Tag Archives: pizza

Joe’s Pizza

I love the pizza here. It’s flat, crispy, has fresh mozzarella, and nice sauce. This famous pizza joint was even featured in the movie Spider-Man. Go here if you are ever in the Bleecker and 7th Avenue area. You won’t be disappointed. Throw some fresh basil on this and it is a perfect pie.

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Joe’s Pizza
7 Carmine St
New York, NY 10014

Bella Vita Pizza

Bella Vita is a little pizza place on 58th street between 6th and 7th Avenues. I’ve walked by it a bunch of times and was intrigued because the pizza looks like my mom’s style of pizza – unruly sizes of mozzarella scattered upon a saucy pie crust. Let me tell you – the regular slice here was amazing. Not greasy, crisp as hell, soft to bite down on, and tasty as fuck. The sauce itself is sweet but tangy. The mozz is fresh and melty. Al it needed was a few leaves of fresh basil and this place is a done deal for my current favorite in the city. It rivals Saluggi’s. Check it out below – regular slice was $2.75 I think. Sicilian was $3.50 and the topping slice was like $3.25 if I am not mistaken. Yet a pie is only like $19. Not bad. Garlic knots are 3 for $1.25, and they re-heat them by pressing them under a sandwich press, which is awesome!

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BELLA VITA PIZZA
158 W 58th St
New York, NY 10019

Luigi’s Gourmet

My wife and I ordered a pie from here for delivery once and we were happy with it. Not overjoyed, but happy. It was a good, fair price ($12), and the shit was crispy instead of runny and floppy, DESPITE being stuck in a pizza box and stuffed in a padded bag where the shit can get steamier than a night in the jungle with the Penthouse Pets. So I made it a point to come back and try a proper slice from under the glass, reheated.

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Here’s the verdict: I liked it very much. The sauce was robust, a little spicy kick to it. The crust was crispy and durable, yet soft to bite down. The cheese was properly layered and just the right amount. I also tried a fresh mozz slice (I am a sucker for these). This one had basil and fresh sliced tomatoes on it as well. However, I thought that this lacked flavor when eaten side-by-side with the regular slice. I found myself wanting to add salt or something. Oh well. At least we know the regular slice is legit.

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Oh and check out these garlic knots. They look delicious. Next time I will try:

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LUIGI’S GOURMET
936 8th Ave
New York, NY 10019

99¢ Fresh Pizza

This little hole-in-the-wall is on Broadway and 55th Street.

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I love the idea of a cheap slice of pizza, so I made it my mission to try a bunch of these places to find the best one. This category-3 pizza shop is actually okay.

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They are a little bit shy on the cheese and sauce, but if you’re in a rush and want to save a few bucks on your food, this joint will suffice once in a while.

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The crust is usually crispy, though a little dry due to lack of enough sauce. You can always throw on a little hot sauce if you need that wetness:

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Sometimes the crust can be softer if you get a more fresh pie. There’s not too much grease fall-off when you fold the slice to eat it, which is good on the waist, and nothing will drip down your face as you go to bit it. Sauce is basic – nothing nuanced or great about it. Cheese is just your basic shredded medley, if not all mozz. Standing room only inside, so get comfortable at a ledge on the side of the shop, or eat while you walk down the streets of midtown.

99¢ FRESH PIZZA
1723 Broadway
New York, NY 10019

Motorino

Motorino is one of those over-hyped pizza joints that non-native New Yorker’s think is a great New York pizza. Let me preface this review with this though: I did enjoy the food – ate every last scrap of it (I was starving). However, I felt that the crust was a little too soft. Th router edges were crispy and burnt, which was nice, but ultimately it was a floppy pizza. The sauce was weak (needed herbs or salt or something), and the cheese was sparse. My wife tried a no sauce-based pizza, with mushrooms, cheese, garlic, olives and soppressata. I found myself liking that better than my margherita pie. That’s a bad sign. When you are eating a pizza for the toppings and not for the basics of the pizza pie, then you are in the territory of “go somewhere else.”

Here’s the margherita pie. It’s mostly bread – very sparse on sauce, herbs and cheese. That may be fine for some people, but we needed to order a side of sauce just to dip the bread into. Despite generally liking the flavor of the bread/crust, I though the center of the crust (under the toppings) was way too wet and soggy. Perhaps they should pop this in the oven atop a grill so that the heat can get underneath the crust a bit, and make for a more solid foundation. When I make my pizza, I use a perforated pizza pan that allows for heat to directly hit the bottom of the pie, and I elevate the pizza off the surface of the heat.

