Slice

Happy Fourth

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 12:00:00 -0500

Hola. Just wanted to say Happy Fourth of July!

Spangledly,
Slice Dude

Grilling: Pizza

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:00:00 -0500

On Fridays, Joshua Bousel drops by with a recipe for you to grill over the weekend. Fire it up, Joshua!

Before you run out and grab all those burgers and hot dogs for tomorrow's great Fourth of July cookout, let me tempt you with another great American tradition that's great for the grill and revelers alike: pizza Although the high heat of the grill produces a truly excellent pizza, it's a challenge to get a perfectly cooked crisp crust at the same time the toppings are ready, but after years of trial and error, I've developed a fairly foolproof way to get perfect pizzas every time.

This requires a two-zone fire, with all the coals piled on one side of the charcoal grate, and a process of cooking the crust in stages.

First you stretch the dough out to a personal-size pizza and place it directly over the coals, cooking it until it browns and crisps nicely. Then remove the crust to a plate, arrange the toppings on the cooked side, place it over the cool side of the grill, and cover. When the cheese is melted and the toppings are done to your liking, check the bottom of the crust; if it needs to cook a little longer, just move it over to the hot side again until it's perfect.

What comes off the grill is a real beauty of a pie. A wonderfully cooked crust, with that balance of crisp and chewiness that makes a great pizza—something to truly celebrate alongside our independence.

Perfectly Grilled Pizzas

Ingredients

Your favorite pizza dough, homemade or picked up from your local pizzeria
Your favorite pizza or marinara sauce
Toppings of your choosing

Procedure

1. Light a chimney 3/4 full of charcoal. When charcoal is fully lit and covered in gray ash, pour coals out and arrange them on one side of the charcoal grate, keeping the other side empty. After heating up for a minute, clean and oil the cooking grate.

2. Break off a piece of dough about the size of your fist and stretch to a personal sized pie, about 12 inches. Immediately place the dough on the grill on the hot side, directly over the fire. Watch the dough closely, when it crisps and becomes golden brown, remove from the grill to a plate.

3. Arrange your sauce and toppings on the grilled side of the dough. Place the pizza back on the cool side of the grill and cover. Checking the pizza every few minutes, continue to grill until the toppings are cooked to your liking. Check the bottom of the dough, if it needs a little bit more time to brown or cook, move the pizza to the hot side of the grill again and cook until the bottom is nicely browned and crisp. Remove from the grill and enjoy.

Dom DeMarco Undergoing Minor Oral Surgery; Di Fara Pizza Closed Indefinitely

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:59:33 -0500

I just got back from a trip to Di Fara to check out unsubstantiated rumors of a Di Fara closing. The pizzeria was indeed closed, but Dom DeMarco's daughter, Maggie, was there and reports that her father was at the doctor for "minor mouth surgery."

~~No word on when the place will reopen. Stay tuned.~~

Update: It has reopened.

Wig & Pen Offers an Iowa City Twist to Stuffed Pizza

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:45:10 -0500

Serious Eats contributor Daniel Zemans, our man in Chicago, checks in with another piece of intel from the road, this time in Iowa City. —The Mgmt.

Wig and Pen Pizza Pub

1220 Hwy 6 West, Coralville, IA 52241 (map); 319-354-2767; wigandpeneast.com
Pizza Style: Thin crust, stuffed and Flying Tomato
Oven Type: Gas
The Skinny: The Flying Tomato is short on tomato, but will still appeal to those who like mozzarella in very large quantities
Price: Large Flying Tomato with one topping, $24.35.

On my way back to Chicago from Omaha a little over a week ago, I took a break from the rolling hills of young corn that were interrupted by the occasional wind farm to stop in Iowa City, home of the University of Iowa, for a late lunch that would get me through the rest of the drive. In doing my research before starting the trip, I discovered that Iowa City did not seem to be a particularly notable pizza town. That said, I did find a popular place that offered a new type of pizza: the Wig & Pen Pizza Pub.

In the 16 years since Dick Querrey took over the Wig & Pen and made significant menu changes, the popular Iowa City spot has expanded to three locations, one of which bounced back from some serious flooding last year. Querrey, who runs the place with help from his kids, serves three kinds of pizza: thin crust, stuffed, and the Flying Tomato Pie.

The Flying Tomato is a cross between a stuffed pizza and a pan pie that was invented by a cook at the Wig & Pen who was having fun experimenting in the kitchen. Since I am always eager to try new types of pizza, ordering a Flying Tomato was a no-brainer.

The Flying Tomato comes with a truly impressive amount of cheese, which is a blend of whole milk mozzarella and part skim mozzarella, the traditional mixture that most purveyors of stuffed pizza use. Unlike stuffed pizzas, which come with a thin crust on top of the cheese, which is then covered with a heavy layer of think, chunky, and preferably tangy sauce, the Flying Tomato has no upper crust and has a sparse layer of thin sauce under the cheese. On top of the cheese are the tomato slices that provided the pizza’s creator with inspiration for a name. Another difference between the Flying Tomato and traditional stuffed pizzas is that the crust was made with butter instead of shortening. The sausage, which Wig & Pen gets from a supplier in Chicago, came in large chunks and had a good amount of flavor and chewiness.

