-
Co is open for lunch
It's not often that a restaurant matches the food to its hype. I saw Jim Lahey at the NYCE last September, and it was clear that the guy's a bread genius. He's passionate about bread the way I'm not about blogging. His much anticipated pizzaria, Co or Company, has opened to much praise. Serious Eats is a big fan, and so are many others. I went this past weekend because apparently they are not open for lunch. The waitor informed me that they had been doing lunch service for about a week now.
I strolled into Co around 12:40 on a Saturday. That's the only day they're open on the weekends according to their website as of today. I was maybe the eighth person in the dining room that day. In other words, if you're sick and tired of the crazy wait and the rumors of them running out of dough late at night... well, try lunch. It's a peaceful environment, at least until the foodies get word that they can skip the line when they go for lunch.
The pizza's at Co are individual sized and one hungry person can easily down five or size slices. This is about a pizza and a half, but since they don't sell half pizza's I went for two. The first was the Amalfi, which has green olives, anchovies, and chili pepper flakes. Growing up during the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle years, I kind of never ordered anchovies on pizzas. I mean, what would Michaelangelo and Leonardo say about that? These days I actually kind of like them. You don't really taste the anchovies that much in the Amalfi so that's either a good thing or a bad thing depending on how much you like anchovies. I would rate this pizza from Co as above average, but nothing spectacular.
The great thing about this pizza is the crust. It's just so damn delicious. When they first bring the pizza out to your table, it's like seeing your girlfriend for the first time. Your mouth starts to water, your glands expand... wait a minute now. You know what I mean. It gets you excited. It's steaming and the crust is just perfect. Jim Lahey is a bread expert and crust is basically bread, right? And what a damn fine piece of bread it is...
The Ham and Cheese was really awesome though. While the Amalfi was really only great with regards to the crust, the Ham and Cheese pizza was perfect all around. This Lahey creation include these toppings: pecorino, gruyere, buffalo mozzarella, prosciutto, and caraway.
Compared with the Amalfi, this was a winner. The cheese worked well with the prosciutto and the crust. I guess it's hard to screw up ham and cheese when you use tasty ham and tasty cheese. It sounds so simple when you think about it, but I wonder if Dominoes could make a good ham and cheese pizza.
Of course, I also offer an obligatory upskirt shot of the crust. You can see that the bottom of the crust has a nice pattern. Overall, Co is a really solid pizza place provided you don't have to wait a long time for a table. If you get to sit down right away after you walk in, your experience should be a very good one. The staff is really friendly and the kitchen churned out the pizza in a short amount of time. Prices are decent here too, and they seem to be in line with what you'd expect from a pizza place with a famous chef. The Amalfi was $9 and the Ham and Cheese was $14. You probably would be fine with a single pizza unless you're a fatass like me.
I haven't been to Motorino in Williamsburg, but that's the place that people use to compare to Co. It does kind of remind me of Fornino which serves up really tasty pizzas too. Over at Fornino I also tried a tomato based pizza that included olives and anchovies, and that version was better than the Amalfi, which also had olives and anchovies. It becomes a bit harder to compare Co to a place like DiFara's because at DiFara's, you get a huge pizza that has traditional looking slices. How do you compare individual sized pizza's to a huge pizza with eight slices?
The takeaway from Co is that Jim Lahey really knows how to make some bread, and what's pizza besides thin bread with some tasty stuff on it. Yes, that's an oversimplification but it kind of fits. This is why Co can produce a quality product. The crust is just so damn tasty. If you like to try places that's hyped up and see what everyone is talking about, I suggest you go at lunch. The crust alone should be a good time.
And if you want to read more about Co and their pizza's, try here and here
Co
230 9th Ave.
New York, NY 10001
212-243-1105
Map
Sign up to the feed and never miss a post!Posted by Danny on February 17 2009 at 2:37 am
Looks really good. Man, there are now three pizza places for me to try: I still haven't been to Motorino or Lucali....
Have you been to Lucali?
FN on February 17 2009 at 7:12 am
This is such awesome news!!! (Daytime is baby time!)
Zach on February 17 2009 at 9:19 am
WHAT?! WHAT?! mind blown. THIS is worth a two-hour lunch. Has anyone told Adam K. this? I think he'd be really excited!! I also have yet to eat at Lucali. I've been, but I haven't eaten there. And you NEED to go to Motorino. I might move to the 'burg for Motorino.
Blondie on February 17 2009 at 10:16 am
@FN,
Right there with ya, I haven't been to Motorino or Lucali either. My girlfriend and I really want to try both of those so I'm sure those posts will soon grace these pages!
@Zach,
Yessssssssss!!! I can see it now man, you sitting there with a napkin draped on Harry's head again. haha
@Blondie,
Yea, right?! I would have thought people would be packing that place even at lunch but apparently people don't know about it yet. And yes, Motorino is one of the next ones on the list!
Danny on February 17 2009 at 11:07 am
Man, that ham and cheese pizza sure is pretty. I want some!
Aubrey on February 17 2009 at 7:39 pm
That looks delicious- I can't wait to go! It almost sounds like this is easier to get into because at least it serves lunch! Unlike Lucali... while good, it fills up before it even opens!
Ang on February 17 2009 at 10:18 pm
I really like Pala in the Lower East Side. Roman-style pizza! Have you been?
Alice on February 18 2009 at 1:44 am
@Aubrey,
Yessss, I want to eat that ham and cheese pizza again... mmmm
@Ang,
Go! During lunch on Saturday or something. I still need to go visit Lucali... getting the timing right will be tough
@Alice,
Ooh that's a new one for me. I haven't heard of Pala. What's Roman-stype pizza like?
Danny on February 18 2009 at 1:36 pm
mmmmm Co looks great. I wanna go here in the summer. Are u keepping up with all the places i want to go? Jot this one down to the list man. mmmmm-mmmmmmm i am hungry now for some perfect pizza crust!
Steve on February 20 2009 at 12:50 am
Nice photos. Just went for lunch yesterday. Loved the Flambe and Ham and Cheese, but found the standard Margharita and the Alfami really poor. The special pie, a sausage and leek topped creation was decent, but lacked seasoning surprisingly. Jim had said the Alfami was being served different yesterday, I'm wondering, did yours have distinct pieces of anchovy?
Alaways_Eating on February 20 2009 at 9:16 am
@Steve,
Yea yea, I'm keep a list. Relax. haha
@Always Eating,
I totally missed the Flambe one on the menu. Sometimes the prices are a bit uh.. shocking. Didn't try the standard Margharita. And the special pie during my visit was this asparagus and egg pizza but I passed on the $18 dollar creation. The Amalfi was just like really tasty bread with tomato sauce and olives. The anchovies definitely could have played a bigger role for the pie.
Danny on February 20 2009 at 10:46 am
"Obligatory upskirt shot"? Seriously? Call me oversensitive if you like, but I don't need references to the New York City subways's problem with non-consensual upskirt photos on a food blog. I came here via Foodgawker not frat boy food reviews.
it's like seeing your girlfriend for the first time = funny
Obligatory upskirt shot = creepy
on March 14 2009 at 7:16 pm