16.305 New York Dirty Pizza

Cycle 16 – Item 305

Post 5,784

6 (Thu) November 2025

New York Dirty Pizza

1.0

at A1 Canteen

-Changgok, Sujeong, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea-

solo

A1 Canteen is an Italian restaurant, sorta.  The limited menu offers a few pizzas and a couple pastas.

Located in the spot once occupied by Cheongdam Lee Sang, which had been our neighborhood go-to Japanese restaurant (see most recently 15.202 Haemul Udon).
Completely revamped layout, with the kitchen now where the main dining hall used to be.
With exposed ceilings and no walls, the place looks twice the size as before.

Sad to see Cheongdam Lee Sang go, where we’d enjoyed our first restaurant meal together upon first moving back to Korea and into Wirye (see 11.162 Modeum Sashimi).

Greek Salad (sampler) (2.0): on the house.
689 Cellars Submission Pinot Noir (California) (2.5)

New York Dirty Pizza is a pie at A1 Canteen.  Napoli-style thin crust, edges stuffed with mozzarella.   Topped with tomato sauce + mozzarella cheese + pepperoni + ragu sauce + Parmesan cheese.  According to the menu (loosely translated): “The authentic taste of New York.”

What an abomination.  Picking up the first slice, all the toppings immediately slid off the crust and back onto the plate.  The crust itself was limp, soggy, flavorless.  Without the underlying crust, the toppings were an incoherent mess.  The whole thing felt disrespectful, not only to the tradition of pizza but to me as a customer.  If a place in New York were to serve a so-called pizza like this, it would quickly go out of business (if not burned to the ground).

The stuffed crusts were okay.

(See RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)

(See GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)

(See HANSIK)

(See BOOZE)

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