What’s a trip to New York City without having a slice or two or more of some spectacular New York Style pizza?  And what better place to indulge ourselves than at the historical Lombardi’s.  According to New York history, Lombardi’s was licensed by the City of New York in 1905, becoming America’s FIRST EVER Pizzeria.  So, a big THANK YOU to Mr. Gennaro Lombardi for introducing us Americans to pizza.

The pizza at Lombardi’s is still being cooked in the original coal burning oven it has had since it opened in 1897.  Coal burning ovens are now illegal in NYC, but thankfully, Lombardi’s got grandfathered in and is still allowed to operate the pizzeria using their coal burning oven.

Personally, I believe that the coal burning oven is key to the overall Lombardi’s pizza experience.  The coal creates an amazing, subtly blackened and smoky underskirt,  that serves as a perfect platform for whatever toppings you decide to put on your pizza. Also, even though the crust is thin and a bit charred, it’s still doughy and chewy.

As for toppings, we chose to keep it simple – tomato sauce, cheese, sausage and mushrooms.  The tomato sauce was fresh, not your usually watered down tomato concoction.  The mozzarella was gooey and piled on generously.  The sausage and mushrooms, though adding to the overall taste, didn’t need to be there as they were merely accessories to an already amazingly delicious pie.  Their caesar salad was a great accompaniment to the meal.  All was washed down happily with a glass of Brooklyn Lager off the tap.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures of my Lombardi’s experience, as I was too busy stuffing my face.  However, here are some pictures that my friend Mas took on his visit there last Halloween with some friends.  Can you feel the pizza love?

There is usually a wait at Lombardi’s, but well worth it, for probably the best pizza in all of New York City.  They offer sidewalk seating if you prefer, but the restaurant’s cozy interior makes pizza pie consumption all the more blissful.

Happy Spooning and Forking…

*****

Lombardi’s Pizza

32 Spring Street (Btw. Mott & Mulberry)

New York, New York 10012-4173

Phone:  (212) 941-7994

Next Monday, February 16th, the much anticipated No Reservations episode where Bourdain goes to the Philippines will be airing on the Travel Channel.  Check your local listings for the time.  It’s showing at 10pm in Las Vegas.

Before braving the extremely long line for the Empire State Building observatory deck, we decided to stop for lunch on the street know as “Korea Way” in Koreatown, Manhattan.  “Korea Way” is actually 32nd Street, and it is lined with Korean shops and eateries.  Trying to decide where we wanted to get lunch was a chore as each and every establishment offered many delicious dishes.

32nd Street – Manhattan’s Koreatown

After browsing at the menus of about four Korean barbeque restaurants, we found ourselves at Shilla BBQ and were seated in the back room, amidst many tables with their table top barbeque grills fired up at full blast.  By the time we left the place, our clothes smelled like we had been bathing in a barbeque pit – all part of the experience of dining in a Korean bbq joint.

Banchan are small side dishes, usually set in the middle of the table to be shared by everyone.

Our banchan consisted of kimchee, a soy based dipping sauce, steamed spinach and about five others, that were not so distinguishable, yet tasty just the same.

Instead of cooking our own lunch at our table top grill, which I often like to do, simply because it’s fun, we ordered from the lunch special menu and left all the cooking and food preparation to the chefs behind the kitchen doors.  For lunch I ordered the Bulgogi Lunch Special Box ($10.95).  Lunch was served in a partitioned plate reminiscent of school lunch trays, only prettier, as the partitioned plate was a nice shade of red orange.  Lunch also included seaweed soup and steamed rice.

Bulgogi Box Lunch Special

Following are pictures of my “lunch box” deconstructed…

Bulgogi

Tender, tasty, marinated thinly sliced boneless ribeye steak, grilled,

then garnished with green onions and sesame seeds.

Chapchae

Potato starch noodles with vegetables, dressed in a sauce of soy sauce, sesame oil,

a touch of sugar and usually served at room temperature.

Green salad with Miso dressing (I think)

It was your basic green salad with grated carrots and thin slices of

red cabbage.  The grape tomatoes were a welcomed surprise and the

dressing was simply delicious.

Fried Mandoo

Korean dumplings that were generously filled with ground pork

and vegetables then deep fried till golden brown.

It was fried, so it was good.

Cold Ginger Tea

This was served at the end of our meal and was merely 3 sips of liquid heaven.

It was the best ginger tea that I have ever tasted, so I asked the waitress if she could tell me how it was made.

In her limited English, she said it was made with ginger root, water and cinnamon. My guess is that they also add some sort of sweetener, either brown sugar or honey as it was quite sweet. A perfect digestif.

After a delicious lunch, we stopped by the Korean pastry shop and made our way to the Empire State Building where we were herded like cattle through the many queues to get to the observation deck.  I actually liked the view from the Top of the Rock much better and there really was no line issues or claustrophobic situations or any risk of being goosed by that stinky European tourist.

Happy Spooning and Forking…

*****

Shilla Restaurant

37 West 32nd Street

(Between Broadway & 5th Avenue)

New York, New York 10001

Phone:  212.967.1880