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The Ten Most Recent Posts By Mark Cohen

From Slice

Pizza in Manila: Cibo

Posted by Mark Cohen, August 23, 2007 at 11:30 AM

Ladies and gents, my homeslices, every now and then one of you writes in with a review and info about far-flung pizzerias that are way out of the range of typical Slice coverage. Today, we've got such an item for you. Mark Cohen (pictured, below right), who lives part of the year in Manila and whose first Manila dispatch appears here, is back with another report. —Adam

Mark Cohen at CiboCibo is the ten-year-old brainchild of one of Manila's most dynamic and accomplished business people, Margarita Fores. Born in Manila, she moved to New York City when she was 15 and lived there for 11 years. She obviously was exposed to New York pizza and Italian food while growing up, so when she decided to go into the Italian food business in Manila, she knew what constituted "good."

Fores became a serious student of Italian cuisine and eventually studied in Italy. In formulating her restaurant's M.O., she consulted and commiserated with some experienced chefs in Italy, all the time keeping her mind set on the fact she would be operating in Manila. What would work best? What was doable? What would Filipinos like and dislike? What can be mass-prepared consistently? All the things necessary to open the first Italian eatery of its kind in the Philippines.

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7 Comments | Tagged: Cibo, foreign pizza, Manila, Philippines

From Slice

Pizza in Manila: Nuccio's

Posted by Mark Cohen, July 23, 2007 at 2:00 PM

Ladies and gents, my homeslices, every now and then one of you writes in with reviews and info about far-flung pizzerias that are way out of the range of typical Slice coverage. Today, we've got such an item for you. Mark Cohen, who lives part of the year in Manila, submitted a couple dispatches about some pizzerias in the Philippines. Here's the first of his reports. —The Mgmt.

Words and photographs by Mark Cohen | I grew up in the New York City area and lived there until I left for college. I was a typical New York pizza freak—except that, at the ripe old age of 12, I was making pizza out of the box, learning to work with dough (Chef Boyardee for those who remember). By the time I was 23, I was making pizza from scratch and was fortunate enough to work for a master pizzaiolo in the best pizza place in San Francisco in the late '60s, early '70s. My mentor hailed from the Naples area and was a great cook all around, so I learned from the best.

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15 Comments | Tagged: foreign pizza, Manila, Neapolitan, Philippines, wood-oven

The Ten Most Recent Comments By Mark Cohen

From Slice

Pizza in Manila: Cibo

midnightowl remember that only Rockwell has the pizza........as far as I know...........

markcohen at 1:07PM on 08/27/07

From Slice

Pizza in Manila: Nuccio's

To all Manila pizza lovers.......here is the second review on Cibo pizza:
http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2007/08/pizza-in-manila-cibo.html

Can't wait to start hearing your feedback on this great pizza......but as far as I know only available at the Rockwell branch.

markcohen at 3:50PM on 08/23/07

From Slice

Pizza in Manila: Nuccio's

jhermano: Bravo's is good, very thin crust and good sauce, decent cheese......but they use local flour instead of italian 00 which definitely puts it down a notch. I eat at the one on Dela Costa in Salcedo near my office. As for Hayahay, I am good friends with the owners of Lab-As, in fact 2 weeks ago we had a big surf and turf dinner, I brought the beef from manila and they supplied the lobster from Bais. I live in California/Manila so eating pizza at Hayahay is not necessarily on my list of things to do....although i have had it in the past when i was really hard up! By the way, the pizza at Grappa's is not bad, but also uses local flour.

markcohen at 10:45AM on 08/23/07

From Required Eating

The Future of the Jewish Deli

CapeCodBob: Rolled beef is still available at Sarge's, the only place i beleive you can find it now. it is always fantastic

markcohen at 8:11PM on 08/15/07

From Slice

Pizza in Manila: Nuccio's

For io1984:
#38 Jupiter Street (one block east of Paseo de Roxas)
Bo. Bel-Air, Makati
899-6147

markcohen at 2:20AM on 08/15/07

From Slice

Pizza in Manila: Nuccio's

For ana5678: sorry was in Dumaguete on vacation eating seafood for 2 weeks! back in Manila now and good to hear you are enjoying Nuccio's pastas. Make sure and try his homemade fresh spinach ravioli with tomato sauce, also his spaghetti carbonara with real pancetta. After next review more to come........

