New York's Most Searched Neapolitan Pizza is in the Hands of the Japanese

Pizza Studio Tamaki, a Tokyo-based Japanese business, has been making a name for itself in the New York gastronomy world lately, making it almost impossible to get a reservation. Having opened its doors in New York on 5 May and gone viral shortly after, this venue offers a structure that combines Japanese intricacies while remaining faithful to traditional Neapolitan pizza methods. As finding a reservation at this popular restaurant became difficult, the system was changed and now places can only be booked fourteen days in advance, which reveals how popular the place is.

Although the venue's presentation is technically Neapolitan in style, it contains a detail that might slightly bother advocates of tradition and gastronomic nationalists; however, this does not overshadow the quality of the taste. Pizza Studio Tamaki (PST) prepares its pizza with a "cornicione" (dough edge) that is less puffy than classic Neapolitan pizza, and this detail turns the pizza experience into a lighter taste. It is stated that the secret behind this dough structure is a special mixture of three flours from different countries (mostly Japanese, a small amount of Canadian and US origin) and the exact same recipe used in Tokyo is applied.

The biggest factor in the lightness of the dough is supported by fermentation and cooking techniques, despite the small dough panets weighing only 210 grams. Prepared with %2 yeast and %60 hydration ratio, the doughs are fermented for full thirty hours to gain a melting texture. While the pizzas are baked in a traditional wood-fired oven, a slightly different texture is obtained by adding Okinawa salt to the bottom of the oven, stepping a bit over the characteristic soft texture of the pizza, and achieving a crispier texture. Japanese cedar chips, which are sometimes used in bakeries in Japan, are not used in this New York branch.

Even though the ingredient quality is above standards in a metropolis like New York, Pizza Studio Tamaki's menu stands out especially with the homemade pizza called "Tamaki". This pizza, enriched with San Marzano TOMATO, cherry tomatoes, smoked mozzarella, Romano pecorino cheese and fresh basil, has a character that stands out from fourteen different fixed options and daily special flavors. The fact that the waiters ask for the cherry tomatoes to be crushed and distributed with their forks at the time of service is presented not only as a visual arrangement but also as a technical recommendation for the tomato juice to spread on the pizza as a real sweetener.

The origins of this successful business date back to Susumu Kakinuma, who spent a year in Naples in the 1990s but could not find a job as an apprentice and returned to his country, opening his first pizzeria in 1995 with his own observations and experiments. Kakinuma is a master chef who consolidated his expertise on this subject by opening his second pizzeria in 2007. Tsubasa Tamaki, the owner of Pizza Studio Tamaki, which attracts great attention in New York today, is a student of this master chef, blending what he learned in Tokyo and then in New York, bringing together the Neapolitan pizza tradition with Japanese discipline and detail-oriented approach, offering a modern interpretation.