Last weekend Jeff had a craving for pizza, but not just any pizza, he wanted pizza with fontina cheese and truffle oil….so he made his own.
Jeff has made his own pizza dough many many times before – even experimenting to find just the right ingredients and recipe. But this time we bought pre-made dough from Fairway which turned out to be quite good – I definitely recommend it.
Fontina, Mushroom, and Truffle Oil Pizza
pizza dough
shredded fontina cheese
sauteed mushrooms
truffle oil drizzled on top
Bake pizza on parchment paper until dough is bubbly and brown.
pizza dough from Fairway & shredded fontina cheese
just out of the oven on our pizza peel
295 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
After a morning of walking around Brooklyn, we stopped at Franny’s for lunch – thanks, Matt and Jill, for a great recommendation! We ordered soup, salad, and pizza – every dish was delicious!
The owners of Franny’s are committed to sustainable agriculture and you can find the (local) source of all their ingredients on the back of the menu.
http://www.frannysbrooklyn.com/resources.pdf
Here’s what we ate:
Pumpkin Soup with Pancetta and Chestnuts
Everyone at the table raved about this hearty soup. I definitely recommend this seasonable dish if you visit Franny’s.
Tomato and Buffalo Mozzarella Pizza
Tomato, Buffalo Mozzarella, and Sausage Pizza (Hot Peppers on the side)
The pizza was great – very VERY thin crust, which was just right for lunch, tasty and satisfying without being overly filling.
Pumpkin Soup with Pancetta and Chestnuts
Tomato and Buffalo Mozzarella Pizza
Tomato, Buffalo Mozzarella, and Sausage Pizza
230 9th Ave
Jim Lahey of Sullivan St Bakery has openned his own pizzeria, Co., in Chelsea. The pizzas are Neapolitan-style cooked in a wood-burning oven with inventive topping combinations.
We started with the “special” salad, followed by 2 pizzas and desert. Jeff raved about the pizza for the entire next day saying the dough was perfect – moist, cripsy, bubbly, and flavorful. After much deliberation though, he decided that Mozza in LA is still his favorite pizza.
Special Salad – greens with fall squash, carmelized cipollini onions, walnuts, pecorino, and honey vinaigrette
Co. Special Salad
Ham and Cheese Pizza – pecorino, gruyère, buffalo mozzarella, prosciutto, caraway
Ham and Cheese Pizza
Meatball Pizza – buffalo mozzarella, tomato, caramelized onions, gaeta olives, veal meatballs, aged pecorino, oregano
Meatball Pizza
Chocolate Breadcrumb Torte with Praline Gelato
Chocolate Breadcrumb Torte with Praline Gelato
Johnny’s Pizzeria
30 W Lincoln Ave, Mt Vernon, NY
Johnny's Pizzeria in Mount Vernon, NY
A little background….if you know Jeff, then you know that Jeff has been on an ongoing quest to make the perfect pizza. He’s tried various ingredients – including tomatoes and flour mail ordered from Italy – and baking methodologies to produce the perfect pie. Along the way, he stumbled upon Jeff Varasano’s NY Pizza Recipe for Patsy’s pizza. At the bottom of this very long post, Varasano presents his list of favorite pizza – Johnny’s is #1.
Last weekend we went to the Catskills for the day to see the fall foliage. Seeking a bite to eat on our way back to NYC, Jeff suggested that we stop at Johnny’s to see if it really is the best pizza ever.
The verdict? Definitely good pizza, really good, but not the best we’ve ever had. We thought the crust was the best thing about it – cripsy but not burned on the bottom. I actually prefer fresh mozzarella which the plain pizza we ordered did not have. I would have to say my favorite NY pizza is still Patsy’s and Jeff still swears by Mario Batali’s Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles.