The Feisty Foodie

Opinionated Food Critic

  • Around NYC
    • Brooklyn
      • Bay Ridge
    • Bronx
    • Downtown Lunch
    • Long Island Eats
    • Manhattan
      • Chelsea
      • Chinatown
      • East Village
      • Financial District
      • Flatiron District
      • Gramercy
      • Greenwich Village
      • Hell’s Kitchen
      • Lower East Side
      • Midtown
      • Murray Hill
      • SoHo
      • Tribeca
      • Upper East Side
      • Upper West Side
      • West Village
    • Queens
      • Astoria
      • Bayside
      • Corona
      • Elmhurst
      • Flushing
      • Elmhurst
      • Flushing
      • Forest Hills
      • Howard Beach
      • Jackson Heights
      • Kew Gardens
  • Cuisine
    • Africa
      • Moroccan
    • Americas
      • American
      • Argentinian
      • Brazilian
      • Cajun
      • Canadian
      • Creole
      • Cuban
      • Hawaiian
      • Mexican
      • New American
      • Southwestern
    • Asia
      • Cambodian
      • Chinese
      • Filipino
      • Indian
      • Indonesian
      • Japanese
      • Korean
      • Malaysian
      • Russian
      • Thai
      • Ukrainian
      • Vietnamese
    • Europe
      • Austrian
      • Belgian
      • French
      • Greek
      • Italian
      • Lebanese
      • Mediterranean
      • Spanish
      • Turkish
    • Other
      • Fast Food
      • Fusion
      • Tapas
      • Vegetarian
  • Feisty Fun
    • Articles
      • Feisty Bento
    • Baseball
    • BlindBakerNYC
    • Events
      • FF Giveaways
    • Fiction
    • Food Memories
    • Food Services
      • CSA
      • Fresh Direct
      • Ready to Cook
    • Jenn of NEB
    • Product Reviews
    • Project 365
    • Recipe Fridays
    • Serial Thursdays
    • The Beer Boor
    • Tuesdays with TT
  • Recipes
    • Baked Goods
    • BBQ
    • Beef
    • Beverages
    • Breakfast
    • Brunch
    • Chicken
    • Desserts
    • Duck
    • Lamb
    • One Pot Meals
    • Pasta
    • Pork
    • Ramen
    • Sauces
    • Seafood
    • Side Dishes
    • Steak
  • Restaurants
    • Bakeries
    • BBQ
    • Bistro
    • Breakfast
    • Burgers
    • Cheese
    • Deli
    • Desserts
      • Ice cream
    • Pizza
    • Seafood
    • Shabu shabu
    • Steakhouse
      • The Great Steakhouse Tour of NYC
    • Tea
    • Trucks/Carts
    • Wine Bar
  • Stadium Eats
    • Citi Field
    • Citizens Bank Park
    • Nationals Park
    • PNC Park
    • Shea Stadium (Closed)
    • Yankee Stadium
  • Travels
    • Asia
      • Hong Kong
    • Europe
      • England
        • London
      • France
        • Paris
      • Greece
        • Athens
      • Spain
        • Barcelona
      • Turkey
        • Istanbul
    • North America
      • Canada
        • Montreal
      • United States
        • Arizona
          • Phoenix
        • California
          • Los Angeles
          • San Diego
          • San Francisco
        • Connecticut
        • Georgia
        • Hawaii
          • Maui
        • Illinois
          • Chicago
        • Louisiana
          • Baton Rouge
          • New Orleans
        • Maryland
          • Baltimore
        • Massachusetts
          • Boston
        • Nevada
          • Las Vegas
        • New Jersey
        • North Carolina
          • Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill
        • Pennsylvania
          • Philadelphia
          • Pittsburgh
        • Texas
          • Austin
        • Washington
          • Seattle
        • Washington DC
    • South America
      • Argentina
        • Buenos Aires
        • Iguazu Falls
      • Peru

Story Deli

May 28, 2013 by Feisty Foodie 9 Comments

This is the story of how I wound up at Story Deli in London on a day determined to prove just how finicky English weather can be – storming heavily one minute, the sun blasting through the next.

