Bid a hearty buongiorno to Pizza Vinoteca, a (you guessed it) pizza-and-wine-filled lunch spot, now
open just off Union Square. Here’s what you’ll discover upon arrival.
It looks like a fast-food joint… at first. The main floor’s just an open kitchen
filled with touchscreen menus and the heavenly scent of grilled pizza. You can stop here and get a pie to
go. But then you’d miss…
A 15-foot-tall tile mosaic of Sophia Loren. It’s on the wall as you climb the stairs
to the dining room. You… can’t miss it.
There’s a glass roof. The building used to be the Tiffany headquarters in the 19th
century. Which means on a blustery day like today, you can still enjoy lunch under full coverage of
sun.
The wine situation: strong to very strong. You’ve got 36 different options by the
glass, and even the pizza dough is leavened with red.
It’s pronounced jowl-CHAY-lay. It’s Jowlciale—a pie with spicy chili pesto, fontina, pistachios and honey. Order it up with a gelato float
and some sangiovese or a barrel-aged rum Manhattan.
If you ask nicely, maybe they’ll drop some gelato in.
