Man Vows to Eat a Slice at Every NYC Pizzeria

The "who has the best pizza in town" debate could, and likely will, go on forever. It'll be the End of Days and we'll all be sitting around, like, "Grimaldi's!" "DiFara's!" "Totonno's!" "Patsy's in East Harlem!" Anyway, there's a new blogger in town with an insatiable hunger for pizza pies, and he declares his mission is to "eat a slice of pizza at every pizzeria in New York City. I'm going by neighborhood, starting in Manhattan, getting a plain slice at every place." And just to clarify, he is not interested in your shark fin truffle oil flatbread gourmet non-pizzas, he simply wants to sample "every single plain slice in New York City to scientifically determine which is the absolute best one." This sounds amazing, but it'll be so sad when he finally finishes up with his 5-borough survey only to find his winning pizzeria has since shut down, and 150 more have popped up. This blog, like the debate, has the potential to never end... but it already has us craving a slice from Frank Pepe (yeah we said it: the best slice might just be found in New Haven). [via Slice]

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By Jen Carlson in Food on August 24, 2009 4:45 PM

Comments [rss]

wow 14th street

Eat Pizza and go to your early grave or cremation.

Follow that with a "Coke"and death will become sooner.

[mis]inheritance

Hopefully this man won't go to your pizza place lol.

dd7

It's a neat idea, but who has time to do this? Is he unemployed?

HOTCUP

there are so many crappy pizza places within a block of each other in this city. so not worth it.

ANGRYGOD11

Who can take this seriously?

If he really follows through, at some point he's just going to take a bite and chuck the slice into the trash.

And move on to the next victim.

angry_pickle

I agree. Why clog your heart with a slice of crappy pizza. Take one bite and spit it out if it sucks.

Anna_Merkin

Seems like he would have pitched CityVoter, Yelp, or Chowhound - or even the NYTimes neighborhood blogs for some shwag until the book/made-for-TV movie deal happens.

Ignatius J. Reilly

Don't tell me - the blog is already being made into a book and the book is being optioned into a movie.....who could star in the lead role of Pizza Blogger???

AvenueHebrew

My money's on Jim Cavezel. I'm sure the dude is looking for something spunky to restart his career with. After Passion of the Christ, he's been seen so little that you'd think Gibson really did beat him to death for the movie's snuff film-level realism.

ChampionOfTheSun

Probably Keanu Reeves. And there will be a surprise twist with the Pizza Blogger love interest who will be played by Diane Keaton.

Potty Boy

Diane Keaton's hot.

grove

Sal's and Carmine's is run of the mill...

New haven is definitely better per capita

bigmikebrooklyn

luigi's on 5th between 20th and 21st in brooklyn.

A: it is the best pizza in town.

B: Gio, the owner, is awesome

C: Adam sandler taught frankenstien to eat pizza the right way here in big daddy.

D: I like making alphabetically bulleted lists.

JenChungsBaby

If we're talking about slice places it's New Park Pizza in Howard Beach. You know it's good because it's always filled with cops, ambulance drivers, Con Ed workers, MTA, etc.

sexisicilian

Yeah New Park Pizza is still good, my friend Dom used to make the pies there:)

NannyState

Good recommends above, and when admiring the ruins of Buffalo: La Nova.

msmerymac

AGREED! But, similar to the NY/New Haven debate, Buffalo pizza is a separate beast and can't be compared with thin, foldable NY plain slices. Just like you can't compare a Chicago pie with either. Buffalo pizza crust is thicker, more pan-style. But oh my god, LaNova's is soooo tasty. As are their wings and subs. I went to high school about 2 miles away and when my Dad picked me up from after school activities, we would sometimes stop and get one to take home.

insomniac010

Why is there even any discussion about this? Everyone knows that Dani's on Lefferts in Queens is the best slice in NY. Dont even get me started on that awful New Haven shit.

girlbythewhirlpool

http://www.vimeo.com/1563238

Thespis

The stand behind Port Authority (a block from the homeless shelter) that serves pizza for 99 cents gets my vote. But here's the thing -- I have never once gotten my change from those guys. The sign says "99 cents," I give them a dollar...where's my penny?!

(I'm just kidding -- but it is surprisingly good pizza for a buck. I'm not saying it's good -- I'm saying it's surprisingly good for costing a buck.)

nycman

Joe's on 6th Ave, of course.

Also, Freddy and Pepe's on Amsterdam and 74th

henry.hamilton

That slice in the photo looks pretty good.

fattyjerky

MMM New Haven pizza. Modern, Pep's, Sally's...all pretty tasty. Yorkside....disgusting, unless you're drunk AND it's free.

