Dave Portnoy simply handed out considered one of his highest pizza scores ever to a newly opened pizza spot in Little Italy – which is now inflicting impatient strains and sold-out pies.
The Barstool Sports activities founder is understood for his viral — to not point out controversial — one-bite pizza opinions. And he lately gave Ceres — a three-month-old-or-so pizzeria at 164 Mott St. run by two former Eleven Madison Park cooks, Jake Serebnick and Julian Geldmacher — a whopping 9.2 out of 10 rating.
Portnoy showered it with reward, calling it “spectacular” and “must-have, top-of-the-list Manhattan pizza … as good as it gets.”
Does he have a brand new favourite NYC slice? That glory not less than places it thin-slice near a trio of his fight-inducing, top-tier NYC faves Portnoy revealed to The Put up final fall: “John’s of Bleecker, Lucali and Luigi’s. Those would be three that are all up there.”
Now, just a few days after Portnoy’s evaluate dropped, strains at Ceres are out the door, $6 slices are promoting out, and complete $40 pies are being offered on a time-slot foundation solely.
As The Put up’s meals columnist Steve Cuozzo beforehand famous in his evaluate of Ceres, the duo’s “kitchen skills show in their painstaking pizza preparation,” which features a crust made with wild yeast and toppings utilized with what Cuozzo referred to as “a scientist’s precision.”
To maintain up with the demand, Serebnick and Geldmacher — the pizzeria’s solely two staff — are imposing a system the place hungry pizza followers can begin lining up at midday sharp when the store opens to snag a time slot, then return later to say their piping-hot pie.
The younger homeowners is perhaps basking of their store’s rising reputation, however those that have been followers of Ceres since they opened are grumpy about Portnoy drawing huge crowds.
One X (previously Twitter) consumer wrote, “Dude. Wtf @barstoolsports @stoolpresidente – you ruined my favorite pizza spot. The line is fully down the block now,” together with an image of a large line wrapping round Mott St.
The Put up has reached out to Portnoy for additional remark.
Pizza pandemonium
On Thursday, locals like Jacob Shemia, Stanley Chera and Ness Ades waited hours to get a style of what’s rapidly changing into Manhattan’s most talked-about slice.
“I saw Dave’s video and how he gave it a 9.2. I live down here and thought, ‘Wow, I have to come,’” Ades informed The Put up.
“I came for the first time yesterday, it sold out at 4 p.m., and they told me to come back today. I did at 11 a.m., they put my name down, and I was just able to get it at 5:30 p.m.”
Shemia, who arrived at midday and was lucky sufficient to get a 5 p.m. slot, referred to as Portnoy the last word “guy of pizza” and stated, “When you hear Dave saying something’s good, you have to go try it.”
Chera, a self-proclaimed pizza aficionado from Brooklyn, wasn’t going to let the possibility slip by both. “I thought, ‘You know what? I need this slice of pizza.”
Keen pizza followers who didn’t know of the time-slot rule had been turned away by 5 p.m. as a pizza field scrawled with the phrases “Sold Out” in black ink was taped to the storefront by the homeowners.
The Ceres Instagram account (@ceres.nyc) lately famous that the pizzeria can solely cook dinner six pies at a time and maxes out at 140 per day.
“We don’t do online ordering,” the Story submit added, urging followers to get there early or danger going residence empty-handed — which is what occurred to many saddened clients, like Alexa Albert.
“I thought I was going to get here before the evening rush, and I was so disappointed,” Albert from Seattle informed The Put up.
Is the $40 pizza value it?
However is standing in line for an costly cheese pie – or tomato slice – actually value it? Since NYC is residence to a few of the finest pizza within the nation, some is perhaps skeptical of a rookie pizza store, whose unique idea took place through the pandemic.
After spending 4 years making an attempt to safe a lease and refusing to tackle buyers, Geldmacher and Serebnick racked up bank card debt to get the place up and operating.
And now? The gamble appears to be paying off. Quick.
And whereas some doubters exist — like Cuozzo, who declared some slices “too dry for my taste” — others who managed to snag a desired slice agreed with Portnoy’s extraordinarily excessive ranking.
“It lived up to the hype. The regular slice is amazing, the sauce is great, the cheese is great and fresh. … it’s definitely within the top three pizzas I’ve ever tried for sure,” Chera informed The Put up.
“I had six slices – it is probably the best pizza in Manhattan, maybe the best pizza in the five boroughs,” Ades added. These sound like combating phrases.
The drool-worthy pizza at Ceres not solely delighted clients’ style buds — it introduced them collectively.
Standing on the busy Mott Road sidewalk exterior the pizzeria, sort clients like Shemia and Justin Chapman provided a slice of their $40 pie to those that obtained turned away.
“Enjoy,” Chapman stated, as a beaming Albert held up a slice she by no means thought she would get an opportunity to strive earlier than heading again residence to Seattle. After taking a chew, she informed The Put up, “I love thin crust pizza … it’s actually pretty perfect.”
“I wasn’t going to let a $40 pie go to waste,” Chapman stated about sharing his pizza with a stranger. “That’s what we do in New York.”
Ceres can be closed from Might 16 to Might 20, so anybody who needs to strive the highly-rated pizza can come on Might 21.
