A Pie in the Sky

by Sarah Bragaw & Peter Cassell

The holidays are over. The endless parties and cooking for family feasts are done for another season. What do we crave to comfort us in our wintery post revels blues? Pizza. So simple, so nourishing, so easy. With the right pizza for the mood you have a meal, a pick me up or a romantic picnic that needs no dishwasher.

Pizza has proliferated. We now have various vegetarian, lite, deep-dish, natural, Chicago-style, tuscan, gourmet, individual and extra jumbo megameal pizzas. In NYC we can get pizza at Pizza A Dough Dough, Pizza Creations, Pizza Factory, Pizza Paradise, Pizza Town. There's a whole column in the phone book of names starting with Pizza, and Pizza comes in combination with Pasta and Pita and Cappuccino too. Ray's, Joes, Lisa's, that's three pages in the yellow pages. The new restaurant Spartina, in Tribeca, is popular for its grilled pizzas and Pino Luongo's restaurant's Le Madri and Mad 61 are known for pizzas from their wood burning ovens. When I moved to NYC, the place to go was John's on Bleeker Street. In my 12 years here I've eaten in there easily more times than any other restaurant.

John's has a coal fired oven and uses fresh vegetables, and fennel-laced sausage which produces a very distinctive taste. I also like the chilled imported red wine they serve in tiny tumblers. Bolla Valpolicella never tasted so good, and the price is reasonable. I get the SMOG pizza: sausage, mushroom, onion, & fresh garlic. There is usually a wait for a table at prime hours and on weekend nights but once you are ensconced in a booth, it's worth it. The check comes to about $30 for two. John's has an Upper West Side branch now and my sister tells me it is easier to park near W. 63rd than in the Village. John's was my benchmark pizza for years.

Around town, a slice on the run is usually medium-thin crust with tomato sauce and mozzarella. Paper plates absorb the requisite oil, and with a soda, lunch can still be had for a cheap $2.25. In restaurants with fancy names, the gourmet pie as an entree has become a point of pride. Should I try the barbecued chicken pizza? The difference between wood burning ovens, gas and grill is? Why is the imported cheese placed on the crust before the special sauce?

So we went to an expert for commentary. Ciro Verde has been involved with pizza since the age of 12, got a "real" job at 19, and now at 29 is on the brink of opening his own restaurant, Da Ciro's. He has trained pizza men and consulted privately, developing original pizza recipes and his own philosophy of pizza along the way. Last year, New York Magazine named Ciro's Pizza Robiola as Best Restaurant Pizza.

Sarah Bragaw: How did it all start?

Ciro Verde: In Naples at my uncle's wood burning oven pizza parlors Giovanni's Pizza and Solo Pizza. I was 12. At 19, I went pro at Petaluma, then at Mezzaluna and then Mezzogiorno where Pino Luongo used to come in for pizza. He hired me. From there, I trained the pizza men for Piccolo Cucinas (in Dallas, Houston and Chicago) and Le Madri & Mad 61. I've worked for Pino for 6 years.

SB: So where's the best Pizza?

CV: Ciro di Margilina's in the center of the Margilina district in Naples. It's just great -- the best of its kind.

SB: Locally?

CV: Other than mine, on 29th and Broadway, Sac's Pizza. It's a "Ray's type" with fresh ingredients, by the slice. And Rizzo's, square pizza, but thin. On Steinway street in Astoria.

(Ciro says that Sac's and Rizzo's have gas ovens, but he prefers the wood burning ovens he grew up using. Baker's Pride, a commercial oven company, uses Ciro's photo in advertisements for the company's wood burning ovens. He occasionally gets recognized.)