Non-Shockers: Palombino Thinks Motorino Deserves a Deuce

And now, a great close to this week's pizza chapter. Yesterday and the day before, this question was posed in these parts: if a pizza joint doesn't have an extensive non-pizza menu, can the pie alone earn more than one star in the Times? Jim Lahey, proprietor of Co. and Slice and its readers seem to think yes. Eater readers say no, that's craziness: "It would be a pretty useless rating system that says Motorino is the same quality experience as Hearth, or Maialino, or the Modern no matter how tasty the bread with tomato sauce and cheese is." Well surprise, surprise, Motorino's Mathieu Palombino thinks he should've gotten a two. He tells Feast:

If you serve city's best pizza, in my mind, you deserve two stars...I'm not saying I deserve three stars, but I think pizza should be able to earn three. I've served dishes in 3-star restaurants that were not as strong as the pizza sopressata I make at Motorino. That dish belongs in a Michelin-starred restaurant.