- Casa Calamari, Brooklyn
- Totonno's, Brooklyn
- L&B Spumoni Gardens, Brooklyn
- Di Fara, Brooklyn
- Grimaldi's, Brooklyn
- Lombardi's, Spring Street, New York City
- Joe's, Carmine Street, New York City
- No. 28 Carmine, 28 Carmine Street, New York City
- John's, Bleeker Street, New York City
- Patsy's, 117th & First Avenue, New York City
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Our selections
I'm way behind on posting our results. I'll start by listing the pizzerias we selected for our day of pizza:
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Impetus
I really miss great pizza.
I have a long-standing theory about pizza, which is this: the best pizza in the world can be had in New York City, and the farther you go from there, the worse it gets. Generally speaking, this theory has held up well over the years, with a couple of notable exceptions. For instance, there is a pizzeria in San Francisco , which, upon repeated visits, has shown to be a top contender compared to most great New York City pizzerias and its name is, amusingly, "Escape from New York."
I have also had plenty of unfortunate experience to back up my theory. There was a pizzeria in Ventura County that pulled slices of pizza out of the freezer and heated them for you in their metal pizza oven. Then there was a pizzeria in Tuscaloosa, Alabama that had the only pizza that I actually had to force myself to eat.
If it's not obvious, I grew up in the suburbs of New York City, and for the most part, perfect pizza is something that I can recall from my youth. Yet even with this self-awareness, I am an unforgiving pizza snob. I can appreciate other styles of pizza, Chicago-style, for instance, and would happily eat it, but it is not in New York-style pizza. Surprisingly, there is even some reasonable quality pizza here in Los Angeles, good, even, but I have not found anything that closely rivals New York or anything that might have "escaped".
I suspect that if I grew up anywhere else, I would have a different appreciation for what I eat. Fortunately, I was born in the right place, and I know what great pizza is.
About two years ago, I was passing my way through Penn Station in New York. I was visiting from Los Angeles, waiting to take the train to New Jersey to visit friends. While waiting for the train I had a hankering for a slice, and asked a small group of people if they could recommend a pizzeria in the station. A middle-aged man who wore a uniform that showed he worked at the station said that none of them were any good unless you wanted to eat cardboard. I took this as an opportunity to find out where he thought the best pizza in New York City could be found, and he quickly named three locations: Totono's, Grimaldi's and Patsy's.
I didn't listen to the man and got pizza from local station, and it turned out to taste like cardboard with cheese on top. He was right. I learned something very important: just because there is great pizza in New York, doesn't mean that every New York pizzeria is great. From there I got my idea: find 10 pizzerias in New York City, pizzerias chosen by what I'll characterize as 'New York Pizza Snobs', and travel to all of them in one day. On April 1, we're going to do that.
I'm hoping this blog will serve as a document of our trip, our plans, the ensuing weight gain, and all pleasure that accompanies it. I'm sure he would be fun to document and produce copious amounts of video photography and detailed reviews of every slice we eat. I can only promise we'll do our best.
I have a long-standing theory about pizza, which is this: the best pizza in the world can be had in New York City, and the farther you go from there, the worse it gets. Generally speaking, this theory has held up well over the years, with a couple of notable exceptions. For instance, there is a pizzeria in San Francisco , which, upon repeated visits, has shown to be a top contender compared to most great New York City pizzerias and its name is, amusingly, "Escape from New York."
I have also had plenty of unfortunate experience to back up my theory. There was a pizzeria in Ventura County that pulled slices of pizza out of the freezer and heated them for you in their metal pizza oven. Then there was a pizzeria in Tuscaloosa, Alabama that had the only pizza that I actually had to force myself to eat.
If it's not obvious, I grew up in the suburbs of New York City, and for the most part, perfect pizza is something that I can recall from my youth. Yet even with this self-awareness, I am an unforgiving pizza snob. I can appreciate other styles of pizza, Chicago-style, for instance, and would happily eat it, but it is not in New York-style pizza. Surprisingly, there is even some reasonable quality pizza here in Los Angeles, good, even, but I have not found anything that closely rivals New York or anything that might have "escaped".
I suspect that if I grew up anywhere else, I would have a different appreciation for what I eat. Fortunately, I was born in the right place, and I know what great pizza is.
About two years ago, I was passing my way through Penn Station in New York. I was visiting from Los Angeles, waiting to take the train to New Jersey to visit friends. While waiting for the train I had a hankering for a slice, and asked a small group of people if they could recommend a pizzeria in the station. A middle-aged man who wore a uniform that showed he worked at the station said that none of them were any good unless you wanted to eat cardboard. I took this as an opportunity to find out where he thought the best pizza in New York City could be found, and he quickly named three locations: Totono's, Grimaldi's and Patsy's.
I didn't listen to the man and got pizza from local station, and it turned out to taste like cardboard with cheese on top. He was right. I learned something very important: just because there is great pizza in New York, doesn't mean that every New York pizzeria is great. From there I got my idea: find 10 pizzerias in New York City, pizzerias chosen by what I'll characterize as 'New York Pizza Snobs', and travel to all of them in one day. On April 1, we're going to do that.
I'm hoping this blog will serve as a document of our trip, our plans, the ensuing weight gain, and all pleasure that accompanies it. I'm sure he would be fun to document and produce copious amounts of video photography and detailed reviews of every slice we eat. I can only promise we'll do our best.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)