According to the New York Times, “There was a television crew in Motorino in Williamsburg a couple of weeks ago, Michelle Park from NY1 shooting a segment with the restaurant’s chef, the elegant young Mathieu Palombino. He smiled shyly in chef’s whites.”

“There have been others. Fame stalks the restaurant, which has locations in Brooklyn and the East Village. Vice magazine came to film an episode of its “Munchies” program, which streams on VBS.tv. Frank Castronovo and Frank Falcinelli, who run the Frankies restaurants and Prime Meats out of a compound in Carroll Gardens, were the ostensible subjects, but they ventured to Motorino to eat pizza. They ended up spiriting Mr. Palombino back to their lair to make meatballs.”

“Even the upstate media personality Rachael Ray has gotten in on the Motorino act, publishing Ed Levine’s and Adam Kuban’s lunatic cross-country pizza competition, a bracket-style run-up to the announcement of America’s best pizza, in the March issue of Every Day With Rachael Ray. (Motorino won in the eastern division; Pizzeria Bianco, in Phoenix, took the national title.) Ms. Ray is in the East Village outpost of the restaurant “far too often,” she told The Daily News.”