Author Topic: Luzzo's Pizzeria Review (Read 13369 times)

pftaylor · « **on:** March 21, 2006, 09:19:55 PM »

Pizza Rating: Excellent. The best pie we ate by far. $15.95 for 16", $12.95 for 12"
Appetizer Rating: Excellent. We ordered an authentic Caprese. $7.95
Desert Rating: Excellent. Authentic Ricotta Cheese Cake - What could be better? $5.95
Overall Rating: The best pizzeria we encountered on our trip by a wide margin.
Lesson Learned: When pizzanapoletana and Il Pizzaiolo speak, listen. No one knows pizza better.

I had mixed feelings as the taxi crawled by Anthony's Una Pizza Napoltana (UPN) which is also located in the East Village section of NY. I had even worse feelings when I realized that Luzzo's was literally located 250 yards from UPN. The only saving grace was that UPN was customarily closed. I have never been fortunate enough to swing by there when he is open. As fate would have it he was open when I emerged from Luzzo's, but we couldn't stop by his place on this occasion due to having to catch a plane Sunday night. Oh well, at least I have something to look forward to in the future.

Michael, the owner of Luzzo's comes from Naples and makes great Neapolitan pizza. At first blush his pizzas look like typical NYC style coal-fired pies. Char everywhere. 16" sizes. Fresh Mozzarella (which he makes on the premises). I had no clue until I took the first bite that Luzzo's was different. Very different. The crust had perfect texture. Perfect. Not good. But perfect.

I still cannot get the crust out of my mind nearly three days later. It had a wafer thin layer of crunch which encompassed a silly-soft interior. The crunch was unique and disappeared almost immediately in the mouth. The pillow soft interior was an addictive contrast. Together they overcame a somewhat bland crust flavor, uninteresting cheese, and a plain sauce. The crust's texture mainstreamed a "Bulls-Eye" message to my brain which rendered the other uninteresting ingredients rather meaningless. I knew immediately that Michael didn't employ a Biga with his crust, and he confirmed my surmise. I could only imagine how tremendous his pizza would taste if he did. His pie would be illegal. For a guy who loves crust, this is as good as I have ever eaten even with the noticeable defects mentioned. Funny how perfect texture can overcome weak areas.

We ordered two pies. A 16" Fresh Mozzarella Margherita and a 12" Margherita featuring imported Bufala. The 16" pie was the clear winner. I ended up having to salt both pies to coax any flavor out of the sauce and cheese. The 12" pie was very wet. Too wet for our liking and the cheese had a funny aftertaste. Almost bitter and bordering on funny tasting. The crust however was completely consumed. Not a scrap was left by my family. That is a first. Michael dressed my pies after cooking with a circular dousing of olive oil and a sprig or two of fresh basil.

I examined the two coal-fired ovens quite closely. They appeared to be recently refurbished and were surprisingly clean inside. They both looked new on the inside. Michael claims his pies cook between 75 and 85 seconds, but didn't know the temperature. I offered to bring my laser thermometer on my next visit and he is eagerly awaiting my return.

Pictures of our meal are offered for your review.

varasano · « **Reply #1 on:** March 21, 2006, 10:58:29 PM »

hey pft, I'm going to try this one on my next trip in early May

pizzanapoletana · « **Reply #2 on:** March 22, 2006, 09:07:23 AM »

PF Taylor,

I am glad you like it and also glad of your conclusion... ;-)

As I said in my early post, the crust still needs attention and it is still far from a super neapolitan pizza, however I think it is the best product available in NYC so far.

Michele (Michael) is not really from Naples, but from the Caserta province, in the country side. He has a background in home bread baking, as well as many in the Caserta's country side, his house a bread brick oven.

the pizza doesn't really cook in 80 seconds but not much longer.

Ciao

pftaylor · « **Reply #3 on:** March 22, 2006, 03:02:09 PM »

pizzanapoletana,
I'm glad to see you have survived after eating all the bad American pizza we have here in the States. Do not give up on your mission of teaching us the proper ways to produce true Neapolitan pizza. Our promise back to you is that we will never stop learning from you. It is a lifetime commitment I feel.

