Lombardi's
32 Spring Street, Little Italy
New York, NY

Lombardi's is apparently one of the most famous pizza joints in New York. It certainly looks like one, with tightly spaced tables spread through a narrow and somewhat labrythine restaurant.

I probably don't need to say that I went there with some anticipation. Ever since I visited their apparent competitors in the poorly named New Haven, I've been wondering whether the real New York deal was any better.

I emerged both disappointed and satisfied. The latter because of the wonderful fresh mozarrella spread sparingly over the pizza, and because of the crispiness of the crust and the friendly chewy crackle as I guzzled down piece after piece.

I was disappointed, however, by the actual taste of the crust. Yes, it was well fermented, and so the pungency of a good crust was there without question. The problem, however, was salt. I don't know whether I got a bad batch,or the second string dough maker was on the job that night, but the crust was salty to distraction. I've never had crust like this, I thought, as I hurled cups of water down my throat. Actually, now that I think of it, I've had crust like this once; early on in my pizza making experiments, I once got frustrated with my insufficiently salted efforts and unceremoniously dumped a whole lot of the stuff into the dough. That pizza tasted exactly like this one.

So, salt aside, Lombardi's makes an excellent pizza. Hopefully I just caught an off night.