Colorful Pizzas at Via Della Pace – NYC

A few months ago, I was invited to a pizza tasting at Via Dell Pace Pizza. The East Village pizzeria recently launched a line of colored pizzas, meaning the dough was supplemented with various natural dyes pre-baking. Kind of like rainbow bagels, but less artificially magical. At the event, there were four types of pizza; black pizza made with squid ink, red pizza made with beets and Barolo wine, yellow pizza made with saffron, and green pizza made with spinach.

Do the add-ins make a real difference in terms of taste?

Not really. Even the squid ink pizza, although visually impressive, was very subtle. The Roman-style crusts, however, were all thin with a nice chew.

Pizza is all about the toppings anyway, and my favorite was the red pizza with Buffalo mozzarella, sausage, polenta, truffle, and gorgonzola. Truffle oil being the key in the mix. Hey, it’s probably not made from the real stuff, but I’m a sucker for it.

The colored pizzas won’t make an impact on your tastebuds because of their hues, but they’re all tasty and reasonably priced for the neighborhood. Most run under $20 for a 14″.

UPDATE: This restaurant is now closed.

Via Dell Pace Pizza
130 St. Marks Place
b/w 1st and Avenue A (map)
New York, New York 10009
212-466-4686