Pulino's

[michele cindy]

We went to Pulino's yesterday for lunch. I was going with very high expectations. The service was excellent, the food was just ok. I think my expectations were just too high. The pizza was good, but not a knock your socks of wow pie. We had a salame picante, and a quatro fromagio. I was expecting the picante to be spicy as described on the menu but it was pretty mild. I liked that the crust was very thin, and the salame was nice, but could have been more plentiful. We also had 2 appetizers, the mozzarella and beets was super, the baked ricotta foccacia was very bland, it's probably intened to be that way so it's a bad choice on my part. I plan to go back and give some more of the menu items a try, but as far as the pizza goes, I don't have a brick oven, but I make similar pizza at home.
As far as the decor goes, I liked everything about it except for the tables and chairs. They're similar to what you might find in a park. They don't look comfortable, but they are, it's just the look of these I find a bit off. I'd prefer something made out of wood rather then metal.
If you've been there I'd like to know what I need to try on my next visit.

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Pulino's
282 Bowery, New York, NY 10012

[michele cindy]

Went back today. A much better food experience then last time. Bright sunny day, last visit it was miserable and rainy out. Coincidentally, a review came out the same day as our reservation, in the NYT. The review was good, and the good news seemed to permeate the staff. Service once again was excellent For appetizers we ordered a roasted carrot salad, I don't care much for carrots but the folks I went with like it, a soft shell crab in a lite mustard dressing, one of the cleanest fresh tasting softshells I've ever eaten,and another favorite was the roasted olives, with nuts. For my entree I had the fazzoletti which was really nice, you could clearly taste the lamb n the ragu. I ordered the small size, which is small, thinking back it was so good I wish I had ordered the larger portion. I am not a dessert person, and I'm totally not into ice cream, but like Sifton in his review: I ordered the "crèma gelato sundae for dessert, with amarena cherries, chocolate cookies and salted pistachios". OMG, I usually offer folks I'm dining with a taste, but I was so enthralled by this sundae, so enamored by this dessert I forgot I was with anyone and ate the whole thing forgetting everyone else. Now I am looking forward to going again. Next time I think I'll give the pizza one more try, and I'm already thinking about that sundae!

[uwsister]

Had a late dinner at Pulino's tonight and loved everything about it. We came in around 11 p.m. and got a table right away. The seating is a bit tight (a big person might feel cramped) but I actually liked it as we had some nice conversations with the fellow diners and it created a genuinely convivial atmosphere. We ordered mozzarella burrata (served with beets,) house-cured sardins, chacuterie plate (had pork and duck terrine among other items) plus farro budino and affogato for desserts. Everything was delicious. Great service. We'll definitely be back for more!

[uwsister]

Would also like to make a note that our waitress was very knowledgeable. My husband asked her a ton of questions about sourcing of lots of different items, and she could name them all in detail. Usually even at nicer restaurants, it's "Let me find out for you right away" more often than not.

[sarahmilne]

Just happened across the Slice report from way back in February, where Nate Appleman explains that he's not going to be doing A16-style Neapolitan pizza at Pulino's. I've also seen it said recently that what he was going for, in his own mind, was something more along the lines of "bar pizza," or "bowling alley pizza." This makes a lot of sense. In fact, the first thing my husband and I said to each other when we bit into slices of our respective Pulino's pies was: "this tastes like the pizza at [insert name of our favorite corner bar in Berlin here], only better." In other words: if that's what Appleman was going for, he nailed it. I find the idea that he's nailing bar pizza much less surprising than my original supposition that he was going for Roman pizza and falling unspeakably short. I don't get the sense that Appleman is usually the type to fall unspeakably short, in the edibles department.

All of which, however, just raises the question (at least for me): why would you choose to nail bar pizza when you could instead choose to nail, um, one of the greatest styles of pizza to grace the planet?

But, you know, it *is* good bar pizza. At which I never, ever turn up my nose, so long as it's served to me in a bar, on my street corner. Which this, unfortunately, is not.

