New York-style pizza, fried peanut butter
and jelly sandwiches – Nolita’s take on American comfort food is one we’d line
up for again and again.
One the evening my friend and I swung by
Nolita, a five-year-old boy whizzed by our tables, pausing briefly to wolf down
two bites of his chicken Parmigiana pizza, tomato sauce was smeared clean up
that kid”, I remarked smugly as I turned to my friend, who then pointed to the
glob of cheese sticking to my chin, so much of poise.
chicken
Parmigiana pizza
Fortunately, Nolita doesn’t care much for
poise. There are even signs obliging diners to eat with their hands. What it
cares for is great pizza – the kind that, when hot, is a glorious mess of
toppings, runny cheese, and half-eaten dough so greasy it could fall through a
paper plate.
Live in New York and pizza will become part
of your everyday dining vocabulary, your wanderings dotted by pit stops under
flickering neon signs for pepperoni and cheese. But here in Manila, you can
gleefully make do with Nolita (pronounced no-lee-ta a.k.a shortand for ‘North
of Little Italy’, a neighborhood in Manhattan), the new pizzeria at Bonifacio
High Street that has every foodie smitten. Fanfare aside, there’s good reason
to swing by: “Our crust is the real thing – it’s crisp yet chewy”, says
Nolita’s Chef Cuit Kaufman. “When you bite into a slice, you really taste the
ingredients”.
Head
Chef, Cuit Kaufman and Managing Partner, Albert Besa
Kaufman, who also mans the kitchen of New
York-centric diner Borough in Ortigas, places a premium on authenticity while
at times applying a devil-may-care approach to creating recipes. It’s all good
fun – Nolita’s pizza offering consist of familiar and hearty flavors like basic
cheese and pepperoni, which happily coexist alongside kookier subspecies, like
blue cheese with wild mushroom with wild mushroom and walnuts. Another fun
addition to the pizza party is a riff on the traditional cheeseburger, with
toppings of mozzarella, bright purple onion rings, and chunks of beef.
In true New York fashion, pizzas are baked
ahead of time and left to cool on the display. “This allows the cheese and
ingredients to meld”, explains Kaufman. After ordering, your slice gets
reheated, giving the crust its trademark crispness. On proper pizza etiquette,
he adds: “There’s a logical reason why you eat it with your hands – you get the
juices and flavors on your fingers. Otherwise, you lose out on so much”.
And there is so much: A beef tenderloin
sandwich with Gruyère and arugula on Pillowy French bread. A mac ‘n’ cheese Redux
with blue cheese, Guoda and white cheddar. And of course, the little sister to
Borough’s give-in-to-guilt Elvis sandwich (peanut butter, bananas, sour cream,
coco dulce de leche): a fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich, simple but
magical on homemade brioche.
Weekend nights at Nolita are hectic. If you
like people-watching take in the long line of office workers and Twentysomethings,
expats and mothers reeling in kinetically-charged children. When you’re finally
handed your slice – a mildly sweet pesto, chicken, and sundried tomato, or a
spinach and artichoke – you’ll be just as glad as that wild-eye five-year old
wolfing down his.
Nolita is at 7th Avenue corner
31st Street, Bonifacio High Street Central, Fort Bonifacio Global
City, Taguig.
Cheesebuger
Pizza
Must-tried:
Cheesebuger Pizza ($4.5), Spinach and Artichoke Pizza ($5.5), Wild Mushroom
Walnut Blue Pizza ($6), Pesto and Grilled Chicken with Sundried Tomato ($6),
Honey Garlic Buffalo Chicken Wings ($8), Sliced Steak Sandwich ($10), Fried
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich ($5.5), Cannoli ($2).
Price range:
Pizza by the slice ($3.3 to $6); Side orders ($3.5 to $5.75); Burgers and
Sandwichies ($6 to $10); Salads ($4.5 to $5.75); Desserts ($2 to $6.75);
Non-alcoholic drinks ($1 to $4); Cootails and Imported beers ($4 to $6).