But the focus of the Flying Tomato is the massive amounts of cheese and garlic powder. I happen to love mozzarella and garlic flavor in virtually any format, so any place that takes substantial amounts of both and puts it on a flaky, buttery crust is going to be a winner in my book. That said, I would have liked more sauce on the pizza as the little bit that was there was overwhelmed by the heft of the cheese and the flavor from the garlic. The sausage and tomato slices did offer some balance, but this was a pizza created for serious cheese addicts.

Wig & Pen was good enough that if I find myself in Iowa City again and I’m looking for pizza, I would not hesitate going back. That said, if I do end up in that position, I’ll give their stuffed pizza try. I fully appreciate pizzas with pounds of cheese on top, but I need more than a couple of tomato slices to balance it out. For those even more enamored with mozzarella and garlic than I am, I’d think that the Flying Tomato would be perfect for you.

Giordano's, a Stuffed Pizza Classic in Chicago
Edwardo's Natural Pizza: No Longer Great, But Still Very Good
Bacino's: Chicago's Healthy (?) Stuffed Pizza

Leftovers: The Day's Stray Links

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:30:29 -0500

Pizza in a Cone: Yes, again. Cone pizza just doesn't seem to be catching on—at least not here in the States. Yet another company, this one Spanish, is tilting at windmills. [EMD]
Pizza Vending Machines: "I have had the future of pizza and it is not good." [Internet Food Association]
Pizza Site Review: Worstpizza.com, analyzed. [Blog Pizza]
Speaking of Which: "Pizzaexpert" offers to sell worstpizza.com to AOL. [SAI]
LA: S. Irene Virbila reviews Bottega Louie, whose thin-crust pizzas are "not particularly inventive but fine." [LAT]
NYC > Openings: A wood-fired pizzeria is coming to the new Eataly Italian supermegamarket. [AHNY]
NYC > Openings: Pizza and more at West Village sister spot to Alexandra. [ZagatBuzz]
NYC > Openings: Angelina Pizza Bar opening on UWS with "what may be the world's first rotating brick oven." Whatevs. There are already two in NYC. [ZagatBuzz]
NYC > Openings: South Brooklyn Pizza coming to Manhattan. Eh. [Eater]

Liquid Pizza in a Bulbous Test Tube

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:51:58 -0500

Photograph from Life, hosted by Google

Bloomberg reports on something wacky:

A deconstructed pizza in a bulbous test tube featured this week at a dinner in London where each course was prepared by a different Italian chef. The event took place on Monday at Dolada restaurant, whose chef Riccardo de Pra created the liquid pizza with mozzarella, tomato, basil and olive-oil components to be guzzled in one go, accompanied by chunks of crust for texture.

Oh my. [via Eater SF]

I Don't Even Know What This Means

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:40:22 -0500

"The pissaladières, baked in a wood-burning oven, reach out to the ever more rapacious ranks of pizza hounds..." —Frank Bruni, in his review of Bar Artisanal

Money Pizza

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:45:00 -0500

Money Pizza is an promotional concept for an imaginary pizza chain that sells a $5 pizza. The magnetic fridge-based coin keeper holds $5 in change. As its creator, artist Matt Brown, says, "The concept eliminates the shame people feel when they pay for something all in change. No counting involved with this, both cashier and customer know exactly how much money there is on that pie."

Of course you're still left scrounging for the tip. [via EMD]

Chowhounder's One Post Sums Up All of Site's Di Fara Wisdom

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:00:00 -0500

If you're a participant or lurker on Chowhound, you know there are certain restaurants or vendors on the boards there that have attained mythic status and are and talked about over and over. The Arepa Lady, Lotus of Siam, and, yes, Di Fara are just three of many such places.

If you've been reading long enough, there's very little new to be said about most of these places. But I thought I'd point out this recent Di Fara thread because Chowhounder "pizzajunkie" seems to have summed up several years' worth of Di Fara wisdom in just 101 words:

Okay, so after lurking here and on the Manhattan board for several weeks, I have gleaned the following information about Di Fara:
It plainly has its local following with people who think it is the best, while others think it is overhyped and not worth the exhaustively long lines.
The best time to go is on a weekday mid-afternoon.
The square pizza is the best pizza to order (and I'll be ordering mine plain cheese).
Be prepared to wait an hour (?) after sitting down for your pizza.
BYOB (does anyone do this?).
It closes for a period between lunch and dinner.

That's pretty much Di Fara in a nutshell—except, as "demigodh" is quick to point out, "I wouldn't be so definitive about the square. they're both excellent in their own right. You should order the style of pizza you prefer."

I totally agree.

