How to get the best pizza in New York that money won't sell you for

Made with a special recipe with imported flour from Italy, this pizza is a cut above what is sold in your local store. But you won't be able to try it in a restaurant or even buy it to take away - no one will sell this delicacy to you for money. How to get the pizza, which is called the best in New York, said the publication New York Post.

New York's most exclusive pizza is only available through barter. Those who want to get a portion of this pizza must submit an online application on the website UnregularPizza.com and, if chosen, trade the pizza for food or homemade drink.

Gabriele Lamonaca, 30, receives five to ten requests for his unique Roman-style pizza every day, but he only has enough space and time to make only three or four of these pizzas a week.

“It's just heartbreaking not to be able to provide as much pizza as people want,” he said. "I put a lot of effort into every pizza and never repeat flavor combinations."

He meets clients on the streets of the city to trade his creations for their own specialties or drinks.

The native of Rome came to New York in 2008 to study chemistry at St Francis College in Brooklyn Heights. The guy admitted that he was always drawn to restaurants and he wanted to open his own establishment. In 2017, he took a job as line manager at Brooklyn Chipotle. Since then he has worked for Cacio e Vino in the East Village, for various distributors of Italian food and Filaga, a pizzeria in Chelsea Market.

Lamonaca, who hopes to open his own restaurant this spring, began experimenting with recipes in earnest when the COVID-19 pandemic erupted and the restaurant industry dwindled.

He makes pizza in his kitchen in Harlem. But the process takes a long time - the dough is prepared within three days.

“The longer it sits on sourdough, the softer the dough and the crispier the crust,” Lamonaka explained. He uses burrata cheese, zucchini, anchovies, cold cuts and chicken as fillings.

He imports flour for baking from Italy, and buys the rest of the products in the Union Square market. According to him, the cost of one such pizza is $ 25.

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Friends started ordering pizza from him after seeing delicious photos on Lamonaki's social networks. Not wanting to take money from them, he came up with another type of transaction - barter dishes.

Customers were quickly found, swapping chocolate cakes, chicken, and fermented kombucha tea for pizza.

“I brew my own beer, so I traded half a gallon for pizza,” said 23-year-old Christina Nee.

“It was the best pizza I have ever eaten,” she said.

Chiari de Paola, who is Italian herself, also got carried away with the idea of ​​the exchange, noting that Lamonaka's pizza is really tasty and truly Italian.