New Pizza Flavor

Nicolas,

Thanks truly for your contribution and support here. Your creativity and attention to detail is always appreciated.

I hope to catch up in the coming weeks.

Best,

Lena

Where would we be without your support!

Joe and Sal,

It's Annabelle and Lena here (we're kind of a Joe and Sal style dynamic duo ourselves). Thank you so much for your detailed comment and thoughtful consideration of our proposal. We honestly didn't realize we were stirring up such a controversy and will be more mindful next time. We only have respect and love for the socio-cultural traditions and artisan culinary codes that make your restaurant so special.

However, we would still like to make the case for the "Lena Pizza"—a menu item we see as having broad appeal and bringing new audiences to Joe and Sal's. We've introduced the idea to our communities, and the results thus far are astounding: not only has a tweet on the matter received upwards of 20 likes, and nearly 1000 views, but many of our friends—and more distant contacts—joined the Joe and Sal's forum to express their solidarity. Their support makes us genuinely verklempt. Thanks to all.

Now, the question on all of our minds: how would the "Lena Pizza" be composed? We think Nicolas S has shared some interesting ideas about how to align our interests here. The addition of a Parmigiano Reggiano or even a Calabrian chile might satisfy the pizza aficionados among us, while still contributing to an exciting new flavor experience.

But here's the thing: something we so appreciate about Joe and Sal's is the extensive, diverse nature of your menu. Every time we visit we're thrilled to see options ranging from the ever traditional Pizza Classica, to more creative local favorite Crown chicken pie, to the arguably never-before-seen cheesesteak pizza. We can always trust that at Joe and Sal's, there's something new for us to discover. We think that the next step in that journey should be the "Lena Pizza."

Thank you again for your time and consideration. We're huge fans, and so it means so much to us that we even received a response (and a post on your Instagram story!).

Sincerely,

Lena and Annabelle

P.S. We had a great conversation with Alessandro last night about the website. We were hoping to meet the author of the post, but loved our time with Alessandro and the crew nonetheless. And, as always, the pizza was perfect!

Hi Annabelle and Lena.

I'm Sebastiano (the third "Pie-eezan"). I am the other owner of Joe and Sal's Pizzeria. I responded to your original post.

You know Joe and Sal already, and you've met our vibrant and vivacious Alessandro. We love him. The community loves him. He's got a big heart and big appetite for the Culinary Arts.

While Joe is the mastermind behind our diverse Pizza selection, I like to think that we've all made a contribution - however small - (ie Sfincionello, The Cream of Spinach, the Basil-Pistachio Ricotta with Mortadella, The Randazzo with calabrian chili and eggplant).

We love Italian cuisine, the herbs and spices, the sauce recipies we grew up with, and we try to marry those italian culinary standards together with our American traditional taste buds and bring innovative products to our Brooklyn hometown.

I'm a first-gen Italian and I know I might catch some heat for this, but what the heck. I never liked being packed in a box, anyway. I, personally, love what you have done here. Your suggestions, your mobilization, call to action on X. I think it's exquisite!

I think it's long overdue that the Pizza-Lover's community, our patrons and anyone else who is interested in participating, had a platform where they can share ideas and their passion for Pizza. So don't worry about stirring up anything. Innovation is fueled by disruption. So go ahead, disrupt!.

While I can't promise anything, I am taking your suggestions and will be looking for some inspiration on how to make those ingredients work together.

Here are the challanges we need to overcome:

Pinapples are juicy, sweet, tangy and fibrous,

(a) When cooked on a pizza (from raw) the pineapple will releasae those juices which if/when mixed with a zesty tomato sauce infused with basil, EVOO and other spices (as we do) it may produce an odd taste. But perhaps the solution to that is not to add tomato sauce to "Lena's Pizza" - we have quite a few pies that start with just cheese on the dough. But the juices would still probably contribute to a sloppy and "soggy" experience. Joe had once mentioned roasting pineapples in a secret sauce till the juices blend and reduce with the sauce and alter the profile.

next,

(b) The sweet and tangy nature of the pineapple will almost certainly over-power the saltiness of the cheese and crust flavors, if not most other ingredients typically on a pizza. So we need to counter-balance that sweet-tangy flavor with something else. Perhaps with bacon, calabrian peppers, and either gorgonzola, parmesan or pecorino romano.

finally,

(c) The fibrous nature of the pineapple gives it a texture like nothing else ever put on pizza (at least that I can think of) . So we may need to figure out how to make those fibers less... erm, well, fibrous. Maybe roasting them with a sauce as in (a) will help, give them a little char. 🤷‍♂️

it's going to take a few tries.😊

ciao