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Gothamist doesn't make it out to Long Island very often, but last Saturday we went to Adventureland in Farmingdale to help judge Long Island's best pizza. The nominees were submitted and voted on by users of LongIsland.com with the top five vote-getters participating in the finals on Saturday.
The different types of pizza that the judges sampled were regular, Sicilian, marinara, grandma, and specialty. While a marinara pizza may be self explanatory (it's all in the sauce), some marinara pizzas actually have a little cheese on them. Grandma style was explained to us as a thinner crust and similar to Sicilian-style pizza. We can't say that we've ever had marinara or grandma style pizzas before Saturday, but after sampling those pizzas, we can see what we're missing.
The entries in the specialty pizza category included a buffalo chicken pizza with ranch from Antino's, a chicken marsala from Spasso's, a penne a la vodka from Albert's, a shrimp and bacon with francese sauce from Paradiso's and a chicken Alfredo pizza from Bucci's. While Gothamist is generally a traditionalist when it comes to pizza toppings, a few of these pizzas were quite good. That said, we would stick to the more traditional offerings at almost any pizza joint.
Our favorites from the day were Paradiso for regular pizza, Prince Umberto's in Sicilian, Paradiso's in marinara, Antino's in grandma, and Paradiso's in the specialty pizza. The winners for best pizza were Prince Umberto's for best regular and Sicilian, Paradiso for best marinara, Antino's for best grandma, and Spasso's for best grandma. Pizzas weren't judged on any particular criteria like crust, sauce, or cheese, but all based on the preferences of the judges. In addition to the pizza contest, there was also a pizza eating contest. Unfortunately due to our judging responsibilities, we could not participate. The winner, Mike Hoffman, ate almost a whole pie in about six minutes.
Special thanks to LongIsland.com, all the pizzerias that participated in the events over the weekend and to Adam over at Slice (who judged in 2004) for warning us not to eat any of the first slices that we sampled. We're glad we listened to his advice because we tasted 25 slices through the day.
As it turns out there may be a few more reasons to venture out to Long Island besides the Hamptons and the island's fine beaches. We kid, we kid. At the end of the day, we had something to ponder on our ride back on the LIRR - what has better pizza, New York City or Long Island? Clearly the answer is to sample more pizza!
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u've never had a marinara or grandma style pizza before this contest???????
Hey Dumbass, the word is YOU. It's three letters. Just type that shit out. Otherwise, you sound like a dumb 10 year old or some stupid teenage girl.
I love Vincent's in East Williston!
Holy crap, Tien! I'm glad to see you survived. When I judged this thing in 2004, I made the mistake of eating the entire first two slices when I should have just taken strategic bites. Seemed a shame to waste food like that.
I remember liking Cherrywood Pizza the most for plain slices, which I think is a better indicator of pizzeria quality than the specialty slice, which is the category all the pizzerias seemed dead set on winning.
Wait! In one of your pix it looks like the pizza-eating contestants they're leaving the end crusts behind. That's not eating pizza! Hmmmph.
adam - cherrywood pizza wasn't there this year. and to me it seemed like the plain slices were very similar, except for one or two. for the contest, they had to eat all of the pizza. so that guy eventually started to eat the crust. he ate the pizza fast, but had a lot of crust left and ended up in 3rd place because of the crust.
and marinara and grandma style pizza isn't seen much here in nyc, which is where i cut my pizza eating teeth.
I used to work in the East 50s, and there was a pizza place there that had grandma slices. Also, a few places in Park Slope have made grandma slices!
They've definitely infiltrated the city!
The best Grandma slice in the city is sold out of a pizza truck on the corner of Wall & Front St. The name of the truck escapes me, but there aren't any others around so you're not going to get confused. I have no idea how they do it considering the slices are cooked "on premises" - but they're 100% worth checking out if you ever find yourself downtown during your lunch break.