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Here’s the other pie – much better, but only because it had interesting toppings:

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The highlight of the meal was the appetizer, an octopus salad with capers, potatoes, red onion, lemon and parsley. The octopus was really tender and flavorful.

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Luckily our deal came with a bottle of wine – we picked this one from the Montepulciano region of Italy. It was great.

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MOTORINO
349 E 12th St
New York, NY 10003

Saluggi’s

Best pizza in NYC. Yup, I said that shit. I’m a full-blooded Italian from Long Island who grew up eating mom’s homemade pizza, and friends’ grandmothers’ homemade pizza, and all the great spots on Long Island like Little Vincent’s, Agean, Sayville, and all the rest. Fuck them all, except for mom’s. Saluggi’s uses fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, and a really light yet flavorful tomato sauce that makes their slices really shine out among a sea of shit in the city. Yes, yes, yes – everyone knows the big named pizza places in NYC and Brooklyn. Fuck those too. I’m TELLING you… GO HERE. You won’t be disappointed. I ate here for years and I still go out of my way for a slice whenever the mood strikes me.

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Saluggi's Pizza - grabbed a slice of my favorite pizza in NYC to cap off the evening

saluggi's pizza slices

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After your slice, you should check out the owner’s other joint, just around the corner – a great dive bar called “The Nancy Whiskey.” Here are some shots of it:

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They serve food too – burgers and wings seem like solid choices, and there’s even a little upstairs seating area if the bar is too noisy for you.

SALUGGI’S
325 Church St
New York, NY 10013

Mamma Santina’s

This is some of the best pizza you will ever taste on Long Island. It’s too bad I just found out about it 2 or 3 months before moving back to NYC. In that short time I have been back at least 4 times. I’ve tried the white pizza, the margherita pizza, and the prosciutto & arugula pizza – all brick oven styles. I haven’t tried a regular PIE yet, but the regular SLICE was excellent (reheated from under the glass – the best way to eat a slice, in my opinion). Good cheese to sauce ratio, good crispy crust with a little bit of softness when you bite down. Really well done stuff here, with simple and high quality ingredients like fresh mozz, basil, and bright flavorful sauce. CLICK HERE to visit their fucking website.

Some pizzaporn food porn below:

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MAMMA SANTINA’S
201 Orinoco Dr
Brightwaters, NY 11718

Capizzi Pizzeria Italiana

I recently became aware of Capizzi when I was invited for a couple of press dinners. It is situated right between my wife and my work places, so it was an easy spot to try out on a whim.

This cozy little joint is tucked away under the bridge on 9th Avenue at Port Authority.

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When you walk in, you feel like you’re at someone’s house that has been temporarily transformed into a dining room. The old tube TV and the floor-standing, old timey radio have been moved aside to make room for guests. They even have and old school fridge and ice box along the cabinetry on one side of the room…

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…and dried peppers hanging from the ceiling, just like at grandma’s house.

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Which they crush into their own house crushed red pepper, served alongside dried oregano that is still on the stems. Just like home!

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By 6pm on the Friday before Memorial Day, when people are itching to vacate the city, this place was already jumping WITH A LINE OUT THE DOOR AND DOWN THE STREET. Completely full. Wow!

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The plates mirror this cozy home feeling, and it’s no wonder Capizzi was jammed up from such an early time… because everything was awesome. And it boasts an extensive Wine selection for all you wine drinking folks out there. In my two visits, I got to taste pretty much all their wines by the glass. The montepulciano, nero d’avola, lambrusco, chianti, and muscato were all great.

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Our waiter Andre started us off with a couple of glasses of sangiovese on our first visit, which is one of my favorite varietals. The cool thing about the second visit was that he was there again, but this time just visiting on his off-day to say hello to friends, which I thought was pretty cool. He remembered us too! Great guy. On the second trip we had the pleasure of being served by Sami as our waitress, and Javier as bus boy. Service here is impeccable! Javier was fast, attentive, and very nice. Sami was a sweetheart, and made excellent suggestions for what to order. The people running Capizzi definitely know how to choose good quality staff.

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We had a plate of soft, tasty burrata cheese that was garnished with basil, artichoke hearts, sliced grape tomatoes, roasted red peppers, and prosciutto – all lightly drizzled with olive oil. It was excellent. Simple and delicious.

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Next came the antipasto misto: a plate of Italian meats, cheese, olives, mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, and eggplant. A nice way to double down on our starter plate. As you can see in the pic, Andre again served us from the main plate. Top notch service here!

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The antipasto came with a basket of toasted, lightly cheesed flatbread. Naked pizza, if you will. Really airy and crispy. We took this home with us since we couldn’t finish it all, and wanted to save room for pizza.

