Pulino’s Bar and Pizzeria

Two weeks ago, Soren and I met up for a late afternoon lunch at Keith McNally’s newest restaurant, Pulino’s. Pulino’s has been getting a lot of buzz; the chef, Nate Appleman, was plucked from the west coast specifically to open this pizza joint on the lower east side for Keith McNally. We were both excited to try it out, especially since we’re such big fans of Balthazar, Schiller’s, and Minetta Tavern.

We started out with Mozzarella Burrata with roasted beets, tuscan olive oil & sea salt:

I’m not a huge fan of ordering mozzarella at restaurants, but burrata holds a special spot in my heart because it is just so delicious. The roasted beets contrasted nicely with the creamy and perfectly salted burrata.

Originally, we wanted to order an appetizer, a main course, and two pizzas, but our waiter quickly pointed out that the pizzas were probably going to fill us up. We decided to order two pizzas and then order more if we were still hungry. I ordered the Salsiccia (sausage, tomato, mozzarella, broccoli rabe, chiles & pecorino):

The sausage was a little heavy but the broccoli rabe was crispy (so was the crust). The waiter also brought along house made chili oil to go along with the perfectly charred crust. Want to see it? Here you go:

We also ordered the Salame Piccante (salame piccante, tomato, mozzarella, olives, oregano & chiles):

Our waiter told us that the salami is cured in-house and that it was one of the more popular pizzas. We both liked the pizza, but thought that it was a bit too salty (the combination of olives and salami was a bit too much for both of us).

We really enjoyed our lunch at Pulino’s and the waiters were really nice; not too overbearing but very attentive with refilling our waters. Some shots of the interior:

The bar area:

My friend went for breakfast and said that all of the pizzas were really wonderful (and he bakes bread for a living!). The restaurant is already packed for dinner reservations and our late lunch was already a little busy, but if you plan on going to Pulino’s without a reservation, definitely go for lunch.