Motorino Pizza
For someone who's not completely chill wit the dairy, it's a wonder that I've been kind of obsessed with dairy products lately. I've already made six different types of ice cream since breaking in the ice cream maker. For those keeping score at home, that was maybe four weeks ago, so I've averaged more than one quart of ice cream a week. Either my gym or the clothing store is going to see me more consistently. In addition to ice cream, I've been hooked on reading about pizza. I haven't actually consumed that much, but there's been lots of chatter in the New York food scene about pizza. Of course whenever Frank Bruni writes a bit for the Times, it gets everyone's attention. One of the places that Bruni mentioned was Motorino, and they're about to take over the space that was once Una Pizza Napolitana. So I went to check out this Motorino place that's supposed to be so good.
When Motorino first opened, everyone was talking about them. Robyn, Kathy, and Blondie & Brownie all covered it. And in the more recent NYTimes piece, Bruni said the Pugliese pie "which uses wet-centered burrata, was a masterpiece, the burrata lending the pie an opulence and creaminess." I had my eyes set on the Pugliese when I went to Motorino, but instead a pie featuring asparagus and guanciale caught my attention.
It was one of those things where I totally didn't care that there was asparagus on the pizza. Honestly, they could have put anything else on there and I would have ordered it. The reason I got the pie was because it had guanciale on it, and I really have never tasted it before. Wikipedia says that guanciale is an unsmoked bacon that's usually from a pig's jowl or cheek.
The pie came with more asparagus than guanciale, and there was also some olive tapenade scattered around on the pie. Overall I really liked the pie, the crust was soft and chewy, and the asparagus offered a nice crunch to each bite. The olive tapenade worked as the agent that provided the pizza with a salty kick. The guanciale was... ok. I'm not sure what my expectations were, but the guanciale was soft and not very salty. It was kind of just there. The faint porkiness was welcoming but I expected this experience to be more memorable. To be fair, I was a big disappointed at myself during the meal because I forgot to charge my SLR's battery... so the pictures almost never came to be... good thing I had a backup point-and-shoot. So maaaybe, it affected the way I tasted the pizza. The good news is that Motorino 2 will open up in the East Village so it'll be convenient to try more of their pizzas in the future.
Oh and shout out to the Fork in the Road blog for responding to my cupcake rant. Now I have to go eat some ice cream.
Motorino
319 Graham Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11211
718-599-8899
That piece of guanciale in the wikipedia entry looks quite unappetizing. Your photos on the other hand look delicious, even if you had to use your p&s ;) I will eat anything with asparagus in it basically, but the addition of olive tapenade sounds intriguing!
Aubrey
July 27, 2009 5:36 pm
once in Naples I ordered a "Vesuvio" one. It was actually a double pizza. Not a calzone, but one pizza with everything on it (ham, cheese...) and another one on the top. The afternoon was quite slow.
lafloreetlafaune
July 24, 2009 6:45 am
@lafloreelafaune,
whoa, a double pizza. I've never heard of anything like that...
@Always eating,
Ah... Veloce and Keste. Those two look interesting as well. The good part about Motorino moving into the east village is that we no longer need the L train to get their pies!
@rachel,
You should! and it's not that bad out there, I was wrong about williamsburg!
@Aubrey,
Thank you, I'm glad you liked the p+s pictures :P And asparagus are pretty delicious, I've actually just eaten them with mayonnaise before...
Danny
July 28, 2009 9:16 am
I pass this place all the time, but you've now officially inspired me to go!
Rachel
July 24, 2009 4:43 pm
Sounds pretty good. I was there as part of an L Train Pizza Tour I put together and our favorite pie was the Margherita DOC. Pugliese came in second, but I'm definitely interested in a return visit.
Next stop though, Veloce Pizzeria and Keste in Manhattan
Always Eating
July 24, 2009 11:49 am
@bionicgrrrl,
Haha, yea you know, just in case. Sometimes it's a pain to carry the dslr so I just leave the little camera in my bag. Worked out great here. There was some olive oil on the pizza actually...
Danny
July 23, 2009 9:46 am
Back-up point and shoot?! You are just too funny. Pizza looks good, by the way, if a little dry. I bet a little olive oil would have made it better.
bionicgrrrl
July 23, 2009 1:20 am