They claim to offer pies that are "twice the size" of the typical porteño pizza, thus justifying…read moretheir exorbitantly high prices. Pizzas are only offered in one size and run 380-400 pesos each, and by the slice run from 35-50 pesos - let's just say that while New Yorkers may pony up $2.25-3.25 for a slice of pizza, or around $25 for a whole pie, we're not in New York and hitting those prices in Buenos Aires, even with our high inflation, is ridiculous. Still, the guys at the counter, including the owner, are really nice guys, they clearly believe in their product, and so I really wanted to say all good things....
Pepperoni - Okay, the good stuff - the pepperoni itself, made by a local butcher in accord with a recipe that the owner brought from New York. The flavor is dead-on. The pepperoni's a little too big - it shouldn't be rounds the size of a salami, but that's more tradition than a rule. The cheese is good quality and a proper amount for a NY style pizza.
The flipside, however. The sauce... oh, the sauce... it's just lacking for me - physically, as is oh too typical of the Argentine style of pizza, but not New York - it's just barely a blush atop part of the dough. The crust is the biggest disappointment. It's tasty, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't taste of New York, well it does, but it tastes like soft pretzel dough, not like pizza dough. And while they tout that this is a pizza you can go all five boroughs on and fold down the middle and eat with your hands (locals eat pizza with knife and fork, virtually always), you pretty much can't. It's too thick, it's too crunchy, and it just breaks rather than folds.
Spinach, Ricotta, and Mozzarella - Can I just put "ditto" and get away with it? I guess, this is one that shouldn't have tomato sauce, so on that count it's fine, but the few little bits of scattered spinach are too few and far between, and the ricotta was sort of bland and watery.
It's not that these guys aren't on the trail of something good, but thin that crust down so that it's actually foldable, be more generous with the toppings, add some seasoning, and slim down those prices. Now, the pizzas are larger than most typical large pies here - which run around 33cm/14″, but that's not set in stone, and I know plenty of places with larger pies, especially if they specialize in selling by the slice. These come in, just eyeballing it, around 18″, which at least meets the claim of double the surface area of the "standard" al molde, but again, not set in a pizza stone. Basically, it falls somewhere between porteño and neuyorquino style pizza - perhaps an attempt to appeal to locals as well as expats.
Overall, a good effort - and again, it's not bad pizza, it's just not great pizza - if they weren't billing it as NY style, my only real issue would be the price.
