When you tell someone you'll be spending time in New York, the inevitably start telling you all the places you *have* to go. The best bagels/pizza/burger/pastrami/drinks/etc of their lives, yadda yadda. Even locals get quite passionate about some of these categories, and pizza of course is a common one to debate. Once you get past the variations like square pizza (generally frowned upon), places only by the slice or only by the pie, etc, you are still met with intense debate. But there are a handful of places that nearly everyone has heard of, and at least agree are in the top.
L'Industrie is one of these places. It is also one of those places where people line up and wait for quite a while for their slices. Those who want a whole pie can at least order those in advance for pickup (but, no delivery, and they have 6 pie order maximums). But most people seem to line up and wait, as part of the overall experience. They do not take reservations.
L'Industrie has two locations, the original is in Williamsburg, opened in 2017. They followed their success by opening a second location in Manhattan in late 2023. Both locations are open daily, 12pm-10pm. Both are equally busy, all the time.
"From the City of Pistoia and the streets of NYC. We’ve come together to bring you L'industrie Pizzeria. With the artful techniques and passions of Italy blended with the flavors and characteristics of a classic New York slice. We work daily to bridge the gap between these worlds, while putting quality and passion above all."
They serve classic NY slices, but, more upscale versions of them. The menu has 12 different curated pies on it. No gluten-free options. They also have a daily sandwich, soft serve gelato, and some Italian desserts (tiramisu, pistachio tres leches, cookies, olive oil cake, bombolone, etc). No salads, no appetizers. Just pizza and great desserts. I like their style.
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OMG, pizza. |
I tried to have restraint, and tried only 3 of the 6 kinds we had. I'm glad I got to try 3, but my experience of each slice was fairly different. One was ... exceptional, life-changing nearly, the others, forgettable. That said, the great one was so great, I'll go back in a heartbeat.
The crust was perfectly crisped, dusted with a tiny bit of flour, lightly chewy. It was the right thickness to hold its shape well but not overwhelm, the back crust was puffy and had a slight char. Very good crust. I'm not a crust person usually, but I wanted this crust.
Next, I went for the Pesto Hello, an odd choice for me as I'm not a huge fan of pesto, but the spicy crumbled pork sausage really did call out to me. It also had (not on the menu description) gobs of ricotta dotted on top. This one was ... fine.
And for my final slice, I went for the tartufo, sorta because I had been really loving mushrooms on that trip. It too was one of their white pies, no red sauce, and it came with the same dots of ricotta on top. The truffle (oil) aroma was strong as I picked it up.
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L'Industrie Pie. $47. |
"Prosciutto di parma and burrata."
I nearly started with their namesake pie, topped with burrata and prosciutto because, well, you kinda have to right? And clearly many other people were going for it as their first slice. But the prosciutto just wasn't calling out to me.
Note that this pizza, when you get it fresh, it topped with the burrata and prosciutto after it is cooked, so those are cold toppings on the pizza. You can see the burrata had partially melted here from being boxed up with the hot pizza, when first served, they are fresh gooey gobs.
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Spicy Salami Pie. $37. |
"Spicy Italian Sopressata."
I briefly considered the spicy salami too, but quickly moved on, as there were other meat toppings I was more drawn to.
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Margherita Pie. $31. |
"Tomato sauce, mozzarella, extra virgin olive oil, parmigiano, basil."
The basic margherita was easy for me to look past, although I did hesitate for just a second thinking it might be good to try just a simple classic one as a good base point.
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Burrata Pie. $37. (Signature). |
"Tomato sauce, mozzarella, burrata."
I moved on because I saw the burrata pie, and that was clearly the answer for me, for my first slice. A notch above the margherita, and in the direction of their namesake pie, just, sans the pork product. And *this* is the one that turns out to be their signature pie. I immediately understood why. My goodness, this was an exceptional pizza.
It came with the expected big gobs of burrata well distributed on top, along with some less well distributed basil. Again, when you get it in person, the burrata is applied after cooking, so not as melted in as it was here, the heat from the pizza had melted it a bit (which was fine with me!).
My goodness. I was blown away on all levels, even with extremely high expectations. It lived up, surpassed even.
The crust was perfectly crisped, dusted with a tiny bit of flour, lightly chewy. It was the right thickness to hold its shape well but not overwhelm, the back crust was puffy and had a slight char. Very good crust. I'm not a crust person usually, but I wanted this crust.
The sauce is what blew me away, just the right level of tang and sweetness, and applied in the proper amount so that I tasted it in every bite, but it too did not overwhelm. And then of course the cheese and burrata on top, perfectly melted, and just dreamy. The ratios here were right too.
Every element about this was done well, just really exceptional all together. I don't think I've had a better pizza of this style before. 5/5. Nothing I'd change.
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Pesto Hello Pie. $38. |
"Crumbled Spicy Pork Sausage, Nut Free Pesto."
It actually had no sauce (I was expecting pesto spread under the cheese), but instead was a white pie with the pesto zig-zagged on top only. The pesto was fairly standard, classic pesto taste, but there wasn't a lot of it.
The sausage was as excellent as I hoped it would be, super flavorful. I wanted even more hunks of it, or bigger hunks, as I loved it so much, and it was fairly minimal. 4/5 sausage though.
The ricotta was standard, slightly herby. Same great crust. But I found the slice a bit boring, besides the sausage. Kinda dry. It was excellent sausage but the rest of the slice wasn't compelling enough for me. 3.5/5 overall, although the sausage really was a 4/5 itself. I wouldn't get this again, but I could imagine getting the sausage on another pie (they do allow customizations).
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Tartufo Pie. $37. |
"Mozzarella, braised cremini mushrooms, ricotta and truffle oil."
And for my final slice, I went for the tartufo, sorta because I had been really loving mushrooms on that trip. It too was one of their white pies, no red sauce, and it came with the same dots of ricotta on top. The truffle (oil) aroma was strong as I picked it up.
It let me down. The truffle oil is definitely the first thing I tasted with this one. It was fine, but definitely dominant, so, be prepared for that. But that is really all I tasted, no other flavors really came through. It was fairly oily from both the truffle oil and the cheese. It did have a good distribution of mushrooms on top as well, but I found myself really wishing it had some kind of sauce, and that the truffle oil was tamped down. It did still have their great crust though. The ricotta again made it eat a bit dry (besides all the oil).
But really all I tasted was truffle oil. 3/5, my least favorite. I wouldn't get this one again.