Pizza Fenice

⭐️RISING STAR ALERT⭐️ If you’re familiar with Pelham, NY, you know a rivalry exists between loyal Pelham Pizza customers & those claiming Four Corners has the best pies: enter Pizza Fenice, owned by Bronx native John Gristina, who started working in his dad’s pizzeria at just 12 years old, eventually opening his own spot with a partner in 2003 in Wilton, CT. After leaving the partnership in 2009, John bounced around until he moved his family to Pelham in 2020 & bought Marco’s Pizza to open Pizza Fenice in 2022, rising like a phoenix (fenice in Italian) from his own ashes back into the pizza game. With several different incredible styles to choose from, I opted for the classic New York Cheese pie, which is essentially a rather fancy football pizza. Despite a thickish appearance, the dough is actually light & airy, with sourdough vibes from a longer fermentation process, creating a cleaner & more digestible canvas for the other ingredients. Very firm & fairly crispy with a delightfully tasty & crunchy texture, particularly the wonderfully charred & crunch-packed crust, the dough possesses a beautifully blackened undercarriage to go along with a semi-smokey flavor & quality crisped consistency. The cheese is made up of mostly Grande mozzarella, a top-quality mozz, with some fresh mozzarella mixed in, as well as some shredded Parmesan & a sprinkle of pecorino romano, creating a somewhat sharp flavor. Pungent & delectable, the cheese blend is mostly tight, though creamy in some spots, not too thick, melted well as the textures converge. Not nearly as sweet as I had anticipated, the sauce is hearty & moderately chunky, a substantial amount, yielding a deliciously even-keeled taste. Neither salty nor sweet, the sauce is modestly savory despite its neutrality. Decently seasoned & spiced, the crushed tomato blend melds well with the cheese & dough. The grease is minimal, if any, as the pie is gussied up with some basil & extra virgin olive oil atop. Overall, this is excellent pizza with quality ingredients that compliment each other splendidly. Travel-worthy as is, a sweeter sauce could elevate this pie into elite territory. Pelham Pizza & Four Corners may be the main rivalry in Pelham but make room for Pizza Fenice, a true rising star on the NY pizza scene. 💫

Excellent pizza. Crispy, sauce great, bread has a sour dough type taste, dressed with some olive out and herbs. This is a photo of the NY pie but the NJ is even better. I haven't given a 9 in a few years. When you've done so many it's hard to really tell is it better than some of the high 8s I've scored. But today was a rough day and I wasn't really expecting this last minute audible to be as good as it was. The guy making the pies makes a big difference too, good man.

Very legit pizza. The plain slice had some good salt from the little bit of grated cheese (I think pecorino but can’t remember). Sauce was basically perfect, particularly coupled with the salt of the grated cheese. Crust was crispy and had a bit of chew (and char). Not too much cheese, which I like. Hard to think of much that would have made it better. Detroit slices were really good, though they were not that hot, and I think all Detroit style somewhat tastes the same.

Fancy Football….worth it…specialty slices are legit also

Very good pizza!

good slice

Delicious

Can’t believe it took me this long to try a Detroit Style Pizza. This is a Detroit Red with Ricotta. Thick, crunchy, crispy crust. Good amount of cheese and sauce. A heavy pizza, but if you have a big appetite you’ll be able to down the whole pie. Great pie, I’m interested to try their traditional pies, but I feel like this is most likely their specialty. I’m going 8.5.

Had the Detroit Red, now my favorite style of pizza. Never had it before so I can’t compare it to other Detroit style pizza but ohhhhh man! Absolutely delicious! I also get the gluten free pizza from here for my wife and daughter, they say it’s the best gluten free they’ve had yet. My wife misses regular pizza tremendously and she finds this to be the closest thing to it. Great place, thanks John!

On par with Johnns. Phonominal!

Just by look alone, I knew this was gonna at *least* be a 8.0+ pizza from pictures online. What I saw in the countertop box in person just raised expectations. Every slice looked great. Well done? Check. Crispy, airy but not a chewy, crunchy crust? Check. Quality ingredients? Check. Finished with basil, hard cheese, and/or olive oil? Check. Great sauce to cheese ratio? Check. I've yet to give out a 9. It's intimidating and practically reserved for world class pizzerias. It's also a rookie score your average person might throw out to rate their very average local slice joint. It was my birthday yesterday and I knew I had to hit up 2-3 spots I've never been to that seemed great: Pizza Fenice was at the top of that list. Now at 100 reviews and a pizza maker myself, I have much more refined opinions. This pizza is very reminiscent of Pizzeria Baci's (Montrose) by me, up county. I'd say the main differences is the large is slightly bigger here, he sells slices, and he uses Mutti tomatoes instead of Alta Cucina, which are sweeter. Turns out the guy who runs Pizza Fenice, John Gristina, and Chris Weissman (Pizzeria Baci) used to work together. I've waited a couple days to write a review to really think about what distinguishes the two places. I would say Baci's is like DiFara but more artisan crafted, where Pizza Fenice is trying to evolve on the New York slice joint. Both are really up my alley in what I like in where pizza's going *today*. He's using Partanna Sicilian olive oil, King Arthur Sir Lancelot flour, Grande mozzerella, and a grated hard cheese, likely a parmigiana or grana padano. I'm sure his dough process is spot on with it's recipe and baking dough at it's peak fermentation time. He has a good crust that caramelizes well. I think my only little critique—and this is something I fail at myself—is some slices tip were floppy. And Mutti's are a more neutral tasting tomato (neither too acidic or sweet) compared to Alta Cucina's but also good. You can get most pies either as a round or a square and he also sells a Detriot. Every slice in that countertop box looked excellent. And I will definitely be back to try each. Do yourself a favor and order a fresh pie. I may be too scared to give a place a 9 and I probably could score Baci's a 2-3 decimal points higher than I did. But I've got to get to some more world class places first. I'll go 8.8 on the margherita I had. This kind of pizza makes me question where I could go with my own pizza to be more unique. I make stuff really similar.

Considering that I walked in 20 minutes before closing and both these slices were leftover, I was blown away with how good these were. The square one was a Detroit slice and the other one was a Jersey Tomato slice and both of them had fantastic ingredients all across the board, these guys give Pelham Pizza a run for their money, and this is coming from one of PP's long time regular customers. I gotta stop by again for lunch, preferably Sunday so I wouldn't have to feed a parking meter. Both slices get the 8.2. Delicious

I’ve had pizza from all the famous spots. Fenice is flag out my all time favorite. Thin, crispy, great flavor. John is a great pizza man who knows what he’s doing and serves quality. Dave, you have to get here!

Sharp looking pie! Nice and thin with a great three cheese blend. Nice sweet sauce that went great with the lightly salted mozzarella. Crust was light and airy. A rich more of their sauce would have put this into the nines. They also offer Detroit style pizzas, which are just as good as their NY style. Chef John has truly mastered many styles and takes pride in making a quality product. Really an elite pizza place and worth the travel.