K! Pizzacone opened in Midtown, New York today, finally(!) providing hungry New Yorkers and tourists alike with a non-triangular pizza-like format. K! Pizzacone's co-founder Ingo Pinto has high hopes for his product: "I want to beat the frozen yogurt and the cupcake concept."
The cones in question are par-baked and shipped daily from an unidentified location in Connecticut, and then are filled to order with sauce and toppings and baked for about five minutes.
The folks at Thrillist explain K! Pizzacone's menu:
Build-yer-owns start with mozz & a choice of tomato or pesto sauce, then get filled with veggies ranging from standards like onions and green peppers to the uppity likes of spinach, jalapenos, and artichokes, plus meats including spicy salami, prosciutto, and even chili... Can't-be-bothered-with-picking-right-now pre-sets are also avail, like the self-explanatory Four Cheese, the 'shroom- & broccoli-slammed Vegetarian, the BBQ chicken-filled...BBQ Chicken, and even a scrambled egg and ham Breakfast Pizza.
Individual pizzacones start at about $4.90.
Adam Kuban, respected pizza expert and blogger at Slice, had eagerly awaited the arrival of conical pizzas to New York for years:
Short story long: I first read about them in 2004 and had been hoping they'd make their way to New York City sooner rather than later. (At one point in early 2008, I got to try a non-retail version.) Six years later, they've arrived with the opening of K! Pizzacones today.
And his review?
It's basically a pizza-flavored product, not unlike what you might find in your grocer's freezer aisle. It's considerable fresher and tastier than something from the grocery, but it has a convenience-snack item texture, feel, and flavor.
Prolific Midtown-area lunch-review site Midtown Lunch offered offered their reaction to the concept after an opening-day visit:
The cone concept will probably offend pizza purists so much that they most likely won't be too worried about the fact that the cone is nothing like a traditional pizza crust. It's flaky and firm and sort of crumbles when you bite into it... kind of like a regular pie crust (which they use for both the sweet and savory cones.)
K! Pizzacone
325 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10016 (32nd/33rd; map); 646-823-9318
Photos Courtesy of K! Pizzacone