A look at the excellent pizza of Adoro Lei

by | Feb 9, 2017 | Dining

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Finally, a New York City restaurant that takes its delivery pizza as seriously as it should.

In a city notorious for serving up the best slice on earth, you’d think that this idea would have emerged sooner: two separate ovens cooking the crust two separate ways to optimize the pizza for in-house versus delivery enjoyment.

At Adoro Lei, in-house pies are made Neapolitan-style, baked in a 100% Maraforno wood-burning oven imported from Naples. Twelve-inch pies are baked at approximately 800 to 1000 degrees, which takes about 90 seconds.

As for the delivery pizzas, which are more of a “New York style pie,” the chefs use a Marsal brick oven that uses gas as its heat source to bake at 600 degrees. This method takes slightly longer, about eight minutes.

The only difference between the two pizzas — there are over a dozen varieties — is the dough recipe.

“The Neapolitan-style pizza has an airier crust and, because of the high temperature in the wood burning oven, the dough blows up very quickly causing air pockets in the crust. This is why it only takes about 90 seconds to cook,” said the restaurant’s Chef Mario Gentile. “If you put a hot pizza in a box it causes steam, and this steam causes the air bubbles in the Neapolitan pizza crust to deflate which creates a soggy texture. ”

The gas oven, which cooks the New York style pizzas, cooks at a lower temperature so that the crust does not create air bubbles. This results in a more condensed pharmacy online crust that can withstand the steam for a longer period of time, making it much better suited for delivery or takeout.

As for specifics, The Casanova and The Rosina pizzas are two sides of a very popular coin – the Margherita pizza. The former is “Italian” and made with San Marzano tomatoes, pecorino, Buffalo Mozzarella, and the other is more New York style, made with tomatoes, pecorino, Parmigiano, basil, and fresh mozzarella. For veggie lovers, The Isabella is made with tomatoes, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, pecorino, oregano, and fresh mozzarella; or, if you’re a fan of truffle anything, The Pietro, made with marinated cherry tomatoes, basil, pecorino, wild arugula, prosciutto, Parmigiano shavings, and truffle oil.

If it’s chocolate pizza you’re after—because, of course you are—don’t miss the two pizzas created from a collaboration with world-renowned chocolatier Jacques Torres, The Giacomo, made with a savory cocoa crust, Jacques Torres cocoa and nibs, house made mozzarella, bacon, fig puree, gorgonzola, caramelized onions; or The Henriette, made with sweet cocoa zeppole pie, Jacques Torres cocoa, chocolate ice cream, fresh cream, berries, and chocolate drizzle.

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