Of all the cuisines in New York, Italian has to be the most pervasive. For good reason, the varied regional cuisine of the boot-shaped peninsula offers something for everyone. The most salient contribution from Italy is of course Pizza.
My friends and I ambitiously planned a pizza tour of the city last summer. Due to recessionary dining, pizza has had a sort of renaissance and a lot of great places opened up. One of those new places was Keste--and I finally had a chance to sample their Neapolitan pies this weekend.
The Bleecker Street restaurant is long, narrow, and boisterous. After a brief wait, my brother and I were seated and immediately noticed were the only people around us speaking English. It actually felt that were had left New York and were in some pizzeria in Naples. Adding to the tourist experience was my camera lying on the table.
Getting back to the pizza, Keste is a typical Neapolitan pie. The pizzas are individualized, a little sloppy and wet, with chewy, soft dough. Most of the pies are made with buffalo mozzarella (awesome) and I opted for the namesake pie that came with arugula, prosciutto, and Parmesan. It was a great pie. I found the crust a little chewy, but the ingredients were awesome. It was a knife-and-fork kind of pizza, not a fold in half and pick up slice. If you want New York pizza, go elsewhere--this stuff is the same food you'd be serve anywhere in Italy. I enjoy Neapolitan pizza because it feels more like a complete meal as opposed to a late night snack, and I left Keste feeling satisfied but a little bit disappointed when I walked outside and realized I was still in New York.
The next big pizza place to open is Keith McNally's Pulino...stay tuned.
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