PIZZA REVIEW: PQR

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

All these abbreviations. PQR is a pizza place on the UES and it’s more than A-OK. PQR stands for Pizza Quadrata Romana, which means that this is square Roman pizza.

It is another small storefront on the Upper East Side specializing in pretty authentic Italian food. One of the partners here also owns San Matteo a few blocks north, which serves Neapolitan pizza and coffee.

The other partner is a guy named Angelo Iezzi, who is famous in Rome for his pizzas, and together they opened PQR to much fanfare back in 2018.

Roman is definitely the style here, but square slices in general have taken NYC by storm lately. Here they get creative with the toppings. Prosciutto fig, eggplant parmigiana, porchetta, and even pumpkin are some of the additions you might discover.

They all looked so good and I was tempted to do something a bit crazier, but I thought for my first experience I should stick to something close to traditional.

Burrata is one of their most popular slices and it looked too good to resist.

Instead of globs of mozzarella, the burrata was liquidy and milky with the cheese fat spilling out all over the bread.

It was a rather large slice with a good deal of thick chewiness. Hints of garlic came through the sauce and was balanced nicely with the rich creamy burrata and the bits of basil shreds.

The dough was masterful. Crisp and chewy almost like a focaccia, it also had a hint of smokiness. The slice was really great.

It’s all a bit thinner and refined than some of the popular Detroit-style squares but it has a good deal of heft and char that is very very exciting.

It makes me very eager to try all the other flavor combinations. Have you tried PQR on the UES? If so, LMK.

Is PQR the best pizza in NY? It’s a bit different than the now ubiquitous Detroit or Grandma-style squares, but just as delicious and with innovative toppings and a commitment to quality, it gets a  9 out of10.