Leftovers: The Day's Stray Links

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:15:25 -0500

Tweetza: PizzaTweetup.com—the name pretty much says it all? [PizzaTweetup]
Dough Recipe: This Mario Batali recipe uses white wine to "presumably to mimic the acidic contribution of a starter." [pizzamaking.com]
Mozzarella Ideas: What to do if you have a surplus of fresh mozz. Not that anyone here on Slice would.... [SE Talk]
Vegan "Mozzarella": Cruzer Pizza in L.A. is using Daiya, a vegan alternative to mozz that melts and stretches and tastes like the real thing. [quarrygirl.com]
Frozen Pizza Review: Whole Foods 365 Mediterranean Pizza. [Freezer Burns]
Free Pizza in Bay Area: It's from Domino's, though, so whatevs. A free 10-inch American Legends pizza with every purchase on July 4. [Daily Loaf]
Baltimore: Charm City favorite Iggie's closed for vacation. [Pizza Blogger]
Boston: The pizzas of various Beantown neighborhoods. [Boston Globe]
LA: JAB reviews Pizza Go—"For what it is, it's pretty good." [LA Pizza]
New Haven: A visit to Frank Pepe's. [Goodies First]

Correction: Renown Spanish Chef Ferran Adria NOT Opening a Pizzeria

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:30:13 -0500

Lisa Abend on Goumet lays to rest the rumor that Spanish superchef Ferran Adrià is opening a pizzeria:

"Albert [Adrià, Ferran's brother] was in Italy and eating pizza," recounts Ferran. "Someone from the press asked him if he ever thought of opening a pizzeria, and, trying to be polite, he said, 'Sure, someday, why not?' We are developing a lot of projects, and pizza might be one of them sometime in the future. But not anytime soon, not by a long shot"

I'm sorry that Slice was not diligent enough to debunk this at the time we blogged about it. I was lazy and went along with this story like a lemming. This editor regrets the error.

Sal and Carmine's: A Post-Sal Pilgrimage

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:30:00 -0500

"His slices were so good that they didn't have to deliver."

The other night I started thinking about Sal and Carmine's. Adam reported on Sal's untimely death, but somehow I feel the only true way to pay one's respects to a pieman (and Sal was one of the all-time great piemen) is to have one of his pies.

So last Friday I left the Slice–Serious Eats office around 7 p.m. and took the 2 Train to 96th Street and Broadway. I know I could have taken the local one more stop and ended up a couple of blocks closer, but I wanted to start my homage to Sal by acknowledging the location of the original Sal's Pizzeria on 95th and Broadway, where my love affair with Sal Malanga's pizza began in 1973.

Sal and his brother Carmine opened the original Sal's in 1959, three blocks from my first New York apartment. I was making $111 a week working for the Department of Cultural Affairs in the New York City Parks Department, and though Sal's slices were 25¢ more than every other pizzeria's, it quickly became my go-to slice. How could it not? Sal's slightly bready crust was crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. Therein lies the magic about Sal and Carmine's crust: It never gets hard, no matter how long it's been out of the oven. The sauce was slightly seasoned (maybe it was canned pizza sauce—no matter), and the aged mozzarella they used had just the right touch of salt.

Once you had a Sal's slice you could accept no other. They were magical, more workmanlike and less idiosyncratic than Di Fara, but no less artful and satisfying. That's it, now that I think about it: Sal's slices were just so damn satisfying. And you didn't need a finely honed pizza aesthetic to know that. One bite was all it took. That was the way it was then, and you know what? That's the way it is now.

All these memories came flooding back as I walked up Broadway to 101st Street. I called to order my half-plain, half-sausage well-done pie. Sal's grandson Luciano Gaudiosi answered the phone: "Sal's." A quiet tribute to his grandfather, perhaps? Who knows. "Ten or 15 minutes," he said and hung up. Another Sal and Carmine's trademark: No name and no phone number necessary.

I walked in and saw Luciano manning the oven. I told him what I had ordered over the phone. I told him how sorry I was to hear about Sal. I introduced myself. Luciano responded, "Oh yeah, you're the one who didn't like the canned mushrooms." I was crestfallen. Here I was trying to pay my respects, and the only thing Luciano remembers is that I criticized his grandfather's use of canned mushrooms. I told him, "I loved Sal's pizza, except for those mushrooms."

"That's all right," he reassured me. He gestured toward the mushrooms: "It's just so much easier to use them."

Sal & Carmine's

2671 Broadway, New York NY 10025 (b/n 101st/102nd; map); 212-663-7651

I asked what had happened to his grandfather. He told me Sal had woken up in the days before he passed away, complaining about his back hurting, perhaps from sleeping wrong. He had gone to the hospital at his grandson's insistence, though he really wanted to come into work and make pizza. Sal couldn't stand being at the hospital, so he checked himself out.

A few days later Sal was readmitted to the hospital. His kidneys were failing. He was waiting to begin dialysis when his kidney failure led to cardiac arrest. Luciano told me this, obviously trying to rein in his emotions. "He was a good man," Luciano acknowledged with more than a touch of pride and love in his voice.

I told him that his grandfather had left his mark on the New York pizza landscape. His slices, I told him, were so good that they didn't have to deliver (Luciano told me there was a period of time, from 1959 to 1967, when Sal's did in fact deliver.) His pizza was so good that I used to pay the late charges to Hertz just to keep the car an hour longer to pick up a pie.

He smiled slightly. I think he knows that his grandfather was one of the last of the great New York City slice-pie men. I'm sure that's one of the reasons he's making pizza himself.

