Friday, November 2, 2012

Pizza Arte @ 69 W 55th St, NYC




I love Pizza, it must be from growing up in the city; the wafts of baking crust and tomato sauce haunted me as I walked home from school.  My friend Danny and I would walk a block away to Broadway and get a small pie with Pepperoni and Sausage,  I would go cray cray with the condiments: Oregano, Chili Flakes, Parmesan and Garlic-I would be walking home with red blistering lips and breath of death...

Pizza has changed since then, often more authentic and 'gourmet', but it will always be a childhood comfort food.


Click below to read more...





The building itself is this ultra modern, sleek two story structure, something you might see out of Milan if they had New York Brownstone proportions.  It's not your typical Neapolitan restaurant, much less a Pizza joint.  But hey, we're in Midtown and there's nothing wrong with fancy (except the prices)  no worries, PizzaArte's prices are moderate.
























Much like the building facade, the interior is just a smooth; an intimate space doused in grey and cool tones, the only thing that pops out is the fiery Pizza oven in blood red ceramic.  It reminds me of a geodesic biosphere where all the inhabitant just exploded onto the sides of the dome, or a pulsating zit....


























As you step down into the restaurant, it's a narrow pathway with just a few table seats in front and a long bar, all in grey. When you go upstairs, the second floor is covered in warm wood planks, with elegant banquette seats and deuces along the walls, with a pretty communal bar top at the end near the window.










Knowing the Pizza would be the main dish, I wanted something to start the meal off on the right note: the Frittura all'Italiana combines all the fried Italian goodies in smaller, appetizer portions that everyone loves to eat.  There's Pizza Fritters, Potato Croquettes, Arancini (Fried Rice Balls), Fried Zucchini Strips and Montanara (Fried Dough with Mozzarella, Tomato Sauce, Parmesan and Basil).











Onto the Pizza: we ordered the Eduardo- a white Pizza with Baby Portobello Mushrooms, Italian Ham and Mozzarella (definitely a departure from the usual Pizza covered in Tomato Sauce).

I really love the chewy crust on this Pizza, it seemed that I wasn't missing the sauce at all, the mozzarella was super awesome, good quality that melted effortlessly with the other ingredients.  the portions of Mushroom and Ham was on the sparse side, but it's always the case with Neapolitan style (for me at least).


So around Midtown, PizzArte is a great place to get casual, comforting, unfussy food which is rare in this over fussy city!!


Ratings (Out of Five Stars)
PizzArte on UrbanspoonFood:           3
Ambience:   3
Service:       4






No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.