Review: Pizza Pop-Up, Brooklyn, NY with Anthony Falco, World Pizza Consultant

pizzaA few weeks back, the Michael W Travels family attended the New York Times Travel Show.

Before leaving the show, Lucas and I sat in on an interesting chat with Anthony Falco, former Pizza Czar of Roberta’s in Bushwick and currently an International Pizza Consultant.

Since then, I’ve followed Falco on Instagram (@milleniumfalco) and he’s followed me back. Through Instagram, I learned about a special pop-up at one of our favorite food halls , DeKalb Market. Fortina would be featuring Mr. Falco’s Thin-N-Crispy Pizza inside their full service restaurant.

When I heard about the event, I had to check it out even though we typically don’t go out on school nights anymore.

The pop-up started at 5:00pm and we arrived around 5:40 hoping that it wouldn’t be packed. (It’s always hard to know what to expect at these kind of food events.)

Fortina wasn’t too busy but there were quite a few people at the restaurant already. As we were getting seated, I spotted the Pizza Czar tending to the ovens.
Invalid request error occurred.Invalid request error occurred.Once we took our seats, we took a look at the special menu for the Mr.Falco Thin-N-Cripsy pop-up.

It’s always tough to decide what to order but with only five options, it didn’t take Kim and I long to come to a decision.Invalid request error occurred.We ordered:

  1. Classic Plain Pie: Fresh Mozz, Aged Mozz, Tomato, Parm & Oregano
  2. Pepperoni & Jalapeno: Aged Mozz, Tomato, Oregano, Pickled Jalapeno, Pepperoni, served with a Side of Ranch

The pies looked and smelled awesome when they came out and we couldn’t wait to dig in.

We expected the pizza to be similar to a bar pie, (Falco mentioned that they pretty much were) but I found them to be a bit thicker than a typical bar pie. Regardless, they were super crispy and not too heavy.

Classic Plain Pie:Invalid request error occurred.Just about whenever I’m trying out a new pizzeria, I need to try the regular pie. I want to see what their pizza is all about with no gimmicks or toppings to hide the flavors.

From the moment I took a bite, this pie really hit the spot. The fresh ingredients shined with the most distinct and noticeable flavor being the parm. Overall, this was an excellent pie and one that I’d definitely order again.

Pepperoni & Jalapeno:
Invalid request error occurred.I was surprised by how different the Pepperoni & Jalapeno pie was from the original. One of the big differences was that this pie didn’t have parm.

This allowed for the pepperoni and jalapenos to really stand out.  We asked for them to go light on the jalapenos and I wish we hadn’t. They weren’t too spicy and added lots of great flavor.Invalid request error occurred.A side of ranch came with this pie and it was also delicious. Kim mentioned how it was a bit “dilly“, a flavor that I typically don’t care for. I can’t say that I’ve ever had ranch dressing with pizza before but it went really well with this pie. I also saved some of the crust to use almost like a breadstick with the dressing.

I should’ve taken an after-shot, there was no ranch left in that cup!
Invalid request error occurred.Here’s a shot of the undercarriage of the pie. You can see that it isn’t overly cooked or charred and that the crust is quite firm.Invalid request error occurred. Invalid request error occurred.Lucas and Theo both also loved the pizza. Lucas preferred the Pepperoni pie, we removed the jalapenos for him.

Before we left, I spotted some heavy hitters in Brooklyn pizza.

As I came out of the bathroom, I thought I spotted Frank Pinello, owner of Best Pizza and host of Viceland’s The Pizza Show. When I pointed him out, Kim confirmed that it was him. At his table was the owner of Lucali, Mark Iaccono. I guess they were showing their support for Thin-N-Crispy.

Overall, if the Pizza Czar, Anthony Falco does a pop-up in Brooklyn again, we’ll definitely try to attend.

Find out more about International Pizza Consultant Anthony Falco here.

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