The mayor of New York City eats his pizza like a tourist.
Mayor de Blasio on Friday traveled to Staten Island for a lunch meeting at a famous pizza joint — and raised eyebrows by eating his slice with a knife and a fork.
De Blasio’s use of cutlery, rather than New York’s tried-and-true folding method, put him in the minority at a table of ten small business owners and locals. Nearly everyone else used their hands, including a 103-year-old man who was invited to meet the mayor.
Before de Blasio showed his reluctance to go with the fold, the talk at “Goodfellas Pizza” — a slice haven favored by ex-mayor Rudy Giuliani — had been mostly about how the new mayor will help small businesses.
But de Blasio’s pie-eating technique was a turning point in the pizza summit — and became a sizzling hot topic among politicos on Twitter.
“Ya know, I think he’s just trying to be polite,” said Goodfellas’ owner Scot Costentino. “We’ll talk to him on the side about that.”
It’s just the wrong way to eat a slice in New York, he added.
“All New Yorkers eat their pizza with their hands,” Costentino said.
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But Biagi Settepani, an Italian-American who owns three bakeries, said the mayor was doing it the way it’s done in Italy.
“It’s the Italian way,” he said.
Asked about his affinity for the fork-and-knife method, de Blasio, who was raised in Massachusetts, agreed with Settepani.
“In my ancestral homeland, it is more typical to eat with a fork and knife,” the mayor said. “I’ve been to Italy a lot and I picked up the habit for certain types of pizza.”
De Blasio said the knives and forks come out when the pizza is overloaded with toppings.
He had three slices at Goodfellas — one margarita-style that was loaded with roasted peppers, basil, Italian sausage, smoked mozzarella, and Reggiano cheese.
There may have been a bunch of toppings, but at one point de Blasio put down the cutlery and used his hands to take a few bites before going back to his trusty knife and fork.
However, New Yorkers who don’t approve of non-folders would probably have appreciated the way he downed his dessert, an overstuffed cannoli.
He scarfed down the cannoli, and licked his fingers.
jfermino@nydailynews.com
