Foodie on Duty – Co.

Co. It’s not to be confused with Ko – which is a subsidiary of David Chang’s humble Momofuku empire. Co. is short for Company and is probably the hottest pizza joint to get into in the city these days. New York tends to do this: declare a restaurant a hot spot, dooming eaters to almost impossible lines and wait times to suffer through to get just a bite of something delicious – if not a smidge overpriced.
My wait time on a weekday was just over an hour. Since it was recently deemed The place to go visit for pizza, I wondered how high to set my expectations. The longer the lines, the bigger the hype – and the more inflated are everyone’s perceptions of great food. On top of that, I know that incredible lines tend to compromise the quality of food from even the best restaurants. Needless to say, I decided to expect good, but not great, pizza. The four of us ordered one pie each, and an extra to munch on at the end. Whilst the pies aren’t tiny, they’re definitely intended as single servings.
The first pie to arrive was the special of the day: a pie topped with shaved asparagus, egg, garlic, olive oil and buffalo mozzarella. I come from California where we “don’t know our pizza,” so I’m accustomed to expected tomato sauce and tend to miss it terribly when it isn’t there. On this pizza, however, I didn’t miss it. It probably helped that the pizza crust came from Sullivan Street Bakery, which is yet another hoity-toity NYC superstar bakery known for its breads. The crust was thinnish, chewy and had a lightly charred bottom that New Yorkers seem to prize so dearly. Asparagus shavings gave the pie a fresh green flavor and made it easy to bite through. The eggs were awesome, though I did wish that the yolks had come raw instead of all-the-way-cooked-through. Still, it was the kind of pizza I wouldn’t mind eating morning, noon or night.
The ham and cheese pie tasted like… a ham and cheese pie. They use nice cheeses at Co. – a mix of Pecorino and Gruyere with buffalo mozzarella. Unfortunately, my palate isn’t trained in cheeses, so it just tasted like a melty hot mess of delicious cheese. The fact that there was a touch of caraway had me question whether or not I should be picking up nutty overtones or smoky undertones. The crust was delicious, as expected. But then again, this is coming from a girl who thinks the crust at California Pizza Kitchen is amazing. In any case, the only disappointment was the prosciutto that came with it. The slices were thicker than I would have liked and possibly overcooked because it came out tough and chewy. It was also saltier than it was porky, which is not a great sign when it comes to prosciutto. I like to taste the meat and not the salt – which is why they might as well have topped it with Oscar Meyer’s Deli Sliced Ham. It probably would have saved them a bundle. Given a choice between this or the arugula prosciutto pie at La Nonna on Bedford, I’d pick La Nonna any day of the week.

The unmemorable pies were the Popeye and Santo. The Popeye came topped with fresh spinach that had been burnt crisp around the edges, Pecorino, Gruyere, buffalo mozzarella, olive oil, black pepper and garlic. They were good pizzas, but didn’t stick out for me. The Santo – which was blanketed with shaved radicchio, béchamel, parmesan, taleggio, onions and chili – was also a good pie, but it wasn’t amazing or surprising in the way the flavors came together. Both followed the format of great crust, hot melty cheeses, garlic, olive oil and some kind of vegetable on top. Perhaps I was missing the tomato sauce.
Since we were still a little hungry, I got my wish with the Margherita. It’s not a fancy pizza and you’ll probably find it offered at most pizza places, but it really hit the spot. A thin spread of brightly flavored tomato sauce sleeping under hot oozes of fresh, melting pillows of mozzarella – all topped with a few leaves of basil. Since our pie only came with 3 leaves of basil, one of us had to sacrifice. And it wasn’t me. The tangy zip of the tomato was the perfect playmate for the lightly sweet-and-salty crust and milky mozzarella.

All in all, the prices were a bit steep, but Co. has altogether better-than-good pizzas. I might not want to wait an hour to get seated and another 30-45 minutes to get our food. I also would steer clear of the chocolate breadcrumb torte with gelato – it wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t satisfying. It wasn’t chocolatey enough and the small ball of vanilla gelato that cost an extra $2 came out icy instead of smooth. The thing is, I’d just much rather eat a fudgier, more economical version of it at North 7th’s Surf Bar. But if you’re in Manhattan and want better-than-good pizza, I would definitely check it out during their less-busy lunch hour.

Company
230 9th Ave
New York, NY 10001