Pizza A Libretto At Motorino In The East Village | Tasting Table NYC

As New Yorkers, we pride ourselves on a particular way of doing things, and when it comes to pizza we know there's only one method that works for eating a slice on the go: the highly portable "New York Fold."

Or is there? At Motorino's new East Village outpost (in the former Una Pizza Napoletana space), pizzaolo Mathieu Palombino (pictured) sells his pizzas only by the pie, but that doesn't mean the restaurant's takeout options are limited to a cardboard box.

Instead, when you don't feel like waiting for a seat in the packed dining room, ask for your pizza a libretto: an entire pie folded in thirds and wrapped in a crafty, drip-proof flourish of parchment paper. It's like the New York Fold on Neapolitan steroids, but this pizza bouquet–eaten from the crust downward–makes for a supersize one-handed meal.

Purists should try an expertly blistered Margherita ($11), while thrill-seekers should opt for the Smoked Scamorza ($17), a seasonal pie featuring thin, sweet strips of butternut squash, crispy sage leaves, pancetta and scamorza affumicate, a smoked Italian cow's-milk cheese.

Wounded pride has never tasted so good.

Motorino, 349 E. 12th St. (at First Ave.); 212-777-2644 or motorinopizza.com