Nick Anderer’s Roman-inspired pizzas at the newly-opened Marta are delighting diners, renowned chefs and critics alike – just try getting a table at the hit restaurant in the Martha Washington Hotel. Waits can apparently reach three hours.
But Anderer is not content with his pizza just yet.
“I wouldn’t say we’ve nailed how we want to do pizza, it’s always an evolution,” he said in a phone interview. “Part of it’s learning, part of it’s the mother yeast, the character keeps changing.”
And beyond technique, dough and the heat of the wood-fired ovens, there are always toppings. And Anderer is experimenting.
Next week, his menu will feature a tripe-topped pizza.
First, they will blanch the tripe at least three times to rid the stomach lining “of what we lovingly refer to as ‘funk,'” Anderer said.
Then the tripe will be cooked in the pizza sauce – which is plum tomatoes, a little water and nothing else. Once strained, the tripe-flavored sauce will be spread on the dough and topped with chilis, pecorino, mint and of course, tripe.
Will New Yorkers be running to Marta to try Anderer’s creation? Judging by how much we love pizza, the popularity of the restaurant so far and the reputation of city-dwellers as adventurous eaters, we’re going to answer definitively: yes.
29 E. 29th St., martamanhattan.com