I hailed a cab to take my pizza home. My son, Will, was watching the Mets-Yankees game. We each put a slice on a plate and took a bite. "This is such good pizza," Will said. I had to agree. So satisfying, so seriously delicious, and so Sal. Sal would have been proud.

Luciano, along with Carmine, are doing everything Sal's way, the right way, the only way.

'Pizza Blogger' Interview with Joe Edwardsen of Baltimore's Joe Squared

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:00:00 -0500

Speaking of pizza blogs, one that I've been enjoying immensely as of late is Baltimore-based Pizza Blogger. And this interview with Joe Squared's Joe Edwardsen (above) illustrates what I like about the site.

"Pizza Blogger," as the anonymous author prefers to be known, asks Edwardsen a series of knowledgeable questions about Joe Squared's coal oven and the dough-making process. The questions are obviously informed by PB's experience working at D.C.-area bakery Uptown Bakers. PB's knowledge and passion shines through in all his posts. I come away from the site with the feeling that the entries are well-researched and trustworthy. And I always feel like I've learned something after a visit.

One of Joe Squared's pies. Yes, now you see where the "Squared" part of the name comes into the picture. Photograph by Joe Squared on Flickr

This exchange in the Edwardsen interview, by the way, makes me think that Joe is onto something and that the place really does deserve the raves it has gotten (to be fair, though, a Chowhound thread seems to indicate the joint is one of those love-it-or-hate-it places):

PB: Are you happy with where your pizza is right now or is there still something you want to change going forward?
Joe Edwardsen: On a good night, I wouldn’t change anything about our pizza. Our biggest problem is when we get hit too hard. It’s a coal oven and keeping the heat in there is tough. We recently got 160 pizza orders in two hours and you just can’t keep that much heat in the oven. It’s still going to be a great pizza after a couple of hours [of being busy], but not as good as the first pizza that came out, and that’s just kind of the nature of it. Unfortunately, we’ll never have that consistent of a product because we are working with inconsistent ingredients [dough and natural leavening]. But, when it’s on, it’s dead on. And even when it’s not, it’s not crap.

But back to Pizza Blogger: Other great posts there include experiments with limoncello (a great aperitivo or digestivo for a pizza meal) and a sourdough starter, as well as pizza reviews. (The photos from Coal Fire Pizza in Ellicott City, Maryland, make the place look amazing, btw.)

PB has only been at it since April, but he's got a strong start. Here's hoping he maintains the site's quality for years to come.

Joe Squared

133 W. North Avenue, Baltimore MD 21201 (map)
410 545 0444; joesquared.com

'Grub Street' Does Crowd Check on Crop of Recent Pizzeria Newbies

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:20:24 -0500

Grub Street checks in on the recent gaggle of new pizzerias to see which is busiest (and presumably best—or at least most hyped) on a Friday night between 8 and 9 p.m. From least- to most-crowded: Tonda, Veloce, Pizza Mezzaluna, Spunto, Kesté, San Marzano, and Co. Company.

Slice Reviewed on PBAHTEOIPO: 'A New York Times of Pizza'

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:00:00 -0500

As part of its series of pizza-site reviews, Pizza Blog About How to Eat/Order Italian Pizza Online recently featured Slice and had some really nice things to say, among them:

Slice offers many different features that may at first be a bit overwhelming, but that is only because there is so much depth and history to the site. Slice has various pizza maps of the many pizza places that have been reviewed. Slice also has pizza recipes, pizza videos, and pizza reviews. If you would like to search Slice, they have an easy drop-down menu to browse pizza by location or you can browse their archives by date or category. This is very important for a website that has been around posting almost daily for about 6 years.

And my favorite:

OK... the fun stuff... I like my friends over at Serious Eats, particularly Slice. I think that the information that they provide is very helpful for readers searching for food information. Slice focuses on the most popular food in the world, pizza. The style of information that Slice produces is very unique. Kuban finds a way to merge all pizza information, whether relevant or not, to the overall theme of his site. They are indeed similar to a New York Times of Pizza (if such a thing existed).

Thanks for the very kind words!

PBAHTEOIPO also has some insight into some of the other pizza sites out there and it looks like it will continue to add reviews as it sees fit.

Burke Pizza Topping Guide

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:40:00 -0500

The Burke Guide to Fully Cooked Meat Toppings [pdf], available at burkecorp.com, lists the terminology and sizes of various precooked meat-based pizza ingredients the company sells.

Hand-Pinched Style: Hand-Pinched Style brand by Burke is a unique product that is defined by the craggy, irregular appearance of raw meat that has been directly pinched onto a pizza. At the same time it offers the safety and convenience of fully cooked meats.

The size chart, complete with a handy ruler to show scale, should assist the pizza aficionado when it comes to discussion of "fine crumble," "crumble," and "100/oz" meat toppings. [via pizzamaking.com]

Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan in Kevin Smith's 'A Couple of Dicks' at L&B Spumoni Gardens

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:00:00 -0500

Albert Grande mentioned last week that his pizza tour was canceled because one of the stops—L&B Spumoni Gardens—was closed for a movie shoot.

Here's a photo from the shoot, courtesy of NBC Universal's Recent Postings blog.

