140 Kitchen

Definitely the most flavorful and best quality pizza in Peekskill, as expensive as it is. I say that as a born and raised. But I know (and understand) why this isn't most people's go to place or mine either, despite that. Gleason's, it's really a bar/restaurant with an actual chef behind the menu. Just to quickly talk about the place, it's a nicer date night bar with a mix of regulars, travelers to Peekskill, and upper middle income folks. Anyway, on to the pizza: this obviously isn't quintessential New York style, Napolitana, or even Neo-Napolitina pizza. It's its own thing made by the chef. It's not *exotically* different to pizza most people have had, but I can see it as polarizing whether or not this pizza is an "elevated" version of pizza. So what's up with it? It's got a better than average crust, that has a moderate chew and some aeration to it. It was well cooked, dark brown to charred black. There's stewed tomatoes on it that's borderlining on not being a sauce, fresh semi-hard mozzarella, and pesto. It's really flavorful, which is my #1 thing when judging a pizza. Slices held up cardboard stiff but it was crispiest toward the cornicione. Definitely most akin to New York style crust but it has a sourdough flavor and was well salted. It's not an elite level crust by my measure. It's relatively too chewy and doesn't have the air pockets in it that I like. But it's less chewy and more tasteful that most places. You can tell, I'll say this again, that a chef is the engineer of this pie. Just from the idea of using stewed tomatoes and, I think, tomato paste in the sauce. My guess is they wanted to intensify the umami flavor. And it work, though I think the texture of the "sauce" might be the most polarizing move on this pizza. It's damn near a paste. Pesto just adds another element of flavor and wetness to the pizza. One thing I don't like in some of the pizza world is some people's singular focus on crispiness above ever other element on a pizza. I find going extreme in that direction makes pies too dry, IMO. So pesto instead of basil makes sense and adds garlic and olive oil to the mix. I'll take this "margherita" over the ones I see with sliced/diced or have cherry tomatoes on them and lettuce and slabs of barely cooked mozzarella. Some people are gonna call this hipster pizza or complain that it's too foofy-foo. But I don't see how anyone can say it's not flavorful. Whole point of Gleason's is their specialty pies that either are their own spin on a typical topping pizza or something you can't get most places: flamkuken. This ain't a slice shop or an old school pizzeria. I tried to order something more like a typical pizza, sauce and shredded mozzarella pizza by their Build Your Own method. I got a White pie instead. Even that was good though and interesting. It was mornay sauce and shredded mozzerella: 7.4 It's hard to score pizzas that are their own thing. Really my biggest complaint is the price: $33 for two 12" pies that are the cheapest two pies they sell. Then maybe people are turned off by the texture of the sauce but that's the main as typical thing about it. Baci's in Montrose is better and a better deal for artisanal quality pizza, so I won't be a regular. But I prefer this unique pizza to the many slice joints, takeout spots, and sit down restaurant pizza in the area. Look at my reviews: I've tried most of them going 10 miles in any direction from here. Hmm, 7.6, 7.7, 7.8. I'll go 7.7. Good effort by the chef.