22 hours ago, weinoo said:Is he (was he always?) doing the same at Keste?
He made the switch to whole wheat in 2018. It's not something the Italians like talking about, but, for at least 100 years, Neapolitan pizza has been made with mostly North American (Manitoban) wheat. For reasons of pride and thrift, the Italians have been trying to grow sufficiently strong wheat for as long as they've been buying it from the Canadians- and failing. This latest failure is Caputo's Typo 1 flour, released in 2018. Obviously, Caputo marketed this as a stupendous homegrown success, but this emperor had no clothes whatsoever. Roberto, being Caputo's brand ambassador, was tasked with polishing the turd. At first, he tried a 100% Typo 1 pie, but soon figured out that it wasn't going to work. Eventually, he settled in on 25% and a dilution-being-the-solution-to-pollution philosophy.
Technically, Caputo is Roberto's boss, and there's a huge amount of money involved, but he still could have said no.
And I loved pre-type 1 Keste. I've taken tours there. Roberto was incredibly gracious and talked with us for hours. The pizza was phenomenal. His burrata was to die for. The lardo pie taught me that Neapolitan pizza could actually be quite crispy. But, sadly, that's a thing of the past.
QuoteActually, was Motorino v.1.0 open before Keste? I'm so confused.
The first online reference that I found to Motorino was their (first) Williamsburg location in 1996, and their East Village location in 1999. Based on a quick search, Keste appears to have opened somewhere around 2005.
FWIW, I can't go into the details, but I know, for certain, that Motorino is cutting corners on ingredient sourcing. Much like vintage Keste, I practically worshiped Motorino's brussel sprout and pancetta pie, but, knowing what I know, I can't return- or recommend it to others.
