Numero 28

Perhaps I should have placed my camera in my purse today... I returned to SoHo to find the Roman-style pizza I mentioned previously.  The A train runs express, so I got off at Canal Street and walked north to Spring Street, but not up Sixth Avenue like I did before.  So when I turned right on Spring Street and kept walking several blocks, I didn't see the pizzeria.  So I had to turn around and eventually found Numero 28 (that's "ventotto" in Italian).  The older gentleman behind the counter was very friendly.  As soon as I laid my eyes on the potato pizza, nothing else mattered.  There was no sign in front of it, so I asked the man behind the counter to make sure it was the potato and then I ordered a slice.  He whipped out a neat little measurement tool that evenly divided the rectangular pizza into a few rows and then began cutting.  He explained that he wanted to make sure everyone got equal slices.  I told him that I'd been to Italy and that they just began cutting randomly.  (But in Italy, they sold the slices by weight, so it didn't really matter how pieces were cut.)  He gave a little laugh and then put my slice in the oven briefly to warm it back up and give it a nice crispness.

It didn't take very long at all, and I sat by the window to watch people walk by and stop to look in -- like I did a few weeks ago.  And it even got a little busy.  Two women after me each ordered a slice, and another guy ordered something too.

The man behind the counter spoke in Italian to his friend.  I didn't understand anything, but it felt a little like Rome while I was eating.

Ah, yes, the pizza!  The slice was big!  It covered my paper plate.  The potatoes were thinly sliced and covered the entire rectangle.  The pizza dough is thicker than New York style for sure, but I don't know how it compares to Sicilian style pizza.  It was nice and crispy with just the right amount of chewiness.  I remember the potato pizza in Rome had chunks of flavorful potato.  Numero 28 had a subtler flavor for their potatoes, but I still found it as a whole to be delicious.  No red tomato sauce.  Just potato, mozzarella, herbs, and maybe a little olive oil.  And not at all greasy!  Mmmmm, mmmm.  When I finished and got up to leave, the man who helped me took my plate and asked me if I enjoyed it.  I said yes and that I would definitely be back!

I felt energized after eating that potato pizza and ended up walking all the way to Times Square in the lovely sunshine!  Well, okay, 40th Street, but then had to walk underground to get the A train, so it was practically Times Square.