"Where does one go for good pizza in Midtown? Nowhere, really. Thankfully, PizzArte has brought the Neapolitan pie craze to Midtown. The specialty pizza here at PizzArte is the flash-fried Montanara pie, but it's the full, surprisingly diverse slate of delicious starters, salads, pizza, and pasta that has us impressed with this place. And that's not the only reason that you should be careful not to write PizzArte off as just another pizza joint. It also happens to be an art gallery. That must have sounded awesome in the business plan. "You know why MoMa sucks? No pizza." "Sold. Where can I send this sack of gold?" Or at least that how we assume it went down. Believe it or not, the concept kind of works. There's no Banksy or Mr. Brainwash on these walls, but we were impressed with the work of the Neapolitan and Italian artists currently displayed on the restaurant's walls. PizzArte, if you'd like to commission some abstract Infatuation turkey leg artwork for an exhibit, let us know. I'm ready to put these finger paints I got for Christmas to use. Food Rundown Polpettine con Passi e Pinoli We loved these home-style Neapolitan meatballs. The Italian pine nuts and raisins were a nice touch. Definitely order these. Melanzane Alla Parmigiana A simple preparation of baked eggplant with tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil. Simplicity is underrated. Order this. Frittura all'italiana This right here is a mandatory order, and a way to sample a lot of PizzArte's antipasi all at once. The sampler offers up a tasty potato croquette, pizza fritter, rice balls, zucchini, and a small version of the fried pizza montanara, but with eggplant. Spinaci Salad There's a nice selection of salads on the menu, and we were fans of this combination of spinach, golden beets, goat cheese, mango, and pistachio nuts. Paccheri al Baccalà We weren't expecting much from this pasta dish, but we were pleasantly surprised. It's a big serving of pasta with fresh tomato, Sicilian capers, olives, and squares of chopped cod. We'd order this again. Montanara Pizza It's definitely worth trying once. This fried, then baked mozzarella and parmesan pie is quite delicious. Unfortunately, it's just not as delicious as the one we love so much from Forcella. This one feels more like a calzone and less like a pizza. There's too much dough, and not enough of the other stuff." - Andrew Steinthal
