By: Joe Skms
Score: 88
http://www.DonAntonioPizza.com
Don Antonio by Starita, located at 309 W 50th St. in midtown Manhattan (Hell’s Kitchen) and also in Naples, Italy, is operated by two of the cities renowned master pizzaiolos, Roberto Caporuscio and Antonio Starita. Opening Don Antonio’s in 2012 seems to be a match made in Pizza heaven.
Over the last few years the glowing reviews from multiple trusted sources (ranging from The Village Voice to New York magazine…..) put this on my must try list and have put Don Antonio’s well into the top 20 rated pizza’s in NYC.
Today with family in tow we ventured in and ordered several pies. The signature pizza here is Antonio’s, Montanara Starita so we ordered (2), The Specialty and the Genovese, we also ordered the Burrata Roberto and sat next to a family from Bronxville (tables are so tight we might as well have sat with them) who ordered the Margherita. (ck the menu for the list of ingredients for the pizzas).
With a lively fun atmosphere, wonderful service and the aroma in the air from the beautiful “imported from Napoli” 1st class wood pizza oven you would expect not much could be disappointing. (See video of the oven in action)
If you have a fancy for quality Italian bread, rich, doughy with a smokey wood and earthy taste then the Montanara Starita served on wood boards could be your go-to pizza. As interesting and tasty as the pizza is we couldn’t get past the fact that this seemed as if we were eating an exceptional Italian bread more then a pizza.(It’s possible that’s what Roberto and Antonio wanted?).
The Burrata Roberto pizza was made with exceptional homemade cheese and wonderful tasting olive oil, this pizza was served on an attractive glass plate. The plate had a slight pitch toward the center causing the cream from the cheese and the oils to migrate toward the center making the center of the pizza wet and mushy (albeit great tasting) just not a great texture.
Our new Bronxville friends wanted to send back the Margherita pie since it arrived under-cooked. Instead they just ordered another asking it to be more well done, This time although better it was still reviewed by our new friends (adults and children alike) not to be worth a 2nd trip. Grandma from Bronxville wanted to make sure we knew that this is grandpa’s favorite pie, pillowy, soft and flavorful.
So another adventure in my pizza world and as in most cases the day was enjoyable, we shared pizza with family, a few new friends and we were able to take home a few slices (the packed and stacked with pizza box was classic) for the rest of the family to try and enjoy.
In Search of the Best.... PIZZA 
