Tufino is a well-known pizzeria/Italian joint in Astoria. It’s not far from my apartment, maybe a 10 minute walk along the route of where I’d usually run errands. Being that I’ve never physically been inside the place (only ordered their amazing pizza online), I was unsure what to expect when going in. But it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and it felt like the perfect reason to stop by.
The inside of the restaurant is super cute and rustic; almost romantic. Something I wasn’t expecting from one of my favorite pizzerias. The service is quick and prompt, and we never had to flag down anyone for anything.
We started with these vibrant beers from Basei imported directly from Italy. I preferred the Citrus Spice Ale over the Koelsh, but both were very refreshing.
These beautifully crisp sticks are the Polenta Fries. The creamy polenta was chilled, sliced, and lightly fried to form the logs. The dish itself smelled heavenly, as it was served with a truffle aioli dipping sauce.
As a fan of gnocchi, I was excited to try this Gnocchi Macailleo. The sauce was made with this lovely pan-seared and red-wine-braised short ribs mixed with a sage brown butter sauce.
The short ribs just fell apart in your mouth and the nuttiness from the brown butter was evident in each bite.
Yes I live in Astoria and Greek-style octopus is found literally everywhere, but this wood-fired octopus was an interesting take. They actually cook the octopus in the pizza oven with balsamic vinaigrette and fresh lemon for brightness. The char was great and the tenderness was just as familiar as with the Greek-cooked version.
This pizza, endearingly named “Grape Expectations” was a special at the time. It was topped with melted gorgonzola cheese, bursting fresh red grapes, sliced hot capicola, and spicy honey drizzled all over.
Never would have thought bursting grapes would be good on a pizza but it meshed wonderfully with the pungent cheese and spicy/sweet honey. Also really loved the beautiful crispy cups the capicola crisped into.
This Spicy Burrata Pizza was our favorite though. The pizza came with no sauce, but instead was topped with dried chiles, cherry tomatoes, garlic, sliced prosciutto and tied together by the burrata cheese.
While not mentioned on the menu, the pizza was also topped with a sliced hard cheese like romano. The gooey burrata and salty prosciutto makes up for this pizza not having any traditional sauce.
Tufino’s crust is really what brings the pizza together, and this was always the reason why we’ve ordered from here previously. Now I have more of a reason to come in and have some amazing pizza since it’s such a cute space.
Website: www.tufinopizza.com
Address: 36-08 Ditmars Blvd, Astoria, NY 11105
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