"A pizzeria sometimes considered the best in Naples, L’Antica Pizzeria Da Michele (founded in 1870), set up a branch in the West Village earlier this year. Unlike the original, which was a small floury room with only two or three tables when I visited over a decade ago, this branch is gigantic and sumptuously outfitted. I soon found myself at Da Michele in the West Village. I had no trouble getting in at lunch, and picked the sunny room — one of two — where breakfast is served. As I sat drinking a glass of San Pellegrino, the pizzaiolo and his assistant arrived and made their way to the next room, where the pizza oven is set up in full view of the more formal dining room. In New York City, pizza is theater. When the margherita ($22) arrived, the diameter was greater by at least two or three inches than Una Pizza’s. As is never done in Naples, it had been cut into slices. The pizza here was not as inflated as Mangieri’s, and looked more damp. The circumferential hump of crust was not as wide either — reminding me that Una Pizza’s version had more in common with bread than the pizza that sat before me. When I carved out the first bite, the crust was dense, wet, and thin; the cheese more profuse; the tomato sauce a shade darker, but also seemingly unseasoned. And while I was able to eat two-thirds of Mangieri’s pie, I made my way through only half of this one." - Robert Sietsema
