Paulie Gee's

I love how hungry Julia looks here.

Open since March of this year, Paulie Gee's has made it's way into my circle of favorite pizzas. I even made it my pick for this year's birthday dinner. When Paulie himself discovered this news, a shot of homemade Limencello promptly arrived.
Paulie is likely to amble up to your table on most nights. He gave us the brief run-down on his deal. Briefly, former Wall St-oriented IT specialist is looking for something he's more passionate about to spend his time on, builds a killer pizza oven in his backyard (he showed us pics on his phone), spends some years practicing recipes and finally decides to take the plunge into starting his own restaurant. It is a fabulous space - lot's of great wood, interesting fixtures, base-less lamp shades, a gloriously beautiful pizza oven and piles of chopped wood. It can feel Twin Peaksian with the right Badalamenti-ish music.

So, we ordered 4 pies - all off of the special menu:

The Hellboy: Fior di Latte, Italian Tomatoes, Sopressata Picanten, Parmigiano Reggiano and Hot Honey
Red, White and Greenberg - Fior di Latte, Berkshire Guanciale, Pickled Red Onions and a Baby Arugula Garnish

Cherry Jones - Fior di Latte, Gorgonzola Cheese, Prosciutto di Parma, Dried Bing Cherries and Orange Blossom Honey

Anise and Anephew - Fior di Latte, Braised Fennel, Anisette Crème Drizzle, Berkshire Guanciale and Fennel Fronds
All four were fantastic, as were both salads - a Fennel/Orange and the Gates of Eden: Seasonal Greens, Gorgonzola Cheese, House Candied Walnuts, Red Onions, Dried Cherries, Bosc Pear and Red Wine Vinaigrette. The ingredients on Paulie's menu show up over and over again. I think they are still working on combinations, while knowing the individual tastes they like - Fennel, nice pork cuts, dried cherry, etc. There is a trend of blending sweet and savory - both the Hellboy and Cherry Jones had this going on.

The Hellboy and the Anise and Anephew were my two favorites. On the Red White and Greenberg, the pickled onions really stood out, almost overpowering the pork jowl...and I love pickled onions. Cherry Jones had the most satisfying first bites, but the sweetness of the dessicated cherries and orange blossom honey got a bit sickly after a slice. I would happily eat it again, but would likely order something else.
The hot honey was wonderful with the Sopresseta. This was the only pie with tomato that we ordered and the savoriness of tomato/meat/honey was incredibly satisfying. The Anise and Anephew is ruled by the creme. I'm not necessarily a fennel/anise fan, but the braised fennel is very mellow. Just a really rich slice.

Info: 60 Greenpoint Avenue. Closed Mons. Dinner only.

Grubby: Denino's Pizza

This post is five weeks coming. Way back in April, our 5th Food Adventure took us to the supposedly delicious pizza haunts of Staten Island. Not so great. A beautiful ferry ride and a stop in a very "arousing " cavern of a bar redeemed our trip. Let me elaborate:

Sietsema obviously leads me to many spots described here. He likes Denino's. There are entire Chowhound postings on Staten Island pizza. So I thought we had to do it. Long story short - pretty good pie, but not nearly worth the ferry and bus I dragged folks on. If this was in your neighborhood, you'd probably get it regularly. But it's not worth a trip across Manhattan, let alone to Shaolin. Maybe if you had a car or something and were doing a big pizza tour. Anyways, I digress.

It's a soccer party pizza place. In fact, there were several tables of uniformed children chowing down. It could probably be transplanted to most anywhere in the country and would fit.

The pie: like I said, pretty good. I was expecting amazing, so maybe I'm being rash, but no one in our ten person troop was overwhelmed. I liked it - in fact I feel like I liked it more than everyone else. We got three pies: Buffalo chicken, the MOR (meatballs, onions and ricotta) and the Garbage (Pepperoni, Meatballs, Sausage, Mushrooms and Onions).
M.O.R :

Skeptic:

The M.O.R. was my fave - ricotta was the standout flavor here. Most others preferred the Garbage. The Buffalo Chicken would have benefited from a little crumbled Blue Cheese. Regular old thin crust, regular old sauce. What is with the hype? It's a serviceable, nay, pretty good spot. But superb? The "superior pie on the island"? Yeesh - I'll yank my collar there.

I think I'm just embarassed to have taken 10 people on a 90 min trip to the place.
Three slices:

Thank God, right down the street was the most excellent G-Spot bar. Child labor pouring drinks from handles of Captain Morgan. A pool table slanted towards one corner pocket - anywhere the ball was struck, it rolled back to the corner right! Gorgeous velvet Aztec landscapes. Good shit and cold Tecate.




Though it brings a vurp to my mouth, I will begrudgingly mention that I did take everyone to a second pizza spot, "Brother's", at the recommendation of Chowhound forums. Upon first bite, I deemed it "gas station pizza" and was ashamed. The crust came pre-made in plastic bags! I spent the rest of the time gratuitously apologizing to all and sundry. Here is sad Carina with something claimed to be "Cheese sticks" and Stan sucking on "part-skim cheese food":



As I mentioned, the ferry can be divine on a beautiful day:


Info: Way the fuck out on Staten Island. Get a car.