Hurricane Irene Special Report: Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza

Before the winds started howling and the rain started falling, my dad and I decided to grab a pie from Anthony's new location in Woodbury. I was at first skeptical because Anthony's is a chain pizzeria, as opposed to the more local joints, and because it was started in Florida (a state not exactly known for it's pizza). We decided to go half mushroom and kalamata olive, and half plain (because the fiancee likes neither of those toppings).




Things I liked:
1. The crust: the coal oven gives a smoky flavor to the crust. The edges were well-done, and the crust overall was crispy.[FN1]

2. The kalamata olives: prepared more as a spread rather than slices of olives that you normally get when you order black olives. I found this very enjoyable because it blended nicely with the cheese and sauce.

Things I did not like:
1. Size: too small, plain and simple. Sometimes I don't mind going for a smaller pie with smaller slices. But with the impending hurricane I wanted big pizza and didn't get it.

2. The crust: yes, I am putting this in both the like and dislike category for one reason. The crust was a little too thin - I need doughy bubbles on my pizza!!

Overall good flavor that exceeded my expectations from a chain pizzeria. I'll probably go back, but next time, order a pie just for myself.

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FN1: I first became intrigued by coal oven pizza in the summer of 2009 when New York Magazine published an issue dedicated largely to the new trend of pizza in NYC. At least two places on the list of the 20 best places at the time used coal ovens. While I spent my summer in NYC eating my way through the list, I never made it to a coal place. But having had this pizza, I'm even more excited to see how others do it!


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