#1 New York Pizza in Snohomish, WA

#1 New York Pizza is one of those places I have wanted to try for ages now. I found it via an internet search over a year ago but never had the time to drive 30 minutes north east of Seattle (i.e. middle of nowhere) to try a slice of pizza. Lo and behold today I found myself with a free hour and I figured I would make the drive.

The user reviews for #1 New York Pizza are promising. Out of the 10 reviews I could find only one user who had a negative comment and almost all the reviewers claimed to be from the New York area. However the one negative reviewer did seem to give the best description which made me a little nervous because this wouldn’t be the first time that supposed ex-pat New Yorkers have raved about a restaurant that in the end did not live up to the hype.

Now when I said #1 New York Pizza was in the middle of nowhere I was not joking. If you blink while driving you will pass this place. It is a tiny shop located off Highway 9 in Snohomish, Washington. The owners claim to be New Yorkers and the second one of the owners opens their mouth, any questions about their authenticity can be thrown out the window. I was lucky to meet the woman of this Husband and Wife owned restaurant and if I didn’t know any better I would think I was talking to Doris Roberts' character in Everybody Loves Raymond (Marie Barone). Sure enough, Relita, the woman I met in the restaurant and her husband Tony are “off the boat” from Queens, NY. She knew enough about New York that when I mentioned my hometown she began to utter the word “upstate” but I quickly cut her off because I find that comment borderline offensive! Regardless of the quality of the food I can tell you that the second I stepped foot in this place and talked with the owner I felt at home.

After meeting Relita I wanted so very badly to love the food at #1 New York Pizza but in the end I have mixed results for you. The pizza is sold by the pie or by the slice which is certainly a good start. Plus they have no tolerance for off-the-wall toppings (that’s right Hawaiian pizza lovers … you will not get pineapple on your pizza here). However the slices I ordered really just didn’t live up to the name of this establishment. The dough had the right thickness but it was dense and bread-like. With what I know about pizza making my honest impression is that they don’t let their dough rise long enough. The sauce and cheese were ok and there were some remnants of New York pizza flavor hidden in my slice but overall it fell way short of my expectations.

The Cannoli I ordered was an entirely different story. When I ordered my Cannoli, Relita pulled out an empty fresh Cannoli shell. This is always a good sign. Relita also informed me that they order Polly-O ricotta cheese for the filling which is a common ricotta cheese back east. Finally to top it off they candy their own fruit. I was notably impressed with my first bite into the Cannoli. The shell was fresh and crispy and the filling was creamy with just the right amount of powdered sugar added. Overall this might be one of the best Cannoli’s I have had in the state of Washington.

So #1 New York Pizza is really a mixed bag. If you are looking for a little New York attitude and a fine Cannoli by all means make the drive. However if it is New York pizza you seek I think you might be better off saving the gas money and the environment and stay home and follow my New York pizza recipe listed in a previous post. I will also add there were many other items on the menu I wish I had a chance to try including a Sicilian pizza and a meatball parmesan hero. I am not sure if I will ever make it back to #1 New York Pizza but if you are ever in town tell Relita I say hi!

#1 New York Pizza

17809 State Rte 9 SE Ste 1

Snohomish, WA 98296-6302

Gastropolis – A New Book About New York City Food

I was doing one of my typical morning searches for all things New York food related and stumbled across a new book titled Gastropolis: Food and New York City (Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History).  This book provides a historical perspective on New York cuisine.   I can’t tell you how excited I was to see another book touching on this topic.  After all to date the only similar book I’m aware of is Arthur Schwartz’s book Arthur Schwartz's New York City Food: An Opinionated History and More Than 100 Legendary Recipes.  Anyway the book is currently available for pre-order from Amazon.com.  I ordered my copy today. 

Here is a little more detail about the book from the Columbia university Press website:

“.. An irresistible sampling of the city's rich food heritage, Gastropolis explores the personal and historical relationship between New Yorkers and food. Beginning with the origins of cuisine combinations, such as Mt. Olympus bagels and Puerto Rican lasagna, the book describes the nature of food and drink before the arrival of Europeans in 1624 and offers a history of early farming practices. Essays trace the function of place and memory in Asian cuisine, the rise of Jewish food icons, the evolution of food enterprises in Harlem, the relationship between restaurant dining and identity, and the role of peddlers and markets in guiding the ingredients of our meals. They share spice-scented recollections of Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx, and colorful vignettes of the avant-garde chefs, entrepreneurs, and patrons who continue to influence the way New Yorkers eat. …”

Fore a little more information check out the following Q&A session with the authors published in the New York Times.

