What’s the future of wood-fired pizza in New York?
Good morning. It is Friday. Last week, the internet was concerned about the future of wood-fired pizza in New York City. We take a look at the proposed rules that caused the stir, talk to local pizza makers and see how the law compares to existing regulations in Naples, Italy.
The future of pizza in New York City seemed equally uncertain early last week when a political storm erupted over proposed regulations for coal and wood-fired ovens.
Elected officials, the New York State Conservative Party and others criticized the proposal, in some cases spreading misinformation that fueled fears that the city was considering banning wood- and coal-fired pizza ovens.
It was not.
In fact, the proposed rules are similar to laws already in place in parts of Italy near Naples, the pizza’s homeland. The proposed rules in the existing local laws of New York City and Italy are intended to allow the continued use of these ovens while reducing smog and air pollution that can harm the health of those nearby.
Last month, the city’s Department of Environmental Protection proposed regulations requiring most restaurants with coal or wood-burning ovens installed before 2016 to be equipped with an expensive emissions filtration system, as first reported by The New York Post. The proposed rules are the expected follow-up to a law passed by the city council in 2015 requiring restaurants installing new ovens to follow the same rules.
“All New Yorkers deserve to breathe healthy air, and wood and coal stoves are among the top polluters in neighborhoods with poor air quality,” the Department of Environmental Protection said in a statement last week.
Coal and wood-burning furnaces emit a uniquely harmful pollutant called particulate pollution, according to Eric Goldstein, the New York City director of the Natural Resources Defense Council, a national nonprofit that focuses on environmental issues.
“With particulate matter you can think of black, dingy soot. The tiny black particles can lodge deep in the lungs and evade the body’s defense mechanisms,” Goldstein said. He added: “This is a public health issue, a climate issue and a good neighborly issue. Air quality in the city has certainly improved over the past few decades when you look at the big picture, but air quality can vary from neighborhood to neighborhood and even from block to block.”
The ovens certainly produce a lot of smoke, local pizza makers agreed, but the costs of reducing those emissions can be significant.
Roberto Caporuscio, the owner of Keste Pizzeria in the financial district, said he was one of the first in the country to install an emissions filter at his restaurant’s former location in 2009. The filter costs about $20,000 today.
“We had someone complaining about smoke every day, so we have a machine to clear the smoke, and we haven’t had a problem since,” says Caporuscio, who was born in a small town between Naples and Rome.
Still, some pizza makers in New York City were skeptical.
Whitney Aycock, the owner of Whit’s End, a wood-fired pizzeria in Rockaway Beach, argued that his restaurant’s pollution is nominal compared to the rain from planes flying to and from John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The pizzaiolos agreed that the initial cost of installing a filter can be difficult for some small businesses while still recovering from the pandemic and dealing with inflation.
“The economy is not easy, so I think the city could help us,” said Caporuscio, who suggested tax breaks or other financial incentives to install filters.
Those looking for a cheaper way to comply with potential regulations might consider running their ovens on natural gas instead of wood or coal, says Rosario Granieri, the owner of Pizza Secret in Park Slope.
Pizza Secret’s brick oven used to be wood-fired, Granieri said, but the restaurant switched to natural gas a few years ago when the city informed Granieri that in order to continue using a wood-fired oven, it would have to install a new sprinkler system. more than $50,000. Installing a new gas line only costs $3,000.
“I had a breakdown, to be honest,” said Granieri, who was born in Naples. His family has been running restaurants with wood-fired ovens in Italy for three generations.
But Granieri said he quickly realized there were benefits to heating the restaurant’s brick oven with gas. He saved $1,500 a month spent on firewood, and neighbors who previously complained about smoke coming into their apartments suddenly fell silent.
Granieri said he hasn’t noticed any difference in the quality of his pizza. He even said it’s more consistent now.
“Basically we now have the same product, the same pizza Napoletana with the same ingredients, but it’s cheaper and purer with the same flavors,” he said.
Like Granieri, his Italian family was skeptical at first.
“They were like, ‘We don’t want you to change. We teach you how to make Neapolitan pizza. We don’t want you to make New York pizza,'” Granieri recalled.
They came about when the Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana – an international organization created by the Italian government to give a special designation to pizzerias that meet strict requirements for Neapolitan pizza – determined that gas-fired ovens were an appropriate method of making Neapolitan pizza. baking.
In 2020, Granieri’s parents flew to New York and tried it for themselves.
“They loved it,” Granieri said, pulling out a selfie of the three smiling outside Pizza Secret.
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