A Bushwick Hole in the Wall
I can’t believe that I've only just discovered Roberta’s, but now that I have, I feel a pull toward Bushwick that never existed before. It’s a cool place with more going for it than great thin-crust pizza; what makes Roberta’s special is its commitment to sustainability and community. It houses an internet-based radio station that focuses on the local food movement, which broadcasts from a shipping container out the back. With a small grant from Alice Waters, the owners were able to create a greenhouse on top of an old shipping container, which is heated by the hot air harnessed from the restaurant's refrigeration unit. They also compost their food waste on site and recycle kitchen oil into bio-diesel.
It was a during a vicious thunderstorm that I decided not to head home after a meeting in Bushwick, but instead to search out the somewhat hidden entrance to Roberta's. Walking in and feeling the heat of the big, red oven, it was such a contrast from the damp and barren industrial streets outside that I immediately felt optimistic. The space is big and open thanks to its past life as a garage, but the large wooden tables, mismatched chairs, and windows looking out to a patio give the room a cozy ambiance. Being about 3 p.m., the restaurant was lightly scattered with customers enjoying brunch-style pizzas and drinking locally brewed beer out of mason jars.
I don’t eat pizza very often and if I do, it has to be a margherita and it has to be amazing, otherwise why bother? The last one I ate was at Motorino’s new location in the East Village. I had read the rave reviews and went to check it out; although the pizza was super thin and had the much talked about airy and charred outer crust, it just didn’t rock my world, and for the price, I would have happily given it a miss.
As I waited to order a margherita pizza at Roberta’s, I saw some similarly puffy, charred crusts being delivered to tables around me, and wondered how it would compare. Since I had my mind set on pizza, I didn’t really listen to the list of specials, but when my dining companion’s order arrived, I was intrigued; a warm currant and fennel-seed roll with honey butter. It was perfect: plump currants in a moist, chewy dough surrounded by a crusty edge studded with fragrant fennel seeds. The honey butter melted in and added just the right amount of sweetness. It wouldn’t have even mattered if the pizza turned out to be average; I knew I wouldn’t forget the inspiration that roll sparked. The pizza wasn’t at all average, it was excellent—and for half the price of the aforementioned margherita, it is well worth the trip.
Roberta’s 261 Moore Street, Brooklyn. 718-417-1118
Photography by Anthony Falco
Amy Chaplin
Amy Chaplin is an Australian living in New York City by way of Amsterdam and London. She grew up in rural New South Wales in a family and community of gourmet vegetarians; cooking and eating meals from her family’s biodynamic garden sparked her passion for fresh ingredients and hand-made food. It can be said that Chaplin’s career as a chef began while making bread with her father and peeling apples for her mother’s crumble. Chaplin’s upbringing also helped inspire her philosophy, that how and what we eat directly affects the world in which we live, as well as our own well-being. To this day the food she cooks features local, organic and plant-based ingredients. After 5 years as executive chef of the world-renowned vegan restaurant Angelica Kitchen, Amy now consults, cooks and teaches privately, her clients include Natalie Portman and Anna Devera Smith, among others. Chaplin finds herself dispensing recipes and answering queries about the health benefits of ingredients on a daily basis. This whole foods chef is always happy to share her passion for the natural culinary arts and loves inspiring others to cook and eat well too.