• Answers About New York Food History: Part 1
• Answers About New York Food History: Part 2
• Answers About New York Food History: Part 3

Abbondanza Pizzeria in West Seattle

My visit to Abbondanza epitomizes many of the reasons why I write this bl0g. After all how many people love New York food enough to drag their wives all the way across town, on one of the rare occasions they get out of the house, to a pizza place? Or perhaps the real question I should be asking is how many wives would actually go!

I found Abbondanza after doing one of my semi-regular searches for New York food establishments. When I read some of the reviews for Abbondanza I was thoroughly excited. Several reviewers claimed this was some of the best New York style pizza in the northwest. When we arrived at the restaurant there was a crowd standing outside the door which is always a good sign. However we quickly discovered we had landed at Abbondanza on a night where the restaurant was having what appeared to be a private event. That said the host was very kind and had us wait at the Starbucks next door. He regularly came in to tell people their table was ready which by all accounts is pretty great customer service.

Once we were finally seated I was again excited, this time by the sight of the menu. Along with a list of various pizzas were some classic sandwiches and a few desserts I was eager to try, specifically the Cannoli. We ordered two pizzas, a Margherita and a "Alla Salsiccia". When the pizzas arrived they both looked terrific. The Margherita pizza was really just a plain cheese pizza. Beyond not using fresh mozzarella the pizza was supposed to come with basil but there was none on our pizza. Perhaps they were out of basil due to the large crowd. Regardless it was a small enough oversight that I was willing to look past it. The "Alla Salsiccia" pizza was loaded with toppings which was nice to see.

Unfortunately the flavor of the pizza did not live up to the hype I had conjured up in my head. The crust on the pizzas was actually pretty good. The crust was chewy and had a decent char on the bottom. However the sauce and cheese on the Margherita pizza were fairly bland and both lacked any real depth of flavor. Also there was way too much cheese on this pizza for me. As I indicated above the "Alla Salsiccia" pizza was loaded with toppings which was good on one hand, but on the other it had a tremendous amount of grease which made the dough soggy. Overall I can see why people think this is New York pizza. The thinness and texture of the dough certainly put it in the ballpark of New York pizza, but they certainly didn't hit it out of the park.

After our pizza I ordered a Cannoli, perhaps one of my favorite Italian pastries that are common in New York. To be completely honest the Cannoli looked great but it was not very good. The filling was ok but it had more of a cottage cheese texture instead of the creamy texture of most ricotta creams I grew up with. The worst part of the Cannoli was that they committed a faux pas by pre-filling the Cannoli which made the Cannoli shell little more then a soggy mush. If you are looking for a Cannoli I certainly wouldn't send you here. Perhaps had I gone earlier in the evening or a day when they first make them it would have been better.

For those that don't already know Abbondanza means abundance in Italian. What I will say about this restaurant, is that there is an abundance of customer service and an abundance of effort put into making their pizzas. Perhaps had we visited on a less crowded evening the quality would be even better. I really wanted to love Abbondanza, but in this New Yorker's mind they fell a little short of New York pizza and Cannoli gold.

Topolino's Offends Me as a New Yorker

Any expatriate New Yorker who lives in the Seattle area has probably had someone recommend Topolino's for New York Pizza. I understand why, it is on one of the busiest through streets in downtown Bellevue and the sign says "The True Taste of Brooklyn". However I am here to tell you that your friends have led you astray and that perhaps the sign is really trying to imply that it is the "True Taste" of Brooklyn, Ohio.

I have previously eaten at Topolino's and I was disappointed back then but I thought I should give it a try again before I go writing a disparaging blog post. The good news is that Topolino's looks and feels a lot like a New York Pizza place. It is a small restaurant with a counter and a few tables and chairs. It is nothing fancy and reminds me somewhat of the the nondescript pizza places I grew up going to. However that is where the similarities with New York pizza end.

On my most recent visit I ordered a small plain cheese pizza so I could evaluate the quality of the food. When I opened the box I was severely disappointed because it didn't even look like New York pizza. The outer crust had almost no rise to it and there was way to much oregano on the pizza. As for the taste, well, that was even more disappointing. The dough tasted like dense, stale bread, the sauce was overpowered by the flavor of Oregano and the cheese was bland. As I sit and look on other sites like Yelp or Citysearch I am actually blown away that anybody would call this New York pizza.

So as I stated in the title Topolino's offends me. It offends me as a pizza lover because the pizza is awful and it offends me as a New Yorker because they actually go as far as having a sign saying this is the "true taste of Brooklyn". So if you are thinking about going to Topolino's to find New York pizza, In the words of my Brooklyn comrades, FUH-GET ABOUT IT.

