Pizza from petitesoeur

More from petitesoeur:

I can't believe I ate this! 

Little Italy Pizza is a good place for a grab and go slice: lots of turnover so very fresh with a very crisp crust with a marinara sauce that's on the old school Brooklyn sweet side.

They make a lovely, on the lighter side slice that covers the marinara sauce with, in descending order:  fresh basil, fresh tomatoes, fresh mozzarella. That's what I usually get at this place but on  Monday (August 25) evening I went for a carb-bomb: A slice of pizza with the usual marinara, mozzarella, basil, parmesan plus baked ziti & goat cheese. It was utterly delicious.

For quite a while now, I have been baffled by the appearance of baked ziti as a pizza topping. On the evening in question, I decided it was the perfect moment to try it because I suddenly wanted lots of carbs. Usually I don't eat the bottom crust of a slice if I get one with lots of stuff on it because the crust always gets so soggy and also it's a little trick of mine to at least pretend that I am eating fewer calories by just eating the "bone." Thinking that, as usual, I would just eat the "bone," I reasoned that this slice would be sort of like eating a small bowl of baked ziti. But I had to taste the crust and it tasted so good and was not soggy at all so I ate it in its entirity. 

And, as Ralph used to say: I can't believe I ate the whole thing!

Little Italy Pizza http://www.lipizzany.com/

Taverna, Newark, DE

My dad and my have birthdays that are only 2 days apart, so we always celebrate together. This year, we went to Taverna, a new restaurant on Main Street in Newark, DE.

For a college town, Newark lately has been getting more and more upscale and trendy. A wine bar opened in the spot of the demolished dive bar The Stone Balloon, fellow dive bar The Deer Park was renovated and reopened, there's a banh mi shop, cupcakes, and tart yogurt.

So Taverna is yet another recent addition to the Newark dining scene. It's part of a restaurant group with a handful or restaurants in Wilmington and Hockessin, Delaware, and focuses on rustic Italian, wood-fired oven, etc.

 It being shortly after graduation, and Memorial Day, the town was quiet, and we pretty much had the restaurant all to ourselves. We started out with an antipasto board - created with 3 selections of your choice. We went with prosciutto, housemade mozzarella and eggplant caponata.

We also wanted to try their homemade ricotta. This was a bit salty for my taste, but still creamy and yummy. Ricotta's one of those things though - even bad ricotta in a plastic tub from the supermarket is pretty good...

For entrees, my dad got the canelloni (stuffed inside with chicken and proscuitto) - quite good!  My mom got the chicken taverna with a caper, lemon, white wine sauce on capellini.

Redneckhunter got the neopolitan pizza, and I made him order it with an egg on top (I got that slice, of course!) 

And I ordered the roast pork and broccoli rabe sandwich, and substituted asparagus for my side of fries. It was a ton of food, and I ended up taking half of mine home as leftovers. All in all, another good addition to Newark!

Taverna
121 E Main St
Newark, DE 19711
(302) 444-4334

Don Antonio's, New York

Last time we got together in the city with Petiteseour, she suggested going to Don Antonio's -- a midtown pizza place that her co-worker was a regular at.

The place was packed and we got seated in a cramped corner by the servers' station -- the first in a string of little annoyances that added up.  There was also red wine served chilled, plates piled carelessly in people's faces, grumpiness at requests like more bread, stuff taken away too quickly,

We started off with the homemade burrata, and a salad with pancetta, apples and gorgonzola.  Burrata was good (though not enough bread, nor balasamic);  salad was forgettable.

Then we order 3 pizzas for the 5 of us -- the Vesuvio, a stuffed pizza with fresh ricotta, mozzarella and salami inside, topped with red sauce, ham, more mozzarella, mushrooms, and artichokes;  the Pope's Pizza, with butternut squash, zucchini, roasted peppers, and smoked mozzarella;  and lastly was one of the day's special which sounded really good with gorgonzola dolce, a bunch of other cheeses, figs, and prosciutto, but was disappointing.  The figs were too sweet, the gorgonzola too strong. 

I liked the butternut squash and smokey flavor of the Pope's pie, but it was not a hit with Petiteseour.  Her favorite and Redneckhunter's favorite was the stuffed pie.  I liked the pizza, but Petiteseour thought it suffered from too much volume where the oven doors being constantly opened and closed and not retaining heat led to a less crisp crust. 

What really struck me to not recommend the place was really the service -- all around crappy.  We learned that Petiteseour's friend tended to go on his own and sit at the bar - clearly the way to go - table service was subpar.

Don Antonio's
309 West 50th Street
New York NY

Madison Square Eats, Burdick Chocolates and other stops

Petitesoeur and I met up for the last day of Madison Square Eats last week.  Even though we tried to arrive on the tail end of the lunch hour, it was still packed.  So we did a walk-through to strategize and split up to divide and conquer.  We bypassed old favorites like Red Hook Lobster Pound, Sigmund's Pretzels, or Eataly in favor of new things we hadn't eaten.

