New York

Motorino

It takes great huevos to move to a foreign land, then declare yourself a master of that country's native art -- before his acting career began, Steven Segal opened a dojo in Japan, while Tom Cruise became a samurai there right when his career ended. Now, one equally brazen Belgian's landed in Brooklyn, at Motorino.

Done up in greens and reds and dominated by a gargantuan wood-burning oven, Motorino's the unlikely debut from a Belgian-born, French-trained BLT Fish/Bouley vet: a Neapolitan pizza parlor right in the heart of a Red (Sauce) State. The extremely affordable pies range from traditional marinara, to broccolini/sausage/burrata, to mussel-topped, to fresh peas & speck (dried prosciutto that tastes distinctively of juniper -- for a late Breakfast of Champions, pair with gin). Ingredients tend towards the premium, with Sicilian olive oil, San Marzano tomatoes (considered to be the best for sauce making), and "double zero" flour -- the finest grained flour made, it often shows disdain for the rules, but always gets Her Majesty's job done.

Motorino expects to serve Italian beer and wine in a few months, but for now they're BYOB -- throw down a case of Stella Artois, and show that Belgian that Americans know how to drink beer, baby.

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