Wylie Dufresne’s Stretch Pizza!

 Chef Wylie Dufresne has a new restaurant in New York’s Flatiron District, and it’s a winner, in my opinion!  Stretch Pizza, on Park Ave South, between 24th and 25th Streets, is a small space (seating 66) with a clean, casual vibe, and most importantly, terrific food!

Dufresne, who took up pizza making during the pandemic, originally began this venture as a pop-up, while vowing he’d eventually open a new brick & mortar pizza restaurant.  And while Dufresne is best known for his molecular gastronomy, the menu at Stretch is more like “real people” food.  You won’t find any of his famous aerated foie gras or eggs with edible “eggshells” as my husband and I found at his former Lower East Side establishment, WD-50, which we were only able to enjoy once.  What you will find are some excellent signature cocktails, delicious, playful appetizers, tasty, perfectly baked 12-ish inch pizzas - some with more conventional toppings and others with more offbeat ones, and even a couple of sweet items with which to finish your meal.

We arrived at about 7:15 and the place was already packed; surely a good sign.  We were greeted by a courteous, handsome young man who sat us at a table against a wall, under a display of various pizza boxes.  Our super friendly server took our drink order - Vincent chose the Hotel New Yorker, made with white rum, Dimmi, apricot, pineapple and cardamom.  I opted for the Mainestay, a gorgeous, deep beet-colored mix of Mezcal, Pasublo, maraschino, blueberry, lemon and a touch of egg white!  Both drinks were light, slightly sweet and refreshing; a perfect start to our dinner.

Appetizers were next: Vincent decided on the Pull-Apart Meatball Sliders. He chose an order of three, which for us was an ideal portion. Served on warm, fluffy buns, the meatballs themselves were topped with gooey, melted cheese, a dab of tomato sauce, and some pickled onions. The flavor of the slider brought me back to the pizzerias of my youth, when I would order “grinders” with the same distinctive, savory beefiness!  

I selected two appetizers; the Beet Salad - chunks of pickled beets served with splotches of ricotta, a sprinkling of hazelnuts and what looked to me like deep green croutons. They were actually bits of a dried basil cake, but to me, visually, they suggested a throwback to Chef Dufresne’s aerated foie!  I suppose, however, that the only negative criticism I have of the dish is that the beets seemed a tad undercooked. They were still tasty, but just a bit crunchier than I was expecting!

My second appetizer was my favorite of the bunch!  The Shrimp Scampi Toast was crispy, unbelievably yummy and looked almost like a deep fried sushi roll!  It had all the traditional flavors of a great scampi dish - the garlic, the butteriness, the pop of herbs, lemon, and a touch of salt. But what surprised me the most was a fabulous, almost umami flavor underneath it all.  It was as if the shrimp had been enhanced with a bit of shrimp paste or fish sauce. This shrimp toast was tiny in size, but gigantic in flavor!  I could actually be happy just ordering a few of these and making a meal out of them alone!  But there was still more food to come…

So!  Pizza!  I have a tenuous relationship with pizza!  I love it, of course, but having had weight loss surgery recently, I generally avoid pizza.  

Having said that, we both loved our pizzas from Chef Dufresne! Vincent chose the Couch Potato, topped with slices of fingerling potatoes, sour cream, bacon and scallions. You’d  think that potato on pizza would be terribly heavy, but you’d be mistaken. The potato provided a hearty, comforting texture and mouthfeel, while the bite of the scallion and the addictive saltiness of the bacon balanced out the richness of the potato and sour cream! SO good!  I actually ate an entire slice!

My own personal pizza was called the Yolks on You. Baked with asparagus, shallots, squiggles of an egg yolk sauce and a scattering of chopped chives, the pie was subtly vegetal and deliciously unctuous; almost creamy!  Definitely one of the most different and distinctive combinations of pizza toppings I’ve ever tried!  Once again, I actually ate an entire slice!  

As I mentioned earlier, I have been avoiding pizza because of the calories and the carbs.  I’m also literally not able to eat very much at any one sitting, as the sleeve surgery has rendered my stomach smaller than that of a normal person.  I’ll admit, though, that Chef Dufresne’s delicious pizzas were an enjoyable way to break that fast!  We were both happy and stuffed at that point, so we decided against the dessert options - the Banana Soft Serve with Peanut Butter Dip & Babka Crumbs, and the Chocolate Chip Cookies.  They both sounded tempting, but we’ll have to save that experience for our next visit!  We grabbed our leftovers, which had been placed, thoughtfully, in a warming oven near the entrance, and headed home!

Vincent and I were both happily, but unsurprisingly impressed with Dufresne’s latest restaurant offering, and considering how close we live to the spot, I’d imagine we’ll be back soon!

Thank you, Chef Wylie and the entire team at Stretch Pizza!

Wylie Dufresne’s Stretch Pizza is located at 331 Park Avenue South, between 24th and 25th Streets.  Call 212-301-7750.