Rocco's Pizzeria in Bay Ridge is hosting a pizza eating contest today and owner Joe Loccisano is starting some beef with Nathan's according to the New York Daily News:
Two Brooklyn neighborhoods are locked in a war that could rightly be described as the battle of the bulge. For decades, Coney Island has been the belly of the beast for competitive chomping, thanks to the internationally famous hot dog-eating contest.
Now a relative newcomer is trying to steal the spotlight - a pizza pigout that claims to be more authentically Brooklyn than Nathan's.
"Brooklyn is pizza, and it always will be pizza. Hot dogs maybe have a lot of ingredients, but there's no Brooklyn in a hot dog," said Joe Loccisano of Rocco's Pizzeria in Bay Ridge, which is hosting Sunday's event. [Read more]
In celebration of its 50th anniversary Rizzo's (30-13 Steinway Street), a pizza place in Astoria, has been offering various 50 cent specials over the past few months. Today, swing by for 50 cent sicilian square slices. Two slices per customer. In-store only.
Last weekend, I headed out to Gowanus with some friends to check out PARKED -- a food festival in BKLYN YARD featuring some of the boroughs most beloved food trucks including the Community Juice Truck, Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream, huaraches from Red Hook vendor Margarita, and my personal favorite: Pizza Moto!
I'd read a lot about Pizza Moto and I was excited to hear that they were going to be at PARKED. A New York Times article from Novermber 2008 (Pizza From Scratch: First, Get Bricks and a Trailer) initiated my intrigue about pizza on wheels. The article reads:
Dave Sclarow, has been spotted in recent weeks at the Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene, toting a homemade brick-and-concrete oven mounted on a boat trailer. It’s a crude, lumpy, fire-blackened machine for a crude, lumpy, fire-blackened product: piping hot hand-size brick-oven pizzas.
I arrived at Parked around 12:30, shortly after gates opened. There were only about 10 people in line for pizza so I joined them as Sclarow worked on firing up the brick oven. This turned out to be a good move, as by mid-day the lined stretched to 50 people.
They were serving three pies: a Marghareita pie ($8.00), an Artichoke pie ($11.00), and a Ramp pie ($11.00). All three looked delicious, but I decided to get the Marghareita since this was my first Pizza Moto experience.
Before I talk about the pizza, I have to mention the oven. It's literally a giant oven on the back of a truck. A few logs were thrown in and once the fire was up and running, pizzas started being tossed in a few at a time. Sclarow manned the oven while one lady made the pies and another man took orders, collected money, and garnished every pie with cheese and olive oil. The oven temperature rose to a whopping 800 degrees according to the dial on the side on an already muggy spring afternoon.
The pizza was delicious. Very delicious. But it left me wanting more. For $8.00/$11.00, it wouldn't hurt Pizza Moto to step it up a bit and increase the size of their pies. I could have easily eaten a whole other pie and ended up devouring mine in a about a minute (okay, maybe a tad longer, but only because I was trying to savor every bite). I'd even be willing to pay more money for a larger pie, but a pizza should not leave you feeling satisfied, yet unfilled. I'd increase the diameter by 3 inches and hike up the price $3. Problem solved!
The Greatness of Pizza is not unknown to Man. The drama of sinking one's teeth into gooey, melted cheese and a deliciously crisp crust is familiar to all. But pizza is not "just a pie", it's a way of life!
Join 3rd Ward for a night of eating, drinking, dough tossing and Pizza! The Movie. Stand by as The U.S. Pizza Team heads to the The World Pizza Championship in Italy, revel at dough tossing acrobatics, and gasp at pizza sabotage! Filmmaker Michael Dorian captures the laughs, the cries and the scandals that surround this provocative source of pleasure and nourishment.
Spend the night celebrating your favorite food with a documentary, drinks, djs and of course, pizza! RSVP events@3rdward.com
A pizza with a hot dog wrapped in bacon pigs in a blanket crust. The center is filled with italian sausage, ham, bacon, bacon bits, sliced tomato, mushroom, onion, peppers, garlic chips, basil, black pepper and tomato sauce. It can also be flavored with maple syrup and ketchup.
