John's of Bleecker

Shuffling through the maze of the West Village, tucked away in it's own little corner on Bleecker by 7th ave, pulses John's Pizzeria, a pizza joint with eclectic personality tattooed to it's walls similar to it's inhabitants and surroundings. A celeb favorite, John's Pizzeria has all the ambiance of your favorite, hippest grunge bar. Every inch of wood surface, from wall panels to tables and benches is carved up by starstruck lovers or people that 'wuz here'. The walls are covered in colorful murals that energize the small space.



As pizza freaks--ambiance is not something which we take into much consideration when judging pizza. But, for this place, it was the best thing to mention first--because really it was what made the place stand out. The pizza itself was good, in a better than average kind of way, but hardly stood out. We're touring the best of the best, and I can't imagine this place being anywhere but the bottom two. The crust was by far the stand out--nice and thin, crispy on the bottom and a thin puff on top. The sauce was sparse and was overpowered by the cheese, which was it's own unique blend of what tasted like mozzerella and cheddar. Overall taste was cheeesy, and not the kind of fresh mozzerella or shredded mozzerella I'm used to. I welcomed the change but overall the pizza just didn't do anything special. In fact it sort of reminded me of a quesadilla, which I guess is special (in the wrong direction). The sausage on one of our pies was good, and on our way out we saw a lot of people with some crazy toppings, meaning that this place might be great on toppings. We're judging the plain pie first and foremost, as it is pizza in it's purest form, and this pie was simply ok.

Overall fun trip, worth checking out, but the pizza won't amaze you.

Check back for our next trip!

Lombardi's in Little Italy

This is a perfect place to start off the tour.

Chronologically speaking, Genarro Lombardi started this pizzeria in 1905 and it is known to be the first pizzeria in the U.S. It's no wonder pizza in the States is so great, with Lombardi's as a starting point in the history of American pizza. Eamonn and I got inside the pizzeria at the corner of Mott & Spring and were instantly in awe of our surroundings. We were biting into a slice of pizza history, the restaurant retaining a nice charm with wooden walls and black and white pictures to counter the typical red and white checkerboard tableclothes. Unfortunately the clam pie (their specialty) was fresh out of clams, so we had to order a meatball pie and a standard pie instead.

As our first stop on the pizza tour, it's hard to judge with the rest of them. I assume every slice after this is going to be judged against this one, as it beats out any of the best pizza I've had in New Jersey. The pizza's crust was thin, bottom blackened and had a nice crunch from the pizzeria's coal-burning brick oven. On top, fresh mozzerella, tomato sauce, and basil. The tomato sauce was nicely textured, not too soupy like it can often get. Overall delicious pie. The meatball pie was excellent in my opinion. Real meatballs, sliced in half on top of the pie were a good complement to the cheese and sauce. Eamonn thought they might have overpowered the pie, but since he's not here and not writing anything, you can trust me that the meatball topping added to the glory of the pizza. As a pizza purist though, all judgement comes down to basic cheese pizza. And it was superb.

The service was great, we were in and out quick because we both had places to be (so is the life of a busy pizza-freak). One of the guys that was in a picture on the wall (I'm guessing a descendant of Genarro himself) was actually in the restaurant and came by to see how we liked the pizza. He slapped me on the back and went off behind the bar. We walked out of the place completely stuffed.

THE ORIGINAL

First stop, the original LOMBARDI'S PIZZERIA in the shrinking neighborhood of Little Italy. This place was said to be the first in the U.S., meaning every pizza place thereafter was influenced by this guy. It's also said that Gennaro Lombardi taught the pizza greats that started other pizza places around the city that we'll be visiting. Their specialty pie is apparently the clam pie. Sounds odd to me but I'll have to try it.

Pizza with a Purpose

This blog is the brainchild of two like-minded pizza-freaks.
It started with the thought of a pizza tour in pizza heaven.

I just finished college in Baltimore and have settled back into my home in Northern NJ--just a 30 minute drive and an easy train ride from Manhattan. Eamonn, my brother-in-law, lives in Hoboken and has been a pizza aficionado his whole life. In fact he still maintains a 75% pizza diet. Take a look at his food pyramid.

Living in the area, We've heard people rave about local favorite pizza parlors. And, with the rest of my life ahead of me, I figured that as well as searching for a job and an apartment, there's one more thing I should be searching for: the perfect pizza.

As Plato says, "An unexamined life is not worth living", and although that may have very little to do with our pizza tour, this isn't the kind of thing that's all about the results. Yes, we're there to evaluate and rate as we go, but the main point of this is to experience the best New York has to offer and have some fun at it. "Examine", if you will, our superior pizza-blessed surroundings. With the technology of this newfound "interwebs", we may even be able to enlighten the average Topeka, Kansas native about what pizza really is and what they're missing out on.

We'd like to do what Morgan Spurlock did for McDonalds, except using less will-power, forced-puking, Big Mac's, and media backlash. We've got an entire summer to check out the best of the best. Mmmm.

As we go from Manhattan to Brooklyn, the Bronx and beyond, we'll be taking suggestions from people who think they know the best place to get pizza in New York City. Feel free to leave your suggestions in our "comments" section.

Our current tour includes these NYC pizza spots:

Lombardi's
John's of Bleecker
DeFara's (Brooklyn)
Patsy's (Harlem)
Patsy's (Brooklyn)
Totonno's (Coney Island, Brooklyn)

An explanation of the blog title:
A long time ago, in a land far away, I pitched an idea to a New Zealand bar-manager/entrepeneur named Stafford to sell pizza by the slice to late night beer-munchied out kids. Although he had no problem letting kids under the age of 16 drink at his bar, he seemed morally offended by the thought of selling pizza by the slice. Yes, in this foreign land things were strange, and they only sold pizza by the pie. Silly kiwis.

This is a chance for me to celebrate my reunion with the land that invented pizza by the slice.