Despite living in NYC and having lived in Chicago before, pizza has never been a food that I've craved. Don't get me wrong, I love a great slice, especially if I've had a couple of beers in me but I've always been more drawn to more ethnically inspired food. However, every once in a while I have a really great pizza experience and it reminds me of how great pizza can be (I'm looking at you Roberta's). I've got to say that I'm putting Juliana's right up there.
I had heard about Juliana's from multiple people at how great it is and how much better it is compared to it's more famous next door neighbor Grimaldi's. So when Vinita and I found ourselves in DUMBO for opera in the park without any food or snacks, we knew our first stop afterwards was to get pizza stat. Although Juliana's is also pretty well known, it just never seems to draw the lines of Grimaldi's. While it was crowded, we were lucky enough to be able to get a seat right away. In true New York style, the pizza here is all thin crust fire brick oven style. Vinita, Meeta and I were literally about to gnaw our arms off so we ended up getting 1 large No.1 pizza ($30) and 1 small classic Margherita with pepperoni ($19) and a spinach salad with avocado and chickpeas ($14).
The salad was a solid mixed green salad with a good tasty olive oil, reg wine vinegar and Dijon dressing. It was just the healthy start that we needed before we completely gorged ourselves on pizza. The special No. 1 pizza came with mozzarella, smoked cheese, pancetta, scallions, and white truffles in truffle oil. Dear god - it was a stunning pizza. While I usually prefer a red tomato sauce base, this was a truly fantastic white pizza. The combination of all the ingredients was heavenly and it's rare to see scallions on pizza but I really loved the addition of it. The pancetta was amazing salty goodness with the right balance of fat and meat on it. I probably had about 3 slices in about a time span of 30 minutes. I usually don't like nor eat the crust of pizza but this one was really quite tasty. It was thin but with a perfect crunch on the outside and soft on the inside. It was quite possibly a perfect crust. The classic margherita was also lip smacking delicious and the pepperoni was another kind of salty meaty goodness. There's just something about a classic pepperoni pizza after a few glasses of wine that just feels so right. In true Brooklyn fashion, we ended the night with homemade cannolis that was the perfect ending to the night.
I rarely rave about pizza but there was just something about this night and the food here that just made me swoon. I took the leftover pizza home and they were even great the next day. I've always loved DUMBO, but knowing that I could hit up Juliana's as well the next time I'm here makes me even happier. Total bill: $49/pp with tax and tip and wine
Photo Credit: Yelp
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