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Neapolitan Calzone Menu At Eataly May Make You Rethink Calzones
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 18, 2019
Modified Jun 18, 2019
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Jake Dobkin / Gothamist
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 18, 2019
Modified Jun 18, 2019
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You'd have to be an Indiana state auditor, or perhaps a P'Zone aficionado, to really truly have love in your heart for calzones—those Italian fast-casual dining gut bombs that feel like the result of some drunken dare between pizzaiolos. Can someone take everything great about pizza and ruin it by stuffing it into a portable grease wallet that is overflowing with ricotta? If you've ever been to literally any deli in the city and seen one of those sad, stale-looking pre-cooked calzones sitting on the counter gathering flies, then you already know they succeeded.
But there are a few restaurants in the city that are actively trying to reimagine the calzone as something closer to a fine-dining apparatus. And one of those places is La Pizza & La Pasta within Eataly NYC Flatiron, which is hoping their all-new calzoni menu (pronounced CALZON-AYE, it's much more sophisticated that way) will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about the common calzone.
The five calzones on the menu (some will change seasonally) created by chef Simone Falco are made like traditional Neapolitan-style pizza, using far better ingredients than your classic deli calzone. They are still, in essence, very classy pizza sandwiches, but the important thing is that they are NOT overstuffed or overpacked with cheese and sausage and all the rest. They may not be perfect for walking around town (a press release claimed calzones are "a portable snack enjoyed while walking around town") but they are also far more delicate, less greasy, and way more scrumptious than any calzone I've ever encountered.
My favorite of the calzones may have been the Monfortese, which is made with Ramps, Rovagnati Porchetta di Ariccia, and Fontina DOP—if you are a ramps fan, you will want to jump on trying one of these ASAP before they go out of season. The Piccantello was also a major highlight, filled with Neapolitan Spicy Salame, San Marzano Tomato, Mozzarella di Bufala, and topped with Mike’s Hot Honey—making it both sweet and a little spicy, reminding me a little of a mini-version of the Colony slice from Emily's Pizza. The Salsiccia E Friarelli is a sausage and broccoli rabe combo that is dominated by the broccoli, while the Scarole E Olive is for fans of escarole.
Then there is the Classico, which Falco said remains his favorite. It is stuffed with Liuzzi Ricotta, Mozzarella di Bufala, San Marzano Tomato Sauce & Black Pepper, and is the closest in flavor to a classic Neapolitan slice. But Falco let us in on a little secret: we've all been holding calzones the wrong way! He rolled it up like a burrito and demonstrated the optimal way of holding it (which you can see up above).
The best thing about all the calzones we tried was the bread, which was a remarkably delicious mix of doughy and crisp. Falco noted that the bread is one of the major differences between what he is doing from, say, that place on 6th Ave with the calzones sitting in a window for hours: "We never use oil or sugar in the dough—flour, salt, water, a little bit of each, and we rest it at least 24 hours." He argues the main advantage to eating calzones instead of a regular slice of pizza is that the calzone is better-suited to hold more toppings: "It's about the feeling of holding a calzone. It's a totally different level of thin-crust pizza."
So if you're a calzone skeptic, but someone who loves Neapolitan-style pizza, this may be one of the best opportunities you'll have to give it one more shot.
You'll find these calzones at La Pizza & La Pasta within Eataly NYC Flatiron; menu here.
Tagged
calzones
Eataly
La Pizza & La Pasta
original
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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