New York Street Food

(credit: NYSF)

After reading about the freebies being given away for Italian Week, we thought a few zeppoles might be in our future. Valducci’s was giving them away with the purchase of a slice to celebrate Italian Week.

They also had a second promotion going on for Italian Week to buy any slice, and get a regular slice for free. This caused a little confusion with our order.

We haven’t tried Valducci’s pizza oreganata yet, so we ordered a slice for $4. Unbeknownst to us, the woman also tossed in a free regular slice for us. She didn’t seem to know about the zeppole tweet we saw that morning, and said we would have to pay for the zeppoles.

When we said we wanted the free zeppoles instead of the free slice, the owner Mike, came over and told her to give me the zeppoles too.

Not positive, but we think Mike might have remembered us from when the truck first opened back in May 2011. That day he told us all about Valducci’s history, both on Staten Island and by Wall St. We try to stay anonymous, but it’s not always possible.

We’re not Italian, but any true New Yorker knows about zeppoles, and we weren’t about to let these babies get away.

(credit: NYSF)

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(credit: New York Street Food)

In May 2011, we ran across a new food truck called Valducci’s Original Pizza.  The people behind Valducci’s had a pizzeria in Staten Island for 22 years, but the truck had only been around for a few days at that point.

Now Valducci’s has been around for almost a year, and we recently stopped by one of their regular spots on the west side of Park Ave at 52nd St. They also hit a couple of other neighborhoods, and some of the new food truck lots.

Valducci’s serves Sicilian-style pizza with various toppings.  We went for a slice with fresh ricotta cheese and a slice with fried eggplant on top.  Each cost $4 and was about 8″ long.

(credit: New York Street Food)

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We first ran across Valducci’s Original Pizza a couple of days after they opened last May.  At the time, they were still working out the kinks in the oven, and didn’t have any toppings on the pizza.

What a difference six months make.  For Today’s Lunch, I got a slice of meatball & ricotta pizza and a slice of sausage, peppers & onions pizza ($5 each) from Valducci’s.

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When I got out of the subway on Monday, I was surprised to see a new truck at 24th & Broadway, where Kimchi Taco Truck parks on Tuesdays.  It was called Valducci’s Original Pizza, and I got to talk to the guys for a little while, and try to their pizza, although the new oven was giving Mike some agita.

The chef’s name was Mike, as was the man outside the truck getting people to come over to try them out (who you can see in the picture above checking me out).  Mike & Mike are a couple of real New York guys who have been in the pizza business for over 20 years.

Chef Mike told me he had a pizzeria on Staten Island for 22 years, and also had a pizza truck around Wall St. that started up in 1999.  They served the firemen at Ground Zero for a while right after 9/11.  I’m not sure exactly what happened in the intervening years, but as of last Saturday, the Valducci’s Pizza Truck has been traveling around Manhattan.

So how was the pizza?

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