Lucia, Flushing Queens. The review, pics, and video will be across the next few posts.
Wow! Loved these slices! This really could be my ideal pizza.
I had high hopes for Lucia, one of the pics I found on Yelp previously, I said was exactly the slice look I’m going for. I was pumped when I walked in and saw everyone’s slices looking exactly like the one I had been hoping for.
Of the 3 mesh-screen shops we talk about (Lucia, Amore, Margherita), for me personally, I’d put this ahead of Amore, and either tied with Margherita, or on its own at #1. It definitely gets a notch above for location, being easily accessible by either 7-train or LIRR, while Margherita is in the center of Jamaica. (Lucia being in the middle of Chinatown is fun too, so save room for some other treats.)
The words to describe the flavor that hit me at the time were: tomato, grease, hard cheese. It was seemingly simple, yet so good (and I’m sure not as simple as it appears).
I tried to get as many questions in to one of the counter guys as I ate. (When I arrived at around 3pm on a Saturday, it was very busy, and this place is tiny. I found a spot to stand at the counter, ordered, paid, and ate without moving from that counter spot. Later it thinned out, and I took my second slice to the other counter that had bar stools. Also note that the takeout window to the sidewalk was busy as well.)
I asked if the cheese was Grande, and he said yes. I never trust that pattern, however, and it would’ve been better if he said the brand rather than me. I asked if it was whole milk or part skim or a mix, and he said it was a mix of whole milk and part-skim. This was more believable based on how the conversation was going.
I asked if they were using romano or parm (as I could clearly taste something). He gave me a bit of a funny look and said, no, nothing. But, when I later asked to buy a doughball and some sauce, he said they don’t sell the sauce, dough no problem. Not selling the sauce is an indication. While the overall flavor seemed simple, they wouldn’t be hiding their sauce if it was just tomato and salt. My second slice had one large piece of fresh basil. Other than that, absolutely nothing was visible.
He said they finish the pies directly on the deck for about a minute. No re-heats as they are always busy. But, 2 things I noticed. First, they did store baked pies under the counter (like Margherita). And the pies they were directly serving sat on some sort of (stone?) cutting board that was under heat lamps. The lamps were hidden, but there were clearly a bunch of bulbs directly over that spot with lighting that stood out.
I could clearly see the Baker’s Pride oven’s temperature needle at 500 degrees on both decks.
I recorded a video of the pizza-maker opening and topping a pie, and there is a very clear closeup of the topped pie. I also captured them moving a pie from the screen to the deck.
My first slice was well done with a lot of crisp. I asked if it was a reheat, as it was very crispy, and cracked. He said it wasn’t a reheat. While I’m generally not a big fan of crisp, this slice was really awesome. It didn’t taste overcooked, or have any char flavor. (Amore was crisp and charred.) Thin sauce, greasy cheese, hard to describe the flavor, but just awesome.
My second slice came off a pie directly out of the oven. (When I was taking the video, I saw the pie come out and asked for a slice right after he cut it.) This one was much less done on the bottom. Pale and blond toward the rim. Certainly no chance for it to crack. Part of it got very soft. But, if you know the kind of pies I like, this one was even better!
When I got home a few hours later I weighed and opened the doughball. It weighed 727 grams. Lots of small bubbles on the underside. It opened beautifully. It required me to stretch it, rather than opening on its own, but wasn’t hard to stretch. It very quickly was stretched to over 18”.
I’m not sure what else to say. Anyone in the area, go check this place out, there’s no excuses!
Pics below of the shop and the entire interior that is open to the public. More in the following posts.
