New Yorkers are arrogant about pizza, and with reason. We do have the best pizza you’ll ever find outside of Italy. See? Okay, I would rephrase that to say that New Yorkers are arrogant about a particular kind of pizza, the coal-oven thin crust variety, not to be confused with Chicago’s deep dish or a hearty thick crust elsewhere. But ours is still the best. 🙂
(Read DJ’s take on Grimaldi’s, Patsy’s, DiFara’s, Rome’s Pizzeria Da Baffeto, and Sint Maarten’s La Fregate. I do love my slice!)
And so when a friend said the pizza at this restaurant in Manila was good, I was skeptical and nearly rolled my eyes. Good pizza? Surely you don’t know who you’re talking to. But wait, there was a twist. It wasn’t just pizza but PANIZZA, a supposed combination of pizza and panini, that made me even more suspicious. You must be kidding me. I knew I had to try this bipolar pie.
Rolled up panizza. The richness of the cheese combined with the crunch of the crust is the perfect accompaniment to the freshness of the greens inside.
Google it. No such listings for Panizza exist other than family trees for that Italian last name and restaurant listings from the Philippines. Is panizza truly a Filipino phenomenon? Why hasn’t anyone thought of it elsewhere? Some entrepreneurial spirit needs to read this and rock New York with panizza because it was so, so good! Continue reading →