Little Donna’s lands on New York Times ‘best’ list again — this time for pizza

Just like last time, the news came as a surprise.

Robbie Tutlewski saw his Upper Fells Point restaurant, Little Donna’s, praised in The New York Times on Wednesday morning, at the same time as the rest of us. A previous mention came in September, when the cozy dining spot was named to the Times’ 2023 list of the most exciting places to eat in America.

On Tuesday, the newspaper homed in on the tavern-style pizza at Little Donna’s, included on a list of 22 of the best pizza places in the United States, alongside spots like Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix, Arizona, and Young Joni in Minneapolis, Minnesota, both owned by James Beard Award-winning chefs.

“It’s definitely good to be noticed,” Tutlewski said Tuesday after learning of the latest honor. “We’ll take whatever we can get.”

This time, he’s better prepared for any fresh surge of attention.

Last fall, the chef and his staff had to overhaul the restaurant’s reservation system to keep up with the onslaught of requests for a table. Months later, he said interest in Little Donna’s remains high.

He takes fresh challenges in stride, leaning on advice from Pizzeria Bianco owner Chris Bianco, with whom he worked for half a decade, helping to open several restaurants in the Phoenix area.

“Working with Chris, whenever stuff like this would happen, he would just say ‘keep your head down,’” Tutlewski said.

Though he absorbed lessons in pizza-making from Bianco, the pies at Little Donna’s are an invention of his own, an ode to the pizza he ate growing up in the Midwest, but with a crust that’s more crispy than chewy. Tutlewski lets the dough sit for a day longer than most pizzerias to help it get “as thin as possible.”

In the New York Times piece, writer Brett Anderson highlights Little Donna’s soft-shell crab pizza, a seasonal menu item that will be available through the end of summer. Tutlewski plans to roll out some more specials in the coming days, including an eggplant pizza and another topped with fig and prosciutto.

But diners will have to wait until later this week to try one of the Times’ favorite pizzas: In a stroke of bad timing, Little Donna’s pizza oven has been out of service since Friday. Tutlewski said a specialty part needed for the repair is on its way and the oven should be back to firing pies by Thursday.

In the meantime, visitors can try pierogies, Serbian pancakes called palacinke and other menu items inspired by the restaurant’s namesake, Tutlewski’s late grandmother Donna.

“We didn’t open up the restaurant just to do the pizzas,” Tutlewski said. “Donna never made a pizza — that was something for me.”