New Yorkers Are Bartering With This Harlem Pizza Maker for His Roman-Style Pies

At Unregular Pizza, a new way to order Italian-style pies

Bottles of wine. Tins of sardine. Baked ziti and batched cocktails. At Unregulated Pizza, a pop-up based out of a Harlem apartment, these common household items could be worth a Roman-style pie. In fact, the only way to try Gabriele Lamonaca’s Roman-style pies, which some New Yorkers say are the best they’ve tasted, is by bartering with him for home goods, according to the New York Post.

The website receives five to 10 requests for pizzas each day, according to the Post, though Lamonaca says that his Harlem kitchen only has enough space to produce three or four pies a week. In part that’s because he reportedly never repeats any flavor combinations, while the dough for each pie ferments for 96 hours. Factoring in the cost of the flour and tomatoes that Lamonaca imports from Italy, along with the produce he sources from the city’s greenmarkets, he tells the Post that each pie costs roughly $25 to make.

The list of bartered items so far includes baked ziti, bottles of wine, Singaporean takeout, heart-shaped desserts, and this set of pantry items from Jonah Miller, chef-owner of Huertas, where Lamonaca worked in 2014. Lamonaca, who was born in Rome, has since worked at Cacio e Vino in the East Village and Filaga in the Chelsea Market. The chef is apparently eyeing a full restaurant opening this spring, according to the Post.

In other news

— Applications are now open for DoorDash’s latest initiative: Main Street Strong Accelerator, a new virtual bootcamp that includes a $20,000 grant. Restaurant owners must have three or fewer locations, been open for more than two years, and have fewer than 50 employees total to be eligible for the grant. Applications close March 2, 2021 at 8 p.m.

— Le Bernardin is set to reopen for indoor dining on March 17, according to chef and co-owner Eric Ripert. The three-Michelin-star Midtown restaurant is now accepting reservations through Resy.

— Dippin’ Dots, the spherical ice cream of amusement park acclaim, is opening a flagship store at 24 East 23rd Street, across from Madison Square Park. Set to open this April, the co-branded space will also serve popcorn from Doc Popcorn.

— Doughnut Plant is looking to expand overseas with a new location in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Commenters on Instagram are still asking for a location in New Jersey.

— Beloved subterranean dance floor Max Fish officially departs the Lower East Side this week. In its place, a new bar named the Orchard Room is opening this Friday, February 24.

— Chrissy Teigen asks the @POTUS Twitter account to set her free.

— Powerless: