The Pizza Show: Special Slice

last time I was in Oneonta my best friend was a freshman in college here and we used to drive up on the weekends and stay in his dorm kind of hit all the bars and we always ended up here at Eno is just getting ready for that cold cheese pizza and it's like a life goal coming true then I get to top my own cold cheese pizza and Here I am full circle hmm that fur is biting at that huh I'm not a cold cheese fan you like it me I go with pepperoni with uh with barbecue sauce on top not supposed to eat pepperoni anymore but my wife stopped oh my [Music] so we've seen Pizza all over from New York to Chicago to New Haven but there are definitely some amazing regional slices that just aren't as well known there's the grandmas slice which I'm sure you've seen at the neighborhood pizzeria it's a square cheese on the bottom sauce on top my favorite slice after that there's the bar pie in New Jersey which is super thin kind of crispy like a cracker and usually enjoyed at a bar with some friends watching the game and then there's a cold cheese slice in Oneonta which was basically designed to save the roof of the mouth of college students [Music] our first stop is Umberto's in Long Island place famous for inventing the grandma's lettuce Umberto's makes more than just pizza it's a full-on Italian restaurant it's a bakery it's a garden there's a basement filled with all kinds of Italian specialties Umberto the owner has been doing everything by hands at the beginning Wow this is where all the magic happens huh this is quite the kitchen Wow it doesn't stop here huh it just keeps coming there's something going on in every square inch of this place lasagna yeah is this pickled mushrooms I picked them up if you didn't so you go out and you forage for the wild mushrooms and then she pickles them and puts them in oil tfn for me that's video that's he lets his secret stash I do a big movie for 20 years and she has a knife cooking whenever she makes it excellent not good excellent today you ever come with my hair is a mess but we just made this beautiful eyes of fresh mozzarella so it's lasagna mortadella chocolate cake every time you turn around there's another beautiful day being made in here I didn't realize that Umberto's was so much more than just a pizzeria hmm this is like a pizza man's dream come true oh this is the sandwich bread so you guys make all your own hero rolls - I had no idea that you guys did all of this by hand I liked what you think I wish I could have you know a little bit a little bit of your knowledge because it seems like you take everything to the next level you know a little bit about 34 Oh the line what year did you come the empanada 1962 from Naples from Naples a pizza capital of the world thanks for this yeah I believe you came to Brooklyn and did you work for somebody else opening up my son of a wash so at one point I said to the owner I said I don't mind washing dishes but I like alone how to make pizzas that's all looks beautiful if you know how to use it one two three and you'll do it that's a pro right there doesn't get more even than that I remember my first pizzas they were not so great and six months later while I was washing dishes my boss came in the back and she goes that is a lady she pulled up on a phone says I want a large pizza only if the young men makes for me so I was very fast yeah and I was he going to work hello nineteen years old we have all the the energy in the world so in Napoli did you eat pizza when you were enough away no pizza I mean the reason that we here at Umberto's is because you're a legend to me in the pizza world a lot of people consider you the man who made the grandma pizza famous I am I'm usually the originator the grandma pizza what is the grand Muffy's my grandma's pizza we started the honest decision trees and then it's like the cheese is on the bottom instead of being on the top that's right and you have that got like a really like sort of chunky tomato sauce right and now we put them in a nice hot oven 550 a little bit of what well done a little bit burn it's even better are you gonna cry now I'm like trying to hold back right now I'm gonna Wow I know you know I had a full slice pizza ready wow look at this I already know it's gonna be delicious by looking at it it's light like I thought the pizza has to be like this all the time has to be little boy little burned on the bottom mmm and this is the way the characteristic of the very much pizza okay oh well again it's named the grandma piece or the non a pizza what at the beginning I don't know what that would I wanna call we came up with the Sicilian grandma then I says okay only grandma is good enough and and I think it's a great name because everybody's got a beautiful grandmother I like the server quality stuff out all the time it's almost like you could taste the hard work yes that is that is if it's not good not for me it's not good for nobody I know what this pizzeria is so well known and so well regarded by so many Pizza men it's because he does a lot of work on his own he does everything by hand including the bread he's gonna be good the dough is on another level all the ingredients are in the level and all this help is on the lower level I mean he has a lady angel that's been with him for 30 years and it still makes all the pastries and his pickling wild mushrooms that he foraged this morning I mean he's really committed to the food that he serves and to me that's really putting a guest first I've heard some urban legends I guess it's pizza urban legend that Umberto has sold 100 million slices of pizza I never figured out now I'm headed to Jersey to try the Jersey bar pie it's thin and crispy sort of like a cracker crust it's opposite of the pizza Italian grandma's me the first stop is star tavern Jerry's on the place with his father since the eighties so there's definitely some family tradition there I know there's plenty of Italians out here so I would imagine the pizzas pretty good Gary right hey doing well we gotta turn my phone off as soon as I met Gary I could tell start averin was a true neighborhood place with a lot of history gary immediately introduced me to a waitress that's been with him for over 20 years some of his regular customers I mean it feels like Gary knows