The movie is called A Couple of Dicks—"dicks" as in detectives, I'm guessing. (And, who knows, maybe both their names are Dick, too.)

The director is Kevin Smith, and, according to IMDB, it's "a comedy about two cops whose adventures include locating a stolen baseball card, rescuing a woman, and dealing with gangsters and their laundered money."

The Real World Brooklyn Goes to L&B Spumoni Gardens
Review: L&B Spumoni Gardens [9/4/2004]

Leftovers: The Day's Stray Links

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:00:11 -0500

As you may know, I was on vacation last week. I barely looked at the web. And that, ladies and gents, was AWESOME. But it also means I missed a lot of pizza news. This link dump is, therefore, loooong and may contain things you've seen already. Deal with it. —The Mgmt.

Video: Albert Grande, on a pizza tour of the East Coast, finds "the next rising star of pizza" (above) in Stefan Ambrosch. [Pizza Therapy]
Movies: Bruce Willis films a motion picture at Brooklyn's legendary L&B Spumoni Gardens. [Pizza Therapy]
Celebs and Slices: Blake Lively (Gossip Girl) at Bleecker Street Pizza; Emeril Lagasse at Otto. [Grub Street]
Music: The duo Das Racist honors(?) those odd combination Pizza Hut–Taco Bell locations. [BrandFreak]
Katy Perry Naked [SFW]: The pop star in the bathtub with a strategically placed pizza. Doesn't look half bad, either. The pizza, mind you, the pizza! [EMD]
Peter Reinhart's Pizza Class: Cary Steiner talks about his experience learning from the baking and pizza master. [Passion-4-Pizza]
Domino's: Not much news here but for the fact that the chain's Pizza Tracker is now embeddable in Facebook. Everything else is old hat. [Gizmodo]
Pizza Hut: The chain's summer "twintern" posted her first message on Twitter on Thursday. [@pizzahut via NRN]
Pizza Hut: Not changing name to "The Hut." Only being used in some marketing efforts, says chain's chief marketing officer. [NRN]
Reprehensible: Illinois man gets 81 years for murdering delivery driver with hammer. WTF? [cbs2chicago.com]

More links ahead: Pizza reviews from around the country, after the jump.

California: "Looking for good deli or pizza in Orange County." [SE Talk]
California > Nevada City: Lefty's Grill wins international pizza prize for its pear-gorgonzola-balsamic-thyme-oregano pie. [The Union]
Connecticut > New Haven: Newly opened Kitchen Zinc uses locally grown, artisanal ingredients in its take on Neapolitan pies. [New Haven Independent]
DC: Liza and Gary review Cava, on Capitol Hill. [DC Pizza Blog]
NYC > Clam Pizza: Blog picks its favorite bivalve-topped pies. But South Brooklyn at No. 1? Seriously? [Always Hungry NY]
NYC > Kosher Pizza Musings: There's a big void in the market for a great brick-oven kosher joint in NYC. [IDoP]
NYC > LES: Keith McNally's pizzeria overbudget and behind schedule. Plus: "Tthe best names are taken." Gasp! [RG via Eater]
NYC > Taxi Driver Tales: Cabbie spots Ice-T grabbing pizza at the dollar-slice place near the Port Authority Bus Terminal. [City Room]
SF > Openings: Award-winning pizza-tosser Tony Gemignani finally opens Tony's Pizza Napoletana. [Eater SF]
SF > Pi Bar: Upcoming pizzeria answers the addresses concerns of worried bloggers. [Eater SF]

Pizza Is Like Sex, Sex Is Like Pizza

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:45:00 -0500

buycostumes.com

When you've been blogging about pizza for more than five years, you've heard the old "pizza is like sex" joke—"even when it's bad, it's good."

It ceased to amuse me by, oh, about the second time I heard it, which is why I was surprised when I found myself LOLing at a recent thread in the Serious Eats Talk section: Sex is like pizza...or is it...

You look back on your experiences with it in college, and say, "What was I thinking?"

(If you've already seen this thread, forgive me. I'm still catching up on stuff I missed while on vacation last week and thought this one was worth highlighting.)

Individual-Size, Slice-Accompanying Pizza Wine in Greenpoint

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:45:00 -0500

newyorkshitty.com

Miss Heather of the blog newyorkshitty.com finds Pizza Wine at a Greenpoint liquor store. It's a small 375 ml bottle of wine that claims to have been crafted specifically for pizza.

At $3 a bottle (even with tax included) this isn't really much of a bargain. If one bottle is designed to accompany two slices, I'd guesstimate it would take five bottles to match a ten-slice pie. That totals to $15. For that kind of money, you can buy a couple six packs of decent beer.

Ten-slice pie? Where is Miss Heather getting a ten-slice pie? Note: A pizza is usually cut in eight- or six-slice configurations.

T&N Wine and Liquor

983 Manhattan Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11222 (b/n India/Huron streets; map)

A Novel Way to Deliver Pizza in Paris

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:45:02 -0500

From the New York Times comes word of this charming-bordering-on-twee way of getting pizza delivery in Paris:

By the water, there is a small pink dot of a helium balloon, bobbing in the intermittent breeze. The balloon is key. It was given to you by Pink Flamingo, a pizza parlor down the nearby Rue Bichat, whose bicycle deliveryman will use it as a beacon to locate you and present the five pies you've ordered (10.50 to 16 euros each). They're not all for you, of course—you've got friends to help eat the pizza and drink the four bottles of red wine (40 euros) you picked up from Le Verre Volé, a wine bar across the canal.

