Cuisine: Pizza
Throw a sausage in NYC and you’re bound to hit a pizza joint. Spunto is obviously not alone in that crowd. But this, this is not your typical 99 cent slice shop or fly-by-night, crusty grease pit. No! This is a classy, little neighborhood restaurant with old-fashioned basket-weave tiled floors, brick walls and a small, stocked bar. All the things your typical fluorescent-lit, rat-trap pie shop isn’t.
Of course I may be giving Spunto a little too much credit here. It’s not a Michelin-starred dining experience or anything. In fact, I dropped by for lunch one day and was literally the only customer. Not that popularity equals quality, but it was a little disconcerting. I walked in out of the bright sunshine to a pretty dark space with one lonely dude hanging behind the bar. Not really knowing what I was getting myself into, I was a little confused about the lunch special and if I could get it to go. After being told the old two-slice-with-a-soda special wasn’t a thing anymore (despite, I think, being on a sandwich board or a taped-up menu outside) I glitched. And ended up, somehow, ordering a couple slices (which is a lunch special) and a Coke. The two cheese slices running me $6.50 and the Coke coming in at a svelte $1.50. Actually, not all that bad, all things considered. I told the dude I was going to eat it outside. Again, thinking I was ordering it to go and then could maybe squat at one of their many tables. But, no, he said I could go get a seat and he brought me a setup and an actual fountain soda in an actual glass. In one of those picnic-tables-in-a-shanty-in-the-street things that have been around since COVID. Actually, a pretty nice version.
Now, you know what a bar pie is, right? It’s a super thin crust pizza with very little crust around the edges and a lightness to it that keeps things crisp, but also takes away any heft you might otherwise find in a beefier slice. It’s a genre of pizza. And it’s a good one. Thing is, it is not in any way filling. You can easily polish off a pie yourself and wonder if perhaps you should have gotten that good looking calamari you spied at your neighbor’s table. Point is, the experience can be a tasty, satisfying one. But the ROI on a couple slices isn’t terrific. Even if it seems like a decent deal in the abstract. And Spunto makes a good bar pie. It has everything you’d want from a bar pie. Light, crisp and just the right amount of grease-to-cheese ratio. Because, honestly, it’s the quality of the cheese and the orangey sheen that really makes for good flavor in a pie.
There’s something to be said for a casual eatery with a simple menu that has one star item on it. With a nice cafe type vibe. This place isn’t going to set the world aflame, but you could do worse for a Friday night pop by for some pizza and chill.
65 Carmine St. (bet. 7th Ave. S & Bedford St.)
212/242-1200
nycthincrust.com