Ciao ragazzi! Our person of the month for June is an exceptional person, full of energies, creativity, and talent, of course. His name is Gabriele Lamonaca. He is the founder of Unregular Pizza, an idea that he had during the pandemic. Gabriele was born in Rome in 1990; he came to New York in 2008 to study medicine, but he chose another career in the end. After a degree in chemistry, he started to work in the food industry. The Magnifico team is delighted to support him in this new adventure. Unregular Pizza became an authentic pizzeria a few weeks ago. It is located in Union Square. Let's ask him more about this idea.
How did the Unregular Pizza concept come about?
I always had the idea of opening a Roman pizzeria by the slice because I noticed a big gap between cheap pizzerias with low-quality products and dining in restaurants, where you were forced to spend at least 50 dollars for a pie. My idea was to open a pizzeria that was the Shake Shack, the Chipotle, or the pizza world's Starbucks. However, in the last 5-6 years, different pizzerias started to open by the slice, so I thought: let's bring the Roman pizza by the slice to another level. That's why we chose "unregular," a grammar mistake by purpose (it should be "irregular"), a mistake that becomes almost right.
Unregular pizza, now a pizzeria, started with a big idea...
During the lockdown, we were bringing pizzas around NYC, for free, to friends. A friend from Rome, a New Yorker by adoption, thanked us for the delivery sending us cocktails at home. So, we had the very simple idea of asking something in exchange for pizza other than money and documenting it on Instagram!
From homemade pizza to Union Square. What's the bet?
Create a chain of gourmet-style Roman pizzerias. Slices of pizza able to offer the best ingredients and dough at 72h. The idea is to introduce Italian flavors to Americans with a particular twist.
Which flavors are the most successful?
Burrapizza Cafonata is the most successful pizza. It is a pizza covered with "pepperoni," the typical American salami for pizza, spicy honey, a burrata, and 'nduja cream on each slice. I think it's clear where the name comes from ...
When you go to Italy, what dish are you looking forward to eating?
A nice carbonara! It seems simple to make it, but it is a dish that very few manage to do perfectly. Sometimes the egg is too melted, sometimes they cook it, some add the cream ...When I am in Italy, I always look for a good carbonara… usually, I go to Roscioli!
Which Italian dish, in your opinion, should Americans know better?
The burrata and that's why we made a signature pizza, the Burrapizza.
Photo Credits NICK SOLARES
Photo Credits KEN RUAN
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