Hi, I'm Earl. Product Manager at Co. Pizza
I don’t know what it is about restaurants, but some of them have the weirdest names. Take for example, the pizza place I visited while on vacation in New York. Titled “Co.” on its menu, the pizza joint has a website called “Co-Pane.com” and is referred to as “Co. Company” on NY magazine’s food review. Needless to say, I found it very confusing to try and find the restaurant on Google Maps.
Luckily, the food at Co. wasn’t reflective of its ability to create a recognizable identity.
According to its menu, Co.’s baby octopus salad contains charred baby octopus, purslane, celery, mint, basil, orange, and pink peppercorn- citrus dressing. One thing is for sure though, the salad is not a lot of food. Although the portion size was rather frustrating, the salad was an interesting mix of textures. The octopus had potato chip-like crispy legs but a slimy, chewy head. The tangerines (the menu says oranges, but I’m pretty sure they’re tangerines) were a great contrast to the salted octopus and played well with the dressing.
A bit more satisfying was Co.’s margherita pizza. Whenever you visit a new pizza joint, it’s always a good idea to try the plain pizza first. The plain pizza can set the standard and help you determine whether or not the place makes good pizza.
Co.’s margherita pizza had a liberal amount of cheese with a very light tomato sauce. The tomato sauce had a clean flavor but also a subtle rosy taste to it. The crust, being thin and crunchy with just a bit of chew, was stellar.
The next pizza my table ordered was a special for the night: a mushroom pizza with cremini, shiitake, and oyster mushroom. The pizza was made with a béchamel base, which is a sauce derived from heating milk. Gruyere cheese was also sprinkled overtop, along with some dill, jalapeno, and the mushrooms.
As a result of the variety of ingredients that went into the pizza, the mushroom special was definitely my favorite. The crunchy pizza dough mixed with the softer mushrooms proved to be a winning combination in my mouth. The jalapenos also popped up occasionally to add an extra kick to the pizza. The béchamel and gruyere cheese base played a tasty, but modest role in the overall complexion of the pizza, allowing the mushrooms to really stand out.
Overall, Co. was worth a visit; although, next time, I won’t order any salads.
Co.
230 Ninth Avenue
Ney York, NY 10001
(212) 243-1105
