See Pizza, Eat Pizza

Unlike my Saturday pizza tour with Scott Wiener, my visit to Una Pizza Napoletana (UPN from now on) wasn’t about finding delicious pizza off the beaten path. Countless articles have been written about Anthony Mangieri, UPN’s owner and only pizzaiolo. His dedication to preparing original Neapolitan style pizzas by hand has won him legions of fans. You need only read Ed Levine’s glowing chapter from Pizza: a Slice of Heaven to know what Mangieri’s pizza dedication means to pizza faithful.

Knowing how well-revered UPN was, I knew I had to mark it off my list of “must try” places sooner than later. From what I read, I thought there was a pretty good chance the wait for pizza would be shorter if I flew solo. This turned out to be good planning because the restaurant was, in fact, full. Because I was alone, they were able to squeeze me in to an akward table in the back which really only worked for one. No table wait for me.

UPN’s menu offers only four choices. No additional toppings are available. No substitutions are allowed.

• Marinara: San Marzano tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, oregano, fresh garlic, fresh basil, sea salt.
• Margherita: San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella di bufala, extra-virgin olive oil, fresh basil, sea salt.
• Bianca: Mozzarella di bufala, extra virgin olive oil, fresh garlic, fresh basil, sea salt.
• Filetti: Fresh cherry tomatoes, mozzarella di bufala, fresh garlic, extra virgin olive oil, fresh basil, sea salt.

Pizzas are served uncut, which is apparently the way pies were served back in the day (the slice, after all, is a NYC invention). Pizzas were originally considered a one-person dish and are treated as such at UPN. You are welcome to share, but it is up to you to pick up your knife and divide the pizza as you see fit.

On this occasion, I had no reason to complain about the pizza-for-one philosophy UPN employs. They brought the margherita first, I cut myself a triangular hunk from the pie (if only we could think of a catchy name for that) and took a bite. Pretty tasty stuff.

UPN employs a crust that is light and airy, but still with a nice chew. The sauce and cheese were working in concert and ingredient proportions were expertly balanced. I loved the basil as well, but what really set this pie over the top for me was the sea salt. Used sparingly, it accented all the right spots and really brought the whole pie to life. If absent, I simply cannot imagine I would have enjoyed UPN as much.

The bianca was delicious as well (I actually can’t decide which I liked better). Again, ingredients were in perfect proportion and the sea salt was rocking the Casbah. Because tomato sauce is left off, the olive oil is really given some room to strut its stuff. This is definitely to be encouraged as it is fine stuff, indeed.

My site is young and UPN has presented an interesting quandary to me. If you read the above paragraphs, you can probably guess that I believe this pie deserves high marks. What’s the hold up, you ask?

1. Una Pizza charges $20+ per 12″ pie. Yes, it’s delicious, but that is very expensive for a pizza so small. Pizzeria Bianco (yes, I know they don’t have UPNs rent) charges $11 for a margherita and $14 for a pie loaded homemade sausage and onion.
    
2. Neapolitan pizzas often cook fast - 1-3 minutes fast. My first pizza came FORTY minutes after I ordered. My second pizza took about as long (as in - another forty minutes). When all was said and done, I spent an hour forty minutes dining at UPN (from being seated to receiving the check). This would have been fine if they had asked me if I’d like another beer (even once!). Or they had brought me some water. Or I was with 14 people and we were having a good old time. But they didn’t - and I wasn’t. Frustrating.

Ultimately, I’ve decided that I want my ratings to be about pizza. I’ll make sure to tell you about service problems or other issues I encounter, but the following is based solely on the goods they be putting in front of me:

Rating: 4 slices

Una Pizza Napoletana
349 East 12th Street
New York, NY
(212) 477-9950

On Saturday, I joined Scott Wiener on a trip to Staten Island in search of pizza awesomeness. This would mark my third trip to Staten Island for pizza (I had previously visited the scrumptious Joe & Pat’s twice), but my first with such a knowledgeable guide. Scott has an unquestionable love of pizza. In fact, he loves pizza so much that he’s made it his profession to spread the love to others via his new pizza touring company, Scott’s Pizza Tours (I’m scheduled for the maiden voyage, this Sunday).

Now, I don’t need much of an excuse to take a pizza tour anywhere - but, I certainly wasn’t about to pass up the chance to ride along 1-on-1 with a licensed NYC tour guide and supreme (Pizza Hut Pun alert) pizza enthusiast. Scott picked me up Saturday morning and said he had three locations planned. The weather was fantastic, the tunes were cranked and hopes were high.

Did Staten Island deliver? »

Friday night, I went to see Paul Simon perform at BAM. It was a great show, but that’s a review for some other place (after all, this is a site about pizza). I decided that if I was going to schlepp all the way to Brooklyn (it takes 2 trains totaling about 50 minutes in rush hour) I needed to go all-out and get some delicious pizza.

I had been to Luzzo’s once prior to this visit and it didn’t impress me. In fact, we had a sausage pie and the sausage tasted strangely similar to feet. Normally, that would have been enough to ensure I never returned to any dining establishment. Luzzo’s, however, is a trusted pizza friend’s favorite Manhattan spot. I thought it odd that our opinions were so opposite, so I decided I was willing to give it another try.

I sat down and ordered a 12″ bufala. At $16, one would expect a seriously tasty pie. Several minutes after ordering, the waiter placed a fantastic looking pie on my table. The crust has the right amount of coal-burning oven char spots and the mozz was just starting to brown. My mouth immediately put it’s salivation division into action.

I lifted a slice to my mouth, took a big bite and felt my hopes for Luzzo’s redemption dashed instantly. Yes, the crust sported a nice chew and the mozz had that creamy, scrumptious flavor I desire. But, all that goodness is seriously impeded by an almost bitter sauce. Not only does the sauce not gel with the other ingredients, but it overshadowed them altogether with it’s un-deliciousness (look it up, braniac). The outer crust was also overly dry and tasted like nothing but char. Not yum.

Luzzo’s has a tremendous reputation and a big following, but I’m not sure why. The East Village has plenty of other pizza places (Una Pizza Napoletana, Artichoke and Vinny Vincenz come to mind) that I’ll be visiting soon enough and I’d be willing to wager that I’ll find better pizza right around the corner.

Rating: 2 slices

Luzzo’s
211 1st Avenue (between 12th St & 13th St)
New York, NY
(212) 473-7447