Unlike a lot of young cooks these days, Vincent Morelli doesn’t talk a big game. In fact, getting him to open up about his vision for Cent’s Pizza was a little like pulling mozzarella: a bit laborious. No, Morelli prefers to show rather than tell, both through his meticulously curated interior and his painstakingly prepared food. The benefit of such an approach, as evidenced by the awe-struck look on guests’ faces as they arrive, is to foster an experience that survives longer than the slices.
As a former visual merchandiser for a street fashion brand, it’s not surprising that Morelli gets interior design. But it was the stint at Roberta's in Brooklyn that ignited his passion for pizza dished up in a lively, unconventional atmosphere. Like that pioneering pizzeria, Cent’s is built around a wood-burning oven. And while the food is unmistakably serious, the vibe is anything but.
People often describe a pizza crust as being so good that it can be enjoyed on its own. At Cent’s, that’s definitely the case, where the Wonder Bread appears on most tables. After a quick spell in the wood-fired oven, a doughball is transformed into a nearly spherical steam-filled loaf. Of course, it tastes even better when schmeared with the house-cultured butter or the 'nduja , a funky, fiery free-form sausage.
When it comes to the main event, Morelli also bucks convention. While hand-shaped and baked in a wood-burning oven, the pies can only loosely be described as Neapolitan. They are larger, more uniformly round and lack the soupy middle and wild crown typical of the genre. Up top, Morelli shrewdly weaves bold ingredients like speck, white anchovies, cream cheese and even Luxardo cherries into cohesive arrangements that surprise as much as satisfy.