pizza

Visiting the bakery of New York’s guru of bread

Visiting the bakery of New York’s guru of bread

Jim Lahey was a hero to us and many other home cooks during the pandemic shutdown. That's no exaggeraton. He's the baker behind the ‶no-knead bread″ method that had us all making delicious crusty bread in preheated Dutch ovens. Mind you, he's also the baker behind the overnight cool-rise pizza dough recipe for home cooks that we've been using for the last decade. We're not foolish enough to suggest that Lahey invented the crusty Dutch oven bread or the wonderful pizza dough. But he did carefully craft recipes for home cooks. His fame rests on the propensity of the New York Times food section to spread them far and wide. Never underestimate the power of Big Media. The original bakery at 73 Sullivan Street in...Read More
Industrial chic brings treats to eat at Chelsea Market

Industrial chic brings treats to eat at Chelsea Market

Despite the proliferation of food halls in New York, Chelsea Market (75 9th Avenue, New York NY; 212-243-6005; chelseamarket.com) remains one of the best. Its 1997 debut established the template that Essex Market copied a decade later. But Chelsea Market got one thing right that no other food hall has been able to replicate. It occupies the 1890s factory building where the National Biscuit Company (aka Nabisco) invented and manufactured the Oreo. Chelsea Market founder Irving Cohen didn't pretty up the industrial architecture. The result is a tunnel of brick walls and massive pipes. Journeying through the complex feels a little like navigating the landscape of a dark-themed video game to find a bunch of gem-filled rooms. The brawny, gritty style of the overall market...Read More
Lombardi’s, where New York pizza got its start

Lombardi’s, where New York pizza got its start

Even Google doesn't know how many pizzerias there are in New York, but various uninformed estimates place the number between 1,000 and 32,000. What we do know is that it seems there's a pizza joint on every block and many of them sell slices to go. That fits with the NYC culture of literally eating on the run, or on the walk. New Yorkers seem to be constantly eating in public. But we digress. Surrounded by pizza from the moment we arrived in New York, we immediately gave up on trying to find the “best” pizza in the city. We were just happy to visit what might be the oldest pizzeria in New York. At least that's what Lombardi's claims. It was established in 1905....Read More
Pizza by the square, just like in Rome

Pizza by the square, just like in Rome

The tavola calda at Panetteria Romana e Spaccio di Paste includes delicious pizzas topped with fresh vegetables. When we admit to people that we are food and travel writers, their eyes tend to get wide as they imagine that we sit down to multi-course gourmet meals every day on the road. But the truth is that we really like to find some local comestible that makes a handy light lunch or supper. In Rome, that's often a square of pan pizza (pizza al taglio) from one of the bakeries. We've read that more than 5,000 establishments in Rome offer pizza al taglio. Romans eat those slices for lunch and all through the afternoon as a pick-me-up snack. The crust for Roman pizza more resembles focaccia...Read More
Green chile puts bite in Hawt Pizza at Low ‘n Slow

Green chile puts bite in Hawt Pizza at Low ‘n Slow

The Low 'n Slow bar inside Santa Fe's Hotel Chimayo (125 Washington Ave, Santa Fe; 505-216-1066; hotelchimayo.com) draws its inspiration from the Lowrider culture of northern New Mexico. Inside the bar, that translates into hot car artwork and chrome hub caps. The hotel's own modified 1964 Chevy Impala might be parked out front. Hotel guests can climb in to cruise around town on a guided tour. The bar isn't just for drinking (though the Chimayóso Margarita rimmed with Chimayó red chile is certainly popular). Half the space is devoted to Hawt Pizza Co. The roughly 12-inch pies are adequate to feed two people with modest appetites. But they're good enough that many folks want their own. As a nice stylistic compromise between New York thin...Read More
Prosciutto and fig pizza rocks with Terso Bianco

