I have two meal reports to go from our week in Seoul in July and another two to go from our two weeks in Delhi after that. And I still haven’t started on the meals eaten during our brief stay in Kyoto between our time in Seoul and our time in Tokyo in June. It makes sense therefore that today I have for you a report from a weekend trip the missus and I took to New York/New Jersey in October. Our fall breaks lined up again this year and we took the opportunity to abandon our children and go enjoy ourselves by ourselves. This involved a fair bit of eating out and my first report is of a casual lunch eaten just a few hours after our arrival, at the West Village location of L’industrie. This was one of a few places recommended by my friends on Mouthfuls when I asked for suggestions for pizza by the slice within walking distance of the Whitney Museum. As it happens, we didn’t actually end up going to the Whitney that afternoon (we ended up at the Brooklyn Museum instead) but we did eat pizza at L’industrie.
We almost didn’t eat there either. We arrived to find a line stretching down Christopher St. to their door. And if there’s one thing I don’t enjoy, it’s standing in lines. While the missus queued up I walked up to the front and noticed both that the line was very long and that the restaurant itself was crammed inside, but I also noticed that the line was moving steadily. And so we decided to stick it out. Indeed, a lot of people were just getting slices to go—and some were taking their slices to the beer establishment next door. In the end, the long line wasn’t an issue. From the time we got in line to our departure was less than an hour.
The line was being monitored by a member of the staff who handed out menus so people could figure out what they wanted before they made it into the restaurant. It’s not an over-large menu, which is always a good sign. It listed six red pizzas and four white pizzas. All of it looked good to us and we began to entertain thoughts of eating three slices each. And then we noticed the size of the slices walking past us on the sidewalk and thought better of it (we had reservations for dinner a little after 7 at Theodora in Brooklyn). We settled finally on ordering four slices to share between us. And when we made it in, that is what we did. Their gelato is apparently famous as well but I didn’t learn this till after and so we didn’t get anything else. Having ordered we made our way into the crush of the interior. We started out staking out spots by the counters opposite the kitchen counter but eventually made our way to the very back where we found a nice spot by the counter in the corner.
What did we get? A slice each of the following: the eponymous L’industrie (which features prosciutto and burrata); the New Yorker (which features pepperoni, Italian sausage and ricotta); the Fig Jam & Bacon (you’ll never guess); and the Tartufo (which features four cheeses, oven-roasted mushrooms and truffle oil). It didn’t take very long for our slices to be ready and we were soon stuck in. We noticed after we started eating that some people were slathering what looked like chilli oil onto their slices while picking them up; and so we poured some of it onto a paper plate and dipped our slices in it. All were very good. The missus had the L’industrie as her favourite and I liked the Fig Jam & Bacon with a good swap of the chilli oil.
For a look at the restaurant and what we ate, launch the slideshow below. Scroll down to see how much it all cost and to see what’s coming next on the food front.
Despite how crowded it was and the fact that the queue outside never got any shorter, the vibe inside the pizzeria was very relaxed. The staff taking orders were friendly and patient and it was all far more pleasant than I had feared the experience might be when we’d first turned onto the street. And the price was very reasonable too. Four large slices, tax and tip came to less than $33. We left feeling quite full. And we’d happily come back again—especially if the boys are with us on the next trip.
(By the way, if you’re in New York or will be before it closes, I very highly recommend, A Tactile Lens, the Brooklyn Museum’s exhibit of photographs by Seydou Keita. We wandered into it accidentally and were completely blown away.)
Alright, the next report from this NYC trip will go up in a week. Before that there will be 1-2 Seoul reports between now and Tuesday and a Twin Cities report on Wednesday (though I still don’t know where that will come to you from). Let’s see how it goes.