I waited in line at Asia Dog and she at Roberta's. I was torn between all the delicious dog flavors but opted to go more summery with a chicken dog topped Sydney style (Thai style relish with mango, cucumber, red onion, cilantro, peanuts and fish sauce).  The dog itself was superb (hard to believe it was chicken!) and the relish was refreshing.  We scarfed that up quickly while waiting for our pizza. We had both wanted to try Roberta's especially after 1000yregg's post. Finally the kale, leek, and ricotta pie came out.  The crust was more chewy than crispy, almost like Indian naan. I kind of liked it, but I think petitesoeur was disappointed -- still hungry enough to wolf it all down though.

Still a little peckish, we considered going back for a different flavor Asiadog, but instead decided to split a sandwich from Mayhem and Stout, after smelling the aroma of the braised meat emanating from their stand.  You get a choice of meat -- brisket, short rib, or pulled chicken;  sauce -- dragon sauce, harissa, or blueberry sriracha;  and relish -- pickled chilis, cucumber salad, and asian slaw.  We opted for brisket with blueberry sriracha and cucumbers.  Since we wanted to keep grazing, we just ate everything with a fork and left the bread.  I also got a coffee popsicle from People's Pops.  Petitesoeur stopped me from getting sweets from Momofuku Milk Bar because we had a bakery destination to head to in Soho.

While walking downtown, we stumbled upon L. A. Burdick Chocolates.  We were drawn in by the sidewalk chalkboard offering the adorable-sounding "Chocolate penguins and mice."  They were indeed very cute!  Apparently Mark Zuckerberg had the penguins as party favors at his wedding.  The nice girl behind the counter who tole us this also offered us a taste of the Earl Grey bonbon.  In classic drug dealer style, she knew that giving the first taste for free would get you a hooked customer.  So after that one we decided to buy the Richelieu -- milk and dark chocolate center with cherry liquor, dried cherries, and cumin. The cherries had a great pop of flavor, while the cumin was very subtle.  The chocolatier is from New Hampshire, with locations also in Boston and NY - a great find!

More walking brought us to the Union Square Greenmarket, where Strawberry Infusion and Lemon Verbana drinks hit the spot.

Finally, we reached Dominique Ansel Bakery, which had been getting rave reviews from Serious Eats.  They were out of their famous DKA ("Dominique's Kouign Amann") -- which are like croissant balls with a caramelized crust.  So we ordered 2 desserts and coffee.  A ganache-frosted chocolate caramel torte, and a blueberry religieuse (choux pastry filled with custard and topped with blueberry cream).  They weren't bad, but they weren't great either.  The crust of the chocolate caramel torte was dry.  The religieuse was fresh and moist, but too sweet for our taste.  It was a so-so and definitely not worth the long walk.  The coffee was lame as well.

We both agreed the big winner of the afternoon was the Asia Dog. We'll have to make a point to try all the different toppings - at the Flea or Smorgasburg or Summerstage or their store in Nolita.

Asia Dog
66 Kenmare Street (btwn Mott and Mulberry in Nolita)
NY, NY 10012

Roberta's
261 Moore St
(between White St & Bogart St)
Brooklyn, NY 11206

Mayhem and Stout
At the Dekalb Market, Brooklyn

L. A. Burdick
5 East 20th Street
NY, NY 10003

Dominique Ansel Bakery
189 Spring Street (between Sullivan and Thompson)
New York, NY 10012

Nine One Five Duval, Key West, FL

 On our last night in Key West, we had dinner at Nine One Five Duval. When we arrived, we grabbed drinks at Point5, their upstairs bar, and we liked our balcony table so much, we asked if we could just hunker down and have dinner there. They were generous and obliged our request.
We started with a nice appetizer plate of dolmas, yogurt, feta cheese, and pea hummus.

I had a beet salad with herbed goat cheese, mixed greens, and walnuts, and for my entree, I had the Sizzling Thai Whole Fish which consisted of a locally caught yellow tail snapper, deep fried, with a Thai chili ginger garlic sauce and basmati rice. It was really good. Kathy ordered the Veggie thin crust pizza from the lounge menu. It consisted of portabella mushrooms, caramelize onion, roasted red pepper, and thyme.

For dessert, we opted to grab a third slice of Key Lime pie at a location of the Key West Key Lime Pie Company. Their version was a lot creamier in texture than others we had tried during our trip.

915 Duval St.
Key West, FL
(305) 296-0669

Roberta's, Brooklyn

Brooklen, LBT, Jude, and I went one Sunday morning to East Williamsburg in Brooklyn to Roberta's for the the weekly NYC ritual of brunch. Brooklen had been wanting to go because he had tried their pizza at Madison Square Eats events.
When we arrived at the address, at first, we weren't sure we were at the right place. The exterior looked very modest, with a very small sign just above the doorway. Inside though, the space was great with long wooden tables, a red wood burning oven, exposed ceilings, a bar, and where we sat, a garden courtyard that looked into a radio studio.

