When a door closes, another one opens. Right? When the best pizza in your neighborhood leaves, you can only hope for something at least as good.
So when Toscano’s quickly took Totonno’s place, keeping the coal-fired pizza oven, SK and I headed over to check out if this was in fact the case.
Inside it’s only a little different; the chairs might be updated — might — but the tin-topped tables remain. However, the menu is more oriented toward appetizers and signature pizzas instead of choose-your-own-toppings ordering, but it’s still a pizzeria at heart. Intriguingly, the menu at the restaurant lists only 12″ pizzas, while the delivery/takeout menu allows 16″ pizza procurement. No matter, as we wanted to try a couple of different pies as well as appetizers.
After ordering, the friendly waiter brought us the bread — slightly salty, slightly sweet, but very good — and the obligatory dish of olive oil with a little dash of balsamic. It’s a rather grassy olive oil, which was perfectly okay by me.
And the obligatory Moretti, as it was a warm day and, you know, beer.
Then we settled into our piles of food, arriving in quick succession. First up, the meatballs, on the menu as consisting of beef, pork, and a chianti reduction. As you can see, it’s a simple presentation, and these were barely larger than golf balls.
The crust was wonderful, however, and broken into, revealed this sight. I can assure you these were cooked through, and moist. I really enjoyed the porky flavor on the 1 1/2 of these, and more sauce wasn’t necessary, but for $7 I expected a bit more quantity than we received.
Along with the meatballs arrived the arancini, fried rice balls with a basil aioli and tomato sauce. Again, three to a plate, simply-arranged.
These proved trickier. They’re crispy on the outside, but the inside isn’t held together well — I like these with more mozzarella or some sort of cheese to bind it together and make it more dense and salty. The peas and diced ham were a nice surprise, but the aioli couldn’t hold its weight; these would have been a lot better with more of the house tomato sauce, but as-is, we agreed that they wound up on the dry side.
Soon after all the balls disappeared, the pizzas came out. First, the Carne, pepperoni, soppressata and sausage with mozzarella and San Marzano tomatoes. In addition to calling out the required Neapolitan pizza tomato, the menu also points out the use of Caputo 00 flour, as if to assure the neighborhood that it’s still classic, classical pizza.
I suppose the tomatoes were only meant to be part of the sauce, as there were just a few stray ones among the meats, although the meat was fairly generously applied to the pizza.
While the Carne arrived without char, its meats shone. I prefer sliced sausage to crumbled, but this had the right balance of spice and saltiness, and virtually every bite had all the pie’s ingredients to mingle in my mouth. We devoured this with gusto.
I chose the Bianco for our other pizza, and Toscano’s does theirs how I like — no pockets of ricotta dispersed around the pie, just a sheet of mozzarella and a heavy hand with the garlic. As the menu says pecorino was also added, I assume that’s layered underneath the mozzarella, shaved.
This pizza came out a couple of minutes after the Carne, so perhaps they were both put in the oven at the same time? The char really added to this pie; I like carbon with my foods as a general rule. The garlicky bites of Bianco dared me not to simply inhale the entire pie at once; so mouthwatering! And the crust was a bit thinner on the Bianco as well. Really one of the finest white pizzas I’ve encountered in a long time.
All things considered, the pizza’s the thing at Toscano’s, and I’m happy to report that while it’s a somewhat different place than Totonno’s, the pizza is still very good in a different way. It’s a shame that the appetizers aren’t particularly compelling — I think we ordered the most interesting dishes, and those weren’t really worth the effort.
While it’s really an oasis of good pizza, I don’t know that the rest of the locals have caught on. Midweek, Toscano’s doesn’t seem to be too popular to walk up for a table; a later visit confirmed that. Weekends might be a little trickier, but if you’re on the Upper East Side, your quality pizza choices are quite limited, and it’s worth waiting for a table. Don’t forget to pick up a delivery menu!
Feisty Foodie says
I want to try that bianco
Kcijones001 says
Bianco topped with uncooked prosciutto is the best!!!!!!
BeerBoor says
A subsequent visit delivered a prosciutto and arugula pizza (not my choice) — it was on the neapolitan standard, not a bianca, but everything was added after the pizza came out of the oven. Love.
kcijones001 says
no red sauce with my proscuitto and arugula, thank you.
Ive recently noticed that i learn more towards pizza without red sauce.
Hungry says
Hmm, I have never seen fresh San Marzano tomatoes for sale.
BeerBoor says
I’m intrigued, myself: do all these pizzerias get them imported? If so, you’d think some Italian grocery, like Agata and Valentina, could possibly carry them. Research, I’ll do it.
Goats says
Me too!
T.C. says
The Totonno’s in the 20’s is also closed. No clue what will occupy it.
Def. not enough balls served up.
The pizza looks delicious. Me like meaty pies.
BeerBoor says
Maybe Toscano’s is coming to that space too? It wouldn’t be the worst thing that could happen. The generosity with the meats didn’t really translate into slices that sagged, either.
Kevin says
Looks good, I live around the corner so I may give this a shot. But is it just me, or do the crusts on both pizzas look a bit thicker and doughier than other Neapolitan-style pizzas (i.e. Motorino)? There doesn’t seem to be that characteristic poofiness in the crust.
BeerBoor says
They call themselves “Neapolitan”, and that’s fine, most pizzerias throughout time in NYC have called themselves that (to differentiate from Sicilian, I suppose). But Toscano’s is decidedly not camping with the “new wave” of places like Motorino, OliO, Keste, and the like — this is much more an old-school pizzeria, like Totonno’s. There’s definitely variance in the thickness of the crusts from pizza to pizza, but yeah, expect a thicker crust.
kcijones001 says
looks the same to me.
BeerBoor says
Visit to visit, crust to crust. Also within the pie itself – the extra “blob” on the front of the bianca, for example.
Kcijones001 says
UR
BeerBoor says
I can’t respond with what I want to respond.
kcijones001 says
i dare you.