I first heard about Papido Pizza from my friend Jonathan Feldstein, who gave it a glowing review just before Passover. It opened just two weeks before the holiday. I filed it away for “after the holiday,” and Papido’s pizza was the first hametz I had after Passover ended (almost 24 hours after it ended, for the record).
From the outside, the place doesn’t look like much. It is a small restaurant on Jerusalem’s Strauss Street, just up the hill from King George Avenue. It’s just past the bus stop there. There are only two tables inside, so come early or be prepared to wait.
Papido is owned and operated by Elazar Reuven, 35, who in a case of great irony has celiac and can’t even taste his own pizza. He says the impetus to open the restaurant came from his brother Elhanan, who owns a pizzeria and Italian restaurant in Lakewood, New Jersey. Every time Elhanan would come to visit Elazar in Israel, he would complain about the lack of good New York-style pizza.
Pineapple and sabich pizza
New York-style pizza has a thin, crunchy crust that can still stand up to the toppings. Papido offers some unique toppings that at first I was hesitant to try. Let’s start with the Hawaiian pizza.
“Pineapple does not belong on pizza,” I told Elazar flatly.
“But I love Hawaiian pizza,” said my favorite husband plaintively.
So, for the sake of shalom bayit, we ordered a personal Hawaiian pizza that comes with a spicy sauce, pineapple, spicy peppers, pesto, and Kalamata olives. The olives provide the spiciness that usually comes from ham on a traditional Hawaiian pizza. The pineapple was cut into small pieces rather than big chunks, and the overall flavor was delicious.
Elazar then convinced me to try the sabich pizza, despite my misgivings. I remember years ago trying Bamba sushi, and it was awful. Sabich consists of fried eggplant, hard-boiled eggs, and tehina – not items I usually enjoy on pizza. But I’ll try almost anything, and it was actually quite good.
For our third personal pizza, we tried a portobello mushroom and garlic confit in a white sauce – also very unique and enjoyable. The personal pizzas (which are quite large) are NIS 50 for the regular New York pizza, and NIS 70 for the specialty pizzas. Family-sized pies are NIS 70 for the regular and NIS 90 for the specialty pies.
Sitting next to us was a haredi family with three young children and their parents, Toby and Moshe.
“I haven’t had pizza like this since I left New York,” Toby said with a big smile.
Moshe, it turns out, is a friend of Elazar’s but said that didn’t influence his opinion.
“I’d throw him under the bus with no problem,” he said, “but this pizza is really good.”
The kids agreed, with even Emunah, who just celebrated her first birthday, clamping her little teeth around a piece.
A suggestion: This pizza is too good to take home and reheat. Eat it while it’s hot, even if you have to eat it standing up. You’ll thank me later. And make sure to try the zeppole – little balls of dough dipped in powdered sugar. Worth every calorie.
- Papido Pizza
- 3 Strauss St. (just above King George)
- Jerusalem
- Sunday-Thursday, noon – 9 p.m. (Thursday nights until midnight); Saturday night: opens an hour after Shabbat.
- Tel: (02) 533-3500
- Kashrut: Badatz Rav Rubin
The writer was a guest of the restaurant.
