a new brick-oven joint on Atlantic Avenue is open and should be starting delivery tonight. 145 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11201 (b/n Clinton and Henry streets; map)
Posted by Adam Kuban, October 1, 2008 at 5:30 PM
Clicking in to the Slice inbox today, we've got an email that's been sitting in my tips jar for far too long. Apologies to Kyle, who sent it in, and to you folks reading this. I should have passed this info along sooner.
Hi Adam,
Just wanted to pass along a little article that I saw in the Charlotte Observer regarding a new pizza joint headed by [renown baker and author of American Pie] Peter Reinhart, among others. It looks like it opened up [early September], but I haven't been able to find too much information about it yet. I'd swing by, but unfortunately am located elsewhere in the state. North Carolina is certainly no pizza mecca, but hopefully this place can put Charlotte on the pizza map.
And here's the restaurant's site: dineatpietown.com
—Kyle
PieTown
710 West Trade Street, Charlotte NC 28202 (map)
704-379-7555
Continue reading »
Posted by Adam Kuban, September 29, 2008 at 12:30 PM
Clicking in to the Slice inbox today, we've got some intel from Scott Wiener of Scott's New York Pizza Tours...
Adam,
I was helping a friend move this weekend and nearly drove onto the sidewalk when I saw a familiar carved-wood sign on the facade of a 96th Street building on the Upper East Side. Little Luzzo's opened about two weeks ago, serving quality slices, salads, and panini in a small storefront.
Unlike Luzzo's in the East Village, which uses an old coal-fired brick oven (211 First Avenue was once the home of the Palermo Bakery, followed by Zito's East), this location uses a brick-lined gas-fueled deck oven (Bakers Pride).
The result is a completely different slice, much thicker and sturdier with a sourdough flavor. The char on the underside is lovely, and they use beautiful fresh mozzarella on the Margherita. I'll get the exact address for you as soon as I get back home, where I filed the menu.
Not the same pizza you'll get at Luzzo's, but there are several variables, including the eatery's goal, which prevent such a duplication.
Have a slice day,
Scott
Continue reading »
Posted by Kerry Saretsky, September 22, 2008 at 4:15 PM
These boots are made for walking, and that’s just what they would do—if I didn’t live on the Upper East Side. As it stands now, I have to take a $15 cab for food that’s popular, trendy, or otherwise “cool.” So when I saw the windows of late-night, across-the-street-from-Dorrian's pizza place Mimma’s all whitewashed, I was sad—for a minute.
Until I noticed what would fill its shoes: Two Boots, so named because the “Cajun-Italian” pizza combines flavors of Louisiana and Italy (the two boots).
As an Upper East Sider, I usually feel left out, but the neighborhood is finally experiencing a comeback. The sign on the 84th Street and Second Avenue entrance proclaims it wants us, the “friends and neighbors,” to contribute photos to be eternally resin-ed into the pizzeria’s counters, and ingratiate themselves with the community. Two Boots was made for walking (it is a “neighborhood” pizza place, after all), and soon we on the Upper East Side, can walk there.
Midtown Lunch has some great photos of the new Lazzara's Pizza location in Hell's Kitchen. As the Eater blog would say, "CERTIFIED OPEN."
Posted by Adam Kuban, September 11, 2008 at 5:35 PM
You know how people always talk about how Anthony Mangieri started out in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, before moving his operation to New York City? Ever wonder what became of his old space?
Well, word is the space has been taken over by one Alex Magyar, who has been serving New York-style pizza as well as Neapolitan-style pies there since May. And he sells by the slice. All Magyar's pies are made with fresh mozzarella on the crust with a swirl of sauce on top. Toppings hew toward the traditional (sausage, garlic, fennel, eggplant, and ricotta, for examle), and there's no other nonsense on the menu like cheesesteak pizza Buffalo chicken.
Apparently Magyar is the second person to open a pizzeria in the space. The guy immediately after Mangieri but before Magyar has already come and gone. We're eager to try the pizza at Gabby & Vinny's and are planning a road trip out there soon.
Gabby & Vinny's
1901 Ocean Avenue, Point Pleasant Beach, NJ 08742 (map)
732-701-0100
Says Eater, the new spot will be at 30 West Street, New York NY 10006 (map)
Posted by Adam Kuban, September 3, 2008 at 1:15 AM
The New York Times has a nice interview with Jim Lahey, of Co., the pizzeria he just might open later this month. It's "Pizza Hut," in that it will be reasonably priced and welcoming, he says, and "Blue Hill," in that it'll be ingredient-driven.
So the menu is still a draft. "We'll have six to eight annual pizzas — no, let's say five pizzas we'll do annually, then three seasonal pizzas," Mr. Lahey said, sounding like a student caught off-guard by a pop quiz. "But I'm sure that one of the seasonal pizzas will be topped with freshly shaved summer truffle."
The Times lets slip that the oven will be a "gas-fired refractory pizza oven."
Co.
230 Ninth Avenue, New York NY 10001 (at West 24th Street; map)
Related
Update on Jim Lahey's Pizzeria, Co.
Blue Hill at Stone Barns Is the Most Important Restaurant in America
Posted by Adam Kuban, September 2, 2008 at 10:30 AM
Clicking in to the Slice inbox we got this bit of intel from Slice reader and frequent commenter Brian Preston-Campbell.
Not sure if anyone else has given you any intel on this, but I was driving back into the city last night and came down Worth Street to turn left onto the Bowery. While I was waiting for my light to change, I noticed that there's a sign in the restaurant window at the corner of Worth and Bowery (in the very heart of Chinatown, mind you) that says, "Coming soon, brick oven pizzeria." I don't have any further details since I was in the car and it was raining heavily at the time. Might be something, who knows.
