Monday, July 30, 2012

Wi-Pie Pizza Restaurant

I haven't been experimenting with pizza very much lately. That seems kind of silly, I know: I moved to New York, where there are hundreds if not thousands of pizza-by-the-slice joints. Why wouldn't I being trying different pizza every week? Well, Elizabeth and I go to dinner with her dad once a week, and it's always to My Little Pizzeria. I have no problem with that, I really like the place. But the standing dinner date takes away a lot of my desire to try new places during the rest of the week. I always think Well, I'll be having My Little Pizzeria in a day or two.

I was out for a walk the other day, however, and a slice of pizza (or two) sounded like a great lunch. I noticed quite a few people in Wi Pie. I didn't know anything about the place, but I figured with all those customers, at the very least the pizza would be fresh.

It was kind of a clusterf**k inside, there was no rhyme or reason to the way they were taking orders. So, when I felt everyone who was already there before me had ordered, I elbowed my way to the front of the counter and loudly placed my order: one slice of Margherita, one barbecue chicken. Into the oven my two slices went.

A couple of minutes later I had my slices, hot and a touch crispy, just how I like them.


The Margherita was a first for me: it had Parmesan cheese on it. I've never seen (or, I suppose tasted) it that way. At first bite it was distracting. But as I got closer to the edge of the crust, where the tomato sauce was concentrated, I kind of liked the way the cheese contrasted with the sweet sauce. The best Margherita I've ever had was from Totonno's in Manhattan, many years ago, long before I had a blog. The worst Margherita was a frozen one from Whole Foods. Wi Pie's is right in the middle.

The barbecue chicken was not as good as the Margherita. The chicken was low quality and the sauce was too sweet for my liking.

The crust at Wi Pie was quite good and they reheated it for the perfect amount of time. So I would certainly have no problem returning (although I would just stick with plain cheese on my next visit). But I'm not in any hurry to, and if I never do, oh well.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

their name is annoying. too cutesy

Banana Wonder said...

Mediocre... but sometimes you have to just weed them out!

Mike N. said...

Did the bbq chicken use bbq sauce instead of standard pizza sauce? Where do you fall on the bbq-as-pizza-sauce debate? (a debate which rages on Slice from time to time) It works for me on St. Louis style pizza (cracker thin crust) but since STL pizza is a different animal in and of itself, I don't know if it counts.

JustinM said...

Hi Mike, great question. I prefer barbecue sauce on a BBQ Chicken pizza, but I don't like the sweet stuff like they used here. I really like St. Louis style, but I have never had a BBQ chicken one.

I was actually thinking of making a BBQ chicken pizza soon and writing it up... as soon as I can find the right sauce. Sound good?

Anonymous said...

Please do - I love me a BBQ chicken pizza; BBQ sauce (sweet & spicy), caramelized onions & roasted chicken pieces. Sometimes add bacon...