Boston Restaurant and Food Blog » Pizza

Eating at Motorino East Village (NYC)

Lingbo Li — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 23:27:02 +0000

Brussel sprouts and pancetta pizza at Motorino in East Village

I’m a pizza kind of girl. I’ll politely eat burgers (if placed in front of me) and occasionally bow to burritos (mostly if they’re free), but the cheesy, bubbly slice is my cheap eat staple of choice.

Ever since the New York Times’ Sam Sifton declared Motorino “[NYC's] best pizza,” I knew I had to give them a try. I took the subway downtown, transferred to the L, then took it to 1st Ave, luggage clattering behind me as I walked into the fabled land of pizza. The restaurant was small, maybe 30, 40 seats, the walls papered in green and white stripes. Brussels sprouts and pancetta pie ($15) came highly recommended.

Motorino’s pizzas are visually arresting creations. They come like jewel-toned paintings, framed in dough and splashed with vibrant colors of basil, buffalo mozzarella, or maybe clams in their shells. I liked the crust on my pie, which was remarkably light, with just the right amount of chew and char. However, it didn’t quite hold up to heavy toppings – it ended up a bit soggy on the underside with oil by the end. Still, it was a delicious creation, and unlikely ingredients were wholly appropriate for spring, nothing like the waxy buttons I’d imagined. Maybe I’d go for a simpler cheese pie next time. Or their lunch special – just $12 for a pie and salad or dessert. Pairing this baby with a cold beer would be awfully nice.

Oggi’s “to die for” slice of the day

Lingbo Li — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 02:31:55 +0000

Steak pizza with fried shallots? It sounded promising, and it was indeed pretty tasty.

The shallots added a lot of textural interest – plus they were kind of fun to eat, but didn’t actually add any positive flavor to the slice. They’d clearly been sitting on a pan for a bit, so they weren’t crunchy, and had been overcooked so they actually tasted bitter. As always, though, this place really kills it with their flakey, sesame-seed sprinkled crust. Divine.

I ended up not finishing the slice (I wasn’t that hungry) and gave it to this homeless woman with a broken arm who made me feel so sad that I wished I had just bought her an entire pizza pie.

Getting fat again

Lingbo Li — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:44:44 +0000

So I use “fat” in a tongue-in-cheek way. But I definitely spent the last few weeks watching what I ate, which meant no crazy banquet dinners, dinners of scrambled egg whites and vegetables, and the occasional helping of cheese dip, heaped high with guilt.

As a result, my stomach became a cast iron tank. My collarbone and ribcage took greater prominence. When I lay down, I marveled at how my skin stretched over my gently jutting hipbones. It felt like a lesson in skeletal anatomy.

So on my first day back on Planet Girl, I felt totally free to go on a carb-and-calorie rampage. I was going to eat EVERYTHING and ANYTHING I could possibly ever want to eat. I was going to ignore stomach pains. I was going to consume whatever was put in front of me, especially high in simple starches, sugar, and fats. I was going to try to undo whatever I had done to myself.

The night before, I’d made good work of a ginger-and-scallion lobster dish, a beef/pepper/pineapple stirfry, and a salt and pepper fried squid at Peach Farm in Chinatown. The verdict: the cooking was a bit rushed, and the quality suffered as a result. My dad commented on how slapdash the dishes seemed to be put together, although the beef stirfry was meltingly tender and delicious. Then I topped it off with a half a red bean bun as I stalked around on my 5 inch clear heels, bronzer still caked on my stomach, legs, and arms.

I went to bed with a horrible stomach ache.

I woke up in the morning and ate a bowl of cereal with milk, pistachio muffin, and orange. I was just getting warmed up. For lunch I had a tray of salmon maki from the Greenhouse Cafe. It was horrible – the rice was gummy and hard, the fillings nearly flavorless – but I downed it all anyway. During section, my TF brought in a bag of chocolate squares. I had two – dark and caramel.

Afterwards, I headed to the North End to return my wonderful stylist’s hair straightener, then went on a “best of” spree, informed by the folks at Chowhound.

First there was a chocolate chip cannoli at Modern Pastry...

Then tiramisu at Caffe Vittoria. Tasty, but nothing transcendental.

My favorite!!! An incredible slice of Pizza at Express - incredibly gooey, salty, cheesy, with the perfect cheese-sauce-crust ratio. The only downside - they refused to serve me free water. WTF.