everyone here my history he grew up in the house next door his father worked here his grandmother worked here his grandfather worked here his grandmother taught me how to cook pies so what's the story here of star Tyler my dad boarded in 1980 but from what I understand it's been here since around 1945 you know his funny was the same year that I graduated seat Hall Law School and when I was still living at home so even though I went to work work in 40 50 60 hours a week on Friday nights I still had to come here I took my three-piece suit off in the backroom and I started working the pizza ovens I moved from one bar association to another like what exactly is the New Jersey style bar fire its then we put the sauce in the cheese right up to the edge we cook it well done you know we don't believe in soggy pizzas because you might as well eat an English muffin this is what we do man we make them on here this is new to me it's really it's like a deep-tissue cago pizza tray it's all the way around right but then I take a little machine shop and we cut the lip off so you you created this yes so just right here I can tell you right now this is one of the dentist's pizzas I've ever seen you can almost see through the dogs we tried to put this directly in the oven it's not gonna work that's why we have this this method because it is so thin we start to swirl there we go right to the edge crack no crust it's always been pizza' to me but other people come in here start average number one in the bar style tavern Pierre I'm late I don't know it's Pisa to me do I get to try and shake the one out those two are ready all right there you go there you go it's ready now bully I like this method yeah you learning something new every day what do we have here what do we we have a plain pie just store cheese and tomato sauce I love like the way that it stays nice and crispy just like yeah very good the cross is super thin it really holds up all the sauce and the cheese on there like but no even though it's right to the edge you still get that crust in it and you get some really nice color along that crust which is what I love it most of it's burnt cheese but just mmm mmm we're like this big ship that's successful and we make little turns we don't make dramatic u-turns I don't think you could recreate this place overnight it's just got this aura about it that's seventy years worth of time well you've obviously done a great job of building an amazing pizzeria and it makes sense to me now why swimming Tavern serve pizza the first stop in my Jersey bar pie crawl was a success and now I'm making my way to Paterson to visit Patti the owner Steve runs this place with his brother and they preserve this rush on so well it transports you back in time the true test of a great pizzeria is the regulars Ralph's a local butcher and longtime customer of Patsy's is even coming here for over 70 years to me that means that must be a pretty good pizza my grandfather Patsy husk wall started in 1931 right before prohibition right they actually started upstairs the apartment upstairs as they I don't know yeah yeah I'll get any wood and then you move down here in my bedroom prohibition 34 right it's been down the line were third generation I leaving me and my brother seven years old was the first time I came here that's uh sixty seventy two years ago Wow let's all be 80 you remember a sure you remember you remember the first time yeah when is something is good you never forget it that spirit cables lousy even though I'm beyond saying it feels like we just walked in and and it's 60 years ago you know nothing's changed there either see these boots I said where I was so angry the first thing that my eyes are drawn to of these books want me to throw a couple of pizzas on floors we're good police right let's do it thank you I'm going forward to the pizza we roll our pizza out we don't flip it with our dough recipe it'll just stretch out a little just break when we do it I've had butcher shop since 1970s grace and I still work in a butcher shop I'm 79 years old right now yeah two days a week yeah you supplied a lot of pizzerias when I had my store they'd stick hundred pounds a week of chopping for people a lot of new phones when you love something is though no turning back and you'll always do super good always groaning golly I could tell this is gonna be good it's nice and crispy huh dad okay so that's a positive right there there is not even one I mean this is about as stiff as a board yeah delicious you know I don't think I've ever seen a piece of that is Stan that's something else but it really has a nice texture to it and I love like the cross to come inside yeah it's different than most that's why I tell everyone ask for healthier different than most pizzas you'll get it absolutely I have to say the first two time mp3 is that we just went to WA home runs we're off to Reims in New Jersey now which is Kinsley's another famous tavern style pizzeria and we're gonna see what Kinsley's is all about as far as I know the cash Lee family bought this place from a gentleman named Cornelius Korn Elise back in those days it was Cornelius restaurant but I don't think it was really much of a restaurant it was pretty much a bar eventually my family bought place in 86 with the recipe and haven't touched a thing was it your father that bought the place it was my father yeah and when did you get involved well about eight nine years old he sat me down in one of the booths and having tried to peed sitting so what do you think of the Pete's I was like I think it's great he said I should buy the place I'm 8 years old I just love the way that this place looks I mean I was kind of the old school wooden panels and he's great have shades was that by this I know if you guys just felt like then it's been here since 1937 and it hasn't changed very much in all these years it makes a lot of sense to me that you would sit in a tavern like this watch the game and have a few beers and a crispy piece of pizza is a bit perfect son Matt all right beer and pizza it's the thing best friend absolutely so what is like a Kinsley's pizza as far as i know we are the originators of the jersey thing crest bar pie and it is about as thin a pizza as you can get it's really our dough recipe is the key and the