December 22, 2016
New York City, NY
When we were at our family holiday party last week, our family members who live out on Long Island asked if we had been to their favorite pizza place, Pizzetteria Brunetti. We hadn’t, since it wasn’t on the 2015 list, but we did recognize the name from the 2016 list. We originally thought that the only location was out in Westhampton Beach, but we were excited when we found out that there is also a location in the West Village!
We walked up to Brunetti after work for a quick dinner before a show last Thursday evening. We actually walked right by it, probably because we were too distracted by the holiday decorations up around Chelsea Market, but we found it quickly after turning around and consulting Google maps. The restaurant was festively decorated for the holidays, and we were grateful for the warmth inside. Even though it was a bit on the early side for dinner, there were a few other people eating or at the bar, which has a nice view of the pizza oven.
We had a hard time picking out what pies to try here. I really wanted to try the Margherita, but the specialty pies sounded too good. We ended up going with the Funghi e cippole (mushrooms, caramelized onions, cheese, and finished with honey truffle oil) and the Spezie (broccoli rabe, spicy Italian sausage, burrata cheese, hot peppers, and a pepper puree drizzled over top). The two were nice paired together because the mushroom pie had a sweet aftertaste due to the honey oil, and the Spezie had a really great spicy kick to it. While I’m not a huge fan of really spicy pizza (Eric is, though), the burrata is what really got us. We also really liked how the crust on these held up a little better than a traditional Neapolitan pie.
Brunetti has a lot of great looking pizzas on the menu, including a clam pie that they say is their “specialty”. However, we have yet to have a clam pie that lives up to New Haven clam pie, so we tend to stay away from those when they are on the menu. Also on our list for next time: one of the salads. The farro one looks awesome. And we’d come back for thanksgiving next year if they end up doing this again.
To visit:
Pizzetteria Brunetti
626 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014