Posts Tagged ‘pizza’

Fried at Forcella

Filed Under: Restauranton October 26th, 2011

I had the chance to preview Forcella, on the Bowery, Monday night to taste Neapolitan style pizzas.

The celebrated Italian pizzaiolo Giulio Adriani, opened the hyped Olio Pizza in Greenwich Village last year (also a favorite of mine) and the Williamsburg Forcella last summer. Now we have one somewhat in between, at 334 Bowery.

The signature pizza, the one getting hipster’s panties in a twist over in Billyburg, is the Montanara ($10), a fried pizza. First the chef lightly fries the dough until bubbly. Next homemade tomato sauce and homemade mozzarella are added, and the pizza is finished in a classic wooden oven. It’s rumored that even in Naples, only two or three places use this technique.

The texture is doughier and lighter. Ironic, considering it’s fried. Think airy calzone.

Other favorites include the Decumnai ($16) with homemade mozzarella, truffle oil, arugula and an assortment of salads and antipasti. Don’t miss Fiore di Zuccs (fried zucchini blossoms, $2.50 each), Arancino (risotto balls, $3 each) and the Sorrento ($9) and Amalfi ($8) salads to save your stomach from a fried-coma.

Chandeliers juxtapose the casual tables and place settings. Perfect meal for a Friday or Saturday night with friends before heading to LES or EV.

Photos compliments of Korinne Munson.

Tags: Bowery, Forcella, Neapolitan Pizza, Olio, pizza
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Best Pizza in NYC

Filed Under: New York City, Restauranton January 31st, 2011

That’s a bold statement. New York is known for many gastronomic achievements, the bagel, the Manhattan, and of course, pizza. Even if pizza wasn’t first discovered here, this is surely where it was perfected. Some credit it to NYC water, the abundance of Italian Americans, or just sheer love for the stuff.

My favorite is Arturo’s on the corner of Thompson and Houston Streets. There is simply nothing better than the coal oven pizza made at this place. Arturo’s makes the best combination of being crispy enough (no Neapolitan pizza here) and being thin yet thick enough to hold one of the best sauces in the city.

Toppings are preference based but in my opinion the eggplant is phenomenal. On Saturday nights they have live music, generally a crooner and piano player, very old school, just like their pizza … both art forms are not to be messed with.

Now, nothing says New York more than that, right?

Tags: Arturo's, pizza
Posted in New York City, Restaurant | Comments Off

Favorite Winter Pizza

Filed Under: From the Kitchen, Recipeson January 20th, 2011

Pizza is my comfort food, obviously you get that drift from MYOP night and my obsession with making pizza dough when I’m stressed. One of my favorite pizzas is a sauteed onion, pear, gorgonzola, and balsamic pizza. After tweeting about it all afternoon, I was begged for pictures, so here are the picture and the recipe. I used whole wheat pizza dough from Trader Joe’s, not the best … mine is better, but hell for 99 cents what’s the harm?

Sauteed Onion, Pear, Gorgonzola and Balsamic Pizza

Pizza dough
1 onion
gorgonzola cheese
one pear (any kind)
salt and pepper
balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Use a pizza stone if you have one, if you don’t (I don’t!) no worries.

Thinly slice onion and saute in olive oil (or butter, because that’s all I had on hand) on low heat until onion is translucent and has shrunken. Salt and pepper onion. Meanwhile shape your pizza into whatever shape you choose and thinly slice pear. Shape dough and layer with onions, pears, and cheese.

Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until crust is browned and cheese is bubbling. Drizzle balsamic vinegar and top with arugula before serving.

Mangia, mangia!

Tags: pizza, Recipes, Sauteed Onion Pear Gorgonzola Pizza
Posted in From the Kitchen, Recipes | Comments Off

Summer Grilling

Filed Under: Lifeon June 28th, 2010

In my opinion, summer is the best time to eat. Everything is fresh, the air is warm, and there’s nothing like cooking outside. People seem happier when the weather gets warmer and I’m no exception. Barefoot grillers, cold beers, night sky, and tons of camaraderie, who doesn’t like it?