Months and months ago, I was approached to be NYC’s Chief Chowzter. Silly name aside, after discussing what, exactly, this entailed, I signed up with the start-up and began plotting what dishes in NYC deserve the title of Tastiest Fast Feasts. (If you click over, you can see that my own personal list hasn’t been uploaded yet, as I am agonizing over where to include and what not to… AGONY.) This has been a whirlwind of emails, flurries of communication as Chief Chowzters all over the world were also tasked with nominating local bites to win awards for “BEST IN THE WORLD” – with the winners being announced at the inaugural 2013 Chowzter Awards in London in late April.

Unfortunately, not a single one of my nominations won *sobs* but I’m not to be discouraged! I know it’s just a matter of time before the judges who voted sample my choices again and realize just how infallible my palate is, because we all know that taste is totally objective! (I’m being silly, of course. Taste is completely subjective and variety, difference of opinion is what makes my world spin!)

HOWEVER: Chowzter graciously invited me to join them in London for the awards ceremony, thus my blink-of-an-eye trip across the pond, and… though it wasn’t my nomination… I was asked to accept the award for World’s Best Burger on behalf of Louis’ Lunch in New Haven, CT.

And none other than Pierre Koffman presented the award to me, which I graciously accepted and then cheesed it up for the cameras.  I will soon be making the sojourn to New Haven, CT (stopping for pizza along the way!), to hand over the gorgeous little award to the restaurant – and you can be sure I’ll be blogging about that as well!

But before the awards… almost as soon as I landed, really… I met up with a bunch of the other Chief Chowzters who’d made it over to London for the awards and we nerdily bonded over eating lots and lots and lots of food. The only stop I documented turned out to be the only one that mattered:

Story Deli, where we met the lovely eccentric owner Lee, who described how he came to make “pizzas” using only organic ingredients. Every single item is organic, down to the flour… but here’s where we hit a snag.

He could not find proper organic yeast.

So he did what any normal person would do.

He forewent the yeast, thus producing a pizza whose crust is undeniable in its unique texture: crisp, almost as thin as paper, and somehow still managing to hold its toppings.

I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

Chowzter - London 01.jpg Chowzter - London 02.jpg Chowzter - London 03.jpg

The margherita being cut – I’m not entirely sure who we enlisted to cut the pizzas… it was one of the male bloggers who said something about being Italian so it’s in his blood? Hehehe.

Chowzter - London 04.jpgFico – goat’s cheese, fig and olive tapenade, fresh red onion, capers and thyme with parma ham on a heap of fresh salad leaves

Chowzter - London 05.jpg

Charlie Jones – “very hot!” – spicy sausage, tomato passata, taleggio, parmesan, roasted red peppers, garlic, toasted spices, bird’s eye chiles and sweet chile sauce

Chowzter - London 06.jpg

My request – chorizo & mushroom, boasting chorizo, garlic roasted mushrooms, buffalo mozzarella, mascarpone, roasted sweet red onion, olives and sweet chili sauce.

Chowzter - London 07.jpg

By special request, for the vegetarians among us, a pie topped with various roasted vegetables.

Chowzter - London 08.jpg

A slice of the chorizo & mushroom pie – the delicately crisp crust held up the toppings surprisingly well, and the toppings together all worked nicely.

Chowzter - London 09.jpg

A slice of the margherita…

Chowzter - London 10.jpg

… and the requisite upskirt.  Though that tomato looks relatively raw/fresh, it was thoroughly roasted and bursting with natural sweetness. Honestly, I was a skeptic about the crust – look how thin and airy it is! – but the final word, the only thing that matters, the taste itself? Well, it was fantastic. Delicious, despite – or perhaps because of – its not-really-pizza nature.

Yeah, I’d eat that.

Chowzter - London 11.jpg

Even the lemonade was organic (and quite lovely – tart and delicious!).

The verdict? I thoroughly enjoyed what I ate; crisp, airy, not too heavy where after a few slices, I felt sick from overeating; delicious and great.

However… as a stickler for certain things… this isn’t pizza. Is it tasty? Yes. Is it good? Yes. Should you eat it? YES!

But it’s still not pizza. There’s thin crust, then there’s simply crackers and flatbread topped with yummy ingredients. This is the latter, I’m afraid to say.

That doesn’t detract from how delicious it was!

Nor did it stop Story Deli from taking home the prize for Tastiest Fast Feast in the World, 2013.

