Homemade Lamb Sausage w/ Bread Salad
by Celia Cheng
April 18th, 2006
FRANNY’S
295 Flatbush Ave
(St. Marks Ave & Prospect Pl)
Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
718-230-0221
I was recommended the clam pizza at Franny’s more than a month ago and have been dying to try it ever since. After getting over the mental hurdle, once again, that Brooklyn is actually not that far, I finally made it. And boy was it worth it.
Franny’s, in my fantasy, was an old school pizza parlor, but in reality, it’s a modern restaurant/wine bar. It still manages to be a charming and friendly restaurant that attracts the young and hip as well as families with young children.
The menu is a simple one-pager with crostinis, appetizers and pizzas. The wine list is much lengthier. And on the back of the menu are descriptions of the suppliers for the meats and produce.
My friend and I shared two appetizer salads — the homemade lamb sausage with bread salad and the arugula salad with hazelnuts and pecorino rossellino. As main course, we had the pizza with clams, chilies and parsley. Everything was just outstanding. While the clam pizza was delicious, I was particularly struck by our two salads, both of which seemed easy to make, but difficult to make well. The arugula, which comes from Bill Maxwell’s Farm in Changewater, NJ, was super fresh. The greens along with the toasted hazelnuts and slices of pecorino rossellino formed a perfect union of flavors and textures.
The lamb sausage with bread salad initially did not appeal to me because it didn’t sound like a salad, but rather a meat and carb fest. When I hear “bread salad” I tend to think panzanella. In any case, it was a bit more like a crostini, with the lamb sausage sliced open in half, sitting on a piece of toasted bread with some greens, vinegar and oil drizzled all over. (A better way to describe it might be to say that it’s like a gourmet hot dog.) It was amazing! Talk about the perfect balance, there was just the right amount of meat, bread, greens, dressing and flavor. I could eat this every night as a light snack with a glass of wine.
The clam pizza was excellent too. But I wish there had been a few more clams — there were perhaps eight clams in total on the twelve-inch pizza. The first thing our waiter told us was that the menu is very literal, i.e., if it doesn’t say tomato sauce on the menu then there isn’t any. This pizza is a translation of the vongole spaghetti sans the pasta, so you get the clams, chilies and parsley and lots of oil on the pizza dough. It definitely works and is one of the best pizza’s I’ve had but I’m still reminiscing about the lamb sausage and bread salad.
Posted in American , Pizza , Prospect Heights
Marinara Pizza
by Celia Cheng
August 6th, 2005
UNA PIZZA NAPOLETANA
349 E 12th St
(1st & 2nd Ave)
212-477-9950
Wow! I haven’t been this excited about a new place in a long, long time. I must give credit to Hearth chef Marco Canora for introducing me to Una Pizza Napolentana. This new pizzeria on East 12 th Street is unparalleled both in terms of its delicious creations and its integrity in making the highest quality, authentic Neapolitan pizza with true Italian ingredients. The menu consists of only four types of pizza:
Marinara: San Marzano tomatoes, extra-virgin olive oil, oregano, fresh garlic, fresh basil, sea salt.
Margherita: San Marzano tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, extra-virgin olive oil, fresh garlic, fresh basil, sea salt.
Bianca: Buffalo mozzarella, extra-virgin olive oil, fresh garlic, fresh basil, sea salt.
Filetti: Fresh cherry tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, fresh garlic, extra-virgin olive oil, fresh basil, sea salt.
I tried all four and while the ingredients all seem to be overlapping, they all taste very unique, amazingly fresh, and just deliciously out of this world. And yes, I have been to Naples and tasted “real” pizza. Una Pizza Napoletana has, hands down the best pizza in New York.
Generally, given the choice, I always choose a margherita pizza, but I’m glad I tried all four. My favorite was definitely the marinara, which came as a huge surprise. I would not even have tried it normally, mainly because I’ve had too many badly made marinara sauces in the US, but this pizza just rocked my world. It’s not a gooey, saucy marinara that other pizzerias like to throw on pizzas and pastas alike. The San Marzano tomatoes are imported from San Marzano, near Naples, and those who have tasted tomatoes from Southern Italy know that nothing compares to the ripe, juicy tomatoes from that region. The aroma of the fresh herbs and the crushed tomatoes as well as the crust instantly seduced me and now I can’t stop wanting more.
The restaurant itself is small and intimate. It’s laid-back atmosphere makes it an inviting and cozy hang out. The kitchen is hidden from view in the back, while the wood-fired brick oven is in plain view for all, adding to the charm of the restaurant and making diners even hungrier for the pizza while they wait.
Open four nights a week, Thursday through Sunday from five pm “until sold out of fresh dough,” Una Pizza Napoletana uses high quality flour ground from wheat berries by stone, then mixed with Sicilian sea salt to make the pizza dough. The dough-making process takes two days to complete; that’s why they close when the dough runs out. All ingredients are imported from Italy, thereby honoring the true tradition of pizza-making in Naples . The restaurant affirms that “taste may be an opinion, but quality is a fact.” The fact here is that both quality and taste are unconventionally excellent.
Posted in East Village , Italian , Pizza
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Lunch Special: Small house salad + 1 slice
by Celia Cheng
March 19th, 2005
POSTO
310 2nd Ave
@ 18th St
212-716-1200
Posto is the sister restaurant of Pizza Grupp in Alphabet City, specializing in thin crust pizzas. The restaurant is small and cramped with diners at night and the thin crust pizzas are good.
The lunch specials are a very good deal, with options like small house salad + 1 slice, or soup and slice, or ravioli and slice, all ranging under $10, including a drink (soft drink, espresso or bottled water). The price does not include toppings, but even if you order three toppings on your slice, it should still come in under $10.
This is a good deal as the salad and the slice are fairly copious. Unfortunately, the problem with ordering a slice with toppings of choice, especially when it is a thin crust pizza, means that the pizza is reheated, so it doesn’t taste as good as a whole pizza coming fresh out of the oven. The toppings are fresh and plentiful, but the slice just doesn’t hold together as well as a freshly baked pizza would.
Ultimately, while the lunch special is a good option, I think it is still better to go to Posto and order a whole pie so you know that every part of the pizza is fresh.
Posted in Gramercy Park , Italian , Pizza
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