The one that took over New York
Vodka Pizza
A pink tomato-cream sauce cooked down with a splash of vodka, with mozzarella, ricotta and basil torn over the top.
Vodka sauce arrived on pizza from the pasta side of the kitchen and then quietly took over half the city. It is a cooked sauce, unlike everything else we put on a pizza: tomato, cream, garlic, chilli and a splash of vodka, reduced for the better part of an hour until it is thick enough to sit on a base without running.
The vodka is not there for the alcohol, all of which boils off. It pulls flavour compounds out of the tomato that water alone will not, and it stops the cream and the acid splitting. You would notice if it were left out, and you would not be able to say why.
It is a rich pie and it eats heavier than it looks. Two slices is usually plenty, which is a sentence we would rather say than sell you a whole one you do not finish.
What goes on it
The sauce
Crushed plum tomato, cream, garlic, chilli flakes and vodka, reduced about forty minutes. Made fresh twice a day because it splits if it is held too long.
The cheese
Whole-milk mozzarella, a little lighter than usual — the sauce is already rich.
The ricotta
The same drained whole-milk ricotta as the white pie, in dollops.
The finish
Fresh basil torn over after the bake, and grated hard cheese.
How it is made here
Sauce made twice daily
Once in the morning and once before the evening rush. A vodka sauce held all day breaks and goes grainy.
Sauced with a spoon
It is far too thick to ladle and spread. It goes on in dollops and is pushed out with the back of a spoon.
Twelve to fourteen minutes
At 600°F, like the rest of the round pies.
Basil after the oven
Basil in an oven turns black and tastes of hay. It goes on the moment the pie comes out.
Vodka Pizza — what it costs
- 18" pie$31
- 14" pie$24
- By the slice$5.25
Prices include every topping listed above. Extras are $3 for vegetables and $4 for meats. Prices change when our costs do; the menu here is the menu in the shop.
Before you order this
A shared flour kitchen, and what that rules out. Our kitchen handles wheat flour in open air all day, along with milk, eggs, soy, tree nuts and fish. Flour becomes airborne every time a dough ball is opened, and it settles on every surface in the room, including the peels, the oven floor, the cutting board and the wheel. We can tell you what we put on a pizza, and we will tell you honestly. We cannot tell you that anything leaving this kitchen is free of an allergen, and we will not say it. If a reaction would send you to hospital, this is not a safe kitchen for you, and we would far rather say so than take the order.
The kitchen is one room. Every pizza here is opened on the same bench, baked on the same floor and cut with the same wheel, and that is true of this one as much as any other. The pages on allergens and cross-contact and vegetarian, vegan and dietary questions set out plainly what we can and cannot tell you, including the things most shops leave you to assume.
The rest of the menu
Other things worth ordering
New York Cheese Pizza
The plain pie the whole shop is judged on: a thin, foldable base, a thin bright sauce and low-moisture mozzarella browned in patches.
From $3.75
Pepperoni Pizza
Small-diameter natural-casing pepperoni that curls into cups and chars at the rim, over the plain pie.
From $4.50
Sicilian Square Pizza
A thick square pie proofed in an oiled steel pan: an airy open crumb, a fried golden base and a crisp cheese edge.
From $4.25Asked at the counter
Vodka Pizza — questions
Is there alcohol in the finished pizza?
Essentially none — it is a splash in a large pan, reduced for forty minutes and then baked at 600°F. If you avoid alcohol for religious or medical reasons and want zero, we would honestly steer you to a different pie rather than reassure you.
Is it spicy?
Gently. There are chilli flakes in the sauce and most people register it as warmth rather than heat.
Can I get vodka sauce on a Sicilian?
Yes, on a half or full tray, with two days' notice for a tray — we make the sauce in batches and a tray takes most of one.
Twelve to fifteen minutes, and worth the wait
Order a pie
Telephone the shop and we will tell you honestly how long the kitchen is running before you commit to anything. Collection is always quicker than delivery and the pizza is always better for it. If you are ordering for a crowd, the catering page has the trays and the notice we need.