Rubirosa

Rubirosa describes itself as a family-run, Italian American neighborhood restaurant and pizzeria and that’s about the best description to give it. It’s a pizza joint and though I’m a huge huge fan of Neapolitan pizza, I’m mostly skeptical of other pizzas. And Rubirosa is most definitely not a Neapolitan pizza joint. It serves classic New York style pizza, meaning large pies that are made up of 8 slices or so, meant to be shared by a few people.

Adjectives that come to mind when thinking about non-Neapolitan pizza: greasy, grimy, mediocre, processed, stale, and heavy. It’s usually topped with vats of cheese such that you can’t even see the tomato sauce – it’s just a blanket of white. And the cheese is such bad quality, flavorless, and sometimes not really even real cheese, but factory mass-produced bags of “dairy product.” I have such a negative association with certain pizzas that it’s always difficult for me to commit to trying one.

But, of course, my description is a bit exaggerated as there are fantastic quality non-Neapolitan pizzerias that are the polar opposite. They make fresh pizzas using homemade dough and top quality ingredients that are well proportioned, flavorful, and light. Rubirosa is one such example. I knew of the restaurant for years, but the main deterrent was the ridiculous difficulty of getting into the restaurant. You cannot walk in. On any day, at any time, there will be a 1-3 hour wait, no matter what your party size, so the only way to go here is to get your act together and make a reservation 5-6 weeks in advance. High maintenance to say the least. But finally I did it.

As the time approached, I considered backing out. Having tried other classic New York style pizzerias, even ones that were supposed to be top notch and known for being “the best pizza in NYC” (a title given to half of the pizza places around), I had always been disappointed. Yes, some of them used fresh ingredients, homemade dough, and served simple and well-balanced pizzas, but they always disappointed. But I thought, hey it’s one meal, if it’s bad, you’ll live. So, we kept our reservation and went.

The restaurant was completely packed – every inch of it – but sure enough, they had our table waiting and we were seated right away. The restaurant is a series of 3 or 4 rooms separated by walls, so when you first enter, you don’t quite realize the full extent of the place. Not to say it’s a huge place, because it isn’t. But there are more rooms than you think. The oven is housed all the way in the last room, which is where we were seated. Super casual vibe with lots of wood going on.

We were well attended to, with the server bringing water and complimentary bread (a rarity in NYC and also totally unnecessary when you are about to eat pizza, but still a nice gesture) very promptly. Of course, the promptness is for their own benefit too, as they need to turn tables as quickly as possible given that they have no shortage of patrons trying to make their way in. The menu is simple, with about 9 pizza options. By far the most popular are the Fresca and the Vodka, so we hopped on the bandwagon and ordered a large pie, half Fresca and half Vodka. You can order any two halves on a large pie if you want, but note that the price of the pie will not be the average, but the price of the more expensive pizza. This is a fairly standard pricing approach.

The Fresca is your traditional mozzarella, tomato sauce, and basil pizza. The Vodka is just vodka sauce and mozzarella. On both pizzas, the mozzarella is fresh, so it’s circular pieces instead of a blanket of shredded white cheese.

Frankly, I assumed I’d like the Vodka pizza more because I love a good vodka sauce and it’s so rare these days that I had been excited to try it here. The Vodka pizza is good, and much loved by the masses, but the vodka sauce is unnecessarily sweet. Vodka sauce is not meant to be any sweeter than tomato sauce – it is meant to just be a bit heavier and richer because of the addition of cream. But this one was sweet and I didn’t prefer it.

But the Fresca. OH. MY. GOD. I was shocked. Hands down, no question, the best non-Neapolitan pizza in NYC. Period. The tomato sauce was perfect. PERFECT. One of the best tomato sauces I’ve had whether from a Neapolitan pizzeria or otherwise. I just wanted to drink it. Perfect balance of sweet and tart, amazing flavor, no off-putting acidity, and super smooth. Amazing.

And though I’m also not generally a fan of New York style pizzas because of their crust, which is super thin and crispy like a cracker, I gobbled this up. Every inch of the crust and then also everyone else’s crust. Yes, it was paper thin, but it was surprisingly substantial – I have no clue how they achieved that. And yes, it was definitely crispy, but the taste was so amazing and somehow everything about this pizza just made sense. Huge contrast to the doughy, fluffy, and chewy outer crust of Neapolitan pizza, but boy did they nail it.

I didn’t love the Vodka and I can’t speak to the other pizzas, but this place is worth going to repeatedly just for the Fresca. It is annoying to make reservations weeks in advance, but just do it once and you will totally thank me. Amazing.

Incidentally, they have handmade pastas that I hear are unbelievably delicious as well, but I don’t know how I’ll ever bring myself to try those when all I want is the pizza.

Rubirosa