Arturo's - restaurant and pizzeria

I walked into Arturo's at 106 w. Houston to find Matt and Tommy, 2 Arturo regulars, at the bar. They were visiting from (just outside) Philly to see Steely Dan perform.
"We come here a lot, we love it," Tommy said.

I explained to them my feed me NY project and they loved the idea. They were really getting into it. "You could take it city to city," Matt said with smile on face.
"Cross country across the United States, i love it," i said. Indeed i was thinking of getting hotels involved. Tony, the bartender, overheard my pitch -conversation and asked me to leave my blog info (which i did) and said to come back and talk to Scotty.

I went back the following day and Scotty was receptive and invited me to come back around 6 pm for dinner.

I did and was treated to some great pizza and atmosphere. The live jazz music in Arturo's really makes it a very enjoyable and fun place to eat. There is entertainment nightly and a sign outside the restaurant indicates which musicians will be playing.

Alex, the host who first talked to me about Arturo's, said it was one of the last pizza places that uses a coal oven in New York. It opened in 1957 by Arturo himself and has been passed down to the kids.

I ordered the small (8 slices) Diavolo with sauce 21$ (which was actually quite large; i ate 3 slices the following day for lunch). It has tomatoes, onions, ham and pepperoncini. It was a little hot (as in spicy) and really really good.

Tony asked me how it was and i said delicious and then he poured me a glass of red wine: Primativo. "It is from southern Italy," he said. I quite liked it.

"How long have you been working here,?" I asked. "17 years," Tony replied. Wow, that's loyalty, I thought.

The jazz trio stopped playing to announce the last tune was a Cole Porter track.

The couple sitting next to me asked what pizza I was eating and I told them 'the Diavolo' and told them it was very good. They ordered the same thing and I asked them if it was their first time here. "No, but we usually have the pasta.I recommend the carbonara; and the arugula salad with cheese," said the woman.

For dessert, I ordered the chocolate cheesecake 5.75 $. "Chocolate sauce, whipped cream,the works?" Tony asked. "Yes," I replied a little too excited. I told Tony and my neighbors next to me, it was one of the best chocolate cheesecakes I had ever eaten.

Music wss momentarily replaced by a crowd of waiters singing Happy Birthday to a nearby table.

Tony wrapped up my leftover pizza, I thanked him and off I went. Outside, I saw a sign on their window: Eileen's cheesecake. I no longer was asking myself where this great cheesecake came from.

Another great New York city meal in another great New York city restaurant. Thank you Arturo's!

Arturo's
106 W. Houston
NYC
212-677-3830
212-475-9828
Open at 4 pm.