Regards,
Brian
Continue reading »
Posted by Adam Kuban, August 30, 2008 at 11:15 PM
View larger map<»/a>
Just got word from Scott Wiener on a new Lazzara's Pizza location in Hell's Kitchen (or Midtown West, if you're feeling generous):
I just walked by some construction the other day and noticed that Lazzara's is opening a new spot on Ninth Avenue just south of 44th Street on the west side of the street. Not sure if they're leaving their other spot or just opening a second one. Permits were issued in July so it looks like we may have to wait a bit.
Some easy checking on the Lazzara's website reveals that the Hell's Kitchen location is slated to open in September and will be open 24/7. Very cool.
Lazzara's original location is well-known by the pizza cognoscenti but sometimes flies under the radar with bantamweight pizza lovers. It's basically a thin-crust Sicilian-style pie, and the place is often noted for the way it juliennes its pepperoni instead of cutting the sticks into traditional rounds. (Lazzara's is often also noted for its sort of speakeasyesque quality, up some stairs and in the second-floor parlor of an old townhouse in the Garment District.
Lazzara's Midtown
617 Ninth Avenue, New York NY 10036 (b/n 43rd and 44th streets; map)
Posted by Adam Kuban, August 27, 2008 at 4:00 PM
Photograph by *sim* on Flickr
You've heard of wood-oven and coal-oven pizza, but now there's lava-rock-oven pizza. In Princeton, New Jersey, next to the Sam's Club there, is a pizzeria using an oven filled with lava rock, in an attempt to achieve superhot, even cooking temps. New Jersey Monthly has the deets on Magma Pizza:
Order a slice, and you’ll get a strange oval shaped thin crusted pizza. Try it, and you’ll realize [owner Gabe Mahayni] may just have found the secret. The pizza is light from the grill, no grease or drip, just great flavor so each bite leaves you wanting more. The pies are round, and compellingly fresh as well. The calzones, and everything else is constructed before your eyes, and ready in a flash.
Magma Pizza
445 Nassau Park Boulevard, Princeton NJ 08540 (map)
609-452-8383
magmapizza.net
Posted by Adam Kuban, August 22, 2008 at 5:15 PM
Slicester Jeff gave me the tip off on something going on in my own hood, almost right under my own nose. I guess I haven't ventured past 3rd Street in a while. Looks like Pizza by the Park, which as been closed for some time, is being transformed into some sort of brick-oven place.
Fingers crossed.
Though, often, as Serious Eats overlord Ed Levine points out, "brick oven" simply means "there's a brick somewhere in the vicinity of the oven." But like I said, fingers crossed. Let's hope it's a genuine improvement.
Villa Rustica
357 3rd Street, Brooklyn NY 11215 (off Fifth Avenue; map)
718-832-2700
Posted by Ed Levine, August 12, 2008 at 2:00 PM
Lahey abandoned the idea of using this pass-through window. It's going to be more of a sit-down restaurant instead, he said.
After reading Gael Greene's post about Jean-Georges Vongerichten's involvement in Sullivan Street Bakery founder Jim Lahey's pizzeria, I called Lahey for a clarification. He said that Vongerichten and his partner, Phil Suarez, were investors in his pizzeria but they will have no involvement in either the management or the food being made there. The pizzeria will be called Company, spelled "Co." in the logo.
Lahey also told me that the equipment for the pizzeria hadn't arrived yet, and he doesn't expect it to be installed until the end of August or the beginning of September. Lahey is, of course, one of the city's and the country's great bread-bakers, so all serious eaters are eagerly awaiting the opening of his pizzeria.
He will probably not be making his trademark room-temperature Roman-style pizza at the new place (Lahey never says never). He will be making round, Neapolitan-style pies and perhaps other types of flatbreads. Lahey made some of these pizzas for a holiday party he invited me to the year before last, and I can tell you they were so good Lahey's place will likely make its way into my top-ten pizzeria list for the country shortly after opening.
Lahey is experimenting with all kinds of toppings, including a raw-corn-and-olive-oil purée. And, like the obsessive he is, he went around the country tasting pizza in preparation for his opening.
His top three pizzerias, after the jump.
Continue reading »
Posted by Adam Kuban, August 4, 2008 at 10:39 AM
Photograph by Robyn Lee
The Westchester County Business Journal has it that Frank Pepe's Pizzeria Napoletana is opening a branch in Yonkers, New York.
"This will be our first venture outside our home base of Connecticut," said Kenneth Berry, chief operating officer of Frank Pepe's Development Company. He said the company hopes to build three or four more restaurants in Westchester over the next four to five years. William Fonte, of Trifont Realty, said the business partners are looking at sites in New Rochelle, Rye, North White Plains and Port Chester.
OK. But are they going to use a coal-fired oven?
"The only two differences between what we do now and what Frank Pepe did in 1925 is that we have air conditioning and refrigeration," Berry said. The pizzeria's sausage still is supplied by the original sausage-maker, another family business in its third generation in New Haven.
"Our menu is very simple," Berry said. "It's pizza, beer, soda and wine." In Yonkers, the testimonial-garnering Pepe thin-crust pizzas will be baked in a 14- by 14-foot, 30,000-pound oven custom-built on the premises that replicates the oven installed by Pepe in New Haven in 1938.