Maybe some enterprising pizzeria will set this up in NYC.

The place in question apparently has "quirky toppings": goat cheese and sliced duck breast, and an "Obama" pizza with bacon and pineapple.

Pink Flamingo

67 Rue Bichat, Paris, France 75010 (map)
33/01-42-02-31-70; pinkflamingopizza.com

Dear Slice: 'What Does Pizza Cost in Rome?'

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 12:45:25 -0500

Clicking in to the Slice inbox today, we've got, um, a question I can't answer because I've never been to Rome. Anyone out there wanna chime in? —The Mgmt.

Hello,
What does a pizza cost in rome? I need a little help/direction before I can start. Any nuggets of wisdom would be absolutely great and very much appreciated. Please help. Thank you for your help.
Warmest Regards,
Janet

------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Janet,

It would help if you told us why you're asking. Is this for budgeting ahead of a trip to Rome? Is it just for research?

Pizza was originally a peasant food—a flatbread topped with whatever was on hand. As such, it's been my experience that it's relatively affordable wherever I've traveled. I haven't been to Rome, so I can't speak for price there, but I'd imagine it's not going to break the bank.

Additionally, from what I understand, Roman pizza is often baked in long rectangular strips and you can simply order as much of the pie as you want. In that case, I've heard it's priced by length. So determining a price depends on how much you'd order.

Anyway, there are people reading this with much more knowledge than I have. Maybe someone else can chime in.

Hasta la pizza,
Adam

Is It a 'Plain' Slice, a 'Regular' Slice, or Something Else Entirely?

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:45:00 -0500

I received this interesting query a couple weeks ago and thought I'd share it with you. It involves word nerdery, which is a small interest of mine. Also—sorry for the slowness here this week. I've been on vacation this week. I'm in Wildwood, New Jersey. Haven't eaten much pizza—just did Sam's Pizza a couple times. OK. Back to the show. —The Mgmt.

From Sabella Pizza in Park Slope.

Adam,
Barry Popik (barrypopik.com) referred me to you after I sent him this inquiry:

> Any sense of what the more common [term] is in the NYC area to describe a slice of pizza with no toppings (other than cheese): a "regular" slice or a "plain" slice? I checked the 4 relevant take-out menus I have, and saw two uses of each.

Mr. Popik's replied:

> PLAIN SLICE + PIZZA--13,300 Google hits
> REGULAR SLICE + PIZZA--7.060 Google hits
> CHEESE SLICE + PIZZA--25,200 Google hits
> PLAIN SLICE + PIZZA + BROOKLYN--710 Google hits
> REGULAR SLICE + PIZZA + BROOKLYN--864 Google hits
> CHEESE SLICE + PIZZA + BROOKLYN--1,101 Google hits
> ...
> I haven't studied this. Maybe you should ask the guy at the "Slice" pizza blog (slice.seriouseats.com).
> ...
> "Slice" (or "cheese slice") implies a plain/regular slice. That's what most people say.
> ...
> I prefer saying "plain" over "regular" -- "regular" is for the size of a pizza pie (regular, large, extra large). However, many restaurants use the word "regular" instead of "plain" because "plain" sounds drab for a slice. For a whole pie, "Pizza Margherita" is substituted for "plain pie."

Note: I thought I was leaning towards "plain slice" -- but now, after thinking too much, I'm not sure.

Any thoughts appreciated -- because, surely, this is important stuff.

—David D.
Williamsburg, Bkln

From the original Ray's Pizza at 27 Prince Street in Manhattan.

------------------------------------------------------------
Dear David,

Interesting question. I've only lived here in NYC since 2000, but I picked up "plain slice" pretty soon after moving here.

Definitely not "cheese slice," as I think Barry's dead on—"plain slice" or "regular slice" or just plain "slice" implies crust-sauce-cheese.

I've never thought about "regular" as a modifier for the size of the pizza. I've heard it used most often when someone is ordering a square (Sicilian) slice and *then* a "regular" triangular-shaped slice—most often at places that are renown for squares:

"Yeah, lemme get two a those squares—corners—and ... a couple regular slices."

In that case, the "regular" refers to the round pie—the more commonly consumed type—and the assumption is that those "regular" slices are "plain slices."

If you will allow me further musings on language in ordering food in New York City, I've noticed that native New Yorkers often use the phrase "Lemme get XYZ."

Granted, I never really paid attention to ordering lingo while growing up in Kansas City or when I lived in the Northwest for a few years, but I had always learned to use phrases that were a bit more soft—"Yes, I'd like XYZ, please." Then again, I also use "Could I get XYZ"—but even that is a bit softer than "Lemme get...."

David, may I ask why you're researching this? Are you writing something about it or just curious?

If you'd like additional insight, with your permission I'd like to publish your query on Slice as a "Dear Slice" letter. Maybe the pizza gallery would have something interesting to say. But if you're working on some sort of article on it, I can sit on it.

