Stretch Pizza — Restaurant in New York

Napoletana on the Outside, Roman in the Middle!

I am going back. Stretch should be a stop on every pizza lovers journey. My pie repped the best of two pizza worlds, Rome and Naples.

I went with a pack of five to Stretch on Sunday night, my 4th night out in row. My taste buds were tired, and I had no expectations.

The first thing we noticed was the outdoor dining hut, which looks like a trolley car from Rome, where there are no trolley cars. The two architects in our group loved the hut, and we named it the #1 in the city.

Then we sat down, and the other 4 ordered appetizers, that were prepared with love, and then re-loved by my co-diners. I spent a few minute touring the restaurant while they ate the apps, looking for the right pizza to order. I saw a pepperoni pizza and a square pizza right away. Rather impressed with how they looked, I sat back down, ready to order a Margharita pie.

Which came quickly as per the great service. Now, forget about the hut, the service, the comfy aura of the dining room, the fresh beer, and the fab appetizers. They dropped a beauty in front of me, a fat crusted, nice and crispy looking pie. My first thoughts were, wow, Napoletana crust, with a Roman center. Which were immediately confirmed by my first bite. Which was amazing.

My favorite pizza in Rome is Marmi's, in Trastervere, followed by Baffeto's. I love Sally's in New Haven, and Patsy's Harlem here in NYC.

I like a crispy bottom crust, most of all. Which is nearly impossible to do with a Napoletana pizza. That's where Stretch shines. You get the best of both worlds. A fluffy, edible on it's own crust and a crispy bottomed center of the pie, in this case filled with great cheese and tasty tomato sauce.

It's a five star pizza experience, fairly unique for it's mastery of two styles in one pie. We had five different kinds pizzas, and the rest of my crew loved thier topped out versions too.

Bottom...

I've been in the Gramercy East neighborhood for the past year and have walked by Stretch pizza countless times without noticing that there was such a gem hiding in plain sight. While on the quest for the best pizza in the neighborhood I stumbled into the restaurant for its opening service at 11 am today. I was greeted by the host, and chose a table by the window, we had a discussion about the restaurant and their philosophy for pizza and food. I explained that I was a big fan of Chef Dufresne and had followed him from his early days at wd-50 and that when I discovered this pizza restaurant was associated with him that I had to try it out.

I opted for the pull apart meatball sliders, and the stranger pizza. The pull apart meatball sliders come on a Kings Hawaiian bun, with marinara sauce, fresh mozzarella, and pickled red onions. There is only one word to describe the meatball sliders - DELICIOUS! The meatball was one of the juiciest and moist meatballs I have had in my life time, the combination of all the ingredients make this sandwich the most appetizing.

The stranger pizza comes with a sweet fennel sausage, marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese. Pizzas come in a 12 inch pie which is plenty for two people to share. What sets the pizza apart from the rest is the dough that Chef Dufresne uses, the crust comes out crisp, light and airy with a good amount of mouth feel for every bite that you take.

In the middle of my meal I was surprised by Chef Dufresne himself. He walked out to my table to greet me and introduce himself. I am in awe of this great Chef and his staff, they sure knew how to make my dining experience the utmost best part of my day today. I will definitely go back and try their other offerings. If you are in the Gramercy neighborhood, don't waste your time with the other pizzerias, you need to go to Stretch Pizza and...

Whenever I imagine what a pizza spot for this century should look like, I think Stretch Pizza epitomizes that. My partner and I are not pizza-people but we have been here thrice for the past 2 weeks.

Starters—we gravitated towards the Pesto Mozzarella Sticks which only had 4 pieces but for 2 people, they were the perfect amount. As I’d like to describe it, they’re not too little to make you feel famished, but not too much to make you not look forward to the pizza. We also really liked their Garlic Bread—which were plentiful but not heavy. Highly recommend the white sauce! ;)

Pizza—I’m a huge fan of pizzas with mushrooms so on our first visit, my girlfriend entertained me on this one so we got to try their Old Town pizza and I couldn’t recommend it enough! On our second visit, we tried their DL pizza and while we liked it, we found the combination of bacon and the tomato sauce being a tad too salty. On our final but not the last visit, we got to try their Classic NY pizza and this was the perfect embodiment of what the future of pizza should look like. Through and through, my partner and I deciphered that what we really loved the most was the crust—it was perfectly crunchy and supportive without having to be burnt.

Dessert—we tried their world’s tiniest chocolate chip and while not notable, I think it makes the whole pizza experience as the main thing.

This restaurant is for pizza and the buildup in getting your pizza and I think it’s well thought out.

I find myself thinking about Stretch Pizza often on my flight back to California. I’ll definitely be back in a few months after finishing my half marathon in NYC and while I’m not excited to run 13 miles, I’m beyond thrilled to go to Stretch after crossing the finish...