Every New Yorker loves old-fashioned Neapolitan pizza – until they live next to a wood-fired oven.

Neighbors of the popular Motorino Pizzeria on Columbus Avenue on the Upper West Side say they haven’t been able to open their windows since the wood-fired pie restaurant opened about seven years ago. Black soot from the restaurant’s exhaust accumulates on the facade, blackens the windows and enters the houses. Pizzeria owner Mathieu Palombino said the restaurant installed a pollution control system from wood-fired kitchen equipment company Smoki USA, which complies with the city’s new emissions rules. New regulations have forced wood and coal-fired pizzerias to make costly, climate-friendly upgrades – but locals say smoke remains a scourge.

“It’s like living in a Dickensian chimney,” said Chantal Berman, who lives in the neighboring Motorino building with her 1-year-old child. “The thickness and oiliness of the soot and the smell coming out of that chimney is unlike anything I have ever experienced.”

Since 2017, Motorino’s immediate neighbors have sent cease and desist letters to the pizzeria’s owners, petitioned City Hall, and complained to 311, local Councilman Gale Brewer, and the council community 7. Some apartments are approximately 20 feet from La Chimney of Motorino.

Berman and his neighbors said they rush to close their windows before Motorino opens every day at 11:30 a.m. When Berman forgets to close the windows in time, she and her child start coughing from the smoke, she said.

Palombino said his company was compliant with emissions rules that took effect in April. According to the Smoki filter system specifications, the device reduces particles by up to 97% by cooling hot, dark smoke and transforming it into water vapor.

“We’ve had a scrubber in our Upper West Side stack since we opened in 2016 and it runs 24/7,” Palombino said. He added that he is in the process of switching to natural gas. According to his email correspondence with residents, Palombino began this process in spring 2021.

Burning wood generates two and a half times more pollution than natural gas. Burning coal produces about double the emissions of natural gas.

Research shows that commercial kitchens are a significant source of pollution such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides and black carbon. Areas immediately around restaurants have higher concentrations of pollutants. The regulations that came into force last spring aim to combat this localized pollution.

The new rules made national headlines, with some critics lamenting that the city is over-regulating its most beloved food: pizza.

Several complaints on the Department of Buildings’ website about smoke coming from Motorino and another restaurant in the building were deemed unfounded by an inspector. These inspections took place before the new emissions regulations came into force. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Environmental Protection confirmed that an inspector committed an air code violation against the company in June, attributed to a possible failure to maintain the system filtration.

Public records indicate the fine was $1,600. Follow-up inspections in recent weeks found the restaurant was following the rules. But some neighbors still smell the smoke.

“I had to replace two couches and three rugs due to soot contamination, along with all my window sills,” said Heather Harrison, a co-op board member in a neighboring building. from West 85th Street. “This year I decided I can’t open my windows except early in the morning – the pollution is just too much. »