{"id":187608,"date":"2021-02-24T01:53:25","date_gmt":"2021-02-23T22:53:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/the-best-pizza-in-nyc-cant-be-bought-heres-how-to-get-it\/"},"modified":"2021-02-24T01:53:25","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T22:53:25","slug":"the-best-pizza-in-nyc-cant-be-bought-heres-how-to-get-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-best-pizza-in-nyc-cant-be-bought-heres-how-to-get-it\/","title":{"rendered":"#The best pizza in NYC can’t be bought \u2014 here’s how to get it"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#The best pizza in NYC can’t be bought \u2014 here’s how to get it<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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With a crust that leavens for 96 hours, flour imported from Italy and a distinctive rectangular shape, this pizza is a cut above what\u2019s available at your local slice joint.<\/p>\n

But you can\u2019t get a reservation to try it \u2014 or even order a pie for takeout.<\/p>\n

NYC\u2019s most exclusive, sought-after pies are only available via barter. Hopefuls trying to score a small-batch pie have to sign up online, and if they\u2019re chosen, trade their own offering of food or drink. <\/p>\n

Gabriele Lamonaca, 30, gets five to 10 requests for his Roman-style pies every day through his site, UnregularPizza.com<\/a>, but only has enough capacity in his Harlem apartment\u2019s kitchen to turn out three or four per week. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s heartbreaking not to be able to provide as many pizzas as people want,\u201d he told The Post. \u201cI put a lot of effort into each pizza, and I never repeat [the flavor combinations].\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Gabriele
Pizza maker Gabriele Lamonaca offers bespoke pies via social media<\/a>. They don\u2019t cost any dough, but customers have to bring their own dishes to trade. Ava King (above) swapp<\/a>ed a baked ziti for one.<\/figcaption>
Brian Zak\/NY Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He meets customers who find him through his Instagram account<\/a> in the streets to trade his creations for their own signature dishes or bottles of wine. <\/p>\n

The Rome native came to New York in 2008 to study chemistry at St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights and learn English, but said he was always drawn to restaurants and had the goal of opening his own place. In 2017, he took a job managing the line at a Brooklyn Chipotle. \u201cI really wanted to understand how Americans use their lunch hour,\u201d he said. Since then, he\u2019s worked for Cacio e Vino in the East Village, various Italian food distributors and Filaga, a pizza shop in Chelsea Market. <\/p>\n

Lamonaca \u2014 who\u2019s hoping to open his own restaurant this coming spring \u2014 started experimenting with recipes in earnest when COVID-19 hit and work in the restaurant industry dried up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He brings his science<\/a> chops to his kitchen in Harlem, which he shares with his filmmaker girlfriend, turning out pizza with dough that leavens for three days. \u201cThe longer it\u2019s leavened, the lighter the dough and the crunchier the crust,\u201d said Lamonaca, who then tops his pies with favorites such as burrata cheese, zucchini, anchovies, cold cuts and, for a Super Bowl pie, fried chicken.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His flour is imported from Italy, and he buys local, organic produce, often from Union Square Market. He estimates that each pie costs $25 to produce.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Friends began requesting pies for themselves, jealous of the mouthwatering pics Lamonaca posts. Not wanting to take cash from them, he devised a different type of transaction. \u201cI really wanted them to try it, and I figured everyone was cooking in their homes, so I told them to give me whatever they were making in return.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Gabriele
Gabriele Lamonaca\u2019s flour is imported from Italy, and he buys local, organic produce, often from Union Square Market.<\/figcaption>
Courtesy of Gabriele Lamonaca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He said there\u2019s some historical precedent for bartering. During leaner times in post-World War II Italy, \u201cMy grandmother would bake bread and press olives into oil, and trade it to neighbors for eggs,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In modern-day NYC, trades include everything from chocolate cake to chicken Milanese to the fermented tea called kombucha.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI brew my own, so I bartered half a gallon for a pizza,\u201d Christina Nee, 23, of Prospect Heights, told The Post of her December barter. She passed off a bottle of her DIY drink to Lamonaca in Union Square Park, then scarfed down his pesto pizza on a nearby bench with her boyfriend.<\/p>\n

\"Pizza
Trades with Gabriele Lamonaca include everything from chocolate cake to chicken Milanese to kombucha. Here, he receives a heart-shaped crostata from\u00a0Kiari de Paola (center).\u00a0<\/figcaption>
Courtesy of Gabriele Lamonaca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt was the best pizza I have ever had,\u201d she said. \u201cI went to Italy last year, and the pesto was so good. This tasted exactly like it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thirty-five-year-old Kiari de Paola<\/a>, who is Italian herself, was also chasing that genuine flavor when she connected with Lamonaca through social media. For her barter, she whipped up\u00a0an Italian dessert known as a crostata, in the shape of a heart for Valentine\u2019s Day. The pair met in the Meatpacking District for the trade, where she scored a burrata pie with sliced zucchini and a red-cabbage sauce that she said reminded her of home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will definitely want to try more of his pizza,\u201d said the Astoria resident and food blogger, who leads local tours through her travel<\/a> agency New York City 4 All. \u201cNot only because it was delicious, but because it\u2019s authentic Italian.\u201d <\/p>\n

Lamonaca said the trades are \u201cexciting,\u201d and added, \u201cYou never know what you\u2019re going to get in the barter.\u201d But fans are hoping for the day where they won\u2019t have to whip up a dish of their own to get a taste of his pizza.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Gabriele opens his shop, we\u2019ll be there on opening night,\u201d said Nee.\u00a0\n <\/p><\/div>\n