Grilling, in my opinion is sometimes a little too overexposed. Everyone and their mother becomes enamored with the mystique of grilling the second Memorial Day arrives. I would grill in the winter, the fall, the summer, you name it, and not because it’s the “it” way, but because, let’s face it, it’s tastes SO GOOD!

I’m not a hunter, but I imagine it must feel similar to shooting your own game, cooking, and eating it. Or catching a fish … Grilling takes us back to almost a primordial period of time. Connecting us to the outdoors. Okay, I’m being a little dramatic … I mean I just said there was a “mystique” around grilling, so I guess there is some room for over-exaggeration …

One of my favorite things to do is grill pizza. Sometimes I top a grilled dough with grilled steak, done minutes prior on the same cooking surface, sometime I go sans meat, with tomatoes and basil.

Simple, summer, satisfying. This is a creation my Dad and I made last week. It has steak, caramelized onions, blue cheese, and balsamic vinegar.

In honor of Meatless Mondays, try something vegetarian, using your grill for more than just meat? Well, that’s a new spin on an old summer standby.

Tags: grilling, pizza, summer
Posted in Life | 2 Comments »

Happy Olympics

Filed Under: French Culinary Institute, New York City, Restauranton February 26th, 2010

Like everyone else, my teacher was caught up in Olympic frenzy and themed our 2-cake cake stand, “Vancouver 2010.” So after a week of pouring, pulling, and blowing sugar, when our hands were just blistered enough to weather ONE more project, we completed our sugar unit with these stands.

We were all incredibly bitchy. Who knows whether it was because it was our last day, because the project was challenging, or because as we pulled and blew fake Olympic sugar, the snowflakes of New York’s latest storm were gusting down hard – with absolutely NO chance of an earlier dismissal or cancelled class.

To release the stress of the day, (although I have to say that all our stand are really impressive considering we’ve only been working with sugar for SIX DAYS!), my friend Vanessa and I headed out into the winter wonderland to chase some pizza.

Pizza recently has gotten the press that burgers were getting last spring and this fall. In a city where there’s a pizza place on every corner, what makes something better than another? Is it the cheese? Nah, all cheese taste good. Is it the dough? Debatably. Is it the sauce? Possibly. Or is it just the flavor combination?

For me, it’s a little bit of all of them, with the focus on dough and sauce. As I kneaded my own dough the other day without as much success as I’d liked, I wanted so good pizza. We headed to Co., the west side artisanal pizza joint that just barely lost to Mortorino’s infamous spot in this year’s food buzz.

This pizza was PHENOMENAL. Out of this world. Vanessa is a food snob – more so than me – but not in a bad way. She just knows A LOT, and knows what she likes. So when her and I can both walk into a restaurant, whether it be for burger and beers or an eight-course tasting menu, and love everything about a pizza pie … that says a lot.

The Stracciatella Pizza was beyond. Beyond, beyond.

That, and we spent the entire next day drooling over it, thinking about it, and making plans to go back … that very day. And although we didn’t go, I’m sure there wouldn’t have been a moment of hesitation if I had said to her, “Wana go back when we get out of school?”

pizza

Hope everyone can learn to relax this lazy Friday, enjoy the snow, and embrace what winter is about. I know we’re all sick of it, but life’s too short, enjoy the day … and the snow! Maybe your nearest artisanal pizza place will still be delivering, worth a short right?

Tags: Co., pizza, sugar work
Posted in French Culinary Institute, New York City, Restaurant | 3 Comments »

Hump Day

Filed Under: French Culinary Instituteon February 24th, 2010

The pizza dough was crunchy … a little dry I’m guessing, maybe too much flour? Edible, I mean come on it’s pizza, how are bread and cheese “bad,” but not my best. I’m going to test a couple more recipes over the next couple of weeks and keep you posted on the results. I will find one!