DINING OUT: Krescendo Brooklyn

A year young, Krescendo Brooklyn serves up a variety of artisanal pizza from its home base in Boerum Hill, and now is starting delivery to hungry residents in portions of Brooklyn who crave its Sicilian-style pies piled high with ingredients ranging from natural casing pepperoni to arugula to fried sage.

Among the pizzeria’s stellar offerings are a wide range of Sicilian style pies – which are available for delivery because they hold their quality even when taken on the road. Ranging in price from $23 to $28, depending on the toppings, the pies can be cut into 12 wedges, enough to serve three (very hungry!) diners, according to owner Nancy Puglisi, who says she plays around with her favorite ingredients when designing her pizzas to maximize palate appeal.

We tasted the New Yorker, which was piled high with fennel sausage chunks, thin rounds of pepperoni, basil, tomato sauce, and ricotta and mozzarella cheeses (making it a “Sunday pie,” according to Puglisi because it’s “pretty much a lasagna on pizza”), and the Smoked Mozza, which is boldly topped by a combination of broccolini, sautéed onions, mozzarella and a hot-pepper-inflected tomato sauce that was bold enough to support the other ingredients with ease.

Both pies had thick crusts, that you could really sink your teeth into and that can stand up to a short journey, said Puglisi. But, she noted, the amount of dough that goes into a Krescendo crust is the same as would go into a similarly sized pie from elsewhere. The difference is that Krescendo lets its dough rise from one to two days, ensuring thickness as well as large, relatively even-sized air pockets.

It’s “only Sicilian for delivery,” Puglisi stresses, because the other pizza (13-inch rounds baked in a wood-fired pizza oven) “doesn’t carry out well, and it’s not going to taste like it does at the restaurant when it gets to the house.”

We also got to sample Krescendo’s polpette al forno, or baked meatballs, which are seemingly straight out of a home-cooked meal. Both tender and moist, the appetizer is perfect for sharing. The serving comes topped with thick and seasoned tomato sauce that tastes as fresh as the home-style meatballs spiked with basil and Italian pecorino to add to the traditional look and taste. Heavy on the seasoning, Krescendo’s meatballs pack a kick worth coming back for more.

As for the round pizzas, they range in price from $9 to $16, depending on toppings, and feature ingredients imported from Campania (the Italian region where Naples is located) including the salt, cheese, flour and tomato sauce used on them. Heck, even the oven comes from Campania, Puglisi said. But, for them, as noted above, you have to go to the restaurant.

Pizza is Puglisi’s passion, she avers. And, that’s not surprising. Not only does she hail originally from Bensonhurst, but her dad, who had been a physician, “always wanted to have a pizzeria, but he was never able to open one. He passed away when I was one, and I didn’t know the story till after I opened my second pizzeria in San Francisco. I pretty much finished his dream by opening in Brooklyn.”

For Puglisi, however, the dream continues. Having traveled broadly sampling pizza and its variations, she said that she had decided to concentrate on pizza in order to help disseminate what she had learned. “I have always wanted to create bridges,” she said.

And, she is doing just that, one gorgeous pizza at a time.

KRESCENDO BROOKLYN

364 Atlantic Avenue

Brooklyn, NY 11217

718-330-0888

Tuesday to Thursday: 5:30-10:30 p.m.

Friday: 5:30-11 p.m.

Saturday: 5-11 p.m.

Sunday: 5-10 p.m.

Krescendobrooklyn.com

Hours of operation for lunch-time delivery are 12 to 4 p.m., free of charge within a 10 block radius with a minimum purchase of $25.

Krescendo Brooklyn will deliver up to Columbia Street from Fifth Avenue and from Dekalb to Dean, free of charge. Krescendo will deliver to Bensonhurst with a minimum of 45$ and a delivery fee of $10.