

5

"When Ciro Verdi first slathered creamy robiola cheese inside a split-and-dimpled flatbread at Pino Luongo’s Le Madri three decades ago, he created a sensation, pizzalike but with the best organoleptic qualities of a toasted bagel with shmear. It became the specialty of the house at his eponymous Da Ciro, but after that restaurant succumbed last year, both the chef and his focaccia reemerged in Hudson Square at Luongo’s new Coco Pazzeria."