My goal is always to update this site every single day, but I've been slacking a bit with the holiday weekend and the general start of summer craziness!
Anyhow, as someone who eats pizza almost every day, there might be some good news for me. According to an article from The New York Times, it's very possible to make pizza... well... healthy.
Pizza is many things to many people, but one thing it usually is not: healthy. I blame chain-store pizza and their thick, doughy crusts, usually loaded with cheese even before the extras like pepperoni and sausage are added.
But in any pizzeria in Rome or Naples, you’ll find a dizzying array of offerings that really are healthy. The crusts are thin, often topped with seasonal vegetables, and the slices are reasonably sized. There may be cheese on top, but not more than a few ounces. [READ MORE]
Urban Daddy reports that the wine bar formerly known as Solex is getting a new secret weapon: pizza.
The familiar wavy ceilings and deco trappings will now be sharing space with checkered tables, fresh slices and the occasional semi-soused pepperoni-seeker with a taste for malbec.
Swing by Monday when Veloce Pizzeria opens at 103 First Ave (S. of 7th St)
GQ Magazine has named the top 25 pizzas in America and five places from New York City made the list -- not surprisingly, this was more than any other city. Although we can't believe Di Fara didn't make the cut, here are Alan Richman's favorite NYC pies:
2. Brooklyn: Lucali - Plain Pie 8. New York City: Co. - Margherita 10. Brooklyn: Totonno's - Margherita With Pepperoni 20. New York City: Famous Joes - Slice 25. New York City: Una Pizza Napoletana - Margherita
Ever thought of ordering a pizza from one pizzeria to be delivered to you while you were at another pizzeria? Probably not. But that's exactly what these guys did. Check out the hilarious video below:
Having spent a significant amount of time in both Spain and Italy, I have to say that one of the countries has a slight edge in quality of their pizza. As a proud American, it makes me happy to hear that a famous Spanish chef has landed in Italy in hopes of learning more about how to make a great pizza. The Italians, however, think differently.
Ferran Adrià, the internationally acclaimed chef whose El Bulli in Spain is revered as the world's premier outpost of gastronomic inventiveness, has ventured to Italy to learn a more humble art, pizza making. And perhaps not surprisingly, some Italians have a problem with that. [Read More]
DiGiorno was kind enough to send me samples of some new products and I thought this would be a good excuse to gather some of my pizza-loving coworkers for a little pizza party.
Let me start off by saying that I love good pizza. There is no way that you can compare DiGiorno to Di Fara or Grimaldi’s. They shouldn’t be discussed together. DiGiorno is incredibly tasty for what it is… frozen pizza. It’s very possible that it could be the best frozen pizza in the world (since I don’t typically eat frozen pizza I can’t really make that declaration). But when all is said and done, it’s also very possible that the pizza place around the corner from you serves up more delectable slices. That’s not to say I wasn’t completely satisfied with my DiGiorno experience.
We started out with a Chicken Parmesan Flatbread Melt (note: flatbread melt is just a fancy word for pizza folded in half), which was quite tasty...
... as was the Steak and Fire Roasted Vegetable Flatbread Melt which we ate next.
However people’s favorite dish seemed to be the Pepperoni And Fire Roasted Bell Pepper Pizza. With a suggested retail price of $6.89 it’s cheaper than a pie from Domino’s and more convenient if it is, in fact, in your freezer.
As one of my coworkers pointed out, living in New York City, where there are 24-hour pizza places on every block, it doesn’t really make sense to buy DiGiorno. But if I lived in the suburbs and the closest pizza place was 10 miles away and closed at 11PM, I’d certainly keep some DiGiorno products stocked in my fridge. It’s just as tasty, if not better than Papa John’s or Pizza Hut (some coworkers disagree).
