Living in NJ as I do, I have often said that one has to go pretty far to knock my socks off when it comes to delivering me to a supposed great restaurant, dine-in or take-out. Prejudiced as I am to my state of being (and mind), I challenge anyone, from anywhere in the US to find me a more robust choice of offerings and tastes than the veritable plethora (and again, I ask, can a plethora ever be anything but veritable?) of food choices we have available to us in the northern part of this state where I live. Yes, the close proximity of NYC has often been cited as a reason for all these good food choices, but as I very rarely venture into Manhattan these days for a meal and mostly never had to anyway because of my NJ choices, I’d again throw down the gauntlet that for food…Northern New Jersey has the best offerings.
But into New York I did travel this week with my girl and our two friends to seek out what has been called, by many, the best pizza in the world.
The restaurant in question? Lucali, in Brooklyn New York at 575 Henry Street, in a spectacular area full of amazing condos and townhouses. We had lots of time to walk the streets, so we were afforded some great views, and whole bunch of time to stand/sit in front of that awning that bears no name, to wait to put our name on the wait list, reserve a table and time to eat, then come back another hour later to eat. We learned that some folks pay others to wait in line for them here…how’s that for a job?
Anyway, as you see here, the place is pretty special and it was damn well worth the wait (besides, when you have a gerat weather day and fantastic friends to hang with, things are never going to get all that bad). The expert pizza makers roll the dough with a wine bottle actually, their ingredients-es, as Teresa G. from New Jersey Housewives call them, are top notch. They cook the pizza in a stone oven to just about as perfect a thin crust as you are likely to ever taste. The pasta special was fantastic, the calzone (something I hardly ever eat) light and tasty, the waitstaff adorable and on point and as Tessio famously tells Clemenza in the Godfather “they got an old-fashioned toilet. You know, the box and the chain thing.”
I minded my p’s and q’s though and didn’t emerge ready to shoot Sollozzo or McCluskey.
So…best pizza in the world? Hard to say. I have eaten lots of pizza in my day and mostly only ever cheese pizza; I am a snob that way. We did order a ‘regular’ pie and one with pepperoni, but I partook of only the cheese one, and yes it was pretty freaking amazing. But best? I can’t say. I can say though that I probably have never eaten a slice of pizza with as good a balance of tastes. And again, it was fantastically fresh, crust divine and…hey, maybe it was the best I have ever had, now that I think about it!
Anyway, applause to Lucali, not that they need my appropriation in the least and thanks for getting me (via A. thank you!) to a part of New York I was never in but so happy to have visited).