Hmm. That's not conclusive as to whether the replica oven will replicate the coal-burning process. I'll put in some calls and report back when I get word. [via Small Bites with a tip o' the hat to Walter Barrett]
Posted by Adam Kuban, July 21, 2008 at 12:30 PM
While I was in Red Hook on Saturday for the opening day of the Red Hook Vendors, I figured I'd head on over to the supposed site of New York City's next coal-oven pizzeria. Slice posted about this mid June, and at the time the projected opening date for Anselmo's Pizzeria was July 4, according to its website. Looks like it's still got some ways to go, and calls to the number have gone unreturned.
I'm guessing the chimney is for the coal-oven.
And it looks like Anselmo's website has been updated since I last looked at it. The place, which was originally going to be a pizzeria and bakery, is now going to be a pizzeria only:
Anselmo's Restaurant is located in Beautiful Red Hook Brooklyn, New York. We were hoping to open on the 4th of July but we are still in construction. We are trying a fast as we can to open. Anselmo's was originally going to be a full line bakery cafe' until we found a coal oven in the building. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to make coal brick oven pizza. After all there is only two in Brooklyn and ours will be number three.We have another bakery in the works on Pier 41 in Red Hook. We will be putting out flyers on the Grand Openning. Everyone is welcome. Read more on the Chef and Co owner on the About Us Page. Keep checking back to keep up to date on the opening.
They're a little misinformed. There's Totonno's, Grimaldi's, and South Brooklyn Pizza. So they'll be the fourth.
Anselmo's Bakery Restaurant
354 Van Brunt Street, Brooklyn NY 11231 (at Sullivan Street, Red Hook; map)
718-775-5386
anselmosbakery.com
Posted by Adam Kuban, July 17, 2008 at 4:45 PM
When I did my Park Slope pizza walk three weeks ago, I noticed a place on Fourth Avenue just past 11th Street that had a new sign and some of those car dealership–type flags. The number listed on the sign was disconnected. Hmm. Was this a just-failed or just-about-to-open pizzeria?
Well, I went by the other day, and I'm happy to report that it's an opening. Pizza Grill replaces whatever pizzeria was there before. I can't remember its name. The space is large and clean. Slices cost $2.25. And judging by the slice I had on Thursday, the place has potential. Granted, it was one slice. So caveat emptor. And I had it only warm from a slice pie with no reheat. But it was thin and chewy, had a good not-too-mucked-with sauce, and best of all, had just enough Parmigiano on it to give a tangy and salty bite.
The proprietor is the former owner of Verrazano Pizza in Bay Ridge.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed. More word when I get more intel.
Pizza Grill
471 Fourth Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11215 (at 11th Street; map)
718-499-0600
Posted by Adam Kuban, July 7, 2008 at 10:00 AM
When we visited Toby's Public House last week, not only did we pick up on some great pizza, we also picked up a tip to pass on to you.
Nicola Bertolotti, who was brought in to school the other pie-makers at Toby's, will be opening his own place in Williamsburg in mid August.
The new pizzeria will be called Fornaccio, which Bertolotti told us means "old oven." The name derives from the fact that Bertolotti happened up an old house with a hundred-year-old oven that he's been restoring, along with the rest of the place.
Continue reading »
From the New York Times: "Joseph Bastianich and Mario Batali have taken over this place and will reopen it in September as a pizzeria-trattoria." 18 Mill Street, Port Chester NY (map); 914-939-3111
Posted by Adam Kuban, June 12, 2008 at 5:30 PM
OMG! I just got an awesome tip from Amy of NewYorkology.com. A new coal-oven pizzeria is coming to Red Hook. From the website of Anselmo's Bakery Restaurant:
Anselmo is building two bakeries in Red Hook Brooklyn,New York. Anselmo will be a full-line bakery Restaurant in Pizza, pasta ,pastries and breads. The first bakery will be located on 354 Van Brunt Street in Red Hook Brooklyn, New York . The second will be on 204 Van Dyke Street Brooklyn,New York. @ pier 41. The first bakery will be done by July 4th and the second will be done by December 2008. Anselmo has baked for over 25 years and has worked at very well known places like Water Edge Restaurant in Long Island,NY, Encore Bakery in Manhattan,NY, Stuars Restaurant in Manhattan,NY ,Cousin Johns Bakery in Brooklyn,NY ,Cousin Johns Bakery in Brooklyn,NY ,Tennis Club in Long Island City,NY, Trattoria Sole in Miami,Florida,Don Goavani's in Manhattan,NY and SoNo Baking Company & Cafe' in Norwalk,Connecticut. Anselmo has worked for John Barricelli,co-host of "Everyday Foods," a lifestyle program produced by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.
COAL BRICK OVEN PIZZA AND BREAD!
That last all-caps shouting match was Anselmo, on his website, not me. Though I must say again, just for good measure: ANOTHER NEW COAL-OVEN PLACE! Sweet! [via NewYorkology.com]
Anselmo's Bakery Restaurant
354 Van Brunt Street, Brooklyn NY 11231 (at Sullivan Street, Red Hook; map)
718-775-5386
anselmosbakery.com
Posted by Adam Kuban, March 28, 2008 at 2:30 PM
"Manhattan has its Di Fara." —Eric Miller, tipster
Editor's note: A number of readers have flooded my inbox with reports on Artichoke, a new place on 14th Street in the East Village. —The Mgmt.
First with the word was Eric Miller, who today snapped the pix you see here:
As a pizza enthusiast, I get excited by the mere whispers of a new pizza joint opening up in my neighborhood. In the East Village, we have Vinny Vincenz and Una Pizza, but now it's time for a new slice. For a few weeks now, the buzz has been about Artichoke on 14th Street between First and Second. I tried it last night, and may I say—Manhattan has its Di Fara.
