The Bronx: Arthur Avenue Pizza

Saturday we headed for Arthur Avenue in the Bronx. It’s a tidy Italian enclave that’s bursting with pork stores, meat markets, cheese emporiums, and, of course, restaurants and pizza places. As the Food Section says, Arthur Ave is “the hot spot for Italian staples like fresh mozzarella, deli meats, and fresh fish.“

It was lunchtime so pizza seemed like a good choice. We stepped inside Zero Otto Nove. Packed with students from nearby Fordham University, this full-service eatery is decorated like a theme park version of Italy. A pizza oven is stationed in a small enclosed space fully visible from the dining room.

Our pizza with arugula and cherry tomatoes was topped with first-rate mozzarella, as was a pie studded with broccoli rabe and sausage. But the blanket of arugula smothered the topping. That might have been OK– but only if I had ordered a pizza salad. Even more disappointing was the crust. It was downright spongy.

The best part of the meal was the bread basket, which contained a truly sensational loaf of Italian bread, crusty on the outside, chewy on the inside. We plowed through slice after slice, dipping each one in a dish of excellent olive oil.

Zero Otto Nove
2357 Arthur Ave.
Bronx, NY
718 220 1027

More From foodandthings

• Yom Kippur Break-the-Fast Recipe: The Best Noodle Kugel
• Cambridge, MA: The Best Burger Anywhere
• DiFara Pizza

Ask foodandthings To Recommend Your Posts

Related posts:

1. Is the New York Pizza Slice Dead? Find a Fine One at Penn Station
2. Pizza: Keste in the Village for Neopolitan Pizza
3. Pizza Find: Long Island Pie is Tops