A Simple New York Pizza Recipe

I am fairly certain I swore in a previous post that I would never list a New York Pizza recipe on this site.  Mostly because it has been covered on countless blogs and web sites. But low and behold I made a great tasting pizza the other night and I thought it would be shameful to not share this fairly simple recipe with the world. 

This recipe covers a lot of ground that has been covered by others but simplifies the overall process.  I think you will find it can deliver tremendous results.

The Dough

The dough recipe simply follows Peter Reinhardt's recipe from his book The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread.  You can find a legally reprinted copy of the recipe on the 101cookbooks.com blog posted here.  I have only a few points to add to the recipe:

• Follow the instructions regarding ingredient temperature religiously (i.e. refrigerate your flour and use ice cold water).
• Use the weight measurements and NOT the volume measurements (except in the case below).  I have found they give very different results. (Note that after you have made the dough a few times you will learn what it looks like and you can revert to the volume measurements for simplicity sake and adjust flour and water amounts as necessary till the the dough looks and feels as it should.
• Unless you have an incredibly accurate scale use volume measurements for salt and yeast.
• If using any olive oil at all use at most about an 1/8th a cup
• If using Sea Salt or Kosher salt be mindful of how much you use because you can quite easily kill the yeast if you use to much salt.
• Use high-gluten flour.
• Let you dough rise in the refrigerator for 2 days ( 1 day will work but 2 days seems to be the optimum time).

The Sauce

Pizza sauce is actually so simple but yet many people including myself tend to overcomplicate it.  At it's core a pizza sauce should be uncooked tomato pulp.  Here is the recipe that works for me (note this recipe makes enough sauce for two or three small 12-inch pizzas.  You can double the recipe as needed)

• 1 can of whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes ( I am currently using San Marzano Cento Organic Italian Peeled Tomatoes, DOP Certified)
• Purchase any Italian Tomato Press
• Pick the tomatoes out of the can (not the juice) and repeatedly run them through the press until you squeezed out all the pulp and juice and only have seeds in your waste bowl.
• Strain the tomato pulp and water until you are left with nothing but tomato pulp
• Add a teaspoon of Italian seasoning (or use fresh herbs)
• Add a pinch of sea salt and pepper
• optional: add a little garlic powder

That's it!

The Cheese

Very little effort is required for the cheese portion of this recipe.  All you need to do is buy the right ingredients.  I have been using the cheese blend listed below.

• Buffalo mozzarella (can be purchased at Costco here in Seattle)
• Whole Milk mozzarella (don't use part skim)
• Shredded Parmesan cheese (from a block)

Don't overdo the cheese.  New York style pizza does NOT have a blanket of cheese on it.

How to make it and bake it

For all the various components people have claimed are necessary to make a great New York pizza I have come to the conclusion that above all the main thing needed is high even heat.  So to bake your pizza properly (assuming you don't have a pizza oven)  you need two things:

• A pizza stone
• A gas grill that will fit the pizza stone (I use a Weber Spirit E-310)

Let the grill heat up for a good hour.  The thermometer on the front of the grill should be close to the max 600 degree mark.  I promise this technique will make a great tasting crust and deliver a great char on the bottom of the pizza.

To make your pizza first follow Peter Reinhardt's instructions on taking the dough out a couple hours prior to making the pizza.  To stretch the dough flour your peel (don't use corn meal ... no self respecting New York pizza place uses corn meal).  Place your finished dough on the peel and push down creating a flat disk.  Then slowly stretch the dough by pulling your hands apart and turning.  Repeat this movement till the dough is very thin.

Once your dough is stretched, top it with sauce and cheese.  Place the uncooked pizza pie on the pizza stone and close the grill.  Depending on how long you preheated the grill the pizza should cook in 3 - 6 minutes.  I recommend you turn the pizza once.

Caveats

Although the grill works great, it still has it's limitations.  In general I find that unlike my oven which has to much top heat (i.e. the cheese cooks before the dough), I find the grill is a little heavy on bottom heat.  So although the pizza cooks through I am not a 100% happy with the dough color I get on the top of the pizza.  That said I think this is the best you can do without owning a pizza oven or following Jeff Varasano's methods of altering your home oven (and probably violating your insurance policy).

Final thoughts

This recipe is actually really easy if you have the right tools.  It is a bit time consuming but not difficult from a recipe perspective.  There are countless other recipes on the web ranging from incredibly simple to Jeff Varasano's dissertation on pizza making.  I promise this recipe will deliver equal or greater results than most of the recipes out there in a reasonable amount of time.  You just might never need to search for a New York Pizza ever again.