Prosciutto and fig pizza rocks with Terso Bianco

Celebrity chef Todd English first made a name for himself in Boston with his fig and prosciutto pizza, It was a sensation because it departed so radically from classic tomato and cheese pie. When we were brainstorming a pizza to pair with a bottle of Marchesi Fumanelli Terso Bianco 2014, we were inspired by English's signature pie. We had some amazing dried Greek figs on hand that had soft skins and deeply flavored sweet flesh. We thought about other tastes of the corner of the Veneto where the Marchesi Fumanelli family has been growing grapes and making wine since 1470. We finally settled on sliced figs, slivers of prosciutto, and a walnut cream base. Instead of the pungent Gorgonzola that English uses, we topped our...Read More
Provençal rosé cries out for pissaladière

Provençal rosé cries out for pissaladière

Sometimes the wine demands a departure from the best-laid plans. With a pretty upscale version of Provençal rosé on hand, we racked our brains for flavors of the Provence countryside. But we couldn't bring ourselves to make a lavender pizza. So we did the next best thing. We adapted the classic flatbread snack of the Riviera to a pizza-like round topped with onions, black olives, and anchovies. It was a match made in heaven—or maybe in Nice. The wine: La Combe Rosé, Château Roquefeuille Côtes de Provence Sainte-Victoire The 250-acre estate of Château Roquefeuille sits in the heart of Provence at the south end of the Sainte-Victoire valley. A gorgeous pale pink, La Combe Rosé embodies a very different style than the Fleurs de Mer...Read More
Brilliant Sancerre boosts saffron & roasted-squash pizza

Brilliant Sancerre boosts saffron & roasted-squash pizza

We have to admit that we prefer good Sancerre to the New World versions of Sauvignon Blanc—even the highly touted wines from New Zealand. The French take on the grape drinks well with cold-weather dishes. So when we pondered a pizza pairing for one of our favorite Sancerres, we remembered a hearty risotto. We often make a risotto with saffron and onion broth that is studded with bits of bacon, roasted butternut squash, and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. It's perfect with a zingy Sauvignon Blanc. Surely those flavors could be adapted to a pizza. The Wine: Domaine de la Perrière Sancerre 2016 The pairing was perfect. This Sancerre is fermented cold with wild yeasts and ages on the lees about three months. The yeast notes from the...Read More
Trimbach Pinot Blanc sparkles with Alsatian flatbread

Trimbach Pinot Blanc sparkles with Alsatian flatbread

Wine preferences are a funny thing. Most wine drinkers name the grapes of Bordeaux and Burgundy as their favorites—irrespective of where they are grown. Few name Alsatian wines, yet we think they are the very model of magnificent cold-climate viticulture and winemaking. When we first met, we drank a slew of Rieslings, Gewürtztraminers, and Pinot Gris from many of the great names in Alsace. You could say we got to know each other over glasses of spicy, sophisticated, dry whites. So we were pleased to see a Trimbach Pinot Blanc in the mixed case from Esprit du Vin (edvwines.com). It was like running into an old friend. The Wine: Trimbach Pinot Blanc 2015 Pinot Blanc isn't usually the first grape that comes to mind in...Read More
Ogier Reine Jeanne spices up fennel and sausage

Ogier Reine Jeanne spices up fennel and sausage

As one of our California-born, Europe-based readers pointed out in response to our last pizza post, Americans often drink soda or beer with pizza. Europeans almost always drink wine. We're happy to choose the evening wine and then decide what to eat with it. Having a 2015 Châteauneuf-du-Pape on hand suggested a bold pizza. And since fennel is one of the dominant flavors of southern Rhône valley cuisine, we naturally gravitated to roasted fennel and a limited amount of Italian sausage with fennel seeds. The Wine: Ogier Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2015 As the photo above shows, the wine was the 2015 Antoine Ogier Cuvée Reine Jeanne, one of eight different versions of Châteauneuf-du-Pape from Ogier. It's named for Jeanne of Naples, the Countess of Provence who sold...Read More