Cheapeats, Inc. Blog

Foodtrucks are all the craze these days, and more and more hitting the street everyday. Cheapeats’ mission is  not only find “Happiness, $25 and under,” but to also separate the tasty spots, from the simply nots. So, when we received an invitation to sample a Foodtruck serving thin crust pizza, we said; “Sign me up.”

Neopolitan Express is  the brainchild of Max Crespo and launched February 2013. This truck features a state of the art oven by Cuppone and heats up to 900 degrees. This high heat cooks your pizza in 90 seconds and also gives it that yummy char on the bottom of the crust. The dough press, also by Cuppone, uses steam and pressure to expand and press the dough, into the perfect size and thickness. Watching the pizza makers perform this, is like watching a science project.

The menu is short and sweet. Margherita, Marinara, Bufala and Cioloccato. I decided to try the Margherita and the ingredients were very simple. San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella,  basil and a hint of Sicilian Olive Oil. They import the tomatoes from the Campania region of Italy, because they’re sweet, organic and fresh. They’re the Rolls Royce of tomatoes. They use Double Zero Caputo Flour for their crust (D.O.P), which makes the crust light and airy. There are no additives, it’s unbleached and only contains 11-12% gluten. Go Italia! The Basil is grown locally and organic, as well as the mozzarella. However, the Buffalo Mozzarella is imported from Campania.

When I took a bite, I was immediately whisked away to Italy. The crush was thin, with the perfect amount of char and the sauce and basil were sweet. They put nothing in the sauce….NOTHING! They allow the sweet taste of the tomatoes shine through on their own.

Besides the delicious pizza, what also impressed me was their packaging. Each pizza is delivered in a 100% recyclable Green Box, that is compostable and recyclable. You can rip up the perforated top, to make 4 serving plates. And if you’re full and want to save the rest for later, it folds up into a chic take-away box. GENIUS!!

The truck runs on compressed natural gas (CNG) which reduces it’s Carbon emissions by 90% and Nitrogen emissions by 87%. They bring with them at every stop, their own recycle and garbage bins. Wow…a truck that is yummy and is trying to reduce their carbon footprint, BRILLIANT!

I couldn’t leave without trying their Cioccolato Pizza, which is made with Chocolate Hazelnut Spread and dusted with powder sugar. What was great about this pizza, it wasn’t overly sweet. Why you ask? They use Nutella that is imported from Italy. Why you ask? It contains less sugar and sodium than American Nutella. This allows the flavor of the chocolate and hazelnut to shine through and stand on their own.

If your drink of choice is a Coke, then DO order one from them. It’s served in a glass bottle (the ONLY way to drink it) and is imported from Mexico. Again, why you ask? Because Coke, in Mexico, is made with REAL sugar, not high fructose corn syrup. SHAME ON AMERICA!!!

You can usually find Neopolitan Express in Midtown for lunch and dinner/late night in the Meatpacking District. Make sure you follow them on Twitter for their location updates.  Rumor has it they have added some new additions to their menu:

As for this Italian and Sicilian, she left quite happy, quite impressed and with leftovers.

BRAVO!!!!

Happiness, $25 and under.

Tags: Buffalo Mozzeralla, cheapeats, San Marzano Tomato, Thin Crust Pizza

This entry was posted by Rosemarie on Monday, October 7th, 2013 at 10:26 am and is filed under Italian, Pizza. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.