PIZZA REVIEW: Hoek Pizza

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

You would have thought a neighborhood like Red Hook would have a cozy, industrial-feeling wood-fired pizza place. Maybe even one that was loved by locals and then soon over-run with foodies.

That is certainly what happened with Hometown Barbecue, which I still claim is the best barbecue in the Northeast of the United States.

Well, the good news is Red Hook finally got a pizzeria like I had imagined. But the question is will it be over-run with the food masses? And should it be?

I sort of stumbled upon Hoek Pizza, which is named for the Dutch word for “nook” and is a reference to the shape of the land that gave the neighborhood of Red Hook its name, just a week or so after they opened.

It’s a predictable story of a small business owned by a husband and wife – he’s the Italian chef and she’s the American manager. I had a few exchanges with her and she was very nice and accommodating and seemed eager to be gracefully welcomed into the neighborhood.

It looked like they might already be embraced based on the few families I noticed who seemed to have been here before (even after a few weeks).

The menu consists of some rustic salads, some appetizers, and Roman-style brick oven pizza. This style of pizza features a very thin crust with little cornicione (edge) and a somewhat wet center.

It used to be that I would always order the most basic pizza for judgement purposes but I have lately started ordering whatever I think sounds the best. And I have been somewhat obsessed with mushrooms so I couldn’t resist the second choice, which the owner told me was her personal favorite.

It was much larger than I expected with the thin crust laying well off the edge of the pan. With dark crisp bubbles throughout, the middle remained a bit soggy.

Truffle oil and dairy from the cheese dripped down onto the pan to create a bright white grease puddle. It was difficult to keep it all together.

Despite all that, the dough was pretty good. The exterior was perfectly crisped and crunchy with a soft middle. The texture in the center was so chewy and soft that it reminded me a bit of pasta. I guess this is why the Italians eat pizza with a knife and fork.

And the ingredients were tasty if a bit heavy on the salt. The tender parma cotto ham has a wonderful texture and blended pretty well with the truffle and the earthy mushrooms.

This was certainly a good intro to what could be a destination pizzeria. I still haven’t heard a ton of buzz on it so it may never become a Hometown or a Roberta’s. But I bet the local Red Hook residents will be just fine with that.

Is Hoek Pizza the best pizza in NY? With the overly thin crust and chewy center, it’s an interesting Roman edition to our NYC pizza portfolio. High quality ingredients and friendly owners push this up to an 8 out of 10.