CRAZYPIE-JINKS!
Over-the-top pizza toppings — octopus, Tater Tots, snails and kimchi — are taking over NYC
THINK Hawaiian pizza, with its mix of ham and pineapple, is a dubious creation? You ain’t eaten nothin’ yet.
NYC pizzaioli are getting ever more creative with their toppings, making pizzas loaded with everything from Tater Tots to kimchi.
It’s a “New Age pizza movement,” says Vishee Mandahar, owner of Krave It in Bayside, which is known for its outlandish pies. “Anything goes, as long as we perfect the recipe and make it taste good.”
We sampled some of the city’s craziest pies to see which ones actually taste delicious.
Baby octopus and langoustines
The Sea Monster pizza ($65) at the airy new Circa Brewing Co in Downtown Brooklyn was inspired by the work of 16th-century cartographer and cosmographer Sebastian Münster.
“The closer I looked [at one of his sketches], the more it looked like Spanish seafood, and I immediately wanted to put them [on pizza],” says Circa chef Shawn Burnette.
Burnette’s pricey pie is an off-menu special topped with a seaweed- based sauce, a single langoustine, fresh baby octopuses, anchovies, garlic and a “sea foam” made with saline water and egg whites. The dish must be reserved two days in advance to import the langoustine from Iceland.
Slice rating:
The seafood was undeniably fresh and cooked to tender perfection, but equally satisfying pies can be had for far less dough.
141 Lawrence St., Brooklyn; 718-8580055, CircaBrewing.co
Slice rating:
You can barely taste the snails, which have the texture of mushrooms and are sadly overpowered by the pungent blue cheese. 331 Lenox Ave.; 646-918-6572, Babbalucci.com
Escargot
Most people associate escargot with French fare, but garlicky snails are also quite popular in parts of Italy, where they’re known as babbalucci.
“[It’s] a traditional Sicilian street-food dish . . . one of my father’s favorites,” says Andrew LoPresto, owner and chef of Babbalucci, a rustic Harlem trattoria. There you’ll find a woodfired pizza on the menu topped with snails, garlic, tomato sauce, Gorgonzola and parsley ($15/$23).
Barbecue brisket
Williamsburg’s Forcella synthesizes the flavors and techniques of Neapolitan pizza makers, Texas-barbecue pitmasters and New York Jewish delis to make the Local Pizzaiolo ($24). The pie features beef brisket from nearby barbecue joint Fette Sau, along with cipollini onions, provolone, mozzarella and chili pepper-infused honey.
“We were brainstorming ideas for a new meat pizza,” says Forcella co-owner Vasyl Dzoba. “We love brisket and, in our opinion, Fette Sau has the best brisket in Williamsburg.”
Slice rating:
The smoked beef is sliced nice and thin, which helps this pizza hold up to the weight of the meat. The combination of cheeses, sweet cipollini and brisket is hard to resist, evoking the flavor profile of a chopped cheese sandwich, but it’s not as creative and surprising as other pies. 485 Lorimer St., Williamsburg; 718-388-8820, ForcellaEatery.com
Grapes, hazelnuts and frisee
Nino Coniglio, the chef at the new Meatpacking restaurant the Woodstock, says topping a pizza with funky Taleggio, roasted red and green grape halves, whole toasted hazelnuts, porcini truffle cream, fresh frisee and black lava salt isn’t as strange as it sounds. All the ingredients are Italian.
“I’m not gonna make a pizza that would invoke Indian, Mexican or Asian influences,” he says of the pie ($15).
Slice rating:
With ingredients borrowed from a standard wineand-cheese picnic, the mix of flavors was familiar and pleasing, but the textures were problematic. The hazelnuts and grapes need to be chopped smaller to bring everything together and make it easier to eat. But the crust, made from dough fermented for six days, is pretty sublime. 446 W. 14th St.; 212-633-2000, TheWoodstockNYC.com
Jerk chicken
Two dominant NYC food cultures — Caribbean and Italian — come together at ZuriLee. The colorful, unpretentious Flatbush pizzeria’s Da Jerk Chicken pizza ($16) is topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella, roasted corn and spicy slices of jerk chicken.
“We wanted to bring something different to the table,” says chef and co-owner Paul Burrowes, who is of Caribbean heritage. “Something that represents who we are, our culture.”
Slice rating:
The smoky, spicy chicken contrasts nicely with the sweet corn, but the thin, chewy crust isn’t able to adequately support the heavy toppings.
755 Flatbush Ave., Brooklyn; 718-513-6084, ZuriLeePizza.com
Kimchi, bacon and miso
The West Village’s Emily Pizza is best known for its rectangular Detroitstyle pizzas, and their Pig Freaker pan pizza ($22) is an especially unorthodox take on the unique form. It’s topped with housemade kimchi, bacon, sesame seeds and a creamy sauce made from miso and American cheese.
“Pan pizza dough and [American] cheese can stand up to strong flavors like kimchi,” says Emily co-owner and chef Matt Hyland. “You can put a heavy amount of toppings on, and it won’t be overwhelming.”
Slice rating:
Hyland nails the proportions of kimchi — neither hidden nor overpowering — to the savory “miso-queso” to create a balanced pie that’s just tangy enough. 35 Downing St.; 917-935-6434, PizzaLovesEmily.com
Tater Tots
Spuds on pizza might seem like carb overload, but it’s a classic combo rooted in Roman tradition. Krave It, a late-night eatery in Bayside, puts an American spin on the pairing with its Loaded Tater Tots pizza (above, $20/$30). Made with Tots, bacon, cheddar, scallions and swirls of ranch dressing and chipotle aioli, this pizza (and most of the menu) seems made for drunken snacking.
“I like to always think outside the box and do things others won’t dare,” says owner Vishee Mandahar. “[But] our pizza isn’t just wild toppings. It takes a lot of love and preparation.”
Slice rating:
The Tots were crispy and fresh and precisely arranged beneath a mesmerizing spiral of ranch and aioli. Unlike some of the other pies we tried, it remarkably held up to the weight of its many toppings. 40-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside; 347-836-8713, KraveItNY.com