Take Your Daughters to Roberta’s Day

I, Ziggy U, because Google will not allow accounts without a last name a la Cher, hearts Roberta’s pizza. I’ve been eating Roberta’s pizza for the past two years. I’ve been stung by its Bee Sting, and started riots when they stopped offering it at Madison Square Eats. I’ve been touting its pizza and recommended Roberta’s to total strangers asking for pizza and even non pizza stuff (Can you recommend a good shoe lace store in Bushwick that wont break the bank). I’ve gone to the annual Roberta’s festival in its back yard once where they give away the pies for free. I’ve done it all. Except for one tiny little detail… Eat at Roberta’s. Up until yesterday I’ve never eaten inside Roberta’s. I’ve gone close a few time. Remember the Zizi Limona post last year? I didn’t feel it was fair to Zizi to mention that we were actually on our way to Roberta’s that day, but the wait for a table was over an hour.

That’s the norm at Roberta’s. Over one hour waits. Regulars will be drooling over the pictures here, not so much for the all too familiar food, but the empty tables. This is Wednesday at 3:30, nap time at hipsterland, and perfect timing before 4-5 where only pizza and Romaine salad are available. Why are there long waits? A) Its extremely popular B) The pizza is great C) There’s nothing else whatsoever in the immediate area, but empty lots and graffiti filled structures. Its also pretty freakin far. We somehow, by pure Hanukkah miracle, survived the drive and ensuing meal without the unimaginable: The youngest’s phone dying.

We started with a salad, which turned out to be $5 more expensive since in true a la carte fashion, the bread and butter is a menu item. This is a New York trend that I hope reverses soon as I didn’t find much wrong with the concept of receiving the bread and butter for free. Here, you expect to get something that resembles this, but instead you get something that you normally get for free elsewhere, albeit a nice warm baguette and butter that was a little oversalted. The Romaine “I cant believe its not Caesar” Salad was as good and fresh as Romaine Salads can get, with candied walnuts, Pecorino and mint.

Ribs or Carbonara? Ribs or Carbonara? “We are out of the Ribs”. That settles it me thinks. The Carbonara arrives looking nothing like traditional Carbonara, and more like some heated yellow mess, was surprisingly quite delicious. The Guanciale was missing its snap, but the pasta was peppery, eggy and rich. We attacked this thing with full force. The pizzas were the same classic Neapolitans we’ve been enjoying for years. Margherita was perfectly light and airy, and so was the busier secret menu item Bee Sting with the honey and Soppressata. Try it at a food festival near you, or take the schlep over the bridge and then some