Then I had a carnitas burrito with guacamole from Qdoba.

I don’t even normally eat burritos when not on a diet. But I felt like it was a nice finishing touch.

I had a horrible stomach ache again after all of this. I’m working on this fat thing. It’s hard, though.

Who moved my vegan cheese? – Peace o’ Pie in Allston

Lingbo Li — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 05:59:33 +0000

In my free time, I like to club cows and steal milk meant for adorable, doe-eyed little calves from their udders.

No. Not true. But I do eat real cheese. I have no qualms about dead animals and animal products. But I did, however, eat at THREE vegan places last weekend, with no morals attached. I’ll talk about one now.

So how is vegan pizza at relatively newly opened Peace o’ Pie in Allston? Suprisingly awesome, that’s what it’s like. It’s right next door to vegan powerhouse Grasshopper (which I also ate at) and it’s a small, brightly lit and cheery spot that has a sign declaring, “Please do not consume non-vegan food in here,” or something like that. I mean, is it really that offensive if I bring in a latte? Ummm. Ok.

The key here, kids, is that the crust must really hold the entire operation. Vegan cheese, no matter how artfully made, will never even begin to approximate the salty, gooey, stringy pleasures of the real thing. (I’d say this slice could use some more salt to compensate for the relative tastelessness of fake cheese.) Peace o’Pie, in this respect, wins. Their crust is on the thicker side, a good amount of pleasant chew and crunch in the crust, and has a rich, organically-made flavor all its own. I’d say it could be a little thinner and have a bit of extra sauce, to add some moistness to what’s a drier pie with the fake cheese and all, but very good overall.

Their cupcake was also a surprising win, made moist with pumpkin puree and Earth Balance vegan butter spread. The crumbs were all melding into each other in the most fabulous way, with a wisely small measure of frosting since the cake batter was so rich. Who knew that vegan baking could be better than the kind that exploits cows? My friend happily inhaled two.

Also pretty funky: instead of parmesean cheese, you get a shaker with walnut crumbs and nutritional yeast. It tastes terrible on its own, but lends a bit of extra flavor that helps spice up the (relatively inoffensive but unremarkable) cheese.

The Blue October Pizza at Zing! Pizza

Lingbo Li — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 23:55:57 +0000

I love a well-made pizza pie as much as anybody else, but I often seek out pies that stretch the definition of pizza (see: my entry on Veggie Planet). If I’m going to go the traditional pizza route, I place huge stock in the crust, which should never be soggy from the sauce nor be overpowered by the cheese, and should have the right amount of crunch (especially thin crust) or a touch of buttery flakiness (Oggi’s).

I serendipitously wandered into Zing! by accident one warm spring evening. I’d decided to trek up to Porter Square, saw the sign, and ordered up a slice of their Blue October which is very similar in basic ingredients to Veggie Planet’s Brunch for Henry pizza. Since one of the pizzas was on the smaller side, the super sweet employee threw in another slice for free – so I ate essentially half a pizza for only a few bucks.

Then I doused some leftover in a shower of red chili flakes, just because I love things that bite me back.

How was it? Really, truly delicious. The butternut squash “sauce” isn’t overpowering at all, and pins down the swirling loops of caramelized onion, mozz, spinach, and bleu cheese with subtly sweet, silky undertone. The thin crust (a nice crunch, of course) nicely showcases the toppings, which have that fortunate quality of surprising you with something a little different in each bite – so good its transcendent of whatever you think of its toppings independently.

If only you were a little closer to Harvard Square.

Find it!

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Zing! Pizza

http://zingpizza.blogspot.com

1925 Mass Ave

617 497 4300

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Free Uppercrust Pizza + Stalk My Appetite

Lingbo Li — Wed, 13 May 2009 04:17:28 +0000

I’m always excited about free food events, especially when it’s something as delectable as thin-crust pizza from Upper Crust. Their barbecue chicken version is particularly sinfully tasty.

I was really impressed by the slice size – basically a quarter of a pie per person, despite the fact that all I paid for it was printing out the forwarded email. I got their special, a tasty but mild mixture of eggplant, ricotta cheese, and caramelized onions. My gay best friend decided to dump a can of chili flakes on his slice. “I’m going to get an ulcer,” he declared proudly.

I’ve decided I’m a fan. The crust does a great job of displaying their creative toppings, plus comes with a perfectly burnt crunch. Marco and I ate our slices outside to enjoy the lovely spring weather we’ve been blessed with recently.

