Pizza in Bushwick, Brooklyn

(Yikes!! It has almost been a month since anyone has last updated. We should come up with a regular update schedule. I mean, if only for the sole purpose of getting a treat once a week.)

We recently went to Roberta’s, a pizza place in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Ryan heard about it and was interested in trying it. It was also featured in the Underground Gourmet Review in New York Magazine. It is near the Morgan stop on the L, cute, laid back, with a bright red brick oven, and slightly indie vibe. It is spacious with seating for four or more on the long picnic tables. The outside seating includes two long tables shared by groups. It is BYOB with an extensive menu of personal pizzas, seasonal salads, and some antipasti.

I’m not a big pizza person, but when it is done well I can appreciate its comfort. I didn’t really like pizza as a child, because it was never done well. It was too cheesy and dry, the crust bland, or the sauce was tasteless. Over the years I’ve had some very good pizza and some very bad pizza. I only rarely “crave” pizza, but when I do mediocre pizza just makes me want to never eat it again.

This being said, I am not a big toppings fan. I like ham and pineapple or sausage and mushrooms. I like saucy Sicilians. (Oh wait, were we still on the topic of pizza?) I usually go for a plain slice with oregano and garlic sprinkled on top.

Here, they have non-cheese pizza (for the vegetarian-minded), a regular margherita, and then an extensive menu of beautifully crafted toppings on the pizza specials. We shared the Da Kine, which features pineapples, ham, jalapeno peppers, and ricotta. The jalapeno peppers went very well with the pineapple and prosciutto. The dough was chewy, and medium thin. Ryan dislikes bland dough and thought that this crust had a good flavor that complimented the overall creation. The pizza we had was delicious without being overbearing (too much of one flavor). The pie itself probably had a diameter of 12”. This place has me planning my next visit, which is always a sign of a good meal. Next time, I will probably try the Lupo with spring garlic, pesto, ricotta, mozzarella and prosciutto cotto.

Our bill for the pizza ($15) and soft drinks came out to $19 for two people. The pizza ranges from $8-15. A dish of olives is $5, other appetizers range below $10, and the drinks hover between $2-4. One pie is perfect to share and should be enough coupled with a beer or an appetizer. This is a perfect place to come with a group of people. You can order couple of pies and bring a few bottles of wine.

Ryan’s Additional Observations:

This place exceeded expectations food-wise, and atmosphere-wise as well.  It’s too bad that we only discovered the place in mid-September because the outdoor seating seemed to be a great option.  As Umi mentioned, I found the crust and dough to be above average, with an excellent amount of chew, without being doughy, and salty without being a salt-lick.  Pretty perfect.  My one main grip with the pizza is that while the crust is of a nice density, the rest of the pie is a bit too thin, which leads to the whole fork-and-knife approach, no matter how cold your slice gets.  This is a minor grip because it tasted great, but the tactile experience of eating pizza is at least as important as the taste, in my opinion, and Roberta’s kind of falls down on that accord.  It’s like all of the ingredients of a really good pizza, but not quite assembled properly.  In the end though, you probably won’t mind, and if you live in Bushwick or Williamsburg, you’ll probably come back here a lot once you discover it.

I would also say that while it is very friendly with a nice staff, the service is a little wobbly, though you probably won’t mind.  I didn’t, except that my table was pretty dirty when we sat down, and it wasn’t very well cleaned when they came by.  But hey, this is a communal table pizza joint in Bushwick, not Le Bernadin, so it’s not a big deal.

Also, who doesn’t love BYOB?

—-

Edited: 10/3/2008 by Umi

Apparently Roberta’s is no longer BYOB, which is a huge disappointment to me.