The electric future of New York City’s pizza

Something is changing about New York City’s pizza. It’s not the continued farmers’ market-ification of ingredients, nor is it the ever-expanding definition of what can go on a pizza (ham and horseradish cream, anyone?). It’s not the natural wine pairings, or even the buzzy, inventive pop-ups. Instead, the ovens themselves are in transition. “The most famous version of pizza from New York is the gas oven pizza — the pizza by the slice, the pick-it-up-and-fold-it-grease-runningdown-your-arm version,” said Scott Wiener, who leads pizza tours in the city.

But some of New York City’s most accomplished pizza makers have seen the writing on the wall: Gas isn’t getting any cheaper. Wood- or coal-fired pizza ovens, long-revered as the gold standard, are increasingly rare. And now electric ovens — once mocked as an Easy Bake-esque cop-out — are on the rise. “The history of pizza is wood,” said Anthony Falco, a consultant who has worked with clients across New York City and the world. “And the future is electric.”

The switch, pizza makers from across the city said, is a chef’s choice: Electric ovens can get almost as hot as a wood or coal oven, which can burn at approximately 900 degrees. But in the lunch rush, when employees must repeatedly open and close the oven door, pizza makers say electric ovens retain their heat better than their gas-fired counterparts. “We found out the really hard way that these gas ovens, even these behemoth giants that are supposed to be like these Rolls-Royce machines, they can’t keep up with a busy pizzeria,” said Noam Grossman, an owner of the Upside and Norm’s pizzeria mini chains. “They lose too much heat.” Slices made in an electric oven can cook hotter and faster, so the crust is crispy and the cheese bubbly — the best of pizza past and pizza present — without worrying about heat retention.

“You get this look of char and spotting that you see in coal and wood ovens, but you get this crisp texture of a New Yorkstyle pizza,” Falco said. Electric ovens can also be easier to use: They are closer to novice-proof, which makes it easier to train new employees.

“It’s like paint by numbers,” Falco said. “You just put it in, turn it and take it out.” When Frank Tuttolomondo was opening the West Village location of his popular pizza shop, Mama’s Too, he made the change. “We only went electric here in our store in the West Village because we have no gas in the building,” Tuttolomondo said, adding that the widespread switch to electric ovens is inevitable.

That inevitability is now here. After a years-long delay, a citywide ordinance went into effect on April 27 that requires wood- and coal-fired oven users to make expensive upgrades to curb particulate matter pollution. But many cannot justify the cost of making the change. “These types of places are going to disappear — guaranteed,” said Paul Giannone, who owns the wood-fired pizza restaurant Paulie Gee’s in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and paid $20,000 to upgrade his ovens. “If it’s that important,” Giannone said, “how about a little subsidy?” Beth DeFalco, a deputy commissioner for public affairs, said the city’s Department of Environmental Protection is entirely focused on outreach and does not plan to start enforcing the rules until next year. In the interim, the city is speaking to the final holdouts, about 90 wood- and coal-burning pizzerias.

Nierenberg writes the APAC Morning Briefing The New York Times