PizzaGanza™ 2003

Debbie’s 31st Birthday Pizza Limo Extravaganza – NEW YORK CITY EDITION

Welcome to PizzaGanza™ 2003. (Credit to Steve Marbit who came up with the name.) This New York City Edition of PizzaGanza brought to you by your friends (actually – you) at tastingmenu.com. If you need a self-indulgent website about food focused on getting you treated better at your favorite restaurants then tastingmenu.com is for you. Today we will be visiting several New York City Pizza establishments in honor of Debra Lynn Cooperman’s 31st birthday. Our goal: rate them, and decide the best Pizza in New York City. You will be rating each pizza place on multiple criteria on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being the worst and 5 being the best. At the end of the day we will total all the scores and see who wins. Debbie’s votes count twice!

Pizza Place

Crust

Sauce

Cheese

Foldability™

Ingredient
Balance

Total
Points

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Official tastingmenu.com contributor

John’s Pizzeria

278 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10014-4105, (212) 243-1680

The debate between camps is largely stylistic, centering on the distribution and amount of cheese on John's pies. Unlike other New York legends like Grimaldi's or Lombardi's, which sparingly distribute mozzarella in large squarish chunks, John's scatters pebble-sized pieces that form a single uninterrupted layer of cheese when cooked. Far less contentious are John's thin, charred crust, fresh sauce or tasty and generous toppings. (CitySearch Audience Winner)

Grimaldi’s Pizzeria

19 Old Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY 11201-1322, (718) 858-4300

Grimaldi's crust is thin and crisp, thickly redolent of smoke and char; the sauce is savory, full of chunks of fresh tomato and warming flashes of herb; the toppings are wide-ranging, from brilliant bits of fresh sausage to strips of house-roasted red peppers; and the homemade mozzarella, which is dropped in small gobs on the sauce, is the perfect final touch. Pizza has simply never tasted this good. (CitySearch Editorial Winner)

Lombardi’s

32 Spring St, New York, NY 10012-4173, (212) 941-7994

The reason to come here is obvious: beautiful, smoky-crusted pizza with fresh tomatoes and mozzarella. The genius of this pizza starts with the crust, which is black and crispy on the underside (with pleasant, slightly bitter overtones), but gives way to a wonderfully soft, yeasty interior. In warm weather, leave the heat of the dining room behind and head for the breezy deck. (According to Robert Sietsema: Lombardi's, where American pizza was invented on the Neapolitan model a century ago, offers a lusher pie with a choice of 14 toppings and a slightly thicker crust. Exercise the free garlic option.)

Patsy’s Pizza

2287-91 1st Ave, New York, NY 10035-5010, (212) 534-9783

The Original Patsy's - 2291 First Avenue, East Harlem, (212) 534-9783

Patsy's crust is more in the light and crunchy than dark and sooty vein. The tomato sauce is fresh and vibrant and the toppings are top-notch. Mozzarella is reasonably fresh and distributed across the surface of the pie, a la John's. And at $1.50 a slice, it's one of the best values around. (According to Robert Sietsema: Patsy's serves a primordial slice, the thin crust nicely charred around the edges and the slice topped with modest amounts of fresh mozzarella and unspiced tomato sauce.)

Totonno’s Pizzeria Napolitano

1544 Second Ave New York NY (212) 327-2800

1524 Neptune Ave. Brooklyn NY (718) 372-8606 - original on coney island

My dad, who grew up in Brooklyn, has been in love with the original Totonno's in Coney Island forever. This isn't much of an exaggeration, considering it fired up its brick ovens in 1924. At this new Manhattan branch, one pizza fits all. You'll be having the 16-inch pie whether you like it or not (Don't worry, you'll like it). The three basic pies each cost $14.50. The classic margherita—mozzarella, tomato, grated cheese, and oil on a slightly charred, smokey crust—is the standout, but the Neapolitan, with tomato, garlic, oregano, and oil, makes a strong case for simplicity. The bianca is snow white, with just cheese and oil and not a tomato in sight. Other toppings, like terrific extra-thin sliced pepperoni, will cost you a few dollars more.  Just how good are the pies? My father, displaying incredibly sharp taste buds (or just a case of sentimentality), claims they're a notch or two below the original. But if you've never made it to Coney Island, I think you'll find the pies here are just fine, maybe the best on the Upper East Side, and among the best in all of Manhattan—Ian Zaretsky