Last week a co-worker gave me a tip about a new New York-style pizza place here in Salt Lake. Since he is a New York native and shares views similar to mine on the quality of mass-produced pizza here in Utah, I'm was very much looking forward to a visit.
For lunch yesterday we headed south down 7th East and made it to Este Pizza for lunch.
It is just off of 2100 South and was not too tricky to find. The actual street sign to look for as you travel along 21st South is Windsor Street. Just north of 21st South and on the East side of the street is a building that at first appearance seems to be a small office building. Turns out Este is a little shop on the North side of the buiding and I'm not sure what is in the rest of the building. There was ample parking all around the place.
The shop itself is not large with maybe four or five tables inside and a bigger patio outside with at least as many large picnic tables and possibly more. First impression is that it's a dive kind of place, very laid back with a lot of hand-written signs telling you everything from the special of the day to which can is for recycling and which is for plain garbage.
I was amused by their examples, conveniently posted on the wall above the cans. The recycling can allowed for clean/unused napkins, paper plates and such. But they explicitly directed you to put your used paper plates and napkins in the plain garbage. Someone had actually taken the time to recreate a grease-soaked effect with red, yellow, and orange markers on the sample paper plate mounted on the wall above the plain can. Very nice of them to eliminate any confusion on which garbage goes where.
A couple other signs that warrant mention: 1) Above the silverware, a handwritten sign on an old flap from a card board box which unequivocally states that pizza is not a pancake, implying that you should eat the pizza from Este with your hands, folded in half NY-style. 2) Next to the cash register/ordering counter there were two cans of unopened Dole pineapple chunks. The sign above it announced that they were pleased to now offer pineapple as a topping on their pizzas. Each can was priced at $49.99 with a $99.99 corkage fee to open said can. The implication, of course, that pineapple does not belong on real pizza.
We ordered a 14" pizza (instead of the lunch special slices) knowing we would get a fresh one cooked to our specifications. They have a list of 8-10 specialty pizzas, but since my brother's favorite is pepperoni and I always like to judge a new place by how well they do with a plain cheese, our was half and half -- pepperoni and cheese. The pizza didn't take long and was excellent. Hot from the oven (too hot to eat when it arrived at our table), the cheese, sauce and crust were all good. The standard NY toppings are provided on each table (dried oregano and garlic) along with parmesan cheese and peppers. It is the closest I've come to NY style since I actually lived in Manhattan and definitely merits a return visit sometime soon. I would like to try some of their specialty pizzas now that I've established that they can do the basics right.
Other comments:
- very casual, paper plates, serve-yourself sodas
- fast and very friendly service
- additional menu items include a house salad, garlic and cinnamon knots, baked raviolis (as an appetizer) and one or two sandwiches
Este New York Style Pizza
2021 S Windsor Street (840 E)
Salt Lake City, UT 84105
801 485 3699
http://www.estepizzacompany.com/
Comments (1)
Bottom line is that this place isn't all that great. They only serve by the slice for lunch and that is totally weak.
Aside from places making brick-oven Neapolitans, no self respecting NY pizza place does not do slices all the time. I mean, who always wants or has time for a whole pie.
Some may say, "that type of market doesn't exist in Salt Lake," but it does. I've been in to Este a few times and have missed the "slicing period" as I like to call it. Probability is on my side that I'm not the only one. Even if you end up tossing a pie or two at nights end, selling one slice pretty much pays for that, so you can't give me that excuse.
I don't want to hear about quality either. As far as anyone who's had NY style before will say; Este is just standard stuff; nothing that can't be reheated in the pizza oven and taste just as good. This isn't a Grimaldi's or a Una Pizza Napoletana.
My reason for this gripe arose from an advertisement Este printed in Slug Magazine. It's essentially a comic strip with two guys, walking in Manhattan, looking for a slice at 10pm. One of them hints at going to Este.
As far as I know that isn't possible at Este. So, I'm not sure what they are trying to prove.
Maybe I'm wrong and they have changed their policy. Hopefully....
Aren't these guys from Boston anyway? WTF?
Posted by: Jack - Just a snobby New Yorker.... | April 9, 2007 6:50 PM
Posted on: April 9, 2007 18:50