“Disaster,” declared a writer at New York magazine, citing the longstanding city protocol of devouring pizza, no matter how greasy, with the hands, and the hands only.
One website called it de Blasio’s first mistake as mayor.
The fake-scandal hashtag #forkgate immediately appeared on Twitter.
There were comparisons to Donald Trump, who once earned opprobrium for a utensil-laden stop at Famous Famiglia in Times Square.
Even the overseers of Goodfellas, while happy to have Mr. de Blasio in their midst, sounded a skeptical note.
“Hmm,” said a co-owner, Scot Costentino, when asked about the fork use, “I think he’s just trying to be polite,” Costentino said.
“We’ll talk to him on the side about that,” he added, jerking his head toward the back of the restaurant.
Confronted by reporters about his use of utensils, Mr. de Blasio argued that he was simply being authentic to his Italian roots.
“In my ancestral homeland, it’s more typical to eat with a fork and knife,” de Blasio, whose mother was Italian, said. He noted, by way of explanation, that the slice he was served on Friday “had a lot on it.”
“I’ve been to Italy a lot,” the mayor added.
Charles Greinsky, of Staten Island, a longtime friend of de Blasio’s who was also eating at Goodfellas, said he was thrilled to see the mayor visiting his home borough.
But his face darkened when the topic of the fork came up.
“No,” he said. “No. It’s blasphemy.”
Pressed on why a mayor who prides himself on populism would opt for such a technique, Mr. Greinsky shrugged. “He’s from Boston,” Greinsky said of the mayor. “He doesn’t know any better.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/11/nyregion/de-blasio-skewered-for-eating-pizza-with-utensils.html
