NYC's Best Slice Now in... Staten Island?

Just when we thought we'd have to go all the way to New Haven for the best slice of pizza pie, the 5 Borough Pizza Tour declares the best slice can be found right over in Staten Island. Salvatore of Soho (of Staten Island) came out on top; however, our resident pizza and Staten Island expert, John Kuhner, tells us "My favorite is Nunzio's, but the most famous is probably Denino's." Either way, it sounds like a good amount of our city's top slices are over there, so let's steal their recipes before selling the borough off to New Jersey.

The Daily News (who printed a photo of the wrong pizza joint owner) talked to tour organizer, Jeff Orlick of Queens, who told them: "If we're choosing one pizzeria, we're choosing that place. [But] the variety in Brooklyn surpasses the other boroughs."

So what about the other boroughs? The group assigned a top slice spot for each: John's Pizzeria in Elmhurst, Mario's Restaurant in Belmont, L'asso in lower Manhattan and Luigi's Pizza in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn. If you're a crust (wo)man, you'll want to hit up Mario's Restaurant on Arthur Avenue, which had the best, flavor-packed crust on tour.

Unlike the pizza-a-day guy, these foodies narrowed their survey down to 26 restaurants, and had 40 opinions for each over a 2 month time period. Orlick scouted each contender out beforehand, riding his bike through the boroughs to sample slices.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Carlson in Food on September 23, 2009 2:00 PM

Comments [rss]

Moist_United

Why is this such a surprise to some people? Considering Staten Island is filled with people of Italian descent, there should be some pretty good pizza joints there. In my opinion, Manhattan has the worst pizza in NYC. There, I said it.

r1b2

Luigi's on 5th Avenue and 20th in Brooklyn has been and continues to be our favorite slice, no doubt. If you haven't tried it, do yourself a favor, screw Difaro's, go to Luigi's. But don't go too often, leave it for me.

r1b2

Luigi's on 5th Avenue and 20th in Brooklyn has been and continues to be our favorite slice, no doubt. If you haven't tried it, do yourself a favor, screw Difaro's, go to Luigi's. But don't go too often, leave it for me.

Polite New Yorker

My vote is with Galleria Pizzaria on 101st Ave. and 95th St. in Ozone Park, Queens.

Brooklynbobby

The three famous pizzerias in New Haven (Pepe's, Sally's and Modern) do not sell pizza by the slice.

farleft

Ok...coney, staten. Same diff.

farleft

I hear this Staten Island joint also has amazing pies:

http://gothamist.com/2009/09/21/new_miss_coney_island_crowned_at_bu.php

Ba dum bum. Thank you. Thank you very much.

famdoc

Salvatore's of Soho is a little gem in a strip mall on Staten Island. Pizzas are thin-crust, crispy and tasty.

The sauce and cheese are made on premises. But, you can't buy it by the slice and its status as NYC's best is very controversial. Suffice it to say, Staten Island is a dining destination, not only for pizza and Italian food, but for a variety of other ethnic cuisines (where else can you choose from among several Sri Lankan restaurants?).

Long-time Staten Islanders are split among Deninos, Brothers and one or two other pizza joints. The issue raised by the Daily News' piece is whether one or another pizza tour company is entitled to select NY's best pie. Let the argument continue.

Wza

I believe it.

longacre

Staten Island? That's a shame.

Nunzio's is pretty dang good, I've never tried any others in Shao Lin, nor do I have any motivation to.

cgee

Why, exactly, is that a shame? On account of the fact that you are too full of yourself to travel outside of your comfort zone?

The truth is that NYC is far more than Manhattan below 96th Street and downtown Brooklyn. Look into it sometime.