Neapolitan pizza new york |

Though I don’t generally like Italian food, there is one item which I love, the thing that sustained me during my ten days in Italy – Neapolitan pizza. A big complaint that I have about pizza is that it’s always so greasy and swamped with cheese. With true Neapolitan pizza, however, you get a layer of zesty tomato sauce consisting solely of crushed tomatoes and salt atop a charred, puffy crust, which can then be topped with various ingredients, such as mozzarella di bufala. My favorite type of Neapolitan pizza is Margherita D.O.C – typically the most simplistic option it is topped solely with fresh buffalo mozzarella cheese and basil leaves.

I was first introduced to this delicious form of pizza at Una Pizza Napoletana in the East Village, which was once Tom Colicchio’s favorite pizza in New York. Sadly though, this glorious hole-in-the-wall no longer exists, as its owners moved out to California and opened the same restaurant in San Francisco instead. Since returning from Italy and moving to New York full-time, I’d been craving Neapolitan pizza – and luckily for me, this is easy to find even in Una Pizza’s absence, as Neapolitan pizza has become one of the big things in the New York culinary scene over the past year and a half or so. In fact, it is so pervasive that I had been having a difficult time picking one. Of course, there’s Keste and Motorino, but then there are some notable newcomers – Totale, with its $5 pies, Mezzaluna, and then OliO Pizza de Più, otherwise known just as OliO. The latter option – OliO – is the one that ultimately caught my attention. I love to try “newly opened” restaurants, and this one was especially intriguing – it was initially advertised as an upscale version of drunken, late-night eats, as it doesn’t close until 3am. So, I made plans with a friend to hit it up one night after going out – sadly though, we showed up a few days before their official opening. Two months later though, I finally found an opportunity to try it out.

When I arrived, I was a little put-off by its olive green exterior and proximity to the street; however, once I stepped inside, it was a totally different experience. The interior is very rustic and dimly lit – like what I’d imagine the interior of a villa in the Italian countryside to look like. There are lots of wrought iron lanterns and chandeliers, and the entire restaurant has a very warm, inviting vibe. Quickly though, this sense of warmth and calm was overshadowed by the abysmal service. Almost 35 minutes after being seated, no one had come to even offer the table water – and when the waiter finally caught my seething gaze and decided to come over to the table, I was feeling a little on edge. We ordered two pizzas – the Margherita for me (of course) and the Diavolo for my dining companion, which is a Margherita pizza with spicy salami. We also ordered a carafe of the house red wine.

Then began the wait. Of course, the pizza arrived fairly quickly, as Neapolitan pizza only takes about 10 minutes to cook, max. However, the wine was nowhere to be found. Not only that, but we had never been given the bread and olive oil that I saw on every table around us. When the waiter finally returned with our wine (he hadn’t been the one to deliver our pizza), I asked “Can we get some bread?” Instead of politely indulging my request, he began to bicker with me, telling me that I was a foolish child for requesting bread when we already had pizza. I told him a) it should have come about an hour ago when we were seated and b) if I want bread, you will give me bread. I only ended up eating one piece of it, but it’s all about the principal of the matter… His debate with me lasted for about a minute and a half, and immediately upon walking away from our table, I knocked his tip down about 10% in my head.

But let’s not forget about the food. Before this meal, I have only ever had one “Neapolitan pizza” that wasn’t good – and it was in the touristy area immediately outside the ruins in Pompeii, Italy. That particular pizza tasted more like what you’d find at a roller rink than at an Italian pizzeria. After this meal, I can say that I’ve had one terrible Neapolitan pizza and one decent Neapolitan pizza. I had read before visiting OliO that, due to early complaints about the pizza being to “wet” in the center – probably from Neapolitan novices – the owner began to dry his cheese before cooking the pizza. Unfortunately, that lent itself to fairly rubbery cheese. On a buffalo margherita pizza, you expect the milkiness of the wet cheese and the layer of tomato sauce to pool a bit in the center as you eat – it’s just part of the experience. Rubbery cheese, however, is not what you’re expecting. The tomato sauce, however, was very good – very simple, very bright. My only change would be a little more salt. The crust was also enjoyable – it had a nice char but was still doughy enough, and it was thinner in the center, just the way it should be. I wasn’t a huge fan of my friend’s pizza though. The cheese was even drier than mine, and I felt like the meat was overcooked.

After we polished off the last bits of our pizza and drank the rest of our wine (which wasn’t half bad for $7), the waiter returned and asked us if we’d like drinks or dessert. I jumped at the chance to get the Nutella pizza, which brought back memories of the chocolate pudding pizza from my childhood – just dressed up a notch. My friend ordered a drink – after some debate over which was the best – and then the waiter turned to me. Would I like a drink? Nothing sounded that great for $12 except possibly the bellini (which I fell in love with in Italy), but I still didn’t feel like shelling out $12 for an OK drink when we were soon to head to Summit Bar, which makes AH-MAZ-ING drinks. The waiter tried to bully me into it for a minute – but then, completely out of the blue – he paused and actually apologized. I guess that, suddenly, he realized that his tip was dwindling to $0, so he not only apologized, but also bought me the bellini. And his tip went back up in my head…

Both of the drinks were good, but certainly nothing extraordinary. Mine was actually room temperature, which I find a little odd given that the base of the drink is prosecco. My friend’s drink was extremely strong and, in my opinion, had a strange flavor. The mixture of gin, lime, and cherry juice really wasn’t cutting it. However, the drinks were a nice way to tide us over, as our dessert pizza took about 25 minutes to arrive.

When it did finally arrive, I was a little taken aback. Expecting a pizza like the ones we had just eaten – except this time covered in Nutella, chopped nuts, and powdered sugar – I was a little surprised that this looked like more of an oversized pita pocket filled with the Nutella. The crust was nothing like the doughy, fluffy crust on their savory pizzas, and the addition of the top crust was a bit of bread overkill. However, the warm Nutella was just so scrumptious that I couldn’t help gobbling it up. We managed to finish the entire thing, albeit not without sore tummies afterward.

Ultimately, this proved to be an overly pricey, overly long meal, and I don’t think that anything we ate could make up for the poor service. Would I go back or recommend it to anyone else? Not unless they want to utilize it for its original purpose – as late night pizza.