A ‘Slice’ of Queens: Welcome to the Jungly?

By Robert Intelisano

It has been a memorable year writing “A Slice of Queens” for “This is Queens Borough Magazine” aka TIQ. My travels have taken me to over 60 Queens-based pizzerias and restaurants that serve pizza. So far, my column has covered 16 of the 60 locations, and I created 2 Queens Pizza Crawls: The Sunnyside Pizza Crawl (February 2022 edition) and the Astoria Pizza Crawl (December 2022 edition) with more to come this year!

You might be asking yourself, what is a Queens Pizza Crawl? My definition of a Pizza Crawl is a walking tour that covers 3 or more Queens-based establishments that serve different types of tasty pizza! My format is to stop into the first 2 places for a pizza tasting. A tasting means a traditional slice cut in half or a Sicilian (rectangular) slice cut in 4 pieces, while discussing what makes their pizza unique and the history of pizza. We then walk to the 3rd location for a full sit-down dinner consisting of starters, salad and a variety of pizza options with adult beverages and, of course, dessert. The next day, via email the Pizza Crawlers vote on their favorite slice and why.

I have learned a great deal about the passion that shop owners have for pizza, and the interesting multigenerational immigrant stories of families migrating to the USA. Queens is known as “The World’s Borough” for a reason. One of the amazing things about Queens is our cultural diversity, with over 200 languages spoken here.

What does Dee’s Pizza, Milkflower, Nick’s Pizza, Margherita and Dani’s House of Pizza have in common? They have all been featured in my “A Slice of Queens” column and have proven that you don’t have to be Italian (although it helps) to make delicious pizza.

Now you can add “Jungly” to that list. “Jungly” is located in Long Island City and co-owned by Rohan Aggarwal and Suraj Patel. The Aggarwal family migration to the USA is another great immigrant story. His father, Rakesh Aggarwal arrived in the USA in 1980 and started his restaurant career as a waiter in the famous “Oak Room” in the Plaza Hotel. He saved his money and opened Baluchi’s in 1993 in Soho. Baluchi’s grew to 17 locations in its prime. Rakesh also opened “Devi” in 2004, which at that time earned him the first Michelin Star for Indian Food in the United States!

Rohan smiles as he tells me the story of when he was a boy, he spent most of his free time tagging alongside his father in his family’s restaurants. Rohan and his business partner Suraj opened “Queens Bully” (short for Queens Boulevard) in Forest Hills next to PC Richard, in 2016. They called it “Queens Bully” because they wanted to attach their branding to New York City. Their Chef won the “Barbeque” competition on the “Chopped” TV show.

I asked Rohan about the significance of the name “Jungly.” He said, “Jungly means ‘Wild’ in Hindi. The nickname for New York City is The Concrete Jungle. The best view of The Concrete Jungle is two blocks away from “Jungly,” visible by the Pepsi Cola sign. We believe that every New Yorker has a “Jungly” side to them and with our food, cocktails and ambiance, we hope to bring the “Jungly” out of our patrons!”

I drove up to “Jungly” located at 12-23 Jackson Avenue in Long Island City, and was immediately impressed by the exterior design. When I walked in, I soon realized this is much more than a restaurant, it’s an event space!

“Jungly” is a 4000 square foot space made up of 4 different rooms with a hip and beautiful design and lighting. As you walk into the bar area, on the far left is their “Concrete Jungle Lounge” that can hold 35 persons. This is the perfect spot for the type of networking cocktail parties that the Queens Chamber of Commerce holds several times per year.

To the near left is their main dining room which can seat about 80 persons. They have another interesting room called “The Flatiron Room” on the far right, which is a triangular-shaped room that can hold up to 75 persons. The “Flatiron Room” is equipped with a portable bar, private entrance and bathroom, high speed Wi-Fi, custom projection screens and sound system. All four rooms have hidden pull down screens for presentations.

Now for their unique pizza menu. They serve “Pinsas” (instead of traditional pizza) which can be explained as oval shaped mini-10inch pizzas. Pinsa (pronounced “peen sa”) is an Italian delicacy of hand-pressed pizza that goes back 100 years to Rome. The word is derived from the Latin word “Pinsere,” meaning push the dough by hand.

Pinsa vs Pizza! There are some

The Jungly Margherita Pinsa

key differences. Pizza is made from wheat flour vs the Pinsa which uses all-purpose flour. The Pinsa dough uses more water than traditional pizza. Most pizza places allow 24 hours for their dough to rise. The industry term for this is called “Proofing,” which is the process by which the dough is left to rise allowing the yeast to ferment, which adds to the flavor and texture.

“Jungly” takes it a step further as they ‘Proof’ their dough for 80-100 hours. The result is a lighter, easier to digest crust (see the photo) which also contains less gluten. I still couldn’t figure out how the crust gets its crunchiness (I prefer a crunchy crust) with their traditional oven as Rohan wouldn’t divulge all their secrets.

“Jungly” can be best described as global cuisine with American flare! Their flour is imported from Italy and “Jungly” has 6 different Pinsas on their menu which include vegan and vegetarian options. I had the Grilled Spanish Octopus as a starter and sampled both their Margherita and South Street pies, both of which were both very good. The South Street pie (pictured) consisted of tuna (I had never had tuna on a pie and liked it) lemon aioli, baby arugula, sundried tomatoes and stracciatella cheese.

When you go to “Jungly,” try their Pinsas and let me know which one is your favorite at Rob@Insurancedoctor.us.