Hasta la pizza,
Adam
------------------------------------------------------------

From Tomato & Basil in Park Slope.

Hi again, Adam,

I beg your pardon for this very belated reply!

Not research for a book, rather a blog about rhyming-nyc-things, including lots of NY food items...

Wasn't sure it would happen, but it just went up: http://NYCRhymology.com ...and I just posted "plain slice/Italian ice" and thought of you.

Myself, I'm also a "plain slice" guy, which is why I used that term in my post. But please feel free to inquire further to see what folks say. (For the purposes of my blog, I do rather care what is the more common usage.)

Also, I totally agree re: that expression "lemme get a" that NY'ers (and now I) use in stores... I have occasionally found myself using that expression when I'm home in my native St Louis, MO and it always sounds harsh!

(But I reckon a lot of my Missouri-flavored utterances sound quaint to NY'ers... e.g., an African cabbie once scolded me for calling him "sir"--he seemed to think it was a *colonial* thing! -- not that that will stop me from saying "yes ma'am", "yes sir", "please" and "thank you" like my parents taught me to do!)

Best wishes & thanks for the reply--as I said, pardon the delay, wasn't sure I had a reason to be asking my pizza question!

—David D.

La Casa Pizzaria: Tangy Goodness in Omaha

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:00:00 -0500

Serious Eats contributor Daniel Zemans, our man in Chicago, checks in with another piece of intel from the road, this time in Omaha. —The Mgmt.

La Casa Pizzaria

4432 Leavenworth, Omaha, NE 68105 (map); 402-556-6464‎; lacasapizzaria.net
Pizza Style: Thin crust rectangular pies with buttery crust are the norm; double-crust pies also available
Oven Type: Gas
The Skinny: Half-century old Omaha institution offers a unique, very good pizza
Price: Large (10” x 15”) with two toppings, $15.14

I have some important advice for anyone planning on taking a trip to the College World Series: Wear purple. When LSU is in the CWS (which is pretty much every year these days), hundreds of Louisianans make the 1000+ mile drive to Omaha, Nebraska, to cheer on their favorite baseball team. While flying might be easier, cars are required to bring along the stunning amount of food and cooking supplies that go into what must be some of the more impressive tailgating on the planet. And that brings me back to the "wear purple" suggestion: The people who bring the food may not speak a version of English that most Americans can understand, but they are happy to share their food with anyone and everyone who is there to support LSU baseball.

Since all my purple clothes were still in Chicago, I had to find some other dining options while in Omaha over the weekend. In that quest, I encountered a couple of misses, but La Casa Pizzaria was a definite hit. The Omaha institution has been serving up unique pies since Joe Patane opened the place in 1953.

Since then, they have expanded their original location, which I went to, and they have added a second restaurant.

When I called to order my pizza, I told the person who answered the phone I had never been to La Casa before and asked for his recommendation. He suggested their version of a Margherita, which consists of their thin crust brushed with garlic olive oil, topped with homemade tomato sauce, diced Roma tomatoes, fresh basil, oregano, mozzarella, and a touch of Romano cheese. I said that sounded good and that I would like that, but with sausage as well. Unfortunately for me, La Casa has a policy of not allowing any additions to their specialty pizzas. I would not budge on my need to try the sausage, so I opted for a regular thin crust pizza with sausage and mushroom.

He asked if I wanted Romano, mozzarella, or both and I opted for the mixture. It turns out that when La Casa was founded, the only cheese available was Romano and it remains the default cheese there to this day. I thought that all Romano might be a little overwhelming so I went with the blend. I'm not sure whether the all-Romano topped pie would have been too much, but I do know that the mozzarella/Romano mixture was excellent. The mozzarella provided the creaminess and the Romano provided just the right amount of tanginess to make a thoroughly enjoyable cheese topping.

The homemade sauce was evident in each bite, but did not provide much flavor other than a good, basic tomato taste. Fortunately, the salt in the Romano cheese helped make up for the lack of seasoning in the sauce. The sausage was also on the bland side, although it was still very good. It seemed fresh, was well-represented on the pie, and added a nice amount of chew and fat to the pizza. The mushrooms were fresh, but were not sufficiently numerous to make much of a difference.

The crust had a good amount of butter in it and that will never get a complaint from me. The cracker-thin bottom crust was crisp, but came across as much more chewy thanks to the thicker layer of cheese. It was very good, but not nearly as good as the cornicione, which was incredibly crisp and flaky and had nice hole structure. The buttery, crispy cornicione, when eaten with a little of the tangy blended cheese mixture, tasted like fresh cheese twists, something I can't remember ever experiencing in my pizza-eating life.

Was my La Casa pizza better than the pot of gumbo I saw some LSU fans making that was so big an oar was needed to stir it? Perhaps not, but this was some very good pizza that I would be more than happy to eat regularly.