The BEST Grandma Pizza is from the shop on the corner of 6th Avenue and 21st Street. I can't remember the name either and its KILLING ME! Does anyone else know what i am talking about? They also serve some killer calimari parmigiana. Ohhh, it is just so fucking good!
Got it...Maffi's, and its on 21st & 6th
THE GRANDMA SLICE WILL ROCK YOUR WORLD!
What the heck is 'grandma style pizza'?
I have eaten pizza longer than anyone on the gothamist staff has been alive, and I've never heard of it...
www.forgotten-ny.com
Oh crap, sorry I gave the wrong address for the 2nd time!
Maffi's on 6th Ave & 22nd Street - go there!
interesting, but what would make it even more interesting is if they had a contest between the best pizza in the city.
staten island pizzaria's would total pWN
Hey I bet they'd really go for this crap in Bangladesh & Sudan.
It's not everyday they get to see some fat slobs ingest what probably equals a 5-year supply of food, all in just ONE sitting.
Grandma pizza is sort of a square pizza and is a bit hard to describe, but tends to have cheese, onion and tomato.
Tony's on Graham Avenue in Williamsburg has some good grandma pizza.
There's a pizzeria in Howard Beach, a few blocks from JFK that makes an amazing grandma slice.
By the way, Grandma Slices haven't "infilitrated" New York, unless by "New York" you mean "Manhattan." I've seen them all over Queens and Southeast Brooklyn and Staten Island since I was a kid.
The Pizza Place across 7th avenue from FIT has Grandma Pizza.
By Far Buccis pizza of East Patchogue has the best regular and grandma pizza around.
Did you take any pictures of anything else at this event? I know there were contests and other things going on?
for me you will always have the best pizza in the world...!!!a big kiss from la bella Italia!!!ciao
gino's pizza in long beach new york is and will always be in my oppinion the best pizza i've ever ate...from Salerno Italy...my best to all to Gino's and Mike Causi...from your friend Gina ciao a tutti, a presto!!!
Mannino's Pizza in Smithtown has the BEST pizza EVER, ALL KINDS! Marinara, Sicilian, Grandma, Regular, you name it, it is the best! I go all the way from Nassau county to get it!
lots of good pizza joints out there ive had a few on the island the pie in port jeff coal fired ginos on portion road ronkonkoma Annas grandma pie is good over in smithtown sammys on 112 in coram lets just say pizza is da best food mkeep up the great work pie makers i will be out riding my harley lookin for the best of the island has to offer
Little Joes Pizza of Wheatley Heights, New York is one of the BEST pizza i've tasted yet.. the pizza is amazing in every single bite you take. From the regular, to the sicilian, to the grandma slice.. it's absolutely fantastic.. you should try it!! 631.643.6012
LITTLE JOES OF WHEATLEY HEIGHTS NEW YORK!!!!! WITHOUT A DOUBT
In the city it's Famous Bens on Spring St. for sicilian and Angelos on 57th btw 5th and 6th for thin crust. In Brooklyn its Difara's in Midwood for best regular slice. In Queens theres nothign better than New Park Pizza on Cross Bay Blvd. in Howard Beach. On LI it's Phils Pizza on Hicksville Road in Massapequa and Tarrallo's on Washington ave in Seaford for best regular slice.
Question for all of you pizza connoisseurs - any idea how many pizzerias in NYC use coal burning brick ovens?
You guys don't really know about "pizza' , if you think that Gino's has one of the best...he he ,is really funny. If you want to eat the n# 1 pizza in all USA ..go to " The Original UMBERTO's " in New Hyde Park , after that , you will never eat anyway else ....I work there 10 years , and I can tell all of you ...they really use Italian tomatoes and cheese , and the sicilian pizza has allways rated Number 1 in Ny state. I am some one that trained people in Italy to learn how to make american style pizza in Italy , I help people to setup they restaurant and pizzerias in the old country , and I been in the field for over 33 years , I was born and raise in Italy , and learn my trade there , ( I think I have some experience ) ...Enjoy....