LICqueenstv writer Daniel Sennet
LIC residents have been teased with the opening of L’Inizio for the past few months and at long last, a few friends and I had the opportunity to try it. Only one week into its opening, there was a steady crowd coming into the upscale pizza joint and the staff seemed to be managing a relatively forgiving group of eaters. No matter how my experience unfolded, I encourage you to come and try it out and decide for yourselves, as pizza is, if nothing else, a food born from love and as such, is one of the most subjectively judged food groups.With me tonight were my wife who was looking for an alternative to traditional pizza, an 18 year old that was looking for quantity and our neighbors, fellow ex-Manhattanites looking for the perfect combination of quality and quantity. As we entered, you immediately get a warm and fuzzy feeling emanating from the exposed brick wall and the home-inspired decorum. Bright lights, small ceiling fans and (compared to Manhattan) an open space make the place welcoming and you get the feeling that you’re in for a treat. At that point, the confusion sets in. There’s no one to greet you or seat you, so the upscale reputation the owners are trying to create suffers a setback. No big deal; we’re at a pizza joint. We seat ourselves at a table and realize there’s no wait staff…again, no big deal; we’re at a pizza joint. On approaching the area to order, we get asked if we’ve been helped, and respond that we’d like to order a few pies. They motioned us down to the end of the bar to order. So why ask? I inquired about their salads…and they were “coming soon” along with their paninis and ‘sweets’. Their store and online menus shouldn’t advertise the existence of menu items that don’t exist. Ok… at the end of the day, we came for the pizza and we were still excited about it. We make our way along an open top display of various slices. I have to admit, they were beautiful. Obviously a higher caliber than your basic cheese or pepperoni slice you can grab for $2. The Carciofo slice, described as “Crispy artichokes, plum tomatoes, ricotta, roast garlic and basil. Thin crust and pan-baked L'inizio style squares” catches my attention as does the Parma, another square with delightfully-thin sliced prosciutto di Parma. Taking a back seat to these slices were a few different calzones that were probably delicious, but not what we came for. All in all, things were looking up. We finally get to the cashier who takes our order of two pies, garlic knots (another funny contradiction, why offer garlic knots? I thought you get those 5 for a $1 on 6th ave) and an order of meatballs. The accompanying four drinks took the cashier 6 minutes to ring in. Their Ipad POS system was either too complicated or the staff hadn’t been properly trained. The total, including tip, was $80 for the five of us. Not bad. Ok, order is in, appetites are strong,
expectations are high and the mood is right. We start to take a look around. The exposed brick, granite counter tops and high ceilings offer a refined Long Island City industrial chic atmosphere. There is a back patio that if it were not raining, would have immediately called to us. More on that later. Taking a look at the pizza-making station, I noticed a multi-tiered metal oven that appeared to be right out of the box. Shiny and somewhat industrial. And then the music sets in. At a place where the ingredients are sourced locally (as in, the back patio) and are extremely fresh, where there is no pepperoni but house-made sausage or spicy soppressata, why are we listening to 70s disco or the theme to Grease? I’m just not sure if this is a grab-a-slice pizza joint or an upscale pizza establishment. I get the feeling that the owners haven’t decided yet either. The pizzas were made fresh to order and took approximately 20 minutes to prepare. They were delivered to the back bar, along with the meatballs (served in a plastic takeout container) and our name was called to come and grab it. We weren’t given any cutlery, or plates, or napkins, etc. Ok, not a problem because in front of us were two humungous pizzas. I do mean very large. I was excited to see thin-crust pies, one rectangular “Cinque Terre” a vegetarian pizza topped with beautifully prepared peppers, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes and basil and one circular, the Prosciutto di Parma. Neither appeared to be greasy or sloppy, but rather refined and elegant. We each take our first bite, that oh-so-delicious, tantalizing and long-awaited first bite, the one that makes you forget about everything leading up to that point, the one that gives you the satisfaction from having your expectations not only meet, but exceeded and the one that immediately decides for you when the next time you’ll be coming back is. And instead of the earthy tones from the basil or the peppers or the aromas and saltiness from the prosciutto, we get met with a rather anemic tasting crust and bland sauce. It could only be described as missing the love that good pizza has to be made with. It’s as if the restaurateurs had studied hard for a huge final exam, were very well prepared, knew their material inside and out, and then choked.
At the risk of sounding off on a place that has only been open for one week, I want to mention a few key points. First, it is nice to have the option to get a sophisticated square of pizza, not just a greasy pepperoni slice. After going to town on our meal, we still had 5 slices to take home. Excellent value. The staff all seemed very willing and accommodating. Not in use on the rainy night was a beautiful back patio that should one day either seat guests or offer the opportunity to enjoy a standing drink. The place is rife with potential. At the end of the day, I could tell that passion for pizza was in the air, but the staff needed a few more training days to get their flow right, the oven needed about a thousand pizzas made in it before public use and the final product needed some further refinements before being sold to a consuming public that has a deep-rooted history in pizza. I have no doubt that in 2 months, L’Inizio will find its balance and its place in Long Island City as the premiere pizza joint, but for now, the staff behind it need to work out the kinks.
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