Leftovers: The Day's Stray Links

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:55:00 -0500

Pizza Hut: I think I mentioned it on Slice in passing last week, but Pizza Hut is trying to rebrand itself as "The Hut." New logo treatment above. They really should fix the fact that the roof looks like a hat. [idsgn] Correction: It's only being used in some marketing efforts.
The Hut: "The Hut" debuts value menu. [NRN]
KC > St. Louis Style: A visit to two Provel-cheese-hawkin' pizza spots in the KC Metro area. [KC Lunch Spots, via Fat City]
NYC > Keste vs. Luzzo's: Which is better? [SE Talk]
NYC > Robert Sietsema's 10 Best Pizzas: Totonno's, Di Fara, John's, Denino's, Grimaldi's, Patsy's, Lombardi's, Roberta's, Motorino, LaVilla. Go debate! [VV]
NYC > Vegetarian Delight: The jalapeño pie from Famous Pizza in Elmhurst (which also has an East Village location) is an individual pie that caters to Indian vegetarians. [VV]
NYC > Brooklyn > Greenmarket Pizza: Made-on-the-spot seasonal pizzas at the Borough Hall Greenmarket this Saturday. [Dave's Kitchen]
Philadelphia > Stephen Starr: Restaurateur does more pizza-eating research for upcoming Philly pizzeria. [Illadelph]
SF > Openings: Escape from NY Pizza opens in the Mission. [ESF]

Pizza T-Shirt: The Edible Pie Chart

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:00:00 -0500

"Pizza: The Edible Pie Chart," $15, from TypeTees.com

Openings: Zimari Pizza, Another Dollar-Slice Joint

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:30:00 -0500

Another opening for you. Grub Street reports that Zimari Pizza is open (as of last week) and serving $1 slices, $8 pies. Cheese only for now. Zimari Pizza: 31st Street b/n Park and Lexington avenues

Openings: Iggy's Pizzeria to Replace Five Roses in East Village

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:00:18 -0500

eater.com

Eater confirms earlier rumors that the space that used to house Five Roses Pizza is indeed going to become another pizzeria—Iggy's. Five Roses, the beloved East Village joint that often made best-of pizza lists, was pushed out of the storefront on First Avenue in late November 2008 due to a rent increase. Eater assumes "they have a killer business plan, as sources who have eyed the space over the last year tell us the landlord was asking for an exorbitant rent," but, who knows, maybe the crap market forced the owner to take a lower price.

Iggy's Pizzeria: 173 First Avenue, New York NY (10th/11th streets; map)

Leftovers: The Day's Stray Links

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:15:04 -0500

Self-Referential Pizza Formula: A pizza with the radius z and thickness a has the volume pi*z*z*a.. [I'm Bored]
(Try to) Make Mozza at Home: Nancy Silverton, Matt Molina working on a Mozza cookbook; to include Mozza pizza dough recipe. [LAW]
Recipe > Pizza Wontons: This snack sounds trashily good. [Boston Globe]
Keep Dreaming: The opposite of an ideal pizza delivery. [Pizza Delivery Stories]
Operation Pizza Surge: Pizza for Patriots sends 28,000 pies to tropps in Iraq and Afghanistan for July 4. [abc7chicago.com]
Hero to Zero: Delivery driver who helped save kidnapped woman arrested for alleged domestic abuse. [AJC]
Rethinking Pizza: How 'bout a doughnut-crust pizza? [worstpizza.com]

After the jump, what's going on with pizza lately across the U.S.

Boston > Upper Crust: The branch in West Roxbury almost requires earplugs if you're to enjoy the crisp, extremely thin–crust pizza there. [Universal Hub]
Chicago > La Gondola: The Chicago Pizza Club invades this pizzeria in a Lincoln Park strip mall, gives it 7.3 out of 10. [CPC]
LA > All'Angelo: S. Irene Virbila finds the grilled pizzas here "really delicious ... the crust thin and crisp." [LAT]
LA > Whole Foods: Vegan pizza now available. [VFALILA]
LA > Yammy Pizza: No, not Yummy Pizza. Yammy. JAB reviews this Sunset Boulevard newcomer. [LA Pizza]
NYC > Openings: Valducci's pizza truck coming to Chelsea near 24th Street and Broadway. [NYM]
NYC > Tonda: I Dream of Pizza visits East Village's Tonda, declares it "average," says highlight of the meal was dessert. [IDOP]
SF > Openings: Pi Bar setting up shop in the Mission. [vegansaurus!]

Naples Comes to Seattle

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:00:07 -0500

The inaugural Neapolitan Pizza Forum will be held in Seattle June 24–29.

Why Seattle, you ask? Well, there are several similarities between Naples and Seattle that make this city an ideal choice for VPN Americas' initial pizza convention.

First of all, the skylines of both cities include a magnificent yet ominous volcano looming in the distance (Mount Vesuvius and Mount Rainier, respectively). Another shared geographical feature is that both of these busy ports are anchored in a magnificent bay.

But from a culinary perspective, both Naples and Seattle are world-renowned for their inspired coffee and seafood, and most important, the Emerald City just happens to have the most VPN-certified pizzerias in the United States.

The weeklong pizza convention, hosted by VPN Americas president and owner of California's Antica Pizzeria, Peppe Mielé, will include seminars, discussions, and demonstrations by the various VPN members. All events are free and open to the public.

For information as to the times and locations of these activities, check the VPN website: verapizzanapoletana.org.

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