It was a lovely weekend and that means we drive. It used to be that we drove on road trips out of town, but lately, we have been doing drive-by food scavenger hunts. We’re working on a Happy Hour series right now, but since we got a late start, we made just one stop.
A place called St. Pizza had me curious, so we had to have a few slices from the window. St. Pizza is located in the LGD, in the short block right off the expressway. Down the street from the original French Truck, it is in the middle of the first block. The place sticks out as the newest freshest establishment on the block, and it borders on glamorous. There is a dine-in “Tavern,” which in no way resembles a tavern, and a window next door for picking up a slice.
Not enough people have heard of St. Pizza yet, so the expected line was not there. It was a few people but I expected much more. The list of slices was another surprise. It was extensive. We ordered a slice of pepperoni, Margherita, and Bianca.
It wasn’t a long wait for the slices. They warm it in the slamming-door ovens that are a hallmark of New York pizza. Each slice comes with torn basil leaves. Nice touch.
The pepperoni is thick-cut, so it curls nicely, holding the little cup of grease. (That sounds bad but I consider it a badge of pepperoni honor.) Here is New York pizza glamorized. The crust is perfect: thin and sturdy. It holds these first-class ingredients with no support necessary. It’s the exact right proportion of strength but not too thin like a cracker. It’s chewy to the right degree and charred just a bit underneath.
It wasn’t till we tried the Margherita that a true taste of the sauce came through. It is fresh but cooked to thick and smooth consistency. A rich tomato flavor came from sauce oozing out from a blanket of delicious mozzarella, with no buffalo milk circles in sight. Rather than slices of fresh tomato as is typical of Margherita pizza, here were little puddles of fresh sauce dotted with grated Parm and Pecorino Romano.
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The Bianca order was added as I was scanning the offerings. I was about to order the housemade fennel sausage pizza when my eyes fell on the Bianca. This white pizza was as delicious as I had hoped. It wasn’t a strong flavor of garlic but a smooth one of good olive oil and great cheeses. The garlic flavor is muted because instead of fresh garlic they use garlic confit.
The little torn slivers of fresh basil perked each of these sliced nicely. The combination of the tomato sauce and the basil, coupled with the good mozzarella and grated Parm, topping the chewy crust made for a terrific New York-style pizza. Circa 2024.