It's a small location without any seating and free—yes, free—bread (cooked on premises) and cauliflower fritters to snack on while you wait (I hate cauliflower with a passion, but these were amazing). And then the pizza comes out bubbling. The sauce is sweet, and the cheese layered on in perfect proportions with an ample amount of char at the bottom for a crisp crunch with every bite. This place is the real deal and with the "traveling beer" in 32-ounce styrofoam cups only two weeks away, it will sure be the talk of pizza town.
Also reporting is homeslice Steven B. His raves and more pix, after the jump.
Continue reading »
Posted by Adam Kuban, March 26, 2008 at 8:30 AM
The New York Times's Peter Meehan on Nizza:
It offers a wide variety of salads, pizzas that aren’t destination fare but are easy to scarf and a selection of main courses, the best of which — a fried lamb chop Milanese and a wild boar lasagna — are filling enough to get you through a four-act play.
New Places: Nizza [NYT]
Posted by Adam Kuban, January 16, 2008 at 5:30 PM
View Slice's Brooklyn Pizza Map »
Not sure if it has popped up on the Slice Radar yet, but this place looks promising:
http://www.robertaspizza.com/
http://www.yelp.com/biz/robertas-pizza-brooklyn
http://bushwickbk.com/archives/259
I am going to check this place out very soon. Since I moved to Bushwick, I've been driving all the way to Fornino [Slice Fornino Archives] to get the real deal.
—Daniel K. F.
PS: Here's a report from my friend Jamie: http://theknownuniverse.us/index.php/archives/1998:
The rustic ski-camp feel of the wood paneling under the high loft ceiling, cords of wood stacked near the doorway, long, beer hall style tables, and the smell of burning wood was great, but 40 bucks for a couple of pizzas, including coffee and dessert (no liquor license yet) quickly dashed any illusions of eating there five nights a week. Still, the pizza was great and you certainly can’t beat the convenience, so no complaints from me.
Sitting at the long banquet table next to ours was a guy with a notebook and a camera, taking pictures and scribbling notes for a blog or a newspaper. It led me to do a google search when I got home. Sifting through countless blogs posts and newspaper articles, pro and con, everybody is talking about Bushwick.
Continue reading »
Posted by Adam Kuban, January 10, 2008 at 2:00 PM
View Slice's Bronx Pizza Map »
Food maven Arthur Schwarz reports on Zero Otto Nove, a newish Neapolitan joint on Arthur Avenue in The Bronx that has somehow managed to fly under the Slice radar:
Roberto’s has been a destination restaurant for years. Now Zero Otto Nove has become one. It is already, after only a few months in business, drawing customers from the hinterlands, and for several good reasons. Top among them, I am sure, is the Neapolitan-style pizza that may be the best you’ve ever had in the U.S., and better than many in Naples, as I just described. I know I am going out on a limb with that remark, but I know what I am doing. Well, I hope I am not setting anyone up for a disappointment.
Zero Otto Nove’s pizzaiolo, its pizza maker, Ricardo, who indeed has enough charisma to be called by only one name, like Garbo or Cher, is originally from Naples. But he last worked in downtown Salerno. He was making such good pizza in Salerno that my Salernitani friends suggested that the place he worked at, Pizza Margherita, would be a good substitute for Pizzeria Vicolo della Neve, my usual haunt, but which, in the summer, is way too hot and airless to be enjoyable.
As Schwarz explains, the joint's name is Italian for zero eight nine, Salerno's area code.
Zero Otto Nove
Address: 2357 Arthur Avenue, Bronx NY 10458 (Belmont; map)
Phone: 718-220-1027
[via eGullet, thanks to Eater Ben]
Posted by Adam Kuban, January 9, 2008 at 11:00 AM
From the New York Times:
Covo: A spacious duplex Italian restaurant anchors a new commercial complex. It adds its brick oven pizza, pasta dishes, and hearty main courses to the cluster of restaurants in the area: 701 West 135th Street, 212-234-9573.
Website: covony.com
Posted by Adam Kuban, January 3, 2008 at 12:30 PM
Brooklyn real estate blog Brownstoner gets a snap of soon-to-open Ignazio's Pizza (above) at 4 Water Street in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn. The blogs are already billing this as a "pizza war," given that Grimaldi's is within spitting distance, but we'll leave speculation on the shelf in favor of good old fashioned taste-testing once the new joint opens.
The owner is Louis Timero, born and raised in Bensonhurst but who moved to Hartford, Connecticut, to open the Luna Pizza mini chain in and around that city. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle ran a nice little profile on him in August of last year.
Posted by Adam Kuban, November 13, 2007 at 10:15 AM
The Daily News notes that southern Brooklyn is bucking the nationwide trend toward chain restaurants and focuses on the opening of Zio Toto, an upcoming brick-oven joint in Bay Ridge. Here's the News:
Southern Brooklyn's apparent insulation from the national trend of franchise pizza joints squeezing out mom-and-pops may in part be due to the downright hostility many locals feel toward their corporate counterparts.
John Miniaci Jr. of Johnny's Pizza in Sunset Park, whose father, John Sr., founded the neighborhood pizzeria in 1968, even started a petition drive in hope of blocking the opening of a Papa John's franchise outlet from moving to his block.
His anti-Papa John's petition went to the pizza titan's corporate office in Kentucky with 2,200 signatures. Papa John's didn't respond to the petition and opened as expected last month, but Miniaci insisted there was no noticeable drop-off in his business.
