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Waldy's Wood-Fired Pizza & Penne

About 10 months ago I heard about the soon-to-be-open Waldy's Wood-Fired Pizza & Penne. I don't know if the article I read got it wrong, or things were just late, but it opened about 8 months later than it was supposed to. I've been waiting mildly for months now. There already is a great pizza place by where I work, La Pizza Fresca, so I wasn't exactly desperate. But good restaurants in the 6 blocks north of where I work are pretty much nonexistent, so I was curious and hopeful. I went almost as soon as it opened. At the time of writing this, I've been there twice so far, both times with my co-workers.

Waldy's is a tiny, tiny place. Probably only about 10 people have room to sit, with standing room for 4 more. Everyone else must get takeout. I got there early, but there was a huge line at around 12:30.

At Waldy's you can order a fairly expensive pizza (something like $14 for a small pizza, $18 for a large), and can choose from about 10 different varieties, most of them unusual but tasteful.

As you probably guessed from the name, everything is cooked in a wood-fired oven. From what I've read, it is an interesting ventilation design. There was no ventilation for this shop to use, so all of the smoke gets piped out of the front door.

The pizza crust is thicker than normal. It has a tough, hearty consistency. The first time I went, it was undercooked. The second time I went, slightly overcooked. I think even if perfectly cooked, it is not the best crust, certainly, but it isn't bad.

We got, the Margherita Pizza, which was very nice, with a combination of cheese, as well as some cherry tomatoes. This is almost always the best pizza to get at any wood-fired pizza joint in New York, and this time was no exception.

We also got a Clam pizza, which was not generally liked. The clams were nice on the pizza, but there was no sauce, and the pizza was unpleasantly dry. This was the first time I've experienced a clam pizza. Maybe all of them are too dry, but I doubt it.

The "Beacon" pizza was better. It is named for Waldy's restaurant, The Beacon. It has wild mushrooms and onions. A nice mushroom taste, far better than most mushroom pizzas in the city.

And now, one of the most interesting, a pizza with arugula, garlic, and two fried eggs! A wonderful pizza, I thought. The garlic is quite noticeable, so if you don't like garlic, don't get this pizza. And as you can tell from the picture, the egg yolks have broken. The first time we got this pizza, they were whole. Either way, they were runny and delicious. Isn't everything better with fried eggs on it? However, they were not evenly distributed on the pizza, just two fried eggs right beside each other, leaving three quarters of the pizza egg-free. Quite unfortunate. Still, a good pizza, but it really needs more fried eggs.

Waldy's was, on the whole, good. The strength here is the toppings, not the crust. Great pizza has the crust as the strength, so this is not great pizza. But I thought the toppings were interesting and really worked well together. Due to the price, I doubt I'll go here that often, but I'm happy I tried it a few times, and I'll look forward to an occasional visit.