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Read the press release here.

Love and Dough Brings Authentic Neapolitan Pizza to DUMBO

By Alexandra Leon | December 21, 2015 8:47am
 Love and Dough is now open at 57 Pearl Street in DUMBO.
Love and Dough is now open at 57 Pearl Street in DUMBO.
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DNAinfo/Alexandra Leon

DUMBO — Love meets dough with the opening of DUMBO’s newest pizza joint.

Now open at the corner of Pearl and Water Streets, Love and Dough serves authentic Neapolitan pies crafted by champion pizzaiolo Giuseppe Manco.

Manco, originally from Naples, won the title of best Italian-style pizza maker at the 2014 Pizza Expo in Las Vegas, beating 60 other chefs.

His Neapolitan-style pizza, marked by its soft but slightly crispy crust, is baked to cheesy perfection in a brick oven imported straight from the motherland.

“We want to bring an authentic product to DUMBO,” said owner Arthur Hasani, who also owns Archway Cafe just a couple doors down.

Hasani, who is originally from Albania, is fluent in Italian after seven years of living in Rome, where he says the pizza dough is thinner and crispier. After opening Archway seven years ago, he decided to expand when the spot that housed longtime neighborhood record shop Halcyon opened up earlier this year.

 Love and Dough is now open at 57 Pearl Street.
Love and Dough
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The space, a narrow dining room with high ceilings and globe-like light fixtures, was curated by Brooklyn-based designer Richard Velloso. The style evokes industrial Brooklyn with a contemporary Italian vibe, according to manager James Shields.

“It’s important to have a sense of place,” said Shields, who previously managed the three-Michelin-starred restaurant Jean Georges.

“This space speaks of DUMBO. We wanted to bring a piece of Italy but keep the feeling of DUMBO.”

Even in its first week of business, the small restaurant was tightly packed by the lunch rush as Manco’s small pies flew into and out of the oven. 

The menu features seven pizzas with red sauce and seven with white sauce. Customer favorites already include the “Surrpressata!!” — an unpredictable blend of tomato sauce, spicy meat, ricotta, mozzarella, sour cherries and mint — and the restaurant’s signature “Love & Dough,” made with rich truffle cream, portobello mushrooms, mozzarella and prosciutto di parma. 

Appetizers include cheese and meat plates, beef and veal meatballs and stracciatella — grilled bread with burrata cheese and cherry tomatoes. 

The salads are fresh Mediterranean creations like a roasted Brussels sprouts salad with mixed greens, pine nuts and pecorino cheese, a fennel salad with orange, baby arugula and cherry tomatoes, and a farro salad with golden raisins, onions, spinach, goat cheese and toasted pistachios.

There are a few calzones and one pasta on the menu, but Shields said the restaurant will eventually roll out a more extensive pasta selection. 

For dessert, there are sweet Italian treats like panna cotta or the obvious classic, a Nutella pizza.

While the restaurant doesn’t serve alcohol yet, its beer and wine license has been approved for January.

Love and Dough is open Monday through Saturday, noon to 9 p.m. at 57 Pearl St.