NYC at war with pizza: Controversial green plan backed by Eric Adams forces restaurants to slash oven pollution by 75 percent

Pizza joints across New York City are being forced to raise the dough to cover the costs of expensive air filtration units after the liberal city passed new regulations limiting emissions. 

Democrat Mayor Eric Adams has approved a new green plan that requires facilities using wood- and coal-fired stoves to cut their smoke by 75 percent. 

More than 130 businesses will be impacted by the law, including many famed pizza joints. Businesses can apply for an exemption from the mandate - which goes into effect on April 27 - but they must prove they can not financially meet the requirements. 

Still, business must then cut their emissions by 25 percent. 

'Get the people doing crack on the corner of the street away from me and leave my wood-burning ovens alone,' Alejandra Sanchez, a professional chef, told DailyMail.com. 'We want health care. Leave our pizza alone.'

 New York pizza joints are expressing their displeasure with a new city rule requiring some to cut their emissions from wood- or coal-fired ovens. Totonno's in Brooklyn has long used the technique

 New York City Mayor Eric Adams has approved a new green plan that requires facilities using wood and coal-fired stoves to cut their smoke by 75 percent

Sanchez was referencing the city's sprawling homelessness problem that frequently sees people sleeping in the streets. She implored Adams to focus on more important issues facing the city than pizza emissions. 

The change, while costly for owners, won't change the pizzas' taste, Sanchez said.

'I don't think it'll impact the flavor that much,' said Sanchez. 'It's impossible to get the smoke out of something completely unless you use an electric oven.'

'I think the ones that will suffer the most is probably Neapolitan pizza.'

Sanchez said chefs always have a trick up their sleeve, and will find a way to bring the necessary smokiness back into the pizza.

'Say they really need smoke in the dish, then they might use a mozzarella that was previously smoked, or speck ham which is really smokey too.'

One famous pizza shop, Keste, told DailyMail.com about the constant complaints they got from their smoke. 

Edoardo Duran, a pizza specialist at Keste pizza, said when they were located on Bleecker Street, they often dealt with complaints from their neighbors about the smoke coming from their pizzeria.

'Whether it was purified or filtered, there was smoke coming out,' recalled Duran. 'Firefighters would show up for no reason and we would have to reexplain our situation.'

Duran said the eatery's owner was 'one step ahead of the game' and made the change long before new regulations.  

When Keste's Bleecker Street location closed during the pandemic, they reopened their store in the Financial District with three brick-oven stoves powered by gas.

The pizza chef said some people may miss the char that comes wit the wood-fired oven. But at the end of the day, the difference in taste is 'minimal.'

And what's more, Duran said the gas oven is actually easier to manage.

'I remember when I was learning how to bake pizzas with wood, it was a hassle,' said Duran. 'It was a little difficult for me at first to maneuver and to calculate how much wood to use, but with gas everything is steady.'

More than 130 businesses will be impacted by the law. Pictured: John's of Bleecker Street showing its pizzas for sale on Monday

Businesses can apply for an exemption from the mandate - which goes into effect on April 27 - but they must prove they can not financially meet the requirements

John's of Bleecker Street has spent more than $100,000 on their new air-filtration system to comply with the new mandate

Pictured: A coal-fired pizza fresh out of the oven, presented by staff at John's of Bleecker Street

Coal or wood fired stoves are often seen in big open ovens and produce significant heat to cook the pizza 

Chefs told DailyMail.com that a switch in stoves should lead to little change in taste 

Some of NYC's most iconic pizzerias have already coughed up a pretty penny to install the required air-filtration system to comply with the mandate, including Grimaldi's Pizza where co-owner Anthony Piscina told the New York Post one unit cost $50,000 to install. 

'We have to do it. We can't cook pizza any other way,' said Piscina.

Piscina explained coal-fired ovens are the only stoves that can reach 1,200 degrees, which is the temperature needed to properly cook a pizza.

Grimaldi's is not the only famous New York Pizzeria that has spent tens of thousands of dollars.

John's of Bleecker Street, one of the oldest and well-known coal-fired pizzerias in the nation, spent more than $100,000 to install its air filtration system.

'We were told we had no choice. We have no business without our oven,' said manager Joey Schirripa to the New York Post.

Paul Giannone, owner of Paulie Gee's pizza, which is celebrating their 14th year in business, told New York Post they spent $20,000 to comply with the mandate.

He installed his smoke-reduction system before the pandemic when the law, proposed by Mayor DeBlasio, was originally approved in 2015

'It's a big deal. I did what I needed to do. It's better than closing,' said Giannone.

Pictured: Marin Klapuh (left) and Ashton James (right) taking a large bit out of their slices from Joe's

Pictured: A pizza from Lombardi's, one of the the oldest pizza places in New York City

The mandate, which will impact 130 businesses, goes into effect April 27

Mayor Adams has vehemently defended his green plan.

'Everyone likes pizza! You see that pie in front of you, you start to get happy,' Adams said in a press conference.

'But let's be clear - every toxic entity that we remove from our air is adding up to the overall desire to deal with shrinking our carbon footprint.'

'We don't want to hurt businesses in the city and we don't want to hurt the environment. So, let's see if we can find a way to get the resolutions we're looking for.'