In that respect, I wonder if you could illuminate the specifics of what Michael at Luzzo's needs to improve on. While I may have never eaten a true Italian Neapolitan pizza, I have had my share of what we Americans call Neapolitan pizza (see my post re: Naples 45). Michael's pie is the best commercially produced pie I have ever eaten. It doesn't strike me as a Neapolitan pie however.

The only facet holding it back, in my opinion, is the lack of flavor in the crust. Humbly, I submit, that either a Raquel or a Sophia easily surpasses Michael's crust flavor. What I have never been able to produce is the delicate crunch of his crust. Michael's pie seemed to visually resemble a NY-apolitan pizza. The same look and feel as what I am striving for with Pizza Raquel. Here are some specific questions which I have formulated since eating at Luzzo's:
- Are 16" pies typically produced in Naples?
- His crust had a distinctive crunch. Is that a defect? You have discussed ideal crusts as being soft. Why is there such a large gap on this crucial point? Is it due to poor preparation techniques, poor oven performance, or something else?

pizzanapoletana · « **Reply #4 on:** March 22, 2006, 05:03:33 PM »

The largest pizza that is made in Naples is 35cm (I believe about 13").

The more noticeble defect to a less expert mouth then mine or Ron's is te lack of salt in the crust. However one girl in my party also notice a major secondary defect of the pizza, which I immediatelly explained to her before finding out I was right following a discussion with Michele.

I cannot discuss all the other points, but I can say that if you have noticed that Luzzo is far superior to any NY pizza, you will also appreciate when finally meeting the real neapolitan pizza....

Ciao

scott r · « **Reply #5 on:** March 22, 2006, 05:32:32 PM »

I could be crazy, but to me the pies did not seem to have fermented fully. I think that would be an improvement.

pftaylor · « **Reply #6 on:** March 22, 2006, 05:59:24 PM »

pizzanapoletana,
Thank you for what knowledge you could share. Upon re-reading my original post I noticed I wrote that we added salt to enhance some flavor in the Fresh Mozzarella, Bufala and tomato sauce. I can now see that perhaps the cheese and sauce were lightly salted but the crust was lacking at least a 2% level. Also, you wrote that Michael's pizza is the best in NYC. I find that to be an amazing feat in light of the fact that you also desribed two major flaws in his pizza. Do I then have it right that Luzzo's is a superior pie than Anthony's at UPN? Am I to then draw the conclusion that the two best tasting pies in NYC are also the ones with the least mistakes?

scott r,
I'm glad you have joined in this discussion. I value your opinion a great deal. You have proven you know how to make a great pie and furthermore, you can describe why. You are one of the few members who have had the pleasure of tasting Michael's crust to boot. So a few questions are in order.

Did you also notice the ever-so-slight crunch of the crust? How does it compare to Anthony's at UPN? I read in another post of yours that Michael shared with you some facts about his preparation method. Did any part strike you as being unusual like they may have with pizzanapoletana?

scott r · « **Reply #7 on:** March 22, 2006, 10:38:02 PM »

PFT, the studio I am working at right now is right around the corner from both of these excellent pizzerias so I am going to hit UPN tomorrow and Luzzo's again on friday to do a better comparison. When I hit luzzo's the other day it was lunch time and I wonder if the pizza would have a longer fermentation and a hotter oven for dinner.

From what I remember about the last time I was at UPN the dough was not as light and airy as Luzzo's but it did have better flavor. Anthony lets his dough get very sour, even more so than the pizzerias that I tried in Naples that used a starter. He also uses a stronger olive oil, more and stronger basil, and less cheese than Luzzo's. His pies explode with flavor, but are not as crisp and light as Luzzo's. The whole crisp pizza thing is not what I found common in Naples. To me the luzzo's pies were pretty much a Patsy's style pie but with better quality ingredients.

