Review: Anna in Woodbury

Anna builds on its swoon-worthy pies with greats wines and accompaniments, and an elegant atmosphere. Opened last October by Danny Aggelatos and his wife, Angela, Anna in Woodbury is much more than your neighborhood slice joint.

As a kid, Aggelatos made pizza at his uncle’s slice shop in New Jersey before spending time at Bread & Salt, Jersey City’s pizzeria-bakery with a cult following. Anna, which is named for Danny and Angela’s daughter, comprises a spare yet welcoming dining room and a pizza counter behind which Aggelatos hones his craft. On any given evening, you can find him pulling his own mozzarella and pickling his own long-hot peppers, slinging pies into and out of the mouth of his dual-fuel Fiero Forni oven.

Anna's clam pie is made with a suave reduction of clam juice and cream; the mushroom pie is earthy, with roasted shiitake and maitake mushrooms laying atop a whipped garlic-confit cream and brightened by barely caramelized onions. In defiance of the current trend for Italian flour, he uses American — a combination of high gluten, whole wheat and spelt — and his sourdough starter is based on rye. He also bakes at a slightly lower temperature than is traditional and the result is a crust that is tender but sturdy and never floppy. 

But make no mistake; even without pizza, Anna would be worth the trip. The limited small-plates menu features plump, ravioli purses laced with lemon, Parmesan and butter. There's perfectly cooked broccolini with lemon and Grana Padano; a Caesar salad with radicchio, showered in Parm; wondrous head-on shrimp dripping in brine, lemon, a nice hit of chili and parsley. Anna’s wine list is another draw: a dozen small batch bottles, most under $60 and available by the glass.

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