Depitting Olives

Today was my first day at Roberta's Pizzeria in Brooklyn. It was a bit of slow day. The lack of costumers lead me to other things, such as depitting olives. I depitted 293 olives today- give or take. It's hard to tell the exact number because every dozen or so I'd forget that I was counting and just guess at the correct number.

I depitted the olives by smashing them against a baking pan. I quickly discovered that to successfully smash each olive, I couldn't smash more than two at a time. It went very slowly at first.

2...4...6....8....10....12...14...

Then something miraculous happened. The olives began to warm up and they became easier to smash. I could smash THREE olives at a time! Eureka!

87...90....93....96....99...103..

I quickly tried to smash 4 olives at once and discovered that it was an impossibility. It was just one olive too much. I had gotten too prideful. I humbly moved back down to three.

Not all olives are created equal. Some are soft and some are hard. Some have small pits that easily detach themselves from their olive meatiness and others possess large, stubborn pits that fight the entire way- making my fingers work harder.

What kind of olive would I be? An easy going olive that gleefully jumps from its outer shell or a tough little fucker that's sole purpose is to make the guy who depits them angry and spiteful?

These are a few of the questions I asked myself while depitting 293 olives- give or take.

115...118...121....124....127....

A party of six comes into Roberta and places a large order.

"Hey Zach, you need an extra hand making those pies?"

"No, Gus. Just keep depitting those olives. You're doing a great job."

130...133...136....139....141...

There's a one pizza one shift role at Roberta's which means each day I get to make and eat my own pizza. The pie I made today was a mishmash of all the toppings I've wanted to try but havent gotten a chance to yet: It had tomato sauce, mozzarella, taleggio, speck, red onions, and brussel sprouts. It was an overcrowded pizza that wasn't particularly good.

The taleggio and sprouts were easily my favorite ingredients.

The taleggio is very well balanced- creamy and strongly tart towards the end. I can't imagine that it will stand out too well with a tomato based pizza though. I mostly see it working well on white pies- acting as an anchoring flavor-pulling together your mozzarella, ricotta and even parmigiano.

I was surprised at how flavorful the brussel sprouts are. They have a clean, slightly bitter taste that reminded me of a good egg roll. Can't wait to start experimenting with it as a topping.

I was least impressed by the speck. I don't have anything against Roberta's speck specifically, just speck in general. It tasted way to salty too me. And though it adds a nice textual crunch, I don't find it to have the same body of flavor you get with a soppressata.

That's it for now. More on my olive depitting adventures next post.

New Job and great pizza

It's been a few months since my last post. a quick update: I just got a job at Roberta's !

It's in Bushwick off of the L train. Anyone in Brooklyn or greater NY should come out and visit me. I'm working today.

I'll post more soon about Roberta's friendly environment and great selection of pies. Until then, hopefully this will tide you over.

Franny's (Flatbush Ave in Brooklyn)

Ah the provolone pie! We went to Franny's the other night and tried a uniquely deliciously pie. It had provolone piccante, tomato sauce, and onions. It's quite refreshing to see another cheese compete for the spot light on pizza's center stage. Far too few pizzerias are willing to venture outside the mozzarella safe zone. This pie is an edible monument towards the glory that is provolone. Every other ingredient is (for better or worse) an aftertaste. Like Chris Bianco's Rosa, you'll probably love it or hate. But at least you can applaud the tenacity to try to pull this thing off.

The provolone piccante begins with a tangy, almost nutty flavor which leads into a zestly slightly spicy finish. It’s less salty and more full-bodied than either parmigiano-reggiano or pecoro romano but no less sharp. This is an aggressively present cheese which, unlike mild mozzarella, demands your entire attention. As a result, the pie is not very nuanced or balanced. Occasionally I could taste the onions that were trying to cut the provolone's intensity. But they weren't doing a particularly good job. In a way, this pie reminds me of a less sophisticated Mari. That being said, I loved this pie. I loved that someone thought enough of provolone to put it on their pizza and service it to their clientele.

Di Fara's

I have mixed feelings about Di Fara's and have put off writing about it for a while. It's considered an excellent (if not the premier) pizzeria in NYC. I went over a year ago, days before hopping on a plane to Naples, and didn't think it was worth the hype. I decided to go for a second time and realized that maybe my flavor centric approach towards reviewing isn't always the best way to judge a pizzeria.

We took a shaky train through the green foliage and street graffiti of Brooklyn, stepped out into the summer humidity and found ourselves at the end of an hour long wait. We waited. An hour turned into an hour and twenty minutes. I killed time by skimming the articles written about Di Fara's that lined the wall. There were too many to count and they all seemed to say pretty much the same thing: best. pizzeria. ever.

Dom Demarco, Di Fara's owner and master pizzaiolo, is an elderly man with a slight hunch whose gaze rarely rises above his work to the gawking crowd around him (that included my flashing camera, btw). Whether it's scizzoring fresh basil over bubbling cheese or sticking his ungloved hands deep into the heat of the oven Demarco makes his pies with the confidence of a sleepwalker. He performs every task as if its an extension of himself, as if rotating a pie is as natural to him as biting into an apple.

That might explain why so many of the reviews the adorn the walls in Di fara's are less about the pizza and more about the man behind the pizza. I thought of this as I watched the crowds hungrily watch Demarco make his pies. There seemed to be more fervor for the immediancy of the moment ("we're here! we're actually at di fara's!") and less for the pies, which, for the record were good, though Demarco uses enough olive oil to drown an entire neapolitan family. This has gotten me thinking; what is it about a particular pizzeria or restuarant that gets most of us excited? Is it the food itself or some sort of personalizing quality behind the food -something that makes us less aware of the food and more aware of the moment in which we experience the food?

Just got back into NYC and am looking forward to doing some eating and reviewing. A few people have already sent this my way and I thought I'd pass it along:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/dining/08pizza.html?8dpc

A pretty nice article. But I do disagree with what he say's about Keste (though, I haven't tried the sausage pizza yet)

Pizza Hiatus

I'll be in maine until July 7th and will continue my pizza quest once I return to NYC. I'm planning on going here: http://www.flatbreadcompany.com/2007Home.htm

Meeting with Scott from NY Pizza tour

I met with Scott Wiener this afternoon. Scott is the founder and tour guide of Scott's Pizza Tours of NYC. After a few days of playing phone tag, we were finally able to meet up and discuss our mutual enthusiasm for pizza. We met at John's pizzeria on Bleecker street and split a delicious sausage pie (Scott's recommendation). We talked for over an hour about different pizza styles, pizza's origins,  its cultural relevance, and of course, our personal history and connection to pizza. Scott possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of not only how pizza evolved (and still is evolving) but is also able to accurately and clearly define the many different styles of pizza (neapolitan, chicago-style, roman etc). He knew, for example, that mozzarella comes from the italian word mozzare, which means 'to cut' while also being able to tell me exactly which type of canned tomato we were eating at John's. 

What a pleasure it was to finally meet and talk with someone who loves pizza as much as I do. Scott, while very passionate, is not overbearing in his expertise. This was a nice contrast to the pizzaioli I worked under in Naples. I'm very excited to explore and learn about pizza with Scott. For those of you who want to really learn about NYC pizza you need to go on his tour:

http://www.scottspizzatours.com/