Personally, I think Trader Joe’s frozen pizzas are a step up from DiGiorno and slightly cheaper. Nevertheless – pizza is pizza. If you’re hungry, drunk or in a number of other states, it’s going to taste pretty good no matter what. With a catchy tag line, easy to read instructions, and some great marketing, DiGiorno has distinguished themselves from other frozen pizza brands. They’ve built a name for themselves and for that they deserve a lot of credit.
Last week, I was reading in The New York Times that Kraft (which owns DiGirno) has seen a 10% rise in its profit – a significant jump given the economic climate. The article reads: Sales of convenient meals in the United States rose 8.2 percent, driven by sales of DiGiorno frozen pizza and Oscar Mayer meats.
So it seems the people behind the pizza know what they’re doing. After all, it’s not delivery… it’s DiGirono.
I know this isn't really groundbreaking news (unlike, say, Swine Flu outbreaks), but it was reported last month that Totonno's pizzeria in Coney Island will be reopening soon. This is great news! As you might remember, a fire forced this legendary pizza place to close earlier this year (Fire Shuts Totonno’s, Legendary Coney Island Pizzeria).
I guess this might also be a good time to mention that at the 2009 James Beard Awards which took place last week, Totonno's was one of five national restaurants named "America’s Classics." This is one of the most prestegious award ceremony in the food industry. Congrats!
Birdbath Bakery, supposedly the city's first "green" bakery (made of recycled materials, etc.) has come up with a pizza based, not on the usual yeast- or sourdough-risen crust, but with a flaky puff pastry crust. The crust renders brittle and oily, and tastes fantastic. The pizza shown below ($5) is flooded with good mozzarella and nicely herbed, and the flavor is rich enough that one small pie is enough. A spinach and goat cheese version is also available.
Last week, I went to THE REDHEAD for a highly anticipated (and long overdue) dinner with the Schers. We had a number of awesome dishes including their signature buttermilk fried chicken, but it was one of the appetizers that truly blew my mind: WILD MUSHROOM FLATBREAD.
Which leads me to ask -- what exactly is the difference between flatbread and pizza? This dish tasted exactly like pizza... not to mention one of the most delicious pieces of pizza I've ever eaten. Made of mascarpone, parmigiano reggiano, and thyme, this little slice of heaven left me wanting more. Especially split three ways, it was a tease.
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Dear The Redhead,
You must make this an entree immediately. I don't know what kind of crack you sprinkled this with, but even a week later I can't stop thinking about every savory bite. The photos don't do it justice. It's like looking at a photo of a hot ex-girlfriend... once attainable but now just out of reach. Oh and it doesn't help that you're only a block from my house, WILD MUSHROOM FLATBREAD.
Hope to see you soon, baby.
Love,
Jason
And while you're salivating... and planning your trip to THE REDHEAD, I should also mention they had some amazing mint oreo ice cream cake concotion for dessert which was also delicious. Try it... Now!
Snapple is giving away free pizza lunches at different NYC pizzerias this week to the first 500 people who show up at each of the following locations starting at 10:30 a.m. each morning.
Motorino's 24-seat outdoor area is now open... just in time for a rain filled weekend! Considering some of the lines we've seen there, this will cut down on waits over the summer increasing their capacity by about 25%.
The title says it all. But the folks over at alwayshungryny.com took to the streets to actually try this incredibly tasty sounding concoction.
A pizza sandwich using slices from Joe’s Pizza AND John’s of Bleecker Street? With a Mamoun’s falafel sandwich in between the two? Before you could say “carb attack” The Gluttoness and I had planned the logistics of how to create the sandwich at its peak quality. We had to make and eat it, right away. [Read More]
Some guys dream about making passionate love to a beautiful supermodel. Personally, I dream about digging my face into a mouth watering slice of New York City pizza. Fireworks are ignited. Music comes out of nowhere. And just like that, I’ve fallen in love once again.
I DREAM OF PIZZA chronicles my adventures in one of the world’s largest and most renowned pizza hubs. From reviews and recipes to obscure video clips and news articles, I DREAM OF PIZZA is your one stop shop for all things pizza.
