Sullivan St. Bakery's Bread Concoctions

According to dictionary.com. "pizza" is defined as:

-noun,

a flat open-faced baked pie of Italian origin,

consisting of a thing layer of bread dough,

topped with tomato sauce and cheese, often

garnished with anchovies, sausage slices, mushrooms, etc.

So there we have it folks, an actual definition of one of our favorite foods. Now, I understand that definitions are just a starting point and I'm more excited than anybody when those definitions are stretched as creatively as possible. Over the years, we've seen the creation of white pizza, gourmet pizza, deep-dish Chicago style pizza, vegan pizza, etc. But the basic structure should still remain. Or else your product becomes something else.

And when it comes to NY pizza, I expect certain components. You need cheese and/or tomato sauce. For me there is no other option here. You could do white pizza or a cheese-less tomato pie. But you can't do a pizza without both cheese and tomato. Or so says I!

Sullivan Street Bakery, which has moved quite a bit uptown from the actual Sullivan Street (its original location) to the outskirts of midtown west, challenges those rules. Jim Lahey is the mastermind behind the yeast and has been praised in the press recently for his baking skills. In the last year, he has opened Co. which focuses on Neapolitan-style pizzas. I'll save that for another post because today I'm concentrating on Sullivan Street Bakery's Roman style pizza.

There were only a few options left when we arrived late on a Monday. The signature slice here is the pizza bianca, so that's what I chose. And this is where Sullivan Street Bakery and I get into some conflict. I mean this was basically a loaf of bread. Sure, it was moist and seasoned well with rosemary and sea salt. But this is what I'd expect in a basket with some olive oil at a trattoria before we even place our order. I don't care what they do in Rome, this is not a slice of pizza!

I left with a blank feeling. What just happened? I was a bit surprised and disappointed. So I did something I was not expecting to do. I went back for a second visit.

This time I completely ignored the pizza bianca like a one night stand you pass on the subway platform. I chose the zucchini slice instead. Well, I will say this is much closer to what I expect from pizza. It still didn't have much cheese (a little bit of grated gruyere) and no tomato sauce to speak of.

What the very crispy thin crust slice did have was a nice helping of cooked zucchini, some bread crumbs for texture, and a lot of flavor. Whether this bread thing was pizza or not, it was delicious. It reminded me of a homemade zucchini casserole. It was warming, crunchy and a real treat.

There are definitely many variations to the standard definition of pizza. I guess as long as they're delicious and fun to eat, we shouldn't squabble. And if you order correctly at Sullivan Street Bakery, you'll have a new and exciting eating experience. Order incorrectly and you'll wonder how the name pizza entered the equation.

Is Sullivan Street Bakery the best pizza in NY? I can't really put it in the running. The bread is delicious and the speciality "pizzas" are flavorful. I'd rate it much higher in terms of deliciousness, but for the best pizza, it can't get more than a 6 out of 10.

Sunday Night

It's so nice when food brings families together. And I always think of Sunday nights as being family night. Whether I came kicking and screaming to the dinner table (because I was about to beat Mega Man 3) or I was cooking for my parents, Sunday dinner was always family time.

I still get that feeling whenever I go out to eat in New York on a Sunday night. It's a little quieter at restaurants because many families are at home. And it seems like wait staff and customers are still relaxed from the weekend and trying to get ready for the long work week ahead. It's a comfortable night to relax and enjoy.

And so it was on a Sunday night that I went to Angelo's. The two-story 57th Street location had a steady business of tourists and local families, but there was still that mellow calmness in the air (a little too mellow with some of the service I received). And since I was alone and it was Sunday night and I was about to have some pizza, I had to call my mom.

Mom was more interested in how I was doing than the ratio of sauce to cheese. But since I'm rating the pizza in New York on this blog and I imagine nobody (except Mom, of course) cares about my razor burn, I'll get to the important stuff.

The crust was really crunchy and maybe even slightly overdone. No slouching, droopy pizza here. It was strong and firm, if a bit dry. The crust was nicely charred and a little too ashy. The sauce was slightly sweet and looked plentiful but somehow it got lost in all the cheese. The sauce basically melted away with each bite like cotton candy. Very thick, tomato-y cotton candy.

There were three full leaves of basil garnished on the entire 12 inches. That means more than half my slices were basil-less. Just make the choice: to basil or not to basil?

The cheese was definitely the focus of the pie here, but there were burnt specks throughout. The traditional cooking time for Neapolitan pizza is two minutes in a wood oven and since coal (which Angelo's uses) is hotter than wood, I think they need to re-examine how long they keep the pies in their oven. There's no excuse for dry overdone pizzas. Definitely not in this city.

The pizza here is average at best. The environment is definitely comfortable and inviting, so even if the food and service are not the best, I can imagine a family coming together and enjoying their Sunday night together. Even if the conversation leans more toward how to clear up a rash and less on how to cook a proper pizza.

Is Angelo's the best pizza in NY? If you like overdone, slightly dry, crunchy pizza this is your place. As for me, it gets a meager 5 out of 10.