Pizza Palates

Pizza is a food that permeates our lives as New Yorkers; it's everywhere you go. People eat pizza for dinner, lunch, and yes, sometimes for breakfast. We eat it hot from the oven or cold the next morning, at parties or on the subway. At any temperature, meal or location, you can find a slice waiting to be eaten.

But this versatile food isn't simply a lump of ingredients. It brings with it many different meanings - from a family business, to an art, to nourishment - and there are likewise a variety of opinions as to what makes it great.

In 1889, pizza was invented in Naples, Italy. Though it was originally a meal for peasants, Raffaele Esposito made the first pizza for visiting royalty. He used mozzarella, basil and tomatoes (which were actually brought over from the Americas) to represent the colors of the Italian flag. Historians know, though, that in ancient times, Israelites, Egyptians and others in the Middle East were making unleavened bread like pitas, and Greeks and Romans in the Mediterranean were eating flatbread with olive oil and spices on top.

The first pizzeria in America was opened in 1905 by Gennaro Lombardi on Spring Street in New York City. Today it is hailed as the best pizza in the nation according to magazines like Forbes Traveler. Forbes Traveler features 10 pizzerias in the United States; four of them are in New York City, two of those are on Arthur Avenue.

Ranking second in Forbes Traveler is Zero Otto Nove, located at 2357 Arthur Avenue. The name reflects the area code for Solerno, 089, the Italian town that owner Roberto Paciullo is from. Zero Otto Nove opened six months ago and already it has risen to the top.

Part of the reason for its success is the pizza maker, Riccardo Rinaldo, an Italian from Solerno who has been in America for about as long as Zero Otto Nove has been open. He is young and made pizza for over seven years in Italy before he was introduced to Roberto by the owner of Trattoria Da Sasa, a restaurant in Solerno.

Rinaldo said that the pizza in Solerno is much softer than it is in America, Rinaldo said. When he came to the Bronx, he made pizza that was crunchier than he was used to, though still softer than most New York pizza.

"The first word I learn is 'crispy,'" he said with an Italian accent.

To many people, the dough is the most important part. This is true for Stan Petti of Full Moon Pizza at 600 E. 187th Street. He said that each pizza restaurant has its own characteristics, setting it apart from the others.

"Everybody talks about our crust," Petti said.

Full Moon doesn't use a brick oven, which some think is essential for pizza perfection. Petti says that it is a different process, one that is not ideal for him. With a brick oven, heat is regulated with wood, which takes more attention, and the opening is small and inconvenient when you are frequently opening and closing the oven in a small space.

Rinaldo agrees that it is a different process but said that the pizza cooks faster in brick ovens. Gas ovens cook slowly and dry up the ingredients, he explained through hand gestures and the translation of Paciullo's wife, Chiara.

Mario's Restaurant at 2342 Arthur Avenue uses a combination of the two types of ovens: a brick oven that is gas-heated. This seems to work for them since Forbes Traveler lists Mario's as the tenth best pizza in America. Joseph Migliucci is the fourth-generation owner of the store, since his great-grandmother used to make pizza and other meals in 1919. His secret to great pizza is no one particular thing.

"It's about the formula," Migliucci said. "It's a combo of everything: good ingredients, whole milk mozzarella, basil, olive oil."

It's not about the pizza for everyone. For Sal and Pina Natale, owners of Pugsley's Pizza, it's about family, from their own to Fordham students. Sal wants Pugsley's to be a place students can develop talents, like singing in the Pugsley's Idol competition coming up this month. Everything in Pugsley's says family, from the photos of students hanging on the walls and ceilings, to the old photos of Sal's family sprawled out on the blue and white checkered table, to the home video of a little girl eating pasta playing on the TV.

Pugsley's hasn't forgotten about the pizza, though. Although Sal won't reveal his secrets, he says that he and Pina make food home-style, like you would eat in your own kitchen.

"We're not chefs, we're artists," he said.

Whether it is about the pizza or the people you're eating with, there is no doubt that this flat, round bread has become something more than physical nourishment. If you want to add something to your own experience, take a walk to Arthur Avenue and get your own dough, sauce and cheese, call a few friends and make your own meaning.