The only thing I found unusual about the pies at Luzzo's was maybe the crust. The sauce and Buffalo mozzarella seemed right on to me. The crust seemed a little bit more similar to American style pizzas than the true Neapolitan. I think they are kneading longer,fermenting shorter, and using a dryer dough than typical Neapolitan. I did think the crust was lacking some flavor, but I didn't realize that it was the lower salt level. Now that Marco mentions it, yes, they were light on the salt. Again, more in line with a typical American style crust. Also, the flour did seem different than the Caputo pizzeria that I am used to . Again, it seemed more American, but funny, I think it might be the Poselli flour that I had at some of the pizzerias in Naples.

pizzanapoletana · « **Reply #8 on:** March 23, 2006, 08:39:02 AM »

It is not the Polselli flour I have mentioned in the past. This is another "Molino" (miller) based around Naples, polselli is made in Frosinone (Lazio).
The Pizze I had a luzzo (3) were all as soft as the average Neapolitan pizzeria but still far from the top notch traditional ones. The leap forward necessary to reach that superior status needs quite a lot of experience that many pizzaioli lack..

PFT,

In my opinion (as well as Ron's) nobody as yet to make the real Pizza Napoletana in NYC, so the best would need to be the one that get closer then others..

UPN has only the name and passion of the true thing. As I said before, the pizza I have tested there were not cooked properly (burnt, all 6 ), did not have the fluffiness, and tested more like bread then pizza... This is the key! Pizza & Bread have the same root but then have followed different routes during history. That is why we should not confuse methodologies (like Biga, Poolish etc), with fermentation agents (Commercial yeast & wild yeast).
UPN uses a poolish method with a sourdough starter. The effect of this is that the pizza becomes very sour and also, what is more damaging, compromises the true characteristics of a Pizza Napoletana.
Still, by using quality ingredients and passion, he manage to achieve better results that other places located in NYC.

Ciao

varasano · « **Reply #9 on:** March 23, 2006, 10:17:51 AM »

Sheeeshh....

scott r · « **Reply #10 on:** March 23, 2006, 06:42:06 PM »

Didn't make it to UPN today, as my only oppertunity for pizza was at lunch time. I tried another place called Sezz Medi. The pizza was definitely neapolitan and close to the quality of Luzzo's. Anyone interested might want to check out my review.

scott r · « **Reply #11 on:** March 25, 2006, 12:35:39 PM »

Made it to Luzzo's a second time. The pizza was again amazing. The pizza was just like it was the other day, so I have a feeling they are very consistent as the pies on this second visit were even made by a different guy (the owner). He was very nice and seems genuinely excited about pizza. He was also kind enough to share with us his techniques. I feel a little weird about disclosing them on the forum. I wish I had asked him if it would be all right to do so.

This may be the lightest pizza I have ever had. It is so hard to describe here what I am talking about, but although the pizza is light the texture seems off from what I had in Naples. As Marco has pointed out I am no expert on authentic Neapolitan pizza after only one visit to Naples so take what I say with a grain of salt, but I just wish it had the large voids with a more fluffy (not just light) texture and more character to the crumb. I don't know if it is the lower salt content letting the yeast go crazy, or the unusual flour they are using, but it is almost like eating air. I would prefer a dough made with a starter and more salt. They are using a very elaborate process to make this dough, and they are blending an American flour in with an Italian (not Caputo) flour.

I feel bad that I have been pointing out what I think are some weaknesses with this pizza, but I really did like the pizza. I am such a harsh critic. I have spent so much time perfecting my recipe and mixing/dough management techniques to my tastes that it might very well just be that anything different from my style of crust would taste sub par to me. I think that anybody that goes to Luzzo's will absolutely fall in love with the pizza and more than likely think it is the best pizza they have ever had. We had just come from around the corner eating pizza at Una Pizza Napoletanna when I tried Luzzo's this second time. It was very interesting to see how the two pizzerias approached their Neapolitan inspired pies. Between the two I could not pick a "better" pizza, as they were such different products. The pies at UPN were much less soft, and in my opinion were a little dry, but they did have the most amazing flavor I have ever had in a pizza. From this trip I think that in some ways Sezz Medi' might actually be slightly closer to what I had in Naples than Luzzo's, but so far Luzzo's and UPN tie for the best pizza I have had yet in the US. I am anxiously awaiting a visit to Pittsburgh in the near future.

scpizza · « **Reply #12 on:** June 15, 2006, 07:29:41 AM »

Ate at Luzzo's and UPN and both are excellent but very distinct pizzas. I felt Luzzo's had more traditional pizza-like flavor while UPN was more sour and salty with a lot of olive oil on it.

