It seems that pizza is the latest thing being over-exposed in the food media these days. Countless reviews, Top 10 lists and even profiles of pizzaiolos have been appearing everywhere. The only thing it has done is made me hungry. Fortunately I live close to Tarry Lodge.

It hasn’t even been a year since Tarry Lodge re-opened under the Batali-Bastianich empire, but so far so good; the reviews of head chef Andy Nusser’s food have been solid. I ate there when they first opened but I’ve been long overdue for a return visit. With my recent pizza cravings, I figured there was no better time than the present, and to avoid the crowds, I decided to hit them up for a mid-week lunch.

The great thing about lunch service at Tarry Lodge is that parking is ample, the dining room is not as raucous and you will not feel rushed through your meal. The restaurant also has a quaint glow to it when the sunlight comes pouring in through the windows. Anyway, onto the food…

For a warm summer day, how about this special of chilled carrot soup with lump crab meat:

The soup was sweet and creamy and the lump crab meat was the perfect summery complement. But the best touch of all was the generous drizzle of chili oil which packed a nice punch, contributing to the cool refreshing brightness in every spoonful. A wonderful starter.

Each day Tarry Lodge features a different special entree, and Tuesdays’ is grilled soft shelled crab. I love soft shelled crab so of course I had to give this beautiful dish a try:

I had never had soft shells grilled before, only fried. And usually over-battered and deep fried for that matter. Now don’t get me wrong, I dig deep fried crunchiness as much as anyone, but when it comes to soft shell crab, what I really savor is the creamy oceany flavor of the tamale within, and too much batter really detracts from that. Well, we certainly don’t have that problem with Tarry Lodge’s rendition. The grilling adds a pleasant bit of char, the legs are still crispy, and when you cut into the body, the beautiful green tamale comes oozing out unadulterated. Awesomely delicious. It doesn’t really need a sauce, but it comes with an awesome one anyway. It was bright, both in flavor and color, and I think was perhaps made with piquillo peppers. For the most part though, I tried to eat the crab on its own and just used the sauce as the dressing for the greens. But any way you choose to eat it, this dish is a winner.

Finally, onto the main event- Tarry Lodge’s clam pizza:

Unlike clam pies you will get elsewhere, this one leaves the clams still in the shell. Sure it’s a little more work to dig out the clams with your fork, but the upside, and it’s a big one, is that you get to drizzle the juices straight out of the shell onto the slice just as you’re about to eat it. The clams themselves were really plump and perfectly just-cooked. Even without the clams, the pizza would be delicious as it is heavily seasoned with garlic, oregano and pepper flakes. In fact, if I were to nitpick, I’d say that it is probably too assertively seasoned, especially with the pepper flakes, to go with a topping as subtle as clams. Similar to how I ate my soft shell crabs separately from the salad beneath, perhaps the way to eat this is to savor the subtle brininess of the clams on their own and eat the pizza afterwards!

When it comes to pizza, for me it is mainly about the crust, and my tastes favor Tarry Lodge’s Neapolitan style. That is to say, it features a thin crust and a big bubbly charred outer rim. And to do it really well, the crust still needs to have a good medium chew to it. I do detect a little more salt in Tarry Lodge’s crust, but that can be good or bad. Good when you’re just enjoying the plain crust, but bad if there are already other salty toppings like olives or anchovies on it. In any case, Tarry Lodge still has to rank among my favorite pizzas of all time. My absolute hall of fame champion is still Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix. Second is Una Pizza Napoletana in the East Village. And then I’d probably rank Tarry Lodge third. Unfortunately I’m 2500 miles from Bianco so I can’t have that every day. Even more unfortunately, the rumor is that Anthony Mangieri may be selling UPN and leaving New York! If that happens, I will be crushed. But hey, as long as I still have Tarry Lodge I think I will be ok!