markcohen at 2:18AM on 08/15/07

From Slice

Pizza in Manila: Nuccio's

ana5678: Actually, his pastas are very authentic Italiano style and quality. He offers house-made fresh egg/spinaci/seppia pastas and Italian dry pastas. he offers a wide variety of options including all the favorites. I have enjoyed every pasta i have had there. His sauces tend to be light and as a typical italiano he does not over dress the pasta with sauce, and this is what you may not have appreciated. But i am sure that as you try more pasta dishes you will see what i mean. There are more Manila pizza reviews to come over the months so stay tuned

markcohen at 1:53PM on 08/01/07

Responses to Comments by Mark Cohen

From Required Eating

The Future of the Jewish Deli

Reading about all these delis is making me hungry. But for me delis are about something more than food: they're about nostalgia. Normally, I find all nostalgia corrosive and to be avoided, but nostalia for the deli is irresistable and not all that bad for you--like a pastrami sandwich once every other month: it won't kill you. So, to indulge... Ed's recent musings about delis past reminded me of the Strathmore Deli on Northern Blvd (I think) in Manhasset on Long Island. My parents liked it because they knew the owner who had worked (or partly owned?) the Turnpike Deli in Forrest Hills (which was a GREAT deli). The owner (I wish I could remember his name) was married to the woman who worked the cash register. There were numbers on her arms. "From the camps," my parents informed me quietly. At the time, it didn't seem out-of-the-ordinary for me to meet a Holocaust survivor. This was the Sixties and WWII was more recent history for my teenage self than the War in Vietnam is for today's young people. ...These are odd images to indulge when discussing delis, but my memories do point to the uniquely Jewish (and perhaps vanishing) sense of community one felt in a local deli when I was growing up. Everything felt famliar and family-like...in the good and bad sense of those phrases. I loved the food, of course, but the experience of going to the deli, was about much more than food. But honestly, I could go on for hours (or paragraphs)...so intense are the memories evoked by Ed's piece.

Mickey at 1:00PM on 10/27/07

From Required Eating

The Future of the Jewish Deli

As all the old, modest buildings are replaced with shining towers and the people who have been here for generations and who defined this place are priced out of their neighborhoods, pretty soon there will be nothing left of the NY we know.

Those "modest" buildings replace other buildings and the people who have been here for generations replaced other people who had been there for generations.

People who lament for economic hardship and crime to preserve some silly ideal, that very likely never existed, are just as bad, if not worse, than the "white elites" who "prey" on the culture. You'd rather people suffer so you can enjoy some kitsch culture.

SAMiller at 9:36PM on 10/23/07

From Required Eating

The Future of the Jewish Deli

If you want good rye bread go to:

Moishe's

It is on Second Avenue and 6th Street.

It makes real Jewish Rye.
And it is Kosher as opposed to the fake delis (like Arties, Sarge's, Stage, Carnegie, Katz) that people keep talking about. People who think Carnegie and Katz's are real deli probably also think that a McDonald's bacon and egg bagel is a real bagel.

nycdawg at 3:00PM on 10/23/07

From Required Eating

The Future of the Jewish Deli

Why isn't Sables Smoked Salmon included in the list of appetizing stores? The place is awesome.

1489 2nd Ave
New York, NY 10075
(212) 249-6177

arstein at 4:42PM on 10/22/07

From Slice

Pizza in Manila: Cibo

I am pleased to announce that they now serve pizzas in Cibo Shang Mall too! I had the squash blossom-topped one and it was amazing.

ana5678 at 12:14AM on 09/04/07

From Slice

Pizza in Manila: Cibo

Great news: They have pizza in Cibo Trinoma as well!

midnightowl at 5:04AM on 08/30/07

From Slice

Pizza in Manila: Cibo

Ah well, it'll be worth the trip then!

midnightowl at 12:17PM on 08/28/07

From Slice

Pizza in Manila: Nuccio's

To all Manila pizza lovers.......here is the second review on Cibo pizza:
http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2007/08/pizza-in-manila-cibo.html

Can't wait to start hearing your feedback on this great pizza......but as far as I know only available at the Rockwell branch.

markcohen at 3:50PM on 08/23/07

From Slice

Pizza in Manila: Nuccio's

jhermano: Bravo's is good, very thin crust and good sauce, decent cheese......but they use local flour instead of italian 00 which definitely puts it down a notch. I eat at the one on Dela Costa in Salcedo near my office. As for Hayahay, I am good friends with the owners of Lab-As, in fact 2 weeks ago we had a big surf and turf dinner, I brought the beef from manila and they supplied the lobster from Bais. I live in California/Manila so eating pizza at Hayahay is not necessarily on my list of things to do....although i have had it in the past when i was really hard up! By the way, the pizza at Grappa's is not bad, but also uses local flour.

markcohen at 10:45AM on 08/23/07

From Slice

Pizza in Manila: Nuccio's

Greetings from the Philippines. I'm surprised I missed this post since I'm a pizza fan and Slice has been on my reader for a while. Thanks for the heads up on Nuccio's, I've never heard of it but will surely try it the next chance i get. I usually get my pizza fix in a restaurant called Bravo's which has a very thin crust and as mentioned above CPK. I also frequent Dumaguete a lot and if you are ever there again you might want to try their pies at Hayahay which are ok for the area. Can't wait for the next review. Mabuhay to the other Filipino readers.

jhermano at 8:13AM on 08/21/07