After creating several of the best Italian restaurants in town, Mario Batali was ready for a new challenge. His current undertaking? Making some of the city's best pizza. Since New Yorkers are hard to please in this category, Batali is armed with a new technique he's convinced will do the trick: Each pie—ultra-thin crust, of course—is cooked on a hot griddle and finished under a cheese-melter. In addition to 20 pizzas, Enoteca's menu also highlights home-cured salumi, homemade gelato, and a wine list 50 labels long.

Chef-owner: Mario Batali
Co-owners: Joe Bastianich, Mark Ladner, and Jason Denton
Cuisine: Pizza
Number of seats: 150
Designer: Lisa Eaton
Staff Attire: Jeans and white shirts
Music: REM's Begin the Beguine, and the latest Wilco release, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Ingredient that turns up most frequently on the menu: Mozzarella
Favorite dish on new menu: "Lardo" pizza — made with slices of fat back pig melted on top
Favorite restaurant when not cooking: Pearl Oyster Bar and Toquesville
Favorite dish to cook at home: Breakfast for my boys, Leo and Benno
Number of kitchens previously cooked in: "hmmmm...."
Biggest cooking disaster: I over-salted food for Bob Dylan
Most hated food trend: I laugh at trends. I hate nothing but durian.
Favorite place to go when leaving New York City: Rome
Secret junk-food indulgence: Gelato
Desired profession, if not a chef: Pool boy
Most exciting thing about new restaurant: It's big and it's beautiful
Experimentation the new restaurant allows that others don't: Bread, tomatoes, and cheese...faster, faster, faster.
Other restaurants: Babbo, Lupa, Esca

—By Kristen Wolfe