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Wow! For a first post on here you really slammed them ( I'ld be pissed if I was a hostess / Server here ) Is it maybe that you just don't like that style?
I've never been to either location and visually I like the look,but have heard from others that the dough was bland and that they had issues with balanced cooking. Reviews of the service in Brooklyn seem to have been less than favorable also.Maybe peoples expectations of pizzerias are equal to that of all restaurants these days? Time will tell. Did you return your food? Were you offered anything else?

************IMPORTANT NEWS FLASH******************

Roberta's is not BYOB anymore, they changed the policy about 3 weeks ago. They're not popping corks or letting you open bottles/cans. It lost a lot of charm for me.

Went to Motorino's last night. When i got there it was empty. Ordered the Margharita DOC (w/ bufala mozzarella). Overall, i thought it was good ... and agree, that the taste is very similar to difara. However, the crust was way too doughy/dense and undercooked. Not sure why. By the time i left, the place was jam packed.

Overall, however, I still enjoy roberta's neopalitan more, for pure simplicity, which I think is more in the line of Joe and Pat's or Patsy's (harlem).

By the time dinner was finished, this place was jam packed.

@Petey: Here's Ed Levine's take on the pizza at Luzzo's. Those are pretty much my feelings exactly. Again, with that post, the same pleas to try the place again—a different pie, at a different hour. Every time, I get the bug to go again. So, yeah, I think I will go within the next few weeks (I have another itch to scratch before that) and report back.

@Petey: Even as I was writing that, I somehow knew it was not right to include in this review. I probably should have let this sit for a bit and come back to it with my editor's hat on. I think I was trying to describe in-office here, what the quality of Motorino was like vs. other top-rated or popular Neapolitan-style pizzas in NYC. On my personal top Neapolitan list is UPN. But I know that many, many pizza fans in the city are nuts about Luzzo's. So I was using both of them as touchstones in describing Motorino, as everyone in the office is familiar with both.

Anyway, "how can a pizza lover not appreciate what they're cranking out? ¶ (And it's not a rhetorical question. Write a post explaining your anti-Luzzo's stance sometime. I'd actually be curious to read it.)"

It's true, I've never done a full-on post about Luzzo's, and it is probably due for one. I've just never been that excited about Luzzo's. I don't know how many emails I get about it, and comments on the site, and they're all along the lines of "Luzzo's is the best in the city -- better than UPN."

And after I get enough of those comments, I end up visiting again, just to see if I've missed something. Maybe the crust has gotten better? Maybe I've just been visiting always on off days?

But it is always the same. As I wrote in April 2005, after my first round of visits: "The times we've been there, we found the crust to be crisp and chewy, exquisitely light, but a little bland and devoid of the nice char we like on Totonno's or Patsy's or Grimaldi's pies."

The crust has always been the same there since -- remarkably light and airy, but, to me, it has almost no flavor. Maybe my palate is desensitized to a degree that I require more saltiness or yeastiness than other folks. I don't know. But for me, I just do not think Luzzo's crust has much flavor. And I don't think that what's going on on top compensates for it.

I would be up for doing another visit, though if they read these comments, they'll probably kick my ass out of there if they recognized me. But it would be fun to do a Luzzo's LES/Luzzo's Midtown side-by-side. I could then once again test my palate *and* see if there are any variations between the two locations, as Scott "Pizza Tour" Wiener says.

So, yeah, Petey, it was unfair of me to slag off Luzzo's needlessly above. I apologize for that. Thanks for taking the time to comment. I enjoy your type of comment the most.

Hasta la pizza,
Adam

@canerosso Thanks for the heads up on Eater and the oven intel. Those are very nice shot of the interior. It's a shame he's ruining what looks like a very good pie by putting it in that takeout/delivery box. I know that the Serious Eats crew said it held up well, but I'm a right outta the oven kinda guy. I'll have to check it out for myself this weekend. Hopefully their PR guy didn't do too good a job and I'll be able to get in. I didn't know pizzerias hire PR firms. As far as Dough Pizzeria goes, that name congers up visions of some seriously undercooked pizza.

Ciao,

Paulie Gee

Judging from pics posted on Eater blog, it is a modular Renato oven. Judging by the looks of the pizzas - which look awesome - I'd say there is no gas used and it is all wood. Renato is just a couple towns over from me in the Dallas area. Neapolitan style is the only way to go!

Off topic, but just got back from a quick trip to San Antonio where we checked out Dough Pizzeria (www.doughpizzeria.com) - also extremely awesome neapolitan pies by a guy who knows what he is doing. Also made burrata to order. Texas is getting some good pie.

Those are some serious looking pies. Me and my oven are greener than that broccoli rabe. Damn. Any intel on their oven?

Ciao,

Paulie Gee