The heat and humidity were stifling and at times the sidewalks and streets were so crowded that you couldn’t move. Great-congregated bodies of people, sweat running in rivulets from their hairlines, soaking through their clothing, blinding eyes, herded together in immobilized mobs on the sidewalks, on the stairs going down into the subways, on the stairs coming up out of the subways, and in the streets waiting to step on the sidewalk. Each and every one of them loitering in the metropolitan heat furnace outside Lombardi’s Pizzeria, the oldest Pizzeria in the U.S. and the first to ever be licensed by the City of New York, waiting for their turn in culinary nirvana.
And so, we waited, too. Hungrily, in spite of life threatening temperatures outside a restaurant that was first established in 1895 and first licensed in 1905 and over 100 years later is still regarded by epicureans and the ravenous multitudes as the Best Pizzeria in New York, New York and, as a consequence, in the United States and The World.
The average wait for a party of 2? About 30 minutes. Not long at all, when you consider the epiphany like experience that awaits those who are patient.
It was almost as crowded inside Lombardi’s as it was outside, but the air conditioning was on high and the comfort level was high, too. Stepping inside the door was like stepping into a cool, calming bath of the aroma of baking pizza crust, tomatoes and spices.
We followed our waiter through the bar area and down the stairs into the wine cellar dining area. The background music was Frank Sinatra and an occasional Dean Martin tune:
“When the moon hits your eye
Like a big pizza pie
Its amore — “
Dean Martin
There were several families and small groups in the rooms and the overall mood was friendly.
For New York, Lombardi’s is not expensive. But, if you’re used to the imitation stuff they traffic at Pizza Hut or Domino’s, it is very expensive. But, it’s pizza-real pizza-and you’re in New York, the pizza capital of the World. If you wanted candied tomato paste on oily sponge bread, you’d be eating at one of those mainstream cookie cutter slop factories or one of the higher end slop factories. Maybe even one of the more trendy slop shops that push great gobs of some diatomaceous substance that is alleged to be “fresh mozzarella” but tastes like fresh chalk and won’t melt at the business end of an acetylene torch. You wouldn’t be paying your dues to eat real American Pizza Pie in an American Pizza Pie joint in New York City.
Pie, pie,
Pizza pie,
Black cat
scratched out
The yellow cat’s eye
Children’s Rhyme
Pizza Pie at Lombardi’s comes in two sizes-small and large. The small is about 14 inches in diameter and the large is about 16 inches. We ordered a pie with fresh sliced tomatoes, fresh sliced sweet onion, roasted sweet peppers and garlic saut©ed spinach. They had built the pie by first placing tomato slices atop the sauce, then the onions, followed by the cheese, coal fire roasted sweet peppers and garlic spinach. The sweet onions had toasted nicely and the garlic spinach balanced the sweet peppers. The crust was not “thin” in the common sense but it was crispy with a faint smoky taste that comes from being cooked in a coal-fired oven. The tomato paste is custom made by the staff. It spoke of flavors reminiscent of the aromas inside the neighborhood Italian delicatessens where I grew up in Los Angeles. It was flavorful without being overwhelming but strong and unwavering. The mozzarella cheese was hot, melted and stringy the way God intended cheese on pizza pie to be. It was flavorsome, with not a hint of chalk.
On top of this, it was brought to our table steaming hot by a curvy young dusky skinned woman with large brown eyes and a big bright smile.
Take me now Lord, it isn’t going to get any better than this.
That’s Lombardi’s Pizza Pie at Spring Street and Mott, New York City, New York. All American Pizza Pie in an All American City.