I’ve kept quite about this for a couple of weeks now, but Donatella Apraia is going to open a Neapolitan pizzeria in Manhattan, to be called Donatella. This has been made public by the NY Times today.
Donatella Arpaia with the volcanic-soil mud bricks that will be used to construct her pizza oven. Photo by Joshua Bright for the New York Times. Click picture for link to article.
Intriguing is the mention of a 5 TON (11,000 pounds!) oven, to be built from the ground up:
“As reported in this profile of Ms. Arpaia, it will be hand-constructed from the ground up — or at least, upon a newly poured concrete slab — virtually entirely of materials from Naples. Some 890 pieces of the 11,000-pound behemoth have arrived in a container shipped from Italy — including dozens of volcanic-soil mud bricks and bags of Neapolitan sand and cement”.
Now, only a few families know artisanal oven-making,” Mr. Coccia said in a telephone interview, “brick by brick.” Pizza has been made this way, Mr. Coccia said, “for more than 250 years in Naples, in a way that is very specific to us. Everyone asks about the secret formula, but it’s mostly not about the ingredients. It is the construction of the oven, and a sensibility — a feeling, from years and years of making the dough and understanding the process.”
Arpaia fires a salvo at many other Neapolitan pizza places when she mentions:
New York is chock full of pre-fab imported Neapolitan ovens, but not one built from the ground up, on site, by the Pizza god himself, Mr. Coccia.
Now, what is interesting is that Mr. Coccia may potentially not be the actual builder of the oven, but that’s all that I can say right now. The New York Times article did not list the location of the upcoming Donatella pizzeria, but one relatively new upscale Manhattan pizzeria is about to get some close company in the ever growing New York pizza scene. Catch the full article here:
Kyle from Microcosm K has just wrapped up the conclusion of the tax day/anniversay pizza tour some local pizza enthusiasts and I took on April 15th. Catch Kyle’s well done take on the day and his pictures here:
L to R: Cherry Jones at Paulie Gee's, Brussel Sprouts & Pancetta Pizza at Motorino East Village. Photos by Kyle of Microcosm K
I’m hashing out details for two more pizza tours this summer and will have a limited amount of availability. If you would like to come along for a weekday tour, please gmail me at pizzablogger01@gmail.com
Sky Dylan-Robbins, whose excellent video series, Un Americana In Italy, which includes such videos as the making of pasta in the town of Gragnano and the making of Parmigiano-Reggiano, has just released Episode 11 in the series: La Farina Napoletana, where she visits the Caputo mill, makers of one of the highest quality pizza flours in the world. It’s a short video, but any look behind the scenes of such a place is of pizza note for sure. Enough said! The video is below.
This ongoing video series from Dylan-Robbins is highly recommended. Thanks Sky!
The video speaks for itself. I love the flames and pizza cooking in slow motion and hearing Paulie’s inspirational outlook on starting the pizzeria! [via Slice]
Unfortunately, the stop on the tour where I took the least amount of photo and video footage was at Totonno’s Coney Island. I must say I have to agree with some who have claimed that Totonno’s Coney Island has lost a little something since it was closed for nearly a year after a fire on March 14th, 2009. The crust isn’t quite the same as I remember it.
But I am somewhat nitpicking here, because for me Totonno’s Coney Island still represents much of all that pizza could, or should be. In an era of the pizza continuum where the focus is on Neapolitan style this or that (which I love), various other pizza styles with “gourmet” toppings combinations and goofy items like pizza cones, Totonno’s Coney Island casts its own beacon for all to follow and pay attention to. There is a beauty in the simplicity of the pizzas at Totonno’s Coney Island…..a quality, hearty, rustic crust with good crispiness and chewiness, the slight undertones of hearth baked bread from the coal oven, high quality cheese and a tasty, bright and acidic sauce all working together in harmony.
Half sausage, half plain pizza at Totonno's Coney Island
Too many corner shops that sell New York Style pizzas are hawking greasy, cheaply constructed wedges they should be embarrassed of. While Totonno’s Coney Island is not a by the slice shop, it very much represents just how good the simple combination of quality ingredients, presented in a no nonsense fashion with some care and attention, can be. I know that technically Totonno’s falls into the New York-Neapolitan style of pizza, sometimes referred to as NY Elite style, but for me at least, Totonno’s Coney Island represents what the majority of everyday pizza shops should strive to bring their ballgame a little closer to, regardless to the type of oven they are utilizing.
Even with the crust not being quite where I remembered it, this particular location of Totonno’s is my favorite place in New York City to eat coal oven pizza. I’ll be back again.
Good sauce and cheese from Totonno's Coney Island
For pictures and videos of the rest of the tour we took last week:
Italian Graffiti has been open for about five or six weeks now in the pizza crowded Fells Point area of Baltimore where Brick Oven Pizza, Little Italy Pizzeria and Hot Tomatoes also ply their pizza trades just a couple of blocks away.
NY Style pies are available in 14″ and 16″ sizes, as are rather large individual slices. They also deliver. I stopped in for an initial quick slice (whole milk fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, basil) and grabbed a menu as well, which I will scan and upload to Urbanspoon soon.
In the pizza world, it really does take a few visits to get an overall gauge of the consistency at any given pizza joint. I’ll be going back soon and getting a review up here at some point. In the meantime, feel free to drop some intel in the comments section.
Italian Graffiti Pizza & Grill
410-534-5454
1635 Fleet Street (map)
Baltimore, MD 21231
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