Unlike 99.9% of people in New York City, I have no opinion as to which pizza joint serves the best slice - Lombardi's, Joe's, John's, or whoever else. Thin crust, thick crust, wood-fired oven, Neapolitan, Sicilian, and other terms simply went over my head for one simple reason. I barely ate the stuff. Even on a 5 week trip all over Italy last summer, I could only recall having pizza on two occasions, and both were simply to squash my hunger before launching a fresh attack on the country's numerous cultural attractions.
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However, a $15 for $30 deal found on Google Offers was too good to pass up, so a recent Sunday night found our party of three seated at Numero 28 Pizzeria in the East Village. Numero 28 specializes in authentic Neapolitan pizza baked in a hot brick oven to produce a crust that isn't too thick. More interestingly, the 29 inch version of the pies comes in a oblong shape, and up to three choices of varieties are allowed. I thought that was great - who wants to order a huge pizza to find it disappointing, and have to finish all of it, or order a second one?
Each of our party was tasked to come up with one choice, and we decided on these combinations: Capricciosa (tomato, mozzarella, ham, mushrooms, olives, artichokes), Bianca del Diavolo (mozzarella, ricotta, spicy sopressata) and my favorite among the three, their special Numero28 (buffalo mozzarella, speck, truffle cream, mushrooms). Really, who would resist the last one? I had some objections to the choice of the Capricciosa, not being a fan of artichokes but my friend was hell-bent on ordering it (perhaps because when we went to Artichoke Basil's months ago I insisted we get the Margherita instead of the namesake pizza).
The Neapolitan pizza turned out quite well, and I'd go back to Numero 28, coupon or no coupon. Next time perhaps we'll have some wine to accompany our pizza. Can't really say where Numero 28 stacks up in the "Best Pizza in NYC" race, but it did make me wish I ate more of it in Italy.
