Giuseppina’s is Open!

Armed with a serious hankering for some good pizza, last night I made my way to Toby’s Public House, the seriously delicious pizza spot on Sixth Avenue and 21st Street.

Unfortunately, Toby’s had a 40-minute wait and I had a rumbling tummy. It was then that we spotted a light across the street at Giuseppina’s, the hotly anticipated pizzeria from Chris Iacono, brother to pizza madmad Mark Iacono at in Carroll Gardens.

A quick investigation revealed that Giuseppina’s is indeed open for business. The eatery quietly opened last Wednesday, after months of delays that had pizza lovers wondering whether it might ever open at all.

The menu at Giuseppina’s is extremely limited: currently, the spot offers only pizzas (in one size: large), calzones, and a limited selection of Italian wines and beers.

Of course, we ordered one of each, opting for a pie with half pepperoni and a calzone stuffed with onions, olives, mozzarella and ricotta. Both were truly excellent.

The calzone was unlike what many of us have come to expect of calzones: it was not greasy, overstuffed or too cheesy. Rather, it was a mix of complex and almost delicate flavors in a crust perfectly charred by Giuseppina’s hybrid wood- and gas-burning brick oven.

 The pizza, though, was truly a work of art. The crust was the perfect thinness and charred nicely just like the calzone. It was topped tomato sauce, a combination of both high and low moisture mozzarellas and Pecorino Romano for just the right amount of cheesiness, and then a giant handful of fresh basil. Pepperoni – imported from Italy – was nice and crispy.

Simply put: it was everything the perfect pie should be.

The entire restaurant kitchen – only a few worktops and the brick oven – is open to the dining room, but a waiter told us that Iacono makes the sauce in the basement, obsessively stirring and stirring until it tastes just right. The atmosphere itself is relaxed and even a tad romantic with tin ceilings, brick walls and ample Sinatra playing over the speaker system.

It looks like Toby’s has some stuff competition.