I chatted with Anthony at UPN mentioning my attempts to use quarry tile at home and he said he tried it as a kid but it never worked. He recommended instead pre-cooking the cust with a light brush of olive oil then adding the sauce, etc. and cooking again. He also explained he imports all his wood from Europe, not for flavor but for even burning quality - when added to the hot oven it immediately kindles and does not temporarily take the oven temperature down as US produced woods do.

I asked permission to use my Raytek MT6 on his oven and he readily agreed. Immediately at the base of the wood, the temp read approximately 950F tapering down across the floor of the oven to 750F at the far side.

Bill/SFNM · « **Reply #13 on:** June 15, 2006, 07:59:39 AM »

Quote from: scpizza on June 15, 2006, 07:29:41 AM

He also explained he imports all his wood from Europe, not for flavor but for even burning quality - when added to the hot oven it immediately kindles and does not temporarily take the oven temperature down as US produced woods do.

Any idea what kind of wood? That is most unusual - importing wood from Europe? Must be very expensive. You sure he wasn't pulling your leg?

I use domestic pecan and oak and have no problem keeping an even temp. The "burning quality" seems dependent on the degree of seasoning of the wood and the size of the logs.

Bill/SFNM

scpizza · « **Reply #14 on:** June 15, 2006, 09:17:27 AM »

He mentioned what kind of wood, but I forgot. He said it came from forests near Russia. This article on UPN says it's birch:

http://www.nypost.com/food/mystic_pizza_food_andrea_strong.htm

Bill/SFNM · « **Reply #15 on:** June 15, 2006, 09:36:58 AM »

Well this guy has definitely baked a gagillion more pies than I have, so who am I to say he is crazy? But the use of imported wood seems ridiculous to me. He must have an unusual oven or the suppliers of wood in his area don't know how to season it properly or he is just hyping to stand out from the competition. Does he think pizza makers in Naples import wood from Russia?

Bill/SFNM

scott r · « **Reply #16 on:** June 15, 2006, 08:49:56 PM »

Now we know why he charges 17 bucks for a small plain pizza.

David · « **Reply #17 on:** June 15, 2006, 09:40:13 PM »

Quote from: scpizza on June 15, 2006, 07:29:41 AM

He also explained he imports all his wood from Europe, not for flavor but for even burning quality - when added to the hot oven it immediately kindles and does not temporarily take the oven temperature down as US produced woods do.

I don't get it?I'm betting $4-6K /container plus actual lumber cost and then storage for a wood than although good,does not burn as hot as Oak?I know he is one of the few who uses the Neapolitan sawdust technique for adding a quick burst of heat / flame,but this I just don't understand.Marco had previously commented that his oven was not right and problematic at the Manhattan location and he used a modular pre-fab at his previous spot,so why would he go to all the expense and trouble of sourcing his European seasoned wood before getting the oven right?Still, it makes for a more interesting story on an Editors Desk.

scott r · « **Reply #18 on:** June 15, 2006, 10:08:40 PM »

Wow, just read the article and the pies are 19 dollars now.

pizzanapoletana · « **Reply #19 on:** June 16, 2006, 08:05:00 AM »

If he really imports the wood, and from East Europe/Russia, I believe it is Beech (Fagus sylvatica), which as I said before, IS THE BEST wood to burn in a pizza oven. When well seasoned, it burns for long and produce the perfect characoal to keep the floor at temperature. I have heard numerous complaints from professional pizzamakers in various part of the US about not finding the proper wood and/or seasoned enough. Domestic Beech is almost impossible to find, apparently. I have personally used all sort of fruit/nut woods as well as oak, beech and olive, and have to say that the top 2 woods have to be Beech and olive.

Ciao

PS there is beech wood imported from east europe even in Italy.