NYC Part 2: New York Pizza
When I was growing up, my dad had a travel rule regarding food: No national chains. We tried to eat local fare as often as possible on the road. My husband also has one rule regarding food and travel: Eat pizza. As I mentioned in NYC post #1, I tease him about being on a quest to try every slice in America. He likes to point out that, though I give him a hard time, I’m not exactly suggesting other food, and I definitely enjoy the pizza. Touchรฉ.
All of our vacations feature pizzerias from a list of 101 Best Pizzas that my husband has set to conquer, but we also go rogue and find our own places to visit. In New York, pizza is king. We’ve only been twice as a married couple, but both times have been heavy on the pizza (and delicious!) For a bit of perspective, my husband started our vacation alone in PA and met my son and I in NYC. The total time gone was one week. In that time, his pizza count was 27. That’s 27 pizzerias, not just slices.
To keep things manageable, both for our stomachs and our wallets, we usually only get one slice per stop to share. Most shops will cut a slice in half for you too! (It turned into 2 per stop with our son along!) Of course if it’s a repeat visit to an awesome shop or an actual meal we’ll get our own, but a lot of our pizza stops are snacks along the way to a destination. (Which is how several per day fit in!) So sharing slices is perfectly reasonable.
We also stick with “plain” (a.k.a. “cheese”) pizza at most locations. The plain pizza here is super satisfying and will save you money at every stop.
*This post contains affiliate links. That means if you make a purchase after clicking one of the links, I’ll receive a small commission – at no extra charge to you!
New York Pizza
I am not as fanatic about pizza as my husband, but I do have to say that nothing beats a good New York slice. Some of them are so good I Google apartment listings and fantasize about moving next door. Some are just okay, and of course some are just not good at all. But honestly, even a bad slice in NYC is better than a good slice at home*. There’s just somethin’ in the water. (No, seriously. Some people swear by this theory!)
In any case, as New York is known for its pizzas, it can be easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices. So which ones are worth standing in line for and which are a definite hard pass? Here they are, in no particular order except the one I ate them in.
*But seriously, even though the bad slices are still good, read my list and don’t waste your time/money on the bad slices until you’ve had the good ones.
Joe’s Pizza
So nice, I ate it twice. Our first stop in New York (after the hotel, of course) was Joe’s Pizza on Carmine St. Our son heard us talk about the pizzas we ate on our last New York trip, and he requested that this be the first thing he ate on his trip. There are four locations of Joe’s, but this one is the original. It’s located near NYU and Washington Square park, and the last time I was there I ate it on the way to a show at The Comedy Cellar. On this trip, we sat in the little park across the street and ate our pizza on a bench. About half way through our snack, I noticed a sign that said we were in a “quiet park.” Oops.
We ate Joe’s again in Times Square. I didn’t even realize it was there. But after a long morning at Central Park, we were headed to the hotel to rest for a bit and I thought surely we’d be able to find something edible quickly off the subway in Times Square. I was prepared for a 99ยข slice shop, but thought what the heck and let Google tell me what was around.
So glad I did, because Joe’s is tied for #1 in my New York pizzas. The crust is perfect – it doesn’t flop when you pick it up. The cheese is not stringy and doesn’t slide off when you eat. The sauce is some of the tastiest in New York, and I love this slice.
Bleecker Street Pizza
This is the one that is tied for #1 with Joe’s for me. Also the second slice I had this trip, which is kind of a bummer as the rest just didn’t quite measure up. Bleecker Street doesn’t have the same publicity from “best pizza lists” that Joe’s does, but it can definitely hold its own.
Bleecker Street is just a short walk from Joe’s, so don’t eat one without the other if you can avoid it. These two slices may look a lot alike, but they are actually quite different in taste. Joe’s for me is all about the sauce. The other stuff is just right too, but the sauce is the star. Bleecker Street is much lighter on the sauce, and the star is definitely the cheese. My husband rates this one ever so slightly higher than Joe’s, because he’s not a sauce guy. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a dry pizza – if it were I wouldn’t enjoy it. It’s a very tasty pie.
When I saw all the cheese I was worried and just knew it was all going to slide off when I took a bite. But I was pleasantly surprised. Everything stays right where it’s supposed to, and the balance is great.
*John’s of Bleecker
Asterisk, because it’s been a year since I ate this pizza. My beef with John’s is that they don’t sell by the slice (and they’re proud of that). I remember it being a really good pizza, but I am a by-the-slice kind of gal. Even when you have a group, ordering a full pizza is hard in my opinion. In my family there’s plain lovers, meat lovers, pepperoni only-ers. How on earth do you pick a pizza to satisfy everyone?? Worth eating though if you’re looking for a pizza place in this area where you can sit indoors with a large group!
Pronto Pizza & Steve’s Pizza
My husband ate these on his own while visiting the 9-11 memorial and museum. He gave them both solid, “Meh,” ratings. This wasn’t just for my sake – stay tuned because he later ate “the best slice he’d had” on his own. As in without me.
