#1 – THE HELLBOY at PAULIE GEE’S

For the third year in a row, I’m going to attempt to eat every single item on Time Out New York’s annual 100 Best Dishes list. In no particular order, here’s my take on their Top 100. Let the gluttony continue…

We started the new Time Out list right where we left off. It’s like the second season of a hit television show. Except there are no commericals. Not yet anyway. Wait until I figure out how to monetize this blog.

Anyway, it was a few weeks after having a bite of the Greenpointer (our final dish from last year’s list) that we returned to one of my favorite pizzerias for a dinner with friends. Two of my good friends who’ve helped me immensely with this blog had never been to Paulie Gee’s, so I made them schlep out to Greenpoint to try the madman’s brilliant pizzas. The fact that we got the Hellboy (from Time Out’s newest list) was sort of an added bonus.

The Hellboy is a play on one of his other pizzas, the Delboy. It’s just taken to hell with some serious heat. The Delboy is rather simple with fior di latte (mozzarella), spicy sopressata ham, and parmigiano reggiano cheese. It’s the perfect balance of flavors and like all his pizzas, it’s well-rounded and delicious.

Personally, I didn’t think the Hellboy was much of an improvement. The only difference between TONY’s list item and the original Delboy is the addition of Mike’s Hot Honey (it’s made and marketed by one of Paulie’s bartenders). Hot Honey sounds amazing and I bet it is on its own, but for me it made Paulie’s pizza taste like takeout Chinese food.

There’s something about the overly sweet flavors balanced with aggressive heat that makes me think of General Tso’s chicken. And while some people won’t see the problem in that, it reminded me of more processed and cloying food. But that being said, the ingredients are still fresh and taking a bite of any of Paulie’s perfectly charred pies will make you a believer in artisanal pizzas. And in commuting out to Greenpoint.

Would Paulie Gee’s Hellboy make my Top 100 of the year? Almost any of his other pies would, but this flavor combination didn’t quite work for me so I have to only give it a 7 out of 10.