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Pulino's
282 Bowery, New York, NY 10012

[sam1]

i tried pulinos around 1130 on friday night after a film. there were 2-3 tables free but the front of house had no authority to seat us. we waited for 10 minutes for the manager to allow her to seat us. very awkward and lame but it was more of a crap management issue and less about being snooty.

we had a carafe of petite syrah for $18 which was tolerable for house wine. we ordered the salumi pizza with olives and the meatball pizza. while the service was friendly, they were far from professional. my waitress was all over the place with the menu and really doesnt seem to know what to say.

the pizzas were ok. nothing special. the salumi with olives was more tasty than the meatball which had next to no flavor.

$55 for 2 pizzas and a carafe of wine was fine enough. i wont be dying to go back anytime soon.

i thought the space was fun and the crowd was 'interesting'...lots of guys hitting on lots of girls. it was a good conversation piece to say the least.

it did remind me of morandi and how fake it all was but i guess it never hurts to try something new once in awhile.

[sarahmilne]

We were there for dinner last week. Absolutely everything was wonderful except the thing we went for, which would be the pizzas. We thought the space was beautiful, and though it got *extremely* loud and almost club-like later in the evening--as people who were waiting for tables kind of dispersed themselves all over the restaurant--earlier on with the huge windows open to the street and the sun going down it was practically magical. We had a nice, inexpensive bottle of barbera d'alba and our two starters were absolutely delicious. One was the burrata with beet salad, and the other was a special that sounded like a potential train-wreck, but actually worked at every possible level: oven-roasted asparagus with ramps and rhubarb over black pepper mascarpone. Yum.

The thing is, though, we're A16 devotees, after 2 years in San Francisco, and we were EXTREMELY excited about the thought of having that addictive, Neapolitan-style pizza in NYC. We knew the Pulino's pizza was going to be different from the A16 pizza the second we got there and saw what was coming out of the kitchen, but we remained optimistic. It looked like Roman-style pizza rather than Neapolitan--even down to the traditional, Roman-style metal plates--and we actual prefer that style to the Naples version, at least when it's done in Rome.

So we ordered it. And it was . . . ok. Really just ok, with not a hint of that amazing Roman pizza synergy, and very little, actually, to distinguish it from the best wood-oven slice-style pizza in, say, Princeton NJ. (Can't compare it to anywhere in the City because I've never sought out that style here). Which is fine, I guess, but nothing our pizza-obsessed selves are going to travel across town for in the future, and a real shame given the potential of the space and the oven.

We'll be going back to the Keste/Motorino rotation.

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Pulino's
282 Bowery, New York, NY 10012

[filmbomb]

Keste/Motorino are really just head and shoulders above everyone else right now, and that's truly saying something when you're talking about pizza where there are so many contenders.

Wonder if you have a preference? I can't seem to make up my mind.

[a213b]

Having tried them both several times, for me, Keste is the clear-cut winner.

That being said, NYC is certainly fortunate to have them both.

[sarahmilne]

It's not nearly that clear-cut for me, though I would say that Keste on its best days does in fact have the edge over Motorino. The thing is, Motorino is more consistent. And sometimes there's just not enough oven magic (I think of this as the Italian version of wok hei, and for me it's the difference between pizza as bliss and pizza as sustenance) going on at Keste.

Like you say, though: we're lucky to have them both. Long may they endure.

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Motorino
349 E 12th St, New York, NY 10003

[ChiefHDB]

I can't recommend the fazzoletti enough. It was a thick crepe stuffed with smoked ricotta, topped with a lamb ragu and pecorino. The gaminess of the lamb against the smoked ricotta is something I can still taste.

Really expensive though, like everything else on the menu.

[ESNY]

I had brunch there this weekend. Loved the patate pizza with sausage, egg, potato and green onion. Crust was very thin, much thinner than I expected and nicely charred. The sausage stood as extremely good. The egg baked with fontina and spinach was ok. Maybe too much cream and not enough cheesy, tasted a bit thin. Wife loved the roasted grapefruit.
I agree, the service was beyond excellent. I was pleasantly surprised. I need to go back and taste the non-breakfast pizza to really get a sense of how the pizza is.

[teejaymoore]

We enjoyed our "brunch" still had the pizzas and baked ricotta.

Anyone have any idea on how they do the baked ricotta as when I search for recipes, a lot are very involved (eggs, etc.) and yet this one seemed like ricotta brown and then sprinkled with oregano and a little olive oil.

[michele cindy]

I think there was something like a hint of lemon zest in it as well.