Modern Pizza New Rochelle, NY
Slice Rating
While visiting with a client in New Rochelle, we were taken to Modern pizza. This establishment appeared to have been an original eatery in this city, located to the north of Manhattan in Westchester County. Upon further study of their website, I learned that they have been serving up quality pizza since 1920!
Modern Pizza is not associated with Modern APizza in New haven, I made the same mistake myself when we first pulled up alongside this inconspicuously located pizza shop. Although the interior might fool you like you are in one of those New Haven places, you most definitely are not.
We waited a while for our waitress to come over, and placed our order for a large plain pie. My other associates ordered some man made concoction pizza with a bunch of toppings. We will only focus on the plain pie for now. While waiting for the pizza I got to look around, and enjoy the pleasant smell of this somewhat ancient oven. Previously I wrote an article on why pizza places with older ovens tend to put out better pizza, and this pizza place further proves my assumption. Every pie coming out of this oven looked close to perfect. The cheese was bubbling, the crust looked golden with a bit of char, and the smell was just overwhelming. Unlike other places using similar ovens, Modern Pizza seemed to take longer then the usual 5-6 minutes that it should take to cook. Perhaps this was due to the oven being backed up with all the orders on this busy Wednesday night.
When the pie arrived, I couldn't wait to dig in. I grabbed a slice which quickly fell apart. Guess it was just too hot, and I grabbed it too fast. This would not discourage me. I gave it a couple of minutes and took another slice which held up much better. Immediately upon grabbing this firmer, crispier slice, I noticed how excessive the amount of flour was on the bottom of the crust. It was like snowing when I bit into it. Quite surprising to see such an amateur mistake from such an established pizza locale. The points it lost for the abundance of flour, was quickly made up for in taste. The taste of this pizza was pretty damn good! They use a sweet sauce with is lightly applied under a layer of fresh tasting cheese. Although the cheese could have been a bit more tastier, the sauce made up for what it lacked.
All-in-all I would make a valiant attempt to revisit Modern Pizza if I am ever up in the New Rochelle area. If you happen to live nearby, you should go and try this place out. Try not to do it in the summer, since it was a bit hot in the joint. Although it is nothing compared to the New Haven pizza places it seems to want to keep up with, considering there aren't many other types of pizza places around New Rochelle, it is easy for them to stand out.
Be prepared to get frustrated when looking for parking!
Modern Pizza gets 6 out of 8 slices.