other thing is our seasoned metal screens that we cook the pieces on they stay in existence until they literally fall apart right just getting seasoned over and over and over and over again and I Nana is the key to the real crispy bottom so our prize that we get all right playing first yeah go ring for the plate I've had a lot of people describe it as matzo which I think it's only fair to do that in terms of how thin and crisp is Oh something else we doing probably a little different than most of the people too is if we don't grate our cheese we slice it out of deli slicer yeah that's why you get in those pockets a little bit really white then you pour it really nice I can't believe that taking me this long to kind of get out here to this part of Jersey which isn't far from New York it's kind of like I opening to get out here not too far away and have pizza this good well it amazed me and it really took me many years to get over living here how close we are to the city yet how far away we are mm-hmm I almost feel like I'm in the middle of like in the Midwest somewhere like out in Chicago just kind of because all the restaurants are so old and they have all this great character and it's becoming more rare and rare in New York to find that yeah I can't think straight right now good so when Jersey I had the bar pie and now I'm headed to Oneonta in upstate New York to have the bar and then the pot Oneonta is a college town in the daytime it's calm the streets are quiet but at night it's a different story [Applause] there's a style of pizza that was born out of the culture here the cold cheese pizza the answer to every college kids prayers it was like what like kept me from like not transferring back home the charcoal cheese pizza it kept me here we met each other eating cold - yeah how does the empty knows you've been hey how you doing good nice to meet you nice to meet you too thanks oh no problem what's the specialty zone here today cupcake okay okay pizza cupcakes yeah wow that looks good and there's always the cold cheese can't go wrong with that so your father started this he's the one that started to cold cheese business started off slow and then eventually everybody started catching on it just got to the point there was the lines were getting longer and longer and people couldn't eat the pizza because they were coming out of the oven and then pizza was so hot oh and I'm so fat so with my father's decided to put some cold cheese on a slice so the kids could eat it right away so that's kind of brilliant I didn't realize that had a practical reason behind and I just figured it was just a topping or something have you been doing any experiment in the early yeah I whatever I eat Chinese food I've always gotten general cells and I started thinking is like you know what that might not be too bad on a pizza yeah so I brought that in and way through it on a pizza and collected sample it you know wow this is really good so we we kept that if you beloved it and then a few months later Walter showed up which is General Tso's and Buffalo mixed together with ranch dressing and that pizza is probably the biggest pizza right now why do a slice of cold cheese okay some nice cheese put it on top bingo there you go bite right into it now hmm I did exactly what I needed to do yeah I couldn't hammer this whole thing right now and not worry about burning the roof and you're sober too if you're a drunk it saves them from other things too so you gotta remember that you're really doing it some of them I don't even know how to order a slice of pizza late at night so what's it like operating a pizzeria in a college town like this it's so well known you're gonna have to find out I took Tino's advice and found out for myself I met up with Brian a fraternity president is he what a night out in Oneonta is all about 15 years ago I came here cuz my best friend went to school and I remember coming to the soup and sale 15 years ago when I was 11 years old thanks for rubbing that one in duo go go go I'm here every Friday for happy hour and like Wednesday nights ladies like it's $2 mixed drinks for like girls throughout Long Island's like $10 pizza ladies you get $10 $10 pitcher and four shots like if it goes well here alright let's do it let's do it alright what are we drinking I gave up sodas all that honest [Applause] [Music] she knows it's real going for the cold cheese sighs hey freak you what I'll always talk about so dandy College spring now I'm sober [Applause] alright here we are boys my stomach is full with alcohol so I need a little sour can't be that word of that it's great to be back in a college town though you know it's a very different experience get this scape the real world for a little off brief second this is graduation biggest fear that like most of us have be happy man don't be scared guys like you got your organized here in school take school serious real life would be a breeze for you I've got a great little tour of Oneonta not only a nightlife we're also the pizza scene yet and you guys really like I'm glad that you guys had us we saw Tino's during the day and we came back for the follow up at night and the follow up inmate was definitely always cracked up to be pleasure said this place is a crazy town everyone out is out getting drunk we joined the party today and some yourself with some goat cheese be turns and general Tanz pieces at the end I mean listen if you're in a college town got something to really want your neighbourhood - simple Oneonta that last by the cold cheese pizzas kind of lingering right now in my mouth it sounds delicious stop ladies [Music]

Channel: Munchies

Views: 3,539,188

Rating: 4.9053912 out of 5

Keywords: how to, cooking, Munchies, Munchiestv, food, drinks, eating, chef, restaurant, VICE, girl eats food, VICE eats, chef's night out, action bronson, documentary, documentaries, interview, interviews, culture, wild, world, exclusive, independent, underground, travel, funny, journalism, vice guide, vice presents, vice.com, vice, vice mag, vice videos, BEST PIZZA, Chicago, MUNCHIES, New York, PIZZA, cold cheese pizza, sicilian, grandma pizza, bar pie, new jersey, Oneonta, frank pinello, COLLEGE

Id: xQXYWxZCPqA

Length: 22min 34sec (1354 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 28 2016