Since I’ve been devoting myself more and more to trying the top pizza’s in the city, I figured it was only right to also mention some great pizza sites, so here they are:
SliceNY.com: An amazing site written by someone who’s tried seemingly hundreds if not thousands of New York pizzas. I use this site from time to time when I’m looking for my next slice or pie, and so should you!
New York Pizza Blog: While not strictly about pizza in New York City, this blog has been reveling in the glory of New York style pizza wherever it is available. If you’re on the go and need a good slice, check out this site.
CitySearch: It’s not a blog, but it is a great way to find delicious NYC Pizza.
That ought to give everyone something to chew on, so enjoy until next week, when I plan to check out Murder at The Met! I can’t wait!
This weekend wasn’t a big production really, just a lot of walking around downtown and incidentally running into a couple of landmarks, like Ice T doing an episode of SVU in Tribeca, and the Ghostbusters firehouse from the movie. Okay, I have to admit, the firehouse was pretty awesome to finally see, even if it was basically just a firehouse. It did have the Ghostbusters sign up inside though, so you know it’s authentic 
I also checked out another pizzeria, John’s on Bleecker, so here’s the lowdown:
The Pizza: 6
John’s pizza is definitely a good, solid brick oven pie (no individual slices). This pie put, in my opinion, greater emphasis on the cheese than the sauce, and while neither aspect of the pizza was jaw droppingly wonderful, I did enjoy the combination and ratio. The crust was on the thinner end of the spectrum as I’ve come to expect from most brick oven pizza’s, and was nicely charred, with a distinct ring of crispiness around the edges while the middle remained soft and delicious. Foldability was high as well, but overall this pizza wasn’t quite what I have come to expect from the city’s top pizza joints.
The Toppings: 7
We got some fairly extensive toppings on this pie, including peppers, mushrooms and sausage, all of which score excellently for quality as well as for making a distinct contribution to the pizza’s flavor. You could tell that the ingredients were really fresh, and they were baked into the cheese, integrating nicely into the overall scheme of the pizza.
Other: 8
I’d heard that this pizzeria would be exceptionally packed, with a long wait at the door and no reservations possible. Pretty much par for the course with the pizza greats of NYC. But when I arrived, I found quite the opposite was true. There was no line, and we were seated immediately. Once we ordered, the pizza came out in an almost absurdly short period of time, and the waiter was very nice and helpful. For the specialty pizza, two drinks and the rapid and responsive service, we dropped a little over $30 bucks, which I consider quite reasonable.
The Bottom Line
This place seems like a top neighborhood pizza place, but is not necessarily worth a trip to the Village in its own right. Good service and a tasty pizza will draw me back if i’m in the area again, but probably not before.
As I mentioned in the Grimaldi’s post, I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge to continue my pursuit of the perfect New York Slice. You can get on the bridge at city hall (take the R,J,M,Z,4,5,6) and walk or bike across it, but be prepared cause it’ll take you maybe 15-20 minutes (estimated) to get across on foot.
The New York City Boardwalk
The first thought that occured to me as I started walking over the wooden slats that suspended us over the traffic zooming below was that the Brooklyn Bridge is a lot like a boardwalk on a beach. You get a great, unobstructed scenic view of both Manhattan and Brooklyn as you walk across, as well as a view up and down the East river and Governor’s Island. There are people selling bottled water on the bridge for a dollar a pop when it’s hot, but be aware that it can get pretty windy and cool up on the bridge, even in the summer.
Getting Off
The weird part of the excursion happens when you reach the Brooklyn side of the bridge. It’s walled in by traffic on either side, so they give you a choice: walk straight ahead and into what I like to think of as The Mystery Tunnel of Doom, or veer off to the right and nearly double the distance of the trip as you walk between concrete barriers separating you from high speed traffic. We chose to take the long, above-ground route and finally were spilled out on an unfamiliar cross street. Fortunately there was a map. Unfortunately, we were totally unfamiliar with the area, so we couldn’t effectively read it, so we wandered off until we found our final destination, Grimaldi’s!
The Bottom Line
The Brooklyn Bridge is a pretty cool site seeing adventure, but also a relatively short one if you don’t count the long additional penalty walk for not taking The Mystery Tunnel of Doom at the Brooklyn end. If you want to feel really touristy/boardwalky, grab a hotdog or pretzel at the City Hall end and munch as you look out over the river and take in the sites. It’s free, so it’s definitely worth a look if you’ve got a do-nothing Saturday afternoon planned. Just make sure the weather is going to hold up, or you might find yourself unpleasantly stranded in the middle of a thunderstorm.
Because I was so dejected over the painfully overrated pies at Una Pizza Napoletana, a good friend suggested that I try a more down-to-earth pizza that’s grown quite famous in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge: Grimaldi’s. Now in addition to the pizza, I was convinced to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge to get there, which was worth it for the experience, even if my feet were crying afterwards.
The Pizza: 10
Definitely a cut above the norm, this pizza is somehow thin but still filling. The crust is a little more on the chewy side, and it makes for perfect foldability, though you probably don’t have to since the slices are already a fairly manageable size and seem to stay together well. The pizza chef’s use a generous amount of fresh mozzarella to cover a tasty sauce that features a perfect helping of basil, and the overall taste is quite worth the trip.
The Toppings: 9
I’m not sure what it was about the toppings on this pizza (mushroom and pepperoni, my favorite) but they enhanced the slices to a whole new level of flavor and, dare I coin a phrase(?), deliciousity. The pepperoni was just the right kind of crispy around the edges and the meaty flavor was infused throughout the slice giving the topping slices great taste and a big texture bonus. The mushrooms were also fresh and delicious, baked into the cheese with love and care.
Other: 4
While I feel a little bad knocking off a point from average on the “Other” rating, the place was completely packed and a line had formed at the door when we arrived at 4:50, which seems to me like a pretty early dinner. I can’t even imagine how hectic it would be at 6:30. The line did move quickly and we were probably only standing there for about 10-15 minutes, which is less than you might wait at a casual dining restaurant on a saturday night, so I can’t fault them too much.
Once inside, we were directed to a table near the back where we could watch the Pizza chefs ply their craft. The seating was a little tight, and it took a little while to get a waiter’s attention, but even all that was forgivable when the delicious pie of delight was brought to our table.
The Bottom Line
This place is 100% worth it. Maybe 200% worth it if you go the easy route and just take the A train. The pizza isn’t cheap ($14 for a large, plus $2 per topping) but unlike Una Pizza Napoletana, you get a good-sized, filling pizza that