PIZZA REVIEW: PizzArte

My search for the best pizza in New York continues….

When giving tours, I almost always get asked where to get the best pizza. And as you can imagine, I have a long answer for that. But many of the tourists I meet are actually looking for the best pizza in Midtown, which is a completely different thing.

As most New Yorkers know, Midtown is not the best neighborhood for food (although that is changing a bit). I usually tell them to go to Don Antonio or Roberta’s (in Urban Space) or Patzeria. But I’m always looking for new recommendations and places I can share with the people I meet.

That’s why when my friend Scott Weiner wanted to get pizza and he suggested PizzArte, it was a no brainer.

He mostly suggested it because my wife is gluten free and this is one of the better options for pizza sans gluten in the city. The gluten free pie was pretty good, but I’m here to talk about the fully glutenous pizza we tried.

Eating pizza with Scott is always a blast. He knows more about the stuff than anyone else in the city and when he pulls out a pizza slicer to help even the slices, you know there’s nobody else you’d rather eat pizza with.

We ordered two pies to share. Scott was curious about the whole grain flour option so we did that for the Margherita and a regular dough for the titular PizzArte.

I can’t say I was a fan of the whole grain. Although it added a touch of sweetness, it made the crust a bit dry. The sweet tomato sauce was nice and the cheese ratio worked, but I do think it would have been better on a regular crust.

The charred chewy quality of the PizzArte spoke to the mastery of the dough here. It’s classic Neapolitan-style so a wood oven is put to the test and it succeeds. The namesake pie comes with burrata (what attracted me to the order originally), butternut squash, Italian sausage, and thyme.

It was certainly an interesting combination of flavors. Not so different from the rich smoky Pizza del Papa at Kesté. But I was disappointed by the burrata. I couldn’t understand why they would add the delicate milky mozzarella before cooking the pizza. It ended up melting into a clump and didn’t seem much different from a regular addition of fresh mozz.

Don’t get me wrong – it was rich and delicious, but it just didn’t seem that special. The other ingredients played well together and I liked the hit of spice from the sausage.

I can’t say this is the best pizza in Midtown (Don Antonio still holds that crown) but it’s a decent option (especially if you’re looking for gluten free pizza) not far from Central Park or Carnegie Hall. And while I’m a bit critical when it comes to pizza in NYC, most visitors will have their mind-blown with the great pizza anywhere in the city.

Is PizzaArte the best pizza in NY? The dough is good and I imagine with the right combination, you can have a very good wood-fired Neapolitan pie here. Gluten free options are always a plus and together I give this Midtown option a 7 out of 10.