Video Log: Day 34, Sam's Restaurant

DAY 31d: OCTOBER 31st, 2010
Sam's Restaurant (Cobble Hill, Brooklyn) - full review



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Day 31d; Pizza Month 2010 - Sam's Restaurant (Cobble Hill, Brooklyn)

DAY 31: OCTOBER 31st, 2010

LOCATION: Sam's Restaurant (Cobble Hill, Brooklyn)

ORDER: 1 slice of cheese

GUEST: Scott Wiener, Ronnie Palmer, various other pizza tour guests

REVIEW:
A timeless Brooklyn classic.

From the outside of Sam's Restaurant, you wouldn't guess that this is a place to get high quality brick oven pizza. Heck, you might not even think the place is still in business. But it is and has been for over 80 years. If there is any doubt look no further than the retro neon lights and vintage hand-painted signs clearly representing yesteryear.

One step inside and the place opens up revealing a wide-open dining area, a full bar, and walls plastered with iconic photographs of older times. You might think you stumbled onto the set of Sopranos. This could be because you have. Sam's Restaurant has been featured on the Sopranos and the photos with James Gandolfini and other cast members indicate it is a source of pride. Sam's Restaurant should also be proud of their pizza.

Louis Magliaccio, the current owner of Sam's, eats a slice of his own pizza nearly every night for quality control and, well, because he loves it. He is also constantly scouring the market for the best tomatoes for pizza sauce. The sauce on our pizza was the result of multiple types of whole peeled Italian tomatoes combined with rich tomato puree and infused with other herbs and spices. There was also copious amounts of it beneath the creamy Polly-O mozzarella. And the crust kept it all together (in more ways than one). It was firm enough to contain the toppings yet chewy enough to eat by itself illustrating one of the benefits of eighty plus years of food preparation.

Bring cash and plenty of time as Sam's does not accept any credit cards nor any "attitude." The flip side of "not rushing the guests" is that service does not want to be rushed either. I love the personal attention we received from Louie, the owner/waiter/bartender at Sam's. I also noticed the other guests getting a chance to converse with him as well. He's a friendly guy. Of course, if you don't want a new friend or a new favorite pizzeria, you probably should go elsewhere.


VIDEO CLIP:

RATING:
4.17 out of 5

• VALUE:
  3.5/5


• AMBIENCE:
  3/3


• TASTE:
  8/10


• SERVICE:
  3/3

17.5/21 = .833 x 5 = 4.17

MISCELLANEOUS:
1. I met Louis Magliaccio, the owner of Sam's Restaurant. His father, Mario used to own Sam's so everyone assumed his father's name was "Sam," thus making him the "son of Sam." Louis prefers not to be called that.


2. This was the last pizzeria on Scott's Pizza Tour of Brooklyn. By the time it ended I was so full but Scott warned, "Around 7pm, you will get very hungry again." He was right.

Day 31; Pizza Month 2010 - Scott's Pizza Tours (Brooklyn)

DAY 31: OCTOBER 31st, 2010

LOCATION: Scott's Pizza Tour (Brooklyn)

ORDER: 4 slices of pizza at 4 different pizzerias including Lombardi's, Totonno's, J&V Pizzeria, and Sam's Restaurant

GUEST: Scott Wiener, Ronnie Palmer, various pizza tourists

REVIEW:
Eat your way through pizza history.

Rarely are New York City tours both informative AND delicious. Scott's Pizza Tours tosses aside the "look, don't touch" philosophy and replaces it with the much more fun "learn it then eat it" philosophy. Whether by bus or by foot, Scott takes his tours to historically significant pizza related institutions that have created, redefined, and perfected New York pizza over the past century.

A true expert in all things pizza, Scott articulates facts about pizzerias, owners, ovens, timelines, and ingredients. He even answered the age-old question of why certain cheeses burn the roof of your mouth.

"The cheese is not what's burning the roof of your mouth," Scott explains, "it's the oil within the cheese." He went on to point out that fresh mozzarella, since it is filled with water, does not pose the same danger as the "aged" or 'low moisture' mozzarella. The oil contain within them, while making the cheese more resilient (and easier to transport), retains much more heat than water, thusly, putting your mouth at risk. Be warned as most pizzerias use aged mozzarella.

All the tours begin where it all began, at Lombardi's, New York's first pizzeria. Here Scott distributes his Pizza Survival kit which contains a small notepad for recording pros and cons of each slice. There are also lemon candies for pallate cleansing between slices and a wet nap "if you get schmutz on you." And finally, each goodie bag contains a gummi pizza that Scott refers to as an "emergency pizza."

Soon enough, the whole group gets to taste a slice of Lombardi's pizza. While we eat, Scott breaks down the composition of this (and every) slice along the tour. His fascination with each component from heat source to eating technique is contagious. By the time the tour leaves Lombardi's, Scott is leading more than a dozen pizza connoisseurs into the streets of New York.

Here's where you have two options - outer borough by bus or Manhattan by foot. We signed up for the Brooklyn by bus tour, so we boarded the cheesewagon (school bus) driven by Ronnie Palmer, a New York area road warrior.

First stop, Totonno's in Coney Island. With the help of the bus's Public Address system, Scott's pizza knowledge continues to flow. Tomatoes, Protected Designation of Origin, and the canning process all become interesting when Scott speaks. Then comes the trivia and the interactive discussion. It's like a road trip and a tour in one! Before long, we're there!



And our pizza is there too, having just exited the oven. Slices are consumed, notes are made, pictures are taken, and then it's back to the bus. Next stop, J&V.

The road trip resumes with Scott and Ronnie at the helm. Each place offers a different version of the same thing that we all love. Conversation amongst the fellow passengers organically pop up and, before long, we're all a happy bunch of friends eating pizza together - a testament to Scott and to pizza, in general.

Despite having already eaten three slices, the bus pulls up to a fourth. It's Sam's Restaurant. We make our way to the back, ushered by Louie, the current owner. Waiting for us is a long table with a red checkered tablecloth, plates, and water. We sit down, find room for our final slice and discuss the differences between all the pizza we have consumed.

Inevitably, according to Scott, one person's favorite component of a slice will be someone else's least favorite. These disagreements often spark friendly debates but, in the end, there is no "bad pizza," especially on Scott's tour.

Everyone will leave Scott's pizza tour happy and full...full of knowledge, full of New York, and full of pizza.

If it's not clear already, I recommend going on one of Scott's Pizza Tours.



VIDEO CLIP:

RATING:
5 out of 5


MISCELLANEOUS:
1. Scott Wiener has a pizza slice costume he let me wear.
2. Scott has an awesome website and is on TV all the time. Check out his website here: ScottsPizzaTours.COM