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On trip number two we tried two salads – HUGE portion sizes. Definitely can split these. These were both very simple dishes that showcased incredible, fresh ingredients. In the first case, cucumber, roasted red peppers, and really top quality olive oil.

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The other salad was a simple, refreshing fennel and orange salad. Again massive portion size, and very tasty.

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Then comes the pizza. We ordered a regular Margherita pie with some arugula and prosciutto on top. The pie was doughy yet crisped and lightly charred on the surfaces and crust. This kind of perfection can only be achieved with an authentic wood burning brick oven.

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The sauce was deftly applied with just the right volume and ratio to the crust and cheese. It had a very slight sweetness to it, which was cut nicely by the peppery arugula and salty prosciutto. The cheese was fresh and melty, and on top there was some fresh grated parmesan cheese for that earthy kick. We devoured every bite of this masterpiece.

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On a second visit we tried two pies. First the margherita pie – your basic cheese and sauce pizza. It was fucking PERFECT. Words escape me right now as I try to describe it. It was crisp, yet soft. It was savory, fresh, and juicy from point to crust. Honestly this is now my favorite pizza in New York, and I grew up a spoiled pizza brat.

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The other pie we tried was on special for the night, and was topped with speck, prosciutto, arugula and mozzarella. This was really great. In fact, pretty much every pizza on the menu sounds enticing. My wife and I plan to move back into the city this summer, and this area is one of or top choices for location. Needless to say, Capizzi will be our go-to pizza joint, no question. Look at how amazing the pizza is…

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We finished off the meal with my wife’s favorite classic dessert, tiramisu, on our first visit. It was good – nice and light, not too boozy; a great ending to a wonderful meal.

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On the second visit, we took advice from our waitress Sami to try the Oreo truffle cannoli. She hit the nail on the head. It was just the right amount of sweet without being overpowering. It was flavorfully unique, but with enough tribute paid to the classic cannoli dessert not to offend any traditionalist sensibilities. And as always, the plating was beautiful to boot.

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As a pizza aficionado, I definitely recommend this place to those looking for a great pie (no single slices here – for that you need to go to Saluggis). Do yourself a favor and go here ASAP. I think for sit-down, full-pie pizza, this is absolutely my new favorite place to go.

An interesting side note about this place:

“They got an old-fashion’ toilet… You know… The box, and, and, and, ah the chain-thing… We might be able to tape the gun behind it.”

– Tessio

chain toilet capizzi

CAPIZZI
547 9th Ave
New York, NY 10018

Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza

You may not know it, but I happen to be a huge pizz-o-phile. Growing up, I was spoiled by having my mother’s homemade pizza available on a nearly daily basis, so I have pretty high standards when it comes to the old sauce, cheese & dough combo. There are lots of different styles of pizza out there. I prefer a very crispy dough/crust, thin, with fresh mozzarella and a nice flavorful tomato sauce. Currently my absolute favorite, outside of my own and my mother’s, is Saluggi’s in Tribeca NY. Thin, crispy, fresh, and fucking delicious.

So anyway – the point of this quick post is to say that ALL New Yorkers are spoiled when it comes to pizza – not just the eye-talians who grew up with great home made shit. We have it made here for food in general, and when it comes to pizza, we are the best (FUCK Chicago – that’s right – I said it…).

That said, I recently became aware of Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza, a budding pizza (and wings) chain. I was fascinated by the pics I saw, and by the method of cooking (mounds of ember-glowing coals roasting the pizza BBQ style in huge ovens), so I had to give it a try.

I must say – I am impressed. This is good pizza. Great sauce, nice crispy crust but with enough depth to satisfy those who like a little more chew or substance to the dough, and good bubbly, quality cheese. If this is the standard that the rest of the country can expect at these establishments, then pizza is finally going to be good outside of NY/NJ/CT/FL. FINALLY the rest of the country will get a taste of what REAL pizza is like. Not Dominos, not Pizza Hut, not California Pizza Kitchen, not Chicago deep dish garbage, which requires a fucking fork and knife instead of a one-hand fold… REAL NY PIZZA.

I wish them great success, and I hope they spread to more states. This is good news for the middle-of-nowhere places that get one of these chains in their strip malls. They will understand finally what pizza really means.

The wings are pretty good to boot. They taste like they’re fresh off the BBQ grill, roasty, crispy, and a little char. Very nice.

Check out the pics:

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that’s-a-da pizza
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and that’s-a-da chicken wing

ANTHONY’S COAL FIRED PIZZA
4180 Veterans Memorial Hwy
Bohemia, NY 11716