Grandma Alive at Adrienne's

What an awesome sight: beautiful rectangular pizzas resting atop table after table at Adrienne's Pizza Bar in Lower Manhattan!

There's a lot to love about Adrienne's - not the least of which are the rectangular Grandma-style pizzas that they feature. These pies, which are constructed on a thin crust and cooked in sheet pans, may bring back fond memories of Sunday suppers past for many Italian-Americans.  With sweet and chunky tomatoes, a sufficient but not oozy amount of cheese, and a crust that is pliant but crispy near the edges, the Grandma is a style of pizza that, until Adrienne's, had not been afforded the full-service restaurant status it deserves.

Adrienne's Grandma pie, because it is made with especially high quality fresh ingredients, ranks several notches above other Grandma pizzas that I've tried - mostly in very good pizza shops in Brooklyn.  (Adrienne's takes its inspiration from the Grandma's apparent popularity on Long Island.)  At Adrienne's, you can taste that the tomatoes are naturally sweet and that no sugar has been added.  

But the pizza alone is not the only reason to visit Adrienne's.  The restaurant is located on a picturesque cobblestone pedestrian street in Manhattan's financial district - a street that belongs, at least visually, more to Europe than to New York.  When I visited earlier this week, it was raining lightly; but on pleasant days this block of Stone Street, which offers al fresco dining at picnic tables from many restaurants, fills up with hoards of Wall Street area workers and tourists alike - making the setting, like Adrienne's Grandma, a true sight to behold! 

Map Adrienne's (call ahead for days/hours).