Zio Toto, the pizzeria that inspired reporter Matthew Lysiak to write the piece, will open in Bay Ridge at 84th Street and Third Avenue, replacing a Cheesesteak Factory, which closed in August.
Posted by Adam Kuban, August 14, 2007 at 4:00 PM
Over lunch, a Serious Eats colleague told me about the opening of Accademia di Vino.
"What's that? Some kinda wine bar? Not interested," I said.
"But it's got grilled pizza," she said.
"Well, why diddincha say so?"
One of the dudes behind this place—executive chef Kevin Garcia—came up through Al Forno, my colleague said, where he worked as something called a tournant, or a roundsman. Al Forno is, of course, the grilled-pizza mothership—the joint in Providence, Rhode Island, where George Germon came up the idea of slapping pizza dough on a grate over coals. Mr. Garcia also did a turn under the late Vinny Scotto at New York City's Gonzo, the place credited with bringing grilled pizza to the Big Apple. (Mr. Scotto himself learned the art of the grilled pie at Al Forno.)
Accademia di Vino, will open to the public tomorrow night (August 15) in the old Mainland space at 1081 Third Avenue, on the Upper East Side, at 64th Street.
So, lo and behold, we get back from throwing down some slices (what else did you think I'd be eating?), and there's a flack attack in my inbox. I'll let it do all the non-intriguing non-pizza talking, after the jump.
Continue reading »
Posted by Adam Kuban, August 9, 2007 at 4:45 PM
From Strongbuzz [via Eater]:
Their new Hell’s Kitchen shop is located right next to Burgers and Cupcakes and serves a selection of ten hot and bubbly wood-burning oven pies. The Provençal gets topped with fresh mozzarella, gruyere cheese, tomato sauce, black olives and herbs de provence ($7.95/$13.95), while the Romana will score you hot sausage and roasted peppers on a gooey fresh mozzarella and tomato base ($9.95/$16.95).
London has been making pizza at the Fairway Cafe for a while now, so we'd imagine that his pies at Mitchel London Pizza won't be much different from those.
And, if you want to get an idea of what kinda pizza the Provençal pie will be like, here's a video from Serious Eats in which London and wine-shop owner Joshua Wesson pair wine with pizza—at Fairway Cafe:
Continue reading »
Posted by Adam Kuban, August 7, 2007 at 6:54 PM
From Time Out New York:
Pacific Pizza The closing of a dingy Smith Street pizza joint has made way for this upscale pie-mecca from the folks behind Pacifico. Chef-owner Richard Krause (Café Luxumbourg) will apply his two years at the original Spago to his West Coastâinspired menu. Come brunch, expect a take on the classic Puck pie: smoked salmon, crème fraîche and golden caviar.
Pacific Pizza
Address: 98 Smith Street, Brooklyn NY 11201 (Cobble Hill, b/n Atlantic and Pacific streets; map)
Phone: 718-935-9545
Posted by Adam Kuban, July 9, 2007 at 10:10 PM
A round-up in New York magazine lists. Stop me if think that you've heard this one before:
Solo Pizza
Address: 27 Avenue B, New York NY 10009 (East Village, near 3rd Street)
Phone: 212-420-7656
Chickie Pig’s
Address: 121 Ludlow Street, New York NY 10002 (LES, near Rivington)
Phone: 212-254-9972
URL: chickiepigs.com
With a name like Chickie Pig's, this place better be damn good.
Mosco Pizza
Address: 105 1/2 Mosco Street, New York NY 10013
Phone: 212-227-9150
Not for Tourists notes: "Good pizza in New York is pretty run-of-the-mill. You can get it anywhere. Anywhere, that is, except Chinatown. I’m not talking about the new Chinatown (i.e. Little Italy). I’m talking about East Broadway and Doyers Street, where pizza is anathema. Thankfully, Mosco Pizza opened up on (you got it) Mosco Street, much to the satisfaction of Asian-cuisine-weary NFT office workers. The pies are good, and they sell slices for two bucks each."
Oven
Address: 60C Henry Street, Brooklyn NY 11201 (Brooklyn Heights, b/n Orange and Cranberry streets)
Phone: 718-468-6836
La Nonna Pizzeria Trattoria Paninoteca
Address: 237 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11211 (Williamsburg, near North 4th Street)
Phone: 718-302-5353
Posted by Adam Kuban, June 21, 2007 at 2:54 PM
Dean's Pizzeria & Restaurant, a new Nick Angelis–affiliated joint is opening on the Upper West Side, as reported by the New York Times yesterday. Angelis is the man behind Nick's (locations in Forest Hills and on the Upper East Side) and Adrienne's Pizzabar (Financial District), and he's helping his sister, Mirene, with this venture.
Located in a former hotel ballroom with Greek columns and elaborate crown molding, Dean’s, along with its full Italian menu and full bar, is offering both an “old school round pizza” ($13 and $15, plus toppings) and an “old-fashioned square pizza,” ($16, plus toppings). The latter is especially thin, without the unappetizing gooey layer of dough above the crust that grandma pies usually have. The sauce on all the pies is uncooked, milled tomatoes; the squares have a garlic and oregano kick. The round pies use all fresh mozzarella, the grandmas half fresh and a high-quality chewier variety seen in some of the better slice joints.
I know you're all tired of hearing about Dom. Sorry I didn't blog this one for you homeslices yesterday.
