Austin’s Best New York-Style Pizza with a Twist

We all spent the beginning of quarantine in different ways; some of us read a book for the first time in four years, others discovered the beauty that is whipped coffee. Issac Flores built a pizza oven in his backyard. Fast forward five months and this homemade, backyard pizza oven has transformed into Lost Creek’s newest pizza spot, Sammataro, with the mission of introducing Austin to the perfect pie (and one of Austin’s best restaurants in our humble opinion).

Their pizzas take inspiration from classic, thin-crust New York style-pizza while honing in on using the freshest possible ingredients, like their 48-hour fermented dough and sauce made from Bianco Di Napoli tomatoes. And all this in their 24’ long trailer.

When you walk up to Sammataro, you’re greeted with long, inviting picnic tables and their neighboring food trucks, one of which is Flores’s brother-in-law’s shaved ice truck. It’s a lovely little family affair! Sammataro’s menu is limited, currently, but that’s because of Sammataro’s emphasis on quality.

The Pizza

Let’s start on their standard pizza. This is a 16” pie topped with classic, organic tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, hand-picked basil leaves, and delicious gouda. While you can’t go wrong with this classic combination, if you want to spice it up, they offer all the fixing; pepperoni, anchovy, mushroom, serrano pepper, and calabrian chili, to name a few. The standard pizza is the perfect, just-greasy enough, just-saucey enough, just-cheesy enough slice. It’s everything you want out of a good, hearty pizza. Special shoutout to the basil leaves the Sammataro team picks out to put on their pizza. They’re massive, fresh, and have the perfect amount of bite to them. And it passes the stand test!

The current limited pizza is the white pie. It’s also a 16” pizza, but this one is topped with a ricotta cream base, fresh mozzarella, freshly chopped chives, basil, aged parmesan, and fresh lemon, all finished with an everything bagel seasoning crust and two lemon wedges on the side. This pizza is the creamy, rich pizza of your dreams. The extra lemon wedges squeezed on top create a tanginess mixed in with the velvety ricotta cream base, and honestly nothing can compare to it. The everything bagel seasoning crust is perfectly salty, and is the appropriate end to the perfect slice. On the white pie, we recommend adding some mushrooms or anchovies for a little extra bite, but it’s great on its own as well!

Our Recommendations

These are currently the only two pies Sammataro carries, but trust us, it’s all they need to carry. Both of these pizzas are absolutely delicious, and with the topping options, as customizable as possible. Even if you aren’t near Lost Creek, it’s worth the drive, for a little taste of New York.

Here’s your gameplan for making sure you secure your pizza from Sammataro: you visit their website or call ahead, you set a good pickup time for you, once your pickup time comes, you go, you get your pizza, you sit at their picnic tables, and you eat in peace knowing this is some of the best pizza in Austin.

Sammataro is also partnered with Free Lunch, a meal support program and magazine focused on the health of those experiencing homelessness within our community. Sammataro will be providing pizzas to unhoused people through supporters donations. If you’d like to make a donation, more information is available on their website!

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