La Pizza Fresca

New York pizza is something we’ve written about before, but one of the great things about living in such a diverse place is that even within the ostensibly straightforward category of pizzerias, there is wide variation in style and experience. While we love Grimaldi’s and Totonno’s and Lombardi’s, there’s a special little corner of our heart reserved for La Pizza Fresca. One of only a few American pizzerias certified by the Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana, the governing body of Neapolitan-style pizza, La Pizza Fresca makes pies that, according to AVPN’s exacting standards for authenticity, are 9-10 inches across, can be folded twice without breaking, have been cooked in a wood-burning oven, and are made with Italian flour and ingredients native to the Naples area. Though they share the basic American pizza framework of crust with some stuff on it, the resemblances end there: one of our favorites, the Emilia, is topped with balsamic vinegar and Parmigiano Reggiano, and we recently enjoyed the Bianca Neve, with bufala mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, and roasted garlic. Different, but delicious.

Photo: thanks