In my previous post, I mentioned about “fixing my woolee” by trying pizzas in Old Forge, PA and Brooklyn. We visited both in early September 2021 (another post to catch up).
When I told others friends about Old Forge and Brooklyn, I received understanding looks about Brooklyn pizza but quizzical expressions such as, “Old Forge, PA? Why, Old Forge?” and “Where’s that?”
Well, Old Forge is the self proclaimed “Pizza Capital of the World”. Just ask the Visitor’s Bureau (see link).
Old Forge is located between Scranton (of “The Office” fame”) and Wilkes Barre (kinda’ near Allentown of Billy Joel fame). When you need to name TV shows and songs to stake a claim to fame, you’re not really famous.
BTW, if you do go to Old Forge, I highly suggest that you stay at the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel in Scranton. It’s a historic old train station with spectacular architecture! Click Here to See Wikipedia.
We attempted to go to Arcaro & Genell, a place we’ve visited twice before but not for pizza and recognized by YouTubers, but unfortunately Arcaro & Genell was closed.
Anthony’s – Old Forge, PA
There are many (10?) pizzerias in a few blocks on the Old Forge main drag. So, we stumbled less than a block to Anthony’s Restaurant. Anthony’s was more of a restaurant than pizzeria, but Anthony’s really looked cool from the outside. Inside, it was more of a house!
I ordered a plain, cheese pizza as not to hide the taste of the sauce, cheese, and dough/crust.
The pizza was good (not great). The crust was a little hard even though it was not burned, but the sauce was tangy. There was too much cheese for me. I wouldn’t go back here even though I want to go back to Old Forge and try others.
The next morning, we were on our way to Brooklyn. We had scheduled a Pizza Tour of Brooklyn the following day, we decided to search for a pizza on our own after a visit to Ellis Island (more on that in the future)”
Pizzetta – Brooklyn
We found, PIZZETTA just a couple of blocks from the hotel. Their website doesn’t have an “About Us” but we figured “we’re in Brooklyn, it’s gotta’ be good…or FAGETTABOUTIT (had to throw in a obligatory Brooklyn term…MINGUA!). Come to find out later, the owner was from Sicily.
PIZZETTA featured Grandma/Sicilian and NY styles that you could order by the “square” or “pie”. We ordered two Grandma squares one of plain cheese and the other pepperoni.
Just as Old Forge, the pizza was good (not great). The dough/crust was soft and thick and the cheese was just right for the square. Unfortunately, the sauce had a little too much oregano for my taste. We’d not go back especially since IT’S BROOKLYN, WHY SETTLE FOR GOOD WHEN WE’RE LIKELY TO FIND GREAT!
Scott’s Pizza Tour – Brooklyn, NY Walk
We had scheduled a tour the following morning with Scott’s Pizza Tours called Brooklyn Pizza Walk. The first pizzeria was immediately across the street from our hotel SOTTOCASA—BOERUM HILL. The cool thing was that the pizzeria was 1/2 under ground level below a brownstone! Very Brooklyn!
We met the tour guide and 5 or 6 others on the tour. Scott’s provided us a cool journal to keep notes. I’d been using something like this already in a spreadsheet, but this gave me more ideas.
Sottocasa – Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, NY
Sottocasa’s website has an “About Me” section that says, the owners are from Milan…come on! Milan? WTF! Despite this, Sottocasa was part of the tour, so a sacrifice was made.
Sottocasa specializes in Neapolitan pizza with a genuine wood fired oven. Several Margaritas were delivered to our table. Though it was before noon, we added a glass of Sangiovese and Chianti respectively!
Sottocasa’s dough/crust was true Neapolitan. Given the oven, it was hard not to (until you read my review of my first use of my Onni Pizza Oven!). The crust was soft and puffy at the cornicione with a perfect char and very, very thin in the middle. It also had an appropriate amount of cheese. Unfortunately, neither of us were fans of the sauce as it was thin and seemed to lack the tang that we know from a San Mariano tomato. So, the pizza was good (not great), we’d probably not go back. What should’ve I expected from a Milanese?!
Table 87 – Brooklyn Heights
The second stop on our pizza tour was Table 87. It is known as “The Home Of The Coal Oven Slice” since other Brooklyn coal oven shops tend to only serve full pies.
The Coal Oven is part of the NYC pizza history. When the Italian bakers emigrated, they built or had shipped over the wood fired baking ovens that they learned their trade.
Soon, it became apparent to those early bakers, that wood took up lots of storage space that NYC typically didn’t (doesn’t) have especially for the relatively low amount of energy that a log provides.
Conversely, coal was abundant near NYC and provides greater BTU per cubic foot of storage. Therefore, most of the bakeries converted their ovens to coal (many (most?) are natural gas now).
Table 87 presented our tour’s tables with several pies of true New York Style slices; large and thin with an ample cornicione. Although, the cornicione was not as puffy as a wood fired pie. Luckily for us, the slices were presented with a nice glass of Chianti!
Some say that wood doesn’t impart a taste to a pizza. Having a Table 87 coal slice immediately after Sottocasa’s wood pie will test that theory.
The Table 87 dough/crust was chewy with a crispy char in true NY Style. Although, the char tasted more like a charcoal grill than Sottocasa’s wood smoke which makes sense. This crust was very tasty, but I prefer wood smoke to cool.
Table 87 created a unique three level topping! First, they used a moozadell base over the dough. Then sauce on top of the moozadell reminiscent of the Detroit or Utica Tomato Pie styles. And finally, the sauce was topped with another cheese, fontina – VERY CREATIVE! We really enjoyed the sauce and cheeses amount and flavor.
Table 87 pizza was good, nearly great. We’d go back!
The House of Pizza & Calzone
The third and final stop on our pizza tour was at the House of Pizza & Calzone. Their building is really cool and had a great courtyard in the back under mature trees which is something different from what I expected in Brooklyn.
The House of Pizza and Calzone website states “This restaurant is known for Grandma’s Pizza.”. A Grandma Pie is cooked in a low sided square or rectangular pan and has medium to thick crust. In my Grandma’s and Aunt’s case, it was topped with their special recipe sauce and grated parmagian.
I truly looked forward to this since my dream pizza, the one that I hold up as a comparison for every pizza that I make or eat, is my Grandma Maouri’s and Aunt Teresa’s (which I’ve attempted to duplicate at least 25 times without luck…even though I have the sauce recipe AND IT’S SECRET INGREDIENT!)
The House of Pizza and Calzone had an interesting pie design with large stripes of cheese over the sauce in a reverse of a Detroit Style that has stripes of sauce over the cheese,
The dough/crust was medium to thick, but being pan baked, it had no char but was “soft crispy” that results from oil being in the bottom of the pan before shaping the dough. OUTSTANDING!
The sauce was garlic and oregano spicy but also had a sweetness from either high quality tomatoes or some sweetener like sugar or both. AGAIN, OUTSTANDING!
Given the crust and sauce, the cheese was kind of an afterthought in the “dough, sauce, cheese triangle.” That’s not to say it was bad, just third fiddle to the others.
The House of Pizza and Calzone is worthy of the term Grandma and was a GREAT SQUARE AND REALLY WORTH GOING BACK!
That ended the pizza tour. On our way back to the hotel we walked past Lucale, a shop on my bucket list. We went back later but the line was well over an hour. NEXT TIME!
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