Wednesday, July 7, 2010

NYC - Motorino

Yes I am gluten intolerant, yes that means I'm not supposed to eat bread etc. etc.

Although as I am not celiac, I do indulge in some goodies that I don't usually have on occasion.

And y'know, when you friend invites you out to dinner and neglects to tell you that you're having pizza...what can you do? Besides, I'm in NYC, I have to have some pizza somewhere right?!



So this night was my first trip down to Williamsburg in Brooklyn, one of the 'hipper' areas as I have been told. After initial drinks at Union Pool (which I will return to later to talk about their taco truck...) our friend took us through a twist of streets to Motorino.



We were with my friend, her Italian boyfriend, their Italian friend and his Canadian girlfriend. So of course, the Italians would never take us to eat real traditional American pizza would they? Instead we showed up at a very chic, very charismatic wood fired oven pizza place, that was absolutely bustling at 8:30pm.



They sat us down by the bar while we waited for a table to clear, the bar girl being very helpful and friendly in assisting us with picking a white wine to start the night, which I did not pay attention to, haha. Their white wine selection was selective, but good and well priced.







I really didn't mean to get these in a half eaten stage! We started with a bowl of olives and an octopus salad to share. Oh and an amazing hunk of bread, hot and fresh from the wood fire oven, also made from the pizza dough, just to give us an idea of what was to come.

The olives were scattered with a great spice, paprika or something maybe? It really gave it a spicy bite when eaten, that would just refresh the palate. The octopus salad was lovely too, the leftover dressing was quite moreish indeed when lapped up with the bread. Mmm!







A sampling of the pizzas that were had around the table, one of the boys had a delicious pizza with fior di latte on it, making it rich but awfully delicious. One of the girls had a pizza...with the works on it, the most prominent thing I remember on it was the broccolini, which usually excites me, although I personally found it tasted a bit burnt. Maybe a little too long in the oven hey?

Overall though the pizzas were delicious, especially the tomato based ones.



I decided instead of going for a whole pizza to get two additional entrees instead, and opted for the two that were the specials for the day. Corn cobs, brushed with garlic or parsley butter (terrible memory!) and topped with cheese. Oh absolutely terrible, but oh so succulent, juicy and...well, how can you go too wrong with butter and cheese?



I also got the meatballs, which were really nice and meaty (well obviously) but they fell apart nicely, the tomato sauce they were in was delicious too, although I found the cheese slightly overwhelming on them, making the dish a touch too rich for my likes.

Still didn't stop me from just about finishing it!

My friend commented at one point that the server had ruined her evening, but asking how our 'pies' were. Which I did find odd too, I mean really people, what we were eating are pizzas. Pies are those things with pastry and beef in them, made to fit in one hand perfectly, so that you smush it down your pie hole (oh so witty!) while watching a footy game, the other hand pumping the air in the cool September breezes.

End Australian rant.

I did like Motorino a lot though, it reminded me of lots of the pizza places that are popping up in Melbourne and being quite trendy. Hmm, is it a good thing that I like it when New York is like Melbourne...? I probably shouldn't be trying to convert country's eating cultures...

Motorino
319 Graham Ave
Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Motorino on Urbanspoon

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