His note on Pronto – the sauce has no flavor. Steve’s – too thick, too much cornmeal. Nobody wants to feel like they’re eating sandy pizza. Nobody.
So maybe if you’re in the area, just find something else to snack on!
Famous Original Ray’s Pizza
Famous for … lackluster slices in a sea of much better slices? We stopped for a slice at the Lexington Ave. location on the way from the subway station to the Central Park Zoo. This pizza was probably my least favorite of all of the slices we ate. You can see in the photo that it’s greasy – a big no for me. It was chewy, the sauce had very little flavor, and I was able to use my Whole 30 powers and say that slice is not worth the calories I’m gonna have to walk off. I let the boys finish this one. (Because I’ve heard my husband say, “Even bad New York pizza is good pizza.”)
Prince Street Pizza
We walked to Prince Street Pizza after grabbing a scoop of ice cream at Oddfellows (highly recommend!) Morgenstern’s ice cream is closer, but I’d already been there before! (Also recommend, but Morgenstern’s is more for the exotic flavors, Oddfellows for the traditionalists!)
In any case, Prince Street Pizza is serving up an incredibly tasty Sicilian style pizza. If you go, plan on trying the Spicy Spring. It surprised me when I saw it (because I didn’t know what Sicilian style was), but it was really very good.
This is not the kind of pizza I think I would eat as a pizza craving quelcher. That’s Joe’s. But it is the kind of pizza that I would crave. It’s got a very distinct taste, and I could see myself getting in a PSP mood. Give it a try. Those crispy pepperonis are worth the wait in line. Because there will be a line. And no place to sit. But do it anyway.
Artichoke Pizza
This one was an unplanned drop-in slice for us. My husband had eaten the artichoke slice (their namesake that they’re known for) on his last NYC visit, and we happened across another location as we were walking from Chelsea Market to the High Line. On this visit we just got a slice of the margherita. I am a margherita convert. The large slices of mozzarella with basil haven’t always been my favorite, but I’ve recently eaten some incredibly tasty ones. I think this was a perfectly good slice of pizza, but in my opinion there are way better things to spend $6 on. Like (almost) two slices at Joe’s.
Pomodoro
Kyle needed a slice while I was busy getting macaroons in SoHo, so-ho he dropped in at Pomodoro. I think I had a bite when we met back up, but this slice was so unmemorable that I’m not even sure if I tried it. Kyle described it as “chewy.” Which is not a good thing. If you’re really hungry for some pizza while you’re shopping, slide over to Lombardi’s – the oldest pizzeria in the country. You’ll have to sit, but it’s worth the experience! Pomodoro wasn’t the worst, but there are way, way better slices in the city.
Scarr’s Pizza
I am pretty bummed that I didn’t get to try this slice. We were split up for the morning as Kyle had some official work biz to attend to. While I was enjoying Joe’s in Times Square, my husband was enjoying several slices near the Tenement Museum. His favorite by far was Scarr’s, so that’s the only one I’ll include here. Not only was this his favorite in the area, he actually described it as “maybe the best overall.” This one is a bit off the beaten path, but according to my husband, worth the trek.
Front Street Pizza
Just across the Brooklyn Bridge, this was another one for me that just wasn’t worth it. Front Street Pizza has mostly good reviews on Google, but it just all around fell short of all of my other favorite slices. It was bland – and essentially tasted like eating a piece of crust. The best thing about this pizza was the location, which gives you the famous view of the Empire State Building underneath the Manhattan Bridge. Go for that, skip the pizza.
Some Other Places
Before meeting us at the airport (LGA) Kyle had two notable slices – Sal & Carmine’s and Patsy’s. These are both on the North side of the park (one West, one East), so if you find yourself in one of those areas you should check them out!
I’ve included a few above that we did not particularly enjoy, mainly because they are not located in pizza-dense locations and you might be stuck with a decision to make when you pass by! Some others that we ate that were just okay were Ben’s, East Village Pizza, Fahr Fresh & Hot Pizza, Kiss My Slice, and Georgio’s Pizza. I’d probably skip the calorie count on these slices.
Where to Go From Here?!?
So after eating some of arguably the best slices in the country, what are we to do now?! We’ll continue trying out the local places here in DFW in search of the perfect at-home slice. Nothing beats New York pizza, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try. You can follow along with us on Instagram @icouldgoforaslice.
For his birthday, Kyle received a pizza steel and a very official looking pizza slicer from my parents and hopes to be able to make us some awesome slices at home. (A pizza steel’s purpose is to get insanely hot in an oven that doesn’t get insanely hot. Did you know the best pizzas are cooked fast at high temps?) We’ll share some of our trials on this tasty journey here as they come.
In the meantime, what’s the best slice you’ve ever had? Have you tried any of the spots on our list? What’s your favorite New York pizza spot?