TowerofShred

There's a lot of good pizza, but he's also going to eat a hellalot of bad pizza. Yuch!!!

TowerofShred

Like those bready doughy slices with little cheese and sauce from the hood.

Pizza from Greek places, pizza from Indian places, pizza from Sikh places, pizza from Mexican places, pizza from Chinese places, pizza from taco joints, pizza from....

Ughh!!!!

jaycjay

Except that his plan is to eat a plain cheese slice from every pizzeria in the city. So he skip most of those places just by applying that definition.

That also rules out the sicilian selections mentioned above (since that also isn't even really pizza), and the delis and "breakfast pizzas" someone else mentioned.

jaycjay

I'd also, if this were my plan, content that places like Pizza Hut and Dominos (mentioned above) are not pizzerias. And yeah, that'd include Sbarro as well.

aveB4life

save your time. it's Luzzo's.

Humptydank

Oh no...

It's most completely and definitively Sal's and Carmine's on Broadway between 101st and 102nd.

Pepe's? Feh.

MaiaW

Is this going to be three meals a day? I think it's a neat idea, but the whole city? It's going to take him ages...

nomnomnom

Impossible, I say!

harrisgraber

My two favorite plain slices are both located in Astoria. One is Rizzo's and the other is Sac's Place. If we're talking whole pie, it's Sac's Place; single slice, it's a draw.

Qraymond

I believe the adjective that best describes this endeavor is "sisyphean":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus

For what it's worth, Pepe's and Modern in New Haven are both exceptionally good. My vote is still for Difara though.

balutanski

I already did this two years ago. Sbarro at Port Authority was (and is) the winner.

jaycjay

Ha. Funny. So your contention is that the best pizza in NYC is exactly the same pizza that's available in almost any mall or airport in the country?

pudeljung

Bleecker St Pizza

duckumu

it's true -- the best pizza is in new haven, without a doubt. 99% of the pizza in NY is barely edible.

and rizzo's SUCKS. why do people like that place??

pudeljung

Yeah you said it.

Everybody knows the best New Haven pizza is at Modern Apizza.

sexisicilian

Adrienne's Pizzabar on Stone Street in lower Manhattan is great for Silician pies & you can sit outdoors ... I think they own Nick's Pizza in Queens.

TowerofShred

but their sicilian is just a neapolitan pie in a rectangle shape!

chris

Frank Pepe sucks.

AvenueHebrew

Thank you! Christ, I lived in New Haven, and you couldn't escape all the local guidos and college schmucks beaming with pride at their phony "authentic, original" pizza. All of Wooster Street can go up in a brick oven fire for all I care.

Every time I went, it was a shitshow. Long lines, tables left open for 20 minutes or more at a time, awful service, and pizza that honestly never won me over. The crust was paper thin and burnt to a crisp, covered in a light dab of sauce and small blotches of boiling hot cheese.

My theory isn't that the pizza has ever been that good, but rather anything tastes good when you've waited that long to eat. It's an hour just to get a god damned seat, and another half an hour to be served by someone's surly mustached grandmother. When they finally toss the thing on your table, you're utterly famished and wind up wolfing it down with no regard for how scalding-hot it is. You can tell someone who's been to Pepe's in the last week when they're still picking the skin from the roof of their mouth.

Potty Boy

Tell us how you really feel. :)

mrguy

now i really want a slice of pizza.

Best plain cheese slice: Sal and Carmines, 102nd and Broadway.

Humptydank

I used to live half a block from them.

They left me with a permanent smile and a cholesterol problem.

Best pizza in NY.

harrisgraber

I'm glad to hear they're still around. I remember them from when they were located next to the Symphony Theater (pre-Symphony Space).

lagomorph

Does he have a cardiologist picked out? I'd want someone on hand to drill out my arteries after eating all those greasy slices day after day for months on end.

JenChungsBaby

I know some fabulous interventional cardiologists. I wonder if they would install a stent in this guy before he starts his quest, or do they have to wait until the arterosclerosis strikes? I'll have to ask.

Mr. Shankly

I know some interventional cardiologists as well and know enough to keep one hand on my wallet and the other on my groin when I'm around them.

JenChungsBaby

That's pretty funny. They do wear some flashy suits.

jibbly

How about all those midtown deli places that serve "pizza"? Or national chain fast food like Dominoes and Pizza Hut? Or how about restaurants like Nolita House that serve brunch/breakfast pizzas?