We had to at least get one pizza. Immediately, we knew we wanted to try Paige's Breakfast Burrito pizza. It came topped with tomato, mozzarella, potato, red onion, jalapeño, egg, and Berkshire pork sausage. The crust on the pie was thin, crisp, and a little chewy with a decent char.
We also shared a tasty sticky bun and buttermilk biscuit. Both were scrumptious.

For our main courses, I ordered the fried eggs with beef tongue, salsa verde and potato hash. The tongue was great, really tender and delicate.
LBT got a breakfast sandwich of a hunk of sausage, egg, and cheese on a potato roll. It was a bit odd that they could not scramble the egg for her.

Brooklen got the ricotta pancakes with brown butter and maple syrup. We shared a small plate of thick fatty slab bacon.

261 Moore Street
Brooklyn, NY
(718)417-1118

Frank Pepe's Pizza Napoletano, New Haven, CT

We only had a brief time in New Haven this weekend while attending a wedding, so we wanted to hit some landmarks. Louis' Lunch (birthplace of the hamburger) sadly was closed on Saturday afternoon, so instead we went to the famous Pepe's Pizzeria.

We were lucky enough to arrive right at 2 pm, when they opened up The Spot (the small annex next door, which is the original location from 1925), so we jumped in there rather than into the long line.

We ordered 2 smalls of their signature pies: white clam and fresh tomato (only offered in the summer). Both pies arrived on a single long rectangular tray and we dug in, forgoing plates to just eat off the tray which took up our entire tabletop. The white clam was super garlicky and loaded with big breaded clams. The tomato pie was a nice contrast - fresh and more subtle. I think the biggest difference of Pepe's with other thin crust pizzas I've had is that the crust is much chewier - perhaps it's the Connecticut water.


And in keeping with eating local, I washed it all down with a lemon soda from Foxon Park, an East Haven beverage company who have been making soda since 1922. By the time we finished, there was already a line at both The Spot and the main location.

Frank Pepe's Pizzeria Napoletano
157 Wooster Street
New Haven, CT
203-865-5762

Deep Dish at Garces Trading Company, Philadelphia

I finally made it back to Garces Trading Company in Philadelphia to try their classic deep dish pie. Sure, it was massive and sure, I was by myself eating there on a Friday afternoon eavesdropping on a group of ladies talking about getting into a fistfight the night before. However, I planned on trying this last year.

I started with an order of the grilled Spanish octopus served with slices of apple & fennel and a glass of delicious sangria.
The deep dish was lovely. It's crust was about 3 inches thick. The classic is packed with just tomato confit, gruyère and fresh mozzarella. So simple and good. The crust is really tasty. Next time, I go perhaps I'll try one with their housemade sausage or duck confit.

1113 Locust Street
Philadelphia, PA
(215) 574-1099

Pizzeria Orso, Falls Church, VA

Pizza is all about the crust: the flavor, the textures, the char. I had some delicious pizza with amazing crust at Falls Church, VA's recently opened Pizzeria Orso.
We started with several items off their Antipasti menu.
We had some of Orso's Bruschetta made with grilled sourdough bread topped with a garlic rub, olive oil and sea salt.

Accompanying the bread we ate marinated grilled zucchini, eggplant, some smashed tomatoes and sweet onions, and really good lightly pickled Pioppini mushrooms with sweet peperonata.



We then followed with a platter of grilled chicken wings and legs, grilled ricotta salata chicken crostini topped with little onion rings, and arrosticini- grilled lamb skewers.
We tried a platter of fritture which included potato crocche (cheesy potato croquettes) and Suppli al Telefono- fried risotto balls with tomato sauce stuffed with melted buffalo mozzarella cheese. I really liked the risotto balls.

I then had a small bowl of Pappa al Pomodoro, a bread & tomato soup that reminded me a little of congee or French onion soup sans the cheese.



Finally, after all these great appetizers, we got to the pizza. Orso specializes in Neapolitan style pizza cooked in a wood burning oven. One particular thing about their crust is that the pizzaialo uses a sourdough starter to give it a very special flavor and texture.
The crust is thin, ballooning out a little at the edges with excellent char. It stays crispy with a little squish in the middle, and it is important to note that the pizzaialo does not cut the pies as it allows them to continue to cook after leaving the oven and prevents what he calls "soupiness".
It reminded me strongly of the pizza I've had at Pizzeria Mozza in LA, but it seems more like a genuine pizza crust at Orso than the "bakery" feel from the crust at Mozza. I do think I prefer Orso's because of this.
I tried several pizzas at Orso. I ordered the Romana- tomato, anchovies, capers, olives, basil, garlic w/o cheese.
The Margherita DOC with tomato, buffalo mozzarella, & basil was bona fide. Impressive was also the Vongole with grana, capers, parsley, cockles in shell, & hot pepper flakes, and the Cotto e Funghi with cream, provola, ham, mushrooms, & basil.
Orso also had an interesting choice of stuffed pies as well.
We finished dinner with to go pizza boxes and tasty cannolis. I had a pistachio.
I drove 90 min to eat here, and I would be happy to go again.

400 South Maple Avenue
Falls Church, VA
(703)226-3460