Dean’s Pizzeria & Restaurant
Address: 215 West 85th Street
Phone: 212-875-1100
Posted by Adam Kuban, May 17, 2007 at 1:48 PM
The Village Voice's Robert Sietsema thinks he's found it at Il Brigante:
At its heart, Il Brigante is a pizzeria, and a damn good one. The rear wall is dominated by a flickering wood-burning hearth inside a limestone proscenium, where a sweating and grunting pizzaiolo is the star of his own small repertory theater. In the style of southern Italy, the 10-inch pies are intended for individual consumption. In fact, the margherita ($10) is the city's most perfect evocation of the true Naples style (even surpassing top spots like Una Pizza Napoletana and La Pizza Fresca). Starting with an irregular round of glove-soft dough with no yeasty taste, the margherita is dampened with plain tomato sauce and excellent cheese, bravely wearing a pair of fragrant basil leaves on its bosom. Eat it with a knife and fork—this is no New York pie.
Il Brigante
Address: 214 Front Street, New York NY 10038 [South Street Seaport area; map]
Phone: 212-285-0222
Posted by Adam Kuban, May 9, 2007 at 8:00 PM
Woo! Coal-oven pizza comes to Chicago! From Chicagoland's LTH Forum:
They opened yesterday. Located on Grand Avenue, about three storefronts west of Ogden. This is a cute place, wood floors, warm colors with a huge coal-fired oven in the back. I'm told that it gets about 800 degrees hot, sometimes more.
Due to time constraints, I had to order my pizzas takeout, and as such, all pizzas suffer when cooled down a bit. But still, these pies (I ordered two) had a bready, thin crust with all the integrity of an East Coast pizza. (The guys who own this are from Western Mass.) The crust was a little tough but I'm willing to give them a pass because mine had cooled down significantly before I had the chance to bite into it. Also, the pies coming right out of the oven looked amazing - big blistery crust. One noticeable difference from Neapolitan types is the black, dusty char on the top of the crust from the coal oven.
I ordered two pies - one margherita with fresh mozz and big whole pieces of basil on top and one with pepperoni, black olives and mushrooms. The sauce was tomatoey, with a tomatoey acidity, and lacking the cloying tomato paste taste of typical Chicago pizza. Both were quite tasty, and quite foldable. It is a welcome addition to a neighborhood that is without any East Coast/true Italian style pizza options.
But for the first day, there appeared to be no kinks and they had quite a crowd for opening day. Definitely worth getting down here for a try.
Coalfire Pizza
Address: 1321 West Grand Avenue, Chicago IL 60622 (at Ogden Ave.; map)
Phone: 312-226-2625
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 25, 2007 at 1:16 PM
My Serious Eats colleague Lia just sent this via cellphone picture-messaging.
Russo's, new pizzeria on Ave B between 3rd and 4th, opening in two weeks-ish. Nice huge interior, brick oven. There's another place opening between 2nd and 3rd called Solo Pizza, regular oven.
Thanks, Lia! If you have a tip you want to send Slice, email me at adam@sliceny.com.
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 12, 2007 at 7:54 PM
Dear Slice,
This sign just went up on B btwn 2nd & 3rd. Any clue who's behind it?
—KW
Beats me! Readers?
Solo Pizza
Address: 27 Avenue B, New York NY 10009
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 6, 2007 at 6:16 PM
Rumor is that Sullivan Street Bakery's Jim Lahey, the dude behind the no-knead bread that swept the internets late last year, will be opening a pizzeria soon. Will be on 24th Street and Ninth Avenue.
Ed Levine has had prototypes of the pizza to be served there. He says it won't be just a mere rehash of the Sullivan Street pizzas but will be "real" pizza. Ed also assures me that it will be among the city's top 5 pizzas.
Myself, I'm reserving judgment until the place opens and I can try it.
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 2, 2007 at 2:21 PM
Friend of Slice Lia just sent me the photo above. Says the tipster: "What a dumbass name. Their pizza better be damn good!"
My thoughts exactly.
CHICKIE PIG'S BRICK OVEN PIZZERIA & RESTAURANT
Address: On Ludlow Street, between Rivington and Delancey, Lower East Side.
Posted by Adam Kuban, December 21, 2006 at 1:06 PM
New place coming to Manhattan's Lower East Side. Pizzeria di Santo. Gothamist sez:
Eschewing the $3-4.50 slices at Pala (we love the pumpkin and pancetta slice regardless of the cost) and the over-priced, fancified pies littered around the area in favor of basic round (red and white) and square slices, they hope to bring quality product based Grandma’s recipes to late night eaters.
PIZZERIA DI SANTO
Address: 171 Ludlow Street, Manhattan 10002 [map]
Posted by Adam Kuban, November 28, 2006 at 6:02 PM
A Slice tipster just gave us some news: Patsy Grimaldi (right) is coming out of retirement to run a pizza joint at the new Aviator Sports & Recreation complex at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn.
What's that you ask? Grimaldi was retired? Wha?
Yeah. A few years ago, he sold the eponymous pizzeria that sits under the Brooklyn Bridge and has been in semiretirement since, retaining a partnership—with Sean McHugh—in the Hoboken branch, the day-to-day operations of which he leaves to Mr. McHugh.
Our tipster tells us that Mr. Grimaldi and his wife, Carol, will run the pizzeria, which is located in the "Brooklyn Hall of Fame Food Court," and that this will be something completely different for Mr. Grimaldi. First, he's doing slices, which he's never done before. Second, the oven is not coal-fired; it's a Wood Stone gas-fired, brick-lined oven.
Word is that Mr. Grimaldi has the go-ahead from the current Grimaldi's to call it Grimaldi's at Aviator, thus avoiding any naming controversy, a subject that Patsy is familiar with from his run-in with the group that owns the Patsy's Pizzeria mini chain in Manhattan.
