I hadn't been to Lombardi's in a year or so, so when two pizza-crazed colleagues from Minneapolis came to New York this week, I decided they should experience eating at the oldest pizzeria in America. We ordered three pies: a small sausage; a small half-pepperoni, half-pancetta; and a small half-plain white, half–sautéed spinach. All the pies were at least very good, and the white pie was awesome.
You'd think someone who'd just spent a year eating a thousand slices of pizza researching a pizza book would be sick of 'za. Then why do so many of my posts revolve around pizza.
I went to Lombardi's last night and was struck by how much the pizza has changed there in the last few months.
The crust is thinner and a little less pliable and yeasty than it has been in recent years, and it's a marked improvement over the thicker crust with clumps of unbaked dough that has all too often marred the pizza recently at Lombardi's.
The toppings are still superb: fresh mozzarella, great pepperoni, pancetta, sausage and house-roasted peppers.
It's actually a miracle I enjoyed the pizza at Lombardi's so much, because on my way there I stopped to try the new taco place around the corner from Lombardi's, La Esquina, 106 Kenmare St. Tel: 646-613-1333. I tried three tacos, the carne enchilada, made with grilled pork, cilantro, onions and a not incendiary pineapple-habanero salsa; a cochinita pibil, pulled pork, shredded cabbage, pickled onions, and japapeno; and a chorizo taco with potatoes, shredded cabbage, and salsa verde. The tacos were okay, nothing more((surprisingly bland), but they weren't a bad appetizer before pizza.
Or maybe I should just think of the pizza as a chaser for the tacos.
