Otto Pizzeria

Another place that has been on my radar for years but had never had a chance to visit. Usually for Italian style pizzas I visit Angelo’s in Midtown or Lil Frankies in East Village. The only caveat I have for Lil Frankies is I have never liked any of their pizzas with sauce on it. Everything else though is phenomanal. Anyhow, my cousin has been mentioning Otto’s since I moved here because that was one of his and his wife’s picks when they were living in the city. Being very content with the other Italian style pizza place I had been to in the city so far and having the wealth of other dining options to try out I never really got around to Otto’s. Recently I read some great reviews about their antipasti and their olive oil gelato. Yes, you read that right… olive oil gelato. Sounds weird, but I read nothing but good reviews about it so I had to try it out. Anyhow, the stars seemed to be aligning for me to actually check it out because I was meeting up with a friend that had been there before and she wanted to go back.

We started with a sample of the 5 seafood antipasti and the brussel sprouts antipasti. The seafood antipasti was unfortunately a bit disappointing. The mussels one with pernata and mint was really good, and I would order it again. The rest were interesting and not bad, but not really that amazing either. It wouldn’t be worth a repeat order. The brussel sprouts dish on the other hand was really good and on par with the mussels dish. If I go back I would definitely try out more of the vegetable antipasti dishes.

For pizza’s I ordered the mushroom & tallegio (its like a funky version brie). My friends got the balsalmic onion & goat cheese pizza and the pane frattau pizza with tomato, pecorino, and a sunny side up egg. My favorite was definitely the pane frattau. The tomato had a nice flavor with the pecorino and the egg added a nice rich texture as strange as it sounds. The others were good, but not nearly as good as the pizza’s I have had that were cooked in real ovens at both aforementioned places: Lil Frankies and Angelo’s. The crust just didn’t seem right. I am not sure exactly what it was, but it just didn’t seem normal and not in a good way. Maybe it was because there wasn’t too much crust on the edge of the pizza or maybe because it seemed to be too perfectly uniform. The toppings were definitely interesting though.

I am not entirely sure though what it was about the crust that threw me off, but there was definitely something. I did look into a bit online and found that since they can’t have a real coal or wood oven due to zoning restrictions (they are in a historic building) they have a different method to cook their pizza. They actually start if off on a hot griddle and then finish it in the broiler. That might have something to do it.

Anyhow, the dessert was fantastic. We got the olive oil coppetta and the black & white. The coppetta was an olive oil gelato with fennel seed brittle. lime curd, kumquats and blood orange. The black & white was chocolate chip gelato, hazelnut brittle, creme fraiche gelato, chocolate sauce & caramel crema. They were both awesome, but in different ways. The black & white was a good version of what you expect when you order a dessert, but the olive oil coppetta was my favorite of the two because it was a totally unusual combination of ingredients and flavors you wouldn’t really expect. It all worked though. Especially the combination of the olive oil gelato and the lime curd.

Prices were relatively reasonable taking into consideration the location and the fact it is associated with Mario Batali. With a bottle of wine between the 4 of us it ended up being $45 + tip. The service was a bit off though. Our waitress insisted that we order everything (antipasti & mains) at the same time. I think that is a bit absurd… I would much rather prefer to order the antipasti and then decide on a second course afterwards. It just seems so silly to insist that we are required to order the entire dinner at the same time. I didn’t really press the issue at the time, but I would the next time around because it compresses the dinner experience.

Anyhow, to sum it all up, I wouldn’t mind going back at some point but I won’t be rushing back anytime soon. I did enjoy my lunch at Del Posto thought so I might try some of Batali’s other places out before returning to Otto’s. For Italian style pizza, I have my picks… If I can order dessert at the bar though I wouldn’t mind popping in after dinner somewhere else.

Otto Pizzeria
1 5th Avenue (on 8th street between 5th Ave & University)
New York, NY 10003
(212) 995-9559