Our tipster was at Aviator Sports Complex for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the food court and says that Mr. Grimaldi was scheduled to make his first pies in the newly delivered oven shortly after the pomp and circumstance subsided.
We'll bring you more as this story develops...
Coal Miner: Patsy Grimaldi hangs on to nearly lost art of cooking with coal [Pizza Today]
A Menu from Grimaldi's Hoboken [Slice Archives]
All Grimaldi's entries [Slice Archives]
Photograph from PMQ.com
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."
Continue reading »
Posted by Adam Kuban, October 25, 2006 at 4:37 PM
After two years of preparation, Carroll Gardens newcomer Lucali opened, somewhat fittingly, on Columbus Day. Not long after, the Chowhounders started yapping about it, with most barking their approval. At the urging of Slice reader Mark H., I headed over last night to see what all the fuss was about.
The joint is the creation of Mark Iacono and takes the place of a soda fountain once known for making some of the last real egg creams in Brooklyn. Locals can take comfort, however, in the fact that Mr. Iacono was raised in the neighborhood and still lives around the corner. Not only that, but much of the equipment—including the espresso machine—comes from Leonardo's Pizza, which was sadly replaced by a Dunkin' Donuts around this time last year. The recipes, too, are from the neighborhood, having come from Mr. Iacono's grandma and aunts.
Continue reading »
Posted by Adam Kuban, June 22, 2006 at 2:43 PM
Dear Slice,
I was reading your article on the coal-oven pizzerias in Florida. Surprisingly enough, there are a few more locations opening up throughout the area. There is a company called Coal Fired Pizza Co. opening in Wellington and a second location in Coral Springs. Both are due to open the first week of July.
I know this because I am the designer/builder of these ovens. Now David Manero of Manero's Restaurant Group, Gotham City, and Shore is opening up a coal-oven pizza restaurant on PGA in Palm Beach Gardens.
The myth of the coal ovens causing pollution has passed with the use of anthracite coal. Clean burning with almost no smoke and zero carcinogens.
-- Jon Illingworth, factory sales rep, Doughpro
Jon: You don't know how this kills me. Until recently, Ma and Pa Slice were residents of Wellington. They move back to Kansas, then all these coal-burners spring up. --The Management
Posted by Adam Kuban, May 24, 2006 at 10:54 AM
A number of people tell me (most of them native San Franciscans) that the best Chicago deep dish is found in the Bay Area, at a joint called Zachary's. And now, folks in San Ramon, California, will be able to see what the fuss is about:
Since finding out that Zachary's Chicago Pizza would be moving to the city, residents have been waiting in mouth-watering anticipation to know when the establishment would open.
Construction on the 11,000-square-foot shopping plaza — named Crow Canyon Crest -- that includes the pizzeria has been going on for two months, and tenants will be able to start construction on their own lots next week.
J. P. LaRussa, Zachary's general manager, gives a target date of mid-September for the opening.
San Ramon may be new mecca for pizza [InsideBayArea.com]
Posted by Adam Kuban, May 23, 2006 at 10:22 PM
Even though a pre-Slice Adam K. used to visit Seattle often during his stint in the Pacific Northwest, he stuck mainly to dive bars and the Dick's Drive-In on Capitol Hill and not in any of Tom Douglas's restaurants. He's a Jet City institution, though, so Seattleites will like rejoice:
Uberchef Douglas and his wife and business partner, Jackie Cross, are planning to add a casual new place to their mini-empire of culinary entrepreneurship. Serious Pie, a small pizzeria, is scheduled to open this summer in the existing Dahlia Bakery downtown, which is adjacent to Douglas' Dahlia Lounge restaurant (2001 Fourth Ave.).
Tom Douglas has a pizza place in the oven [Seattle Post-Intelligencer]
Posted by Adam Kuban, February 1, 2006 at 8:54 AM
Über-technical Lower East Side pizzeria Palà opens today, according to Daily Candy. The site says owners Giglio and Edena Palazzo have been working on the place for three years. Which makes sense, last we heard, it was supposed to open November 2005.
We at Slice don't know much about Palà except that press reps were required to sign nondisclosure agreements about the joint, reportedly to protect information about how the crust is made.
With nine to 12 different flours used to make the dough and a rise time of 48 to 60 hours (both facts via Daily Candy), Slice is eager to see what results.
PALA
Location: 198 Allen Street (b/n Houston/Stanton)
Phone: 212-614-7252
[Thanks, Shannon, for the Daily Candy tip!]
Posted by Adam Kuban, November 15, 2005 at 9:00 AM
From New York magazine, a report of a new pizzeria in Park Slope. My neighborhood. Looking forward to trying it.
Anthony’s has been Sal Buglione’s dream for years: a restaurant named for and dedicated to his father, a mason from outside Naples. But when Anthony Buglione passed away unexpectedly, his restaurateur son nearly abandoned the plan, focusing instead on his involvement in the burgeoning Nick’s Pizza chainlet. Buglione’s friends encouraged him to persevere, and together they built the sort of homey southern-Italian restaurant and pizzeria he’d always imagined surprising his dad with. “We’d pull up, I’d say, ‘Hey, look, Anthony’s, let’s get a pizza,’ then I’d say, ‘This is for you.’ ” ...
