There's a corner of Brooklyn where Roman-style sheet pan pizza meets New York tradition, where the light and airy dough typical of the Italian school combines with the needs of a neighborhood that also demands the classic 18-inch pizza. It's here, between Clinton Hill and Park Slope, that Luca Pelliccioni created Impasto, a project literally born from the ashes of a fire and now a Brooklyn landmark for those seeking quality pizza.
But to tell this story, we must start from further back, from when a young management engineer left Riccione for what was supposed to be just a visit to his sister in New York, but instead transformed into an entrepreneurial adventure that today includes several establishments in the Big Apple, all united by one philosophy: bringing authentic Italian cuisine overseas, without compromising on quality. The cutting-edge cooking technology of Moretti Forni and its serieS proved fundamental in realizing this vision, allowing Pelliccioni to transform Impasto into something more than just a pizzeria.
«When I opened in 2020, I had found an old model of theirs here in New York, used: it was called the
Moretti Amalfi, a truly indestructible electric oven,»
Pelliccioni recounts from his Park Slope location, his latest opening just a few months ago. «But it was with the transition to
serieS, the world's most customizable electric oven, that I could truly expand my vision. Now I don't just make pizza: I bake for all five of my restaurants, produce focaccia, one-kilo sourdough loaves, even the Romagna flatbread for
Radisa, our latest project.»
Luca's story is one of a non-linear but coherent path. Graduated in management engineering from Milan Polytechnic, with experience in the family beach club in Riccione behind him, he landed in New York in 2015 to find his sister Giulia, who was already managing the restaurant Aita. «It was supposed to be a visit, but in January 2016 I was signing the contract to open La Rina,» his first establishment, dedicated to his maternal grandmother Rina Spadazzi and her cooking. From there came steady growth: Briscola Trattoria, then Radisa, in collaboration with the team from a quality contemporary trattoria like Da Oreste in Santarcangelo di Romagna, where today sister Giulia manages the dining room, after moving back to Italy.
But it's with
Impasto that
Pelliccioni truly found his most personal dimension: «It was a side project of mine from the beginning, I operated more solo. I took over a pizzeria after a fire had damaged it. I had no experience in bread-making and leavening: I went back to Italy to take courses, I studied, taking advantage of the fact that it was the pandemic closure period, restaurants were operating sporadically, I had time to experiment.»
The initial choice was bold: offering only Roman-style sheet pizza in a city accustomed to its iconic slice. «At first it was a challenge. Customers would see our counter and associate it with Sicilian, or
Grandma slice, but our dough has a much lighter specific weight. We use a preferment, Romagna flours, focusing on lightness and clean flavors.» An approach that won over the neighborhood, so much that today the
Margherita with buffalo mozzarella imported from Campania every two weeks is their bestseller. «We put spectacular semi-dry Pugliese cherry tomatoes on it. It's simple, the most pizza-pizza: white, red and green,» he recounts with Italian pride.
The real leap in quality came with the introduction of
serieS Moretti Forni: «The uniformity of cooking, the quality of heat, there's no comparison with what's on the market,»
Luca affirms. «But for me the real revolution was the modularity. Having the steamer in all decks and the ability to modulate quickly, in the last year it's been very convenient not only for the pizzeria, but for serving all the restaurants.»
Today at the Park Slope location, equipped with three decks, he has centralized production: «We make focaccia with a different process from pizza, one-kilo bread loaves that we ship via Uber to all locations, the rolled flatbread for
Radisa - like those you find in Apennine bakeries, with the only difference being that we use butter instead of lard. We also make sweets, like
maritozzi for catering services. The
serieS is also a perfect bakery oven.»
The real innovation was introducing round New York style pizza alongside Roman sheet pizza: «As a neighborhood pizzeria you have to serve the neighborhood, that's a product that one in two people asks you for. The dough is made with Italian techniques, preferment and contemporary pizza management, but cooking in the electric oven at lower temperatures gives that crispy consistency they're looking for here. 70% hydration and eight slices for an 18-inch pizza.»
Luca Pelliccioni is clear-eyed in analyzing the New York market: «The biggest competition is with landlords, those you have to pay increasingly expensive rents to, so with the city itself. Margins shrink year by year, to impressive levels. A slice cost a dollar six years ago, now we're at $3.50-4, but you can't grow beyond that. Pizza may seem like a simple, essential product, but every step requires time and application. As they say here, it's labor-intensive, you have to do volume to have margins.»
The future?
Luca continues to move between his establishments, handling all managerial and organizational aspects. But it's clear that
Impasto remains the project of his heart, the one where the engineer-turned-pizzaiolo can experiment and where, thanks to
Moretti Forni technology, he has found that versatility that allows him not only to serve pizza, but to be the beating heart of bread-making for his entire group.
«For someone like me who has to move between different locations,» he concludes, «the modularity of serieS is fundamental. But in the end what matters is the product: our sheet pizza must melt in your mouth while maintaining crispiness underneath. This is the balance I've always sought, and this is what the right technology allows you to achieve, every time.»