—————————————————– STALK MY APPETITE:

Dinner at Hungry Mother tomorrow/today (Wednesday!) with my aforementioned gay BFF, plus dinner on Saturday at swanky Mistral with super cool Mike. Feel free to shoot me recommendations for what I should order!

Also, entries on a lovely Chinese feast at Mulan in Cambridge soon (totally overdue)… I may go out for dim sum this weekend, probably at Hei La Moon or Gitlo’s, per Lena‘s advice. Her boyfriend makes a mean coffee, by the way.

I recently had some more dim sum at Winsor Dim Sum Cafe on Tyler St in Chinatown. Had a tasty morsel of beef stomach with scallion and ginger plus some less impressive fried turnip cake. (Initially delicious, but the middles proved tasteless, mushy, and cold. Plus, not enough hoisin sauce.) Beef stomach is really all about the chewy texture. I’d go back and try their spicy Szechuan version sometime.

Also hoping to make it out to Porter Square Exchange Mall. I have been dying for good takoyaki.

My yummy $1 oysters at Rialto are now up on 3 Buck Bites, check it out!

Finally, exciting news from KO Prime, where I had my delectable calves brains, detailed in video. My awesome server sent me an update email on my request for bull testicles to be added to the menu. The email was charmingly entitled “BALLS,” and informed me they’ve got the balls, now they’re working on recipes. I’ll update you all on this important ongoing story.

Even more finally, I will be Shanghai this summer beginning early June. If you have any must tries, let me know!

Oggi’s Special of the Day Slice

Lingbo Li — Thu, 07 May 2009 19:15:39 +0000

Ham, Spinach, Red Onion, healthy dose of basil and chili flakes

Lunch, after finishing 1/3 of my paper. When you have a food blog, eating food seems strangely pointless if you don’t take a photo of it.

Delightful, delicious Veggie Planet Pizza

Lingbo Li — Mon, 04 May 2009 01:03:25 +0000

Vegan Peanut Curry - with butternut squash instead of broccoli

Veggie Planet has made me sing songs of joy ever since I first visited a few months into freshman year and tasted the sweet revelation that is Lunch for Henry. Whenever people ask me my favorite restaurant in Harvard Square, the answer is invariably Veggie Planet… I prefer the cramped climes and uneven, sometimes crappy service to slick bars and charming beverage directors. It is the most dollar per happiness that you can find in Harvard Square, and being a poor student, that kind of economic calculation is irresistable. Veggie Planet is the kind of secret that I constantly push new people to discover – it’s the place I drag new and old friends to, and yes, I do judge people based on what they think of the food here. Which I don’t do so much. Or try not to, at least.

A few of my favorites:

Portabello Redhead: mushrooms, red romesco sauce, feta cheese, caramelized onions
Lunch/Dinner for Henry: butternut squash, goat cheese, caramelized onions
Caesar on a Big Cheesy Crouton: Caesar salad with chopped kalamata olive and fried tofu croutons a cheesy flatbread crust
Vegan Peanut Curry: a spicy curry on coconut rice with a smattering of peanuts, broccoli and fried tofu croutons

Roasted vegetables with brown rice - I killed this baby with a heaping of Sriracha hot sauce, and immediately regretted it... my taste buds are out of practice.

I tried this dish for the first time… was not too enthused about it. I also overloaded on the hot sauce, which was completely my fault. Too much hubris after writing this column for the Crimson.

Tiny tables, small stools, music fliers everywhere... Veggie Planet makes me extra happy and Asian.

The Best Pizza in New York?

Lingbo Li — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:10:05 +0000

So this slice here from Bleecker Street Pizza is supposed to be the best pizza in New York, as declared by the Food Network, New York Post, and a whole bunch of other places. I didn’t go here on purpose. I was just wandering around the downtown area and passed by the sign, so I knew I had try it out. (Despite not being hungry at all.)

The pros: the employees were incredibly sweet. I’m not sure if this had to do with me being a girl, but hey, I often get shitty service too. But the pizza definitely had that reheated texture, where the crust has gotten a bit gummy and the cheese just lacks that magical just-melted quality. Still a tasty slice, but wish I could have had it fresh out of the oven.

I really liked this place called California Pizza (not sure why its named that) which is in downtown NYC, around Union Square. I see that Yelp doesn’t agree with me though. :(