ANTHONY'S
Location: 426A Seventh Ave., Park Slope, Brooklyn
Phone: 718-369-8315
UPDATE: Slice Visits Anthony's
Buzz & Openings: Anthony's [New York magazine]
Posted by Adam Kuban, October 5, 2005 at 9:07 AM
New York magazine is reporting on a new, Burger Joint–inspired burger place:
If Good Burger, a newfangled Turtle Bay soda fountain of sorts, seems familiar, it may be because owner Nick Tsoulos of the Patsy’s pizza-chain family took the Burger Joint at Le Parker Meridien hotel as his model. Although he stopped short of draping the place behind a giant curtain, he did manage to lure away a couple of prized patty flippers from that once semi-secret but now famous burgery.
For more on burgers, check out our little sister site, A Hamburger Today.
GOOD BURGER
Location: 800 Second Avenue (at 43rd St.)
Phone: 212-922-1700
Openings & Buzz [New York]
Thanks to our Queens Correspondent for tipping us to this story.
Posted by Adam Kuban, September 20, 2005 at 11:07 AM
Zagat.com released the results of a poll that found pizza is New York City's No. 1 on-the-go food. This, according to the New York Daily News.
The online poll asked people to rank six items designed to be wolfed while walking: pizza by the slice, hot dogs with red onions, soft pretzels with mustard, roasted chestnuts, shwarma (gyro) and Italian ices.
What makes a slice so nice? "It's affordable, convenient and nutritious," says Todd Birnbaum, co-owner of Park Ave. South pizzeria Pinch, where slices are sold by the inch.
No big news there. Of course pizza is the Big Apple's biggest walk-and-eat food. What's more noteworthy to us at Slice is the second graf of this story: "More than a dozen pizzerias have opened this year. And at Palá, opening in November, press reps have been required to sign nondisclosure agreements about how the crust is made."
Geeze Louise! Nondisclosures for pizza? Ai yah!
As for why nondisclosures—according to Florence Fabricant's recent roundup of upcoming openings of note in the New York Times is this sentence on Palá: "All sorts of pizza technology is going into this place, which will pride itself on its crust and its Roman-style ingredients."
OPENING
Palá: 198 Allen Street
Pizza's runaway favorite in nosh-as-you-walk poll [New York Daily News]
A Tasting Menu of Restaurants to Come [New York Times]
Posted by Adam Kuban, June 22, 2005 at 2:33 PM
From the New York Times today comes a short blip about the impending opening of Waldy's Wood-Fired Pizza and Penne, which happens this Friday (June 24):
Since Beacon opened on West 56th Street six years ago, Waldy Malouf has spent much of his time near a wood-burning oven, shoveling food in and out of it with a long wooden peel. The opening Friday of Waldy's Wood-Fired Pizza and Penne, 800 Avenue of the Americas (27th Street) changes none of this, merely expands it. Mr. Malouf, left, the chef and an owner at Beacon, owns the new place, which he calls a "slice joint," with Rob Dixon. What other slice joint offers 11 different pizzas in two sizes of rectangles and also as a single-serving quarter-pie?
WALDY'S WOOD-FIRED PIZZA AND PENNE
Location: 800 Sixth Ave. (b/n 27th and 28th Streets), Manhattan 10001 (Chelsea)
Getting There: F/V trains to 23rd Street; N/R/W trains to 28th Street
Phone: 212-213-5042
The Skinny: Owner of Beacon brings his skillz downtown a bit; cooking in a wood-fired oven, duh.
Posted by Adam Kuban, June 2, 2005 at 8:18 AM
Update: Read Slice's Adrienne's Review here
From NYMetro.com (third item):
Adrienne’s Pizza Bar
Square must be the new round judging by Adrienne’s, a stylish joint venture from father-and-son restaurateurs Harry and Peter Poulakakos (Bayard’s, Financier Patisserie, Ulysses) and Nick Angelis of Nick’s Pizza fame. Although his superb signature round pie is on the menu, the big news is that Angelis has delved into the rarefied world of thin-crust square, or “grandma”-style pizza. Inspired by Brooklyn’s Di Fara and its thin-crust Sicilian pie as well as the trend-setting grandma version at King Umberto’s on Long Island, he’s crafted a pizza that—dare we say it?—could surpass them both.
ADRIENNE'S PIZZA BAR
Location: 54 Stone Street, in Manhattan's Financial District
Phone: 212-248-3838
Openings: Adrienne's Pizza Bar [NYMetro.com]
[Thanks to Mr. Cutlets for the tip!]
UPDATE: Read Slice's Adrienne's Review here
Posted by Adam Kuban, March 29, 2005 at 11:03 AM
New York Metro reports:
After opening what might be New York's most idiosyncratic wine bar—Prospect Heights' rustic Aliseo Osteria del Borgo—Albano Ballerini continues to remake burgeoning Vanderbilt Avenue in his own offbeat culinary image. Ballerini's family has been in the food business since his grandmother opened a café in the Marche region of Italy, and in her honor, he's transformed a Brooklyn slice joint into a boutique focacceria. Pizza chef Ruth Kaplan, an Aliseo customer and avid home cook whose puffy, free-form pies got her the Amorina gig, has a toppings repertoire that runs the gamut from classic (tomatoes and mozzarella) to creative (dried cherries, nutmeg, orange peel, and crème fraîche). Homey pastas like spaghetti and meatballs perfectly suit the cozy room, which has been outfitted with red-checked-cloth-covered tables, salvaged menu boards, and Ballerini's grandmother's yellowing invoices and receipts.
AMORINA
Location: 624 Vanderbilt Ave., Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Getting there: Q/B train to 7th Ave. or 2/3/4/5 to Grand Army Plaza
Phone: 718-230-3030
—photograph by Kenneth Chen for New York
Thanks to MVG for the heads-up on this item.
Posted by Adam Kuban, January 7, 2005 at 4:45