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“Co. (Company)”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	Italian	Chelsea	Moderate	Good

The other night, Craig and I were craving a good pizza and rather than deal with the grumpy service at Sam’s or the eternal waits at Lucali’s, we walked down to South Brooklyn Pizza, a nice new neighborhood addition for bubbly hand-tossed pies. We walked through the narrow bar and found it pretty busy for a frigid Monday night, and spoke with the host about sitting down for dinner. “Sorry, it’s gay night on Mondays,” the host, a young guy in his 20s, told us with a smile. I thought for a moment he was kicking us out because we weren’t gay, but that was not the case. “You’re welcome to stay, but we don’t serve pizza on Gay Night, only booze,” he explained, nodding to the bar, crowded with guys.

We were disappointed as we were craving one of their pies, but more than that, we were quite perplexed. We have plenty of gay friends who enjoy pizza, and (gasp!) on Mondays too. In fact, many of them live in Chelsea, and go about enjoying a hell of a lot of it at Jim Lahey’s new wood-washed pizza canteen called Co., where there’s no restriction on pizza and sexuality. It’s an equal opportunity pizza bar. Bi, straight, gay, no matter who you like to do, Sullivan Street Bakery founder Jim Lahey’s beautifully misshapen pies are yours for the eating.  

This is not to say you will have an easy time getting access to them. Co. (pronounced Company, as its outdoor sign says) is a mob scene anytime after 6:30pm. There’s good reason, after all, because the pizzas are terrific (more on this shortly), but this means you’ll be waiting at the rather small blond wooded, Ikea-esque bar for anywhere between 15 minutes to an hour or more, to sink your teeth into one of Lahey’s outstanding pies. Some things are worth the wait. These pies, like true love, are one of them.

There are things on Lahey’s concise bread-centric menu, however, that are not worth the wait. All of the salads ($7 each), from a forgettable collection of chopped radicchio to the watery butter lettuce with pumpkin seeds and butternut squash, to the remarkably bland escarole with lemon, anchovies, lemon and olive oil, fall into this “why bother?” category. I’ve rarely found a collection of such listless and lifeless greens. They lack seasoning or signs of any particular care. Ignore them.

Luckily, this is where the disappointment start ... [more, click below]

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Posted: February 28, 2009

Other restaurants in Chelsea :
+ Matsuri   + La Bottega   + Tia Pol   + Bombay Talkie   + Cookshop   + D'Or Ahn: THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED   + Buddakan   + Crema   + InTent: THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED   + Trestle on Tenth   + Klee   + El Quinto Pino   + Socarrat   + Txikito   + Co. (Company)   

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