That’s right – they won for best fast feast overall, over all other nominees in every single category.

And this New York pizza snob?

Well, I’m not mad about that at all. I think they truly deserved a prize – innovative, creative, completely different pizza. And variety makes the world go ’round, y’know?

If you’re in London or planning a visit to there, you should definitely give Story Deli a try.

And say hi to Lee while you’re there. If you’re lucky, he’ll tell you the story of how Story Deli got its name.

Story Deli on Urbanspoon

Filed Under: Articles, By Name, Cuisine, England, Europe, Feisty Fun, Italian, London, Pizza, Restaurants, Travels Tagged With: Chowzter, lemonade

« Virgin Atlantic
Mohegan Sun »

Comments

  1. LKPNYC says

    May 28, 2013 at 2:38 pm

    Any excuse to go to London is fine by me! Those look more like ‘flatbread’ pizzas to me, too– but they look lovely all the same.

    Reply
    • Feisty Foodie says

      May 28, 2013 at 3:14 pm

      Exactly my feelings – tasty regardless 😉

      Reply
  2. Dessert Zombie says

    May 28, 2013 at 9:16 pm

    That Charlie Jones sounds like my kind of pie.
    And I do like cracker-style pies.
    Doesn’t always have to NY style. 😛

    Reply
    • Feisty Foodie says

      June 2, 2013 at 8:16 pm

      You’re right, it doesn’t always have to be NY style, but that’s my preference 🙂

      Reply
  3. hungry says

    May 30, 2013 at 4:30 pm

    Phew! Glad we agree that’s not pizza. But looks delicious. I would happily eat that over deep dish any day.

    Reply
    • Feisty Foodie says

      June 2, 2013 at 8:17 pm

      Right? Now THAT is not pizza – deep dish, I mean!

      Reply
  4. Janine [SkippyMom] says

    September 13, 2013 at 5:23 pm

    I only have one thing to say [great review aside/and I want the recipe for the *cracker* crust]

    You are every bit as pretty in that pic’ as I always knew you were. How long have I been reading you/friends with you? but Always a side shot here, noshing a hot dog there – but never a full on shot of our lovely Yvo.

    Breathtaking. And I do not exaggerate. Many oohs and aahhs around our pond tonight. I am thinking of maybe not bringing Steven with me on the trip to NYC in November. He likes younger women [me included] but you are FIERCE competition lady. ::wink::

    Congrats on how successful you have become. And thanks for the pic. We love it.

    Reply
    • Feisty Foodie says

      September 16, 2013 at 10:12 am

      You’re silly – we’re FB friends, there are plenty of photos on there of me. But thank you. I’m touched and flattered as always by your kind words.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Recent Posts

  • New York Baby Show 2019 – TICKET GIVEAWAY!
  • Taste of Citi Field: A Guide to Game Day Eats 2019
  • Nesting Like a Mother – Slow Cookin’ Up a Storm (Mostly)
  • In the Kitchen with Toddler
  • Autumn’s Picks
  • Autumn’s 1st Birthday

Recent Comments

  • Mithila on New York Baby Show 2019 – TICKET GIVEAWAY!
  • Jena on New York Baby Show 2019 – TICKET GIVEAWAY!
  • Alissa Ahearn on New York Baby Show 2019 – TICKET GIVEAWAY!
  • Lizz on Taste of Citi Field: A Guide to Game Day Eats 2019
  • Joe Lacetera on Product Review: Dr. Oetker’s Frozen Pizza
  • Nesting Like a Mother – Slow Cookin’ Up a Storm (Mostly) — The Feisty Foodie on Meal Prep: Chicken Tikka Masala
  • Van aka sweetvannie on Autumn’s Picks
  • Ten (gluten-free) Things You Can Make With a Bag of Masa Flour – Plan to Eat Blog on Arepas

Tags

365 Bakeries banh mi BBQ Beef beer Blackboard Eats Breakfast Brunch Burgers Chicken Chinese cocktails contest dessert Desserts DLS drinks dumplings Feisty Bento feisty family fried chicken fries giveaway Ice cream noodles One Pot Meals Pasta Pizza Pork press event Ramen Recipe Fridays salad salmon sandwiches Sauces Seafood Steak Sushi tacos trucks/carts TT Vegetarian wings

Copyright © 2019 · by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress