Saraghina Pizzeria In Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, And Chef Massimiliano Nanni
Bed-Stuy's Saraghina serves a mighty fine pie
If the queue at Co. or the crowds at Kesté have you settling for substandard pizza elsewhere, consider making a trip across the East River to Saraghina, a Bed-Stuy pie shop with a pure-bred Italian pedigree.
This spring, Massimiliano Nanni (who owns the West Village's Piadina and Edoardo Mantelli (the former creative director of fashion line Tocca) stitched a storefront, garage and leafy garden into country-chic quarters adorned with butcher-block tables, whitewashed walls, vintage farm implements and a wood-fed brick oven.
On hot nights, you'll want to sit as far from the oven as possible–on the back patio if you can–where you can snack on antipasto or sip BYO beer or wine (hurry, the liquor license arrives soon) before tearing into one of a half dozen varieties of well-blistered Neopolitan-style pies ($10 to $15, cash only).
It's here that Mantelli applies the lessons he learned while apprenticing under Luzzo's pizzaiolo Michele Iuliano. Saraghina's standard Margherita and mozzarella di bufala are textbook takes on the classics, but we favor the spicy capocollo (dry-cured pork shoulder) and the garden-fresh ortolana (tender zucchini and eggplant).
It appears the student has become the master.
Saraghina, 435 Halsey St. (at Lewis Ave.); Brooklyn; no phone or website