Motorino

(This post is based on a visit to the Williamsburg location, which is at least temporarily closed. The East Village location remains open.) Wanna fat lip?

The airy, chewy, lightly crisped crust of Motorino's margherita was marred only by a too-insistent yeasty note; based on just one pie, it's easily among the finest Neapolitans in the city. (The exemplar of this style, which had been served at Una Pizza Napoletana, was slicked with too much olive oil for my taste.) I ordered it as part of a lunch special ($10, with a $4 supplement for buffalo mozzarella) that includes one of five pies, plus salad or the soup of the day; below, that's a workmanlike pasta e fagioli.

Motorino serves beer and wine, but consider a selection from the lengthy list of bottled sodas that includes six root beers: Abita, Boylan's, Saranac, Virgil's, and two I'd never tried: Sprecher's, from Glendale, Wisconsin, and Fitz's, from St. Louis. Fitz's (12 fl. oz.; $3) balances its cane-sugar sweetness with a spicy kick I associate with root-beer-barrel candies; the finish takes a tweak from vanilla.

Motorino
319 Graham Ave. (at Devoe St.), Williamsburg, Brooklyn
718-599-8899
Also 349 East 12th St. (First-Second Aves.), Manhattan
212-777-2644
www.MotorinoPizza.com

Comments

[Luther]

You consider "yeasty" to be a negative attribute of a baked good?

[Dave Cook]

I'll try to clarify. It's not that the yeasty note was strong, but I tasted it immediately, before the other flavors, and it was insistent, out of balance with the rest. Perhaps my impression would have been different if the pie hadn't been prefaced by the soup; it's a quibble in any case.

I stopped in at Motorino just after Labor Day, while it was still under construction, but it took me till January to sit down and enjoy a pizza. I'm looking forward to a return visit without so long a wait.

[Polecat]

Here's the big question: Do they carry Manhattan Specials?
P.

[Dave Cook]

I don't think so, though it would be a nice touch, considering that the coffee soda is bottled not far away. If you don't mention it to Motorino first, I will!