Veloce Pizzeria

Time Out says

Thu Mar 15 2012

Veloce Pizzeria, the East Village love child of Frederick Twomey (Bar Veloce) and Sara Jenkins (Porchetta), recently jumped into the pizza fray with some of New York’s most unusual pies. The menu describes them as “Sicilian,” but they’re unlike any we’ve tried. The delicious burnished squares—somewhere between Sullivan Street focaccia and the typical doughy Sicilian slice—arrive in the individual sheet pans they’re baked in. Although many diners are duped into overordering, only a competitive eater could come close to finishing a whole pie. The heavy, oily pizzas with a fine chewy crust sit like a brick, but taste great going down. There are also the balanced, pedigreed toppings to consider. The “white clam” pie, covered in shelled clams, plenty of garlic and crusty grated grana padano, is like vongole pasta in pizza form. A sausage pie comes paved with a ground version of the same pork Jenkins rolls up and roasts a few blocks away (along with rosemary, sage, fennel pollen and fresh mozzarella). Though the pizzas are plenty enticing, starter spuntini like a featherlight fritto misto of flash-fried grape tomatoes, cheese croutons and herbs are nearly as much of a draw. The Veloce half of the pizza-wine partnership—evident in the trademark wine racks that extend the length of one wall, and the physical space, a long and narrow cubby that once housed Twomey’s Solex—accounts for the reasonable list of bottles from Italy (a bright dry aglianico ros, $36, is a popular choice). The short list of desserts, including run-of-the-mill panna cotta and layered gelati, shouldn’t deter you from making a run at that last glistening slice-—although it will reheat awfully well at home the next day.—TONY

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