Good morning. It's Friday. Last week the internet was concerned about the future of wood-fired pizza in New York City. We'll take a look at the proposed rules that caused the uproar, talk to local pizza makers and see how the law compares with existing regulations in Naples, Italy. |
 | | Rosario Granieri, the owner of Pizza Secret in Park Slope, has switched to a gas oven.Lanna Apisukh for The New York Times |
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The future of New York City pizza seemed briefly uncertain early last week when a political firestorm erupted over proposed regulations on coal- and wood-fired ovens. |
Elected officials, the New York State Conservative Party and others criticized the proposal and — in some cases — spread misinformation that stoked fears the city was considering banning wood- and coal-fired pizza ovens. |
In fact, the proposed rules are similar to laws already enacted in parts of Italy near Naples, pizza's homeland. The proposed rules in New York City and Italy's existing local laws are intended to allow for the continued use of these ovens while reducing smog and breathable pollution that can damage the health of those who live nearby. |
Last month, the city Department of Environmental Protection proposed regulations requiring most restaurants with coal- or wood-fired ovens installed before 2016 to be equipped with an expensive emissions filtration system, as first reported by The New York Post. The proposed rules are the anticipated follow-up to a law passed by the City Council in 2015 that requires restaurants installing new ovens to follow the same regulations. |
"All New Yorkers deserve to breathe healthy air, and wood and coal-fired stoves are among the largest contributors of harmful pollutants in neighborhoods with poor air quality," the Department of Environmental Protection said in a statement last week. |
Coal- and wood-burning ovens emit a uniquely harmful pollutant called particulate pollution, according to Eric Goldstein, the New York City director of the Natural Resources Defense Council, a national nonprofit focused on environmental issues. |
"You can think of particulate pollution as black, grimy soot. The tiny black particles can lodge deeply in the lungs and evade the body's defense mechanisms," Goldstein said. He added, "This is a public health issue, a climate issue and a good neighbor issue. Air quality in the city has certainly improved over the decades when you are looking at the big picture, but air quality can vary from neighborhood to neighborhood and even block to block." |
The ovens certainly produce a lot of smoke, local pizza makers agreed, but the cost of limiting those emissions can be hefty. |
Roberto Caporuscio, the owner of Keste Pizzeria in the financial district, said he was among the first in the country to install an emissions filter at his restaurant's former location back in 2009. The filter costs roughly $20,000 today. |
"We had every day somebody complaining of smoke, so we got a machine to clean the smoke, and since then we've had no problem," said Caporuscio, who was born in a small town between Naples and Rome. |
Still, some New York City pizza makers expressed skepticism. |
Whitney Aycock, the owner of Whit's End, a Rockaway Beach wood-fired pizza joint, argued that any pollution coming from his restaurant is nominal compared to that rained from airplanes headed to and from John F. Kennedy International Airport. |
The pizzaiolos did agree that the upfront cost of installing a filter could be difficult for some small businesses while they are still recovering from the pandemic and dealing with inflation. |
"The economics are not easy, so I do think the city could help us," Caporuscio said, suggesting tax breaks or other financial incentives to install filters. |
Those looking for a cheaper way to comply with potential regulations could consider fueling their ovens with natural gas instead of wood or coal, said Rosario Granieri, the owner of Pizza Secret in Park Slope. |
Pizza Secret's brick oven used to be wood-fired, Granieri said, but the restaurant switched to natural gas a few years ago when the city informed Granieri that in order to continue operating a wood-fired oven he would need to install a new sprinkler system costing upward of $50,000. Installing a new gas line cost only $3,000. |
"I had a breakdown, to be honest," said Granieri, who was born in Naples. His family has run restaurants with wood-fired ovens in Italy for three generations. |
But Granieri said he soon realized there were advantages to heating the restaurant's brick oven with gas. He was saving $1,500 per month that he had spent on firewood, and neighbors who previously complained about smoke infiltrating their apartments were suddenly quiet. |
Granieri said he hasn't noticed a difference in the quality of his pizza. In fact, he said it's now more consistent. |
"Basically now we have the same product, the same pizza Napoletana with the same ingredients, but it's less expensive and more clean with the same flavors," he said. |
Like Granieri, his Italian family was initially skeptical. |
"They were like 'We don't want you to change. We teach you how to make Neapolitan pizza. We don't want you to make New York pizza,' " Granieri recalled. |
They came around when the Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana — an international organization established by the Italian government to give a special designation to pizzerias that meet strict requirements for Neapolitan pizza — determined that gas-fired ovens were an appropriate method of baking Neapolitan pizza. |
In 2020, Granieri's parents flew to New York and tried it for themselves. |
"They loved it," Granieri said and pulled up a selfie of the three smiling outside Pizza Secret. |
Expect a partly sunny day in the mid-80s. In the evening, temps will drop to the mid-70s, with a chance of thunderstorms. |
In effect until Aug. 15 (Feast of the Assumption). |
 | | Dakota Santiago for The New York Times |
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The leaves are like birds
Tossed downwind
On Madison Ave.,
When the spirit
Of the copywriter
Flew with the breeze
Upon his departure,
As October closed in
And the congregation turned
Red and gold. |
— Kathryn Anne Sweeney-James |
Glad we could get together here. Sarah Maslin Nir will be in on Monday.— E.N. |
| Emmett Lindner and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at nytoday@nytimes.com. |
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