New York City’s Best Pizza – News & Updates on the Pizzerias of Manhattan (NYC, NY) | Scott's Pizza Tours
NEW Singles Pizza Party
Meeting people is easy when you’re sitting around a fresh pie at one of NYC’s hottest pizzerias. Scott’s Pizza Tours is proud to present a pizza party for grown-ups! These events will happen once a month at pizzerias in Brooklyn and Manhattan. The Singles Pizza Party is perfect for pizza lovers in their 20’s and 30’s. Admission includes pizza, dessert, games, contests and exclusive drink specials throughout the night (the first round’s on us). And don’t forget, the Singles Pizza Party is BYOT – Bring Your Own Toppings!
Our first pizza party will happen at South Brooklyn Pizza, Brooklyn’s newest coal-oven pizzeria! SBP is located in Carroll Gardens. Here are the details.
Thursday, August 28
7 – 8:30 PM
South Brooklyn Pizza
451 Court Street, Carroll Gardens
$20 admission, tickets must be purchased in advance through our ticketing company, Zerve or by calling them at (212) 209-3370
Patsy’s Offers 60 cent Pie!!!
I was trolling around Craig’s List this morning when I stumbled upon a true gem. To celebrate its 75th Anniversary, Patsy’s is “Rolling Back To The 1930s” with 60 pies and 10 cent sodas. I can hardly believe my eyes. Patsy’s boasts an old coal oven that has been in service since they day they opened their doors in 1933. Often lumped in with the six other Patsy’s locations around New York, the original spot stands high above the rest. It’s located in East Harlem, which was once a thriving Little Italy, inhabited by Northern Italian immigrants (mostly wealthy professionals) and Southern Italians (Patsy Lancieri hailed from Naples). Today, the area is undergoing massive changes with the redevelopment of Harlem, but Patsy’s remains relatively unchanged, producing one of New York’s quintessential slices.
Patsy’s 75th Anniversary
“ROLLING BACK TO THE 1930s”
Tuesday, August 19th, 2008
Starting at 8 AM
2287 First Avenue, New York (117 – 118 St. and First Avenue)
The days menu includes but not limited to:
Patsy’s Original Coal Oven Pizza: 60 cents
Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Orange Soda: 10 cents
Tiramisu: 35 cents
Caesar Salad: 35 cents
Ravioli al Forno: 65 cents
See the Craigslist post:
http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/eve/737175178.html
Marsal & Sons
I visited the Marsal & Sons pizza oven factory in Eastern Long Island this week and had the time of my life! This company turned the pizza oven industry on its head when it started installing burners from left to right instead of front to back (see illustration). Vice President Richard Ferrara showed me the assembly line, where I caught a glimpse of pizza ovens in the various stages of construction. People like to tout the virtues of coal and wood-fired brick ovens but good pies can come from any oven. Just ask Dom Demarco at Difara in Midwood, Brooklyn or Nick Angelis at Nick’s in Forest Hills, Queens.
Read more about Marsal & Sons at their website.
Behind the Counter at Patsy’s
Patsy’s has one of the best slices in the city. In fact, they are one of the merely two pizzerias that offer coal oven pizza by the slice. Originally opened in 1933 by Neapolitan immigrant Patsy Lancieri, Patsy’s became the premier Italian restaurant in what was then a bustling Little Italy in East Harlem. Although it boasts a highly regarded complete Italian menu, this week’s Pizza Bus trip visited Patsy’s for their paper thin brick oven pizza. We were even treated to a tour of the kitchen, where original dough mixers and cheese graters are still used to produce time-tested recipes. Its surroundings may have changed, but once you’re within the walls of this venerable establishment, it’s 1933 again.
(Scott is always searching for delicious slices. Photo by Sean Henry)
(Original 1933 dough machine. Photo by Sean Henry)
Launch Party Success!
Pizza and prizes were distributed in abundance at last week’s official launch party. We enjoyed pizza from John’s of Bleecker Street, Joe’s on Carmine, and Artichoke Basille’s. This photo gives but a glimpse into the evening’s madness (announcing prizes through a megaphone, balloons tied to pizza boxes, and a girl dressed like a slice of pizza).
Scott’s Pizza Tours Launch Party
Celebrate the launch of Scott’s Pizza Tours, New York’s Cheesiest Guided Tour!, this Thursday in the West Village! A hip travel agency called GAP Adventures found our adorable little pizza tour and offered us their space as a pizza party venue. We’ll be awarding prizes and there will be plenty of FREE pizza to go around. And this isn’t your run-of-the-mill pizza, it’s from New York’s best brick ovens! Come out for a slice and say hello.
Thursday, May 22
7 – 9 pm
GAP Adventures
364 Ave of the Americas (B,C,D,E,F,V to W 4th; 1 to Sheridan Sq; PATH to 9th St)
RSVP at the GAP Adventures Website
5/11 Pizza Tour
Today’s tour was one for the books! We visited pizzerias in three boroughs and sampled pies from a coal-fired brick ovens, wood-fired brick ovens and modern stone-lined deck ovens. We even stopped for a slice (and some cookies) at a bakery in Queens! Pictured is Joe Horn (of Livingston, NJ), who got more than he bargained for when he asked Alex Borgognone, the owner of Patricia’s of Morris Park (Bronx), what type of tomato they use in their sauce. Alex disappeared to the kitchen and returned with a large can of San Marzano tomatoes for Joe to try at home.
Anything can happen on a pizza tour!
Why isn’t Di Fara on the pizza tour?
Lots of people have been asking why certain pizzerias aren’t included on the list of possible stops. While we would love to include all of New York’s great pizzerias, some of them don’t make sense within the scope of the tour’s schedule. For instance, Arturo’s on West Houston doesn’t open until 4:00 and our bus tours are over at 3:30. Lucali in Brooklyn doesn’t open until 6:00. Di Fara would be lots of fun but we wouldn’t be able to hit all four stops if we included it on a route. If you know about an incredible pizzeria that isn’t on our list, just let us know via the form on our contact page and we’ll do our best to check it out.
The $1 Slice
With commodities on the rise, it’s a gift that we still have places to go for a $1 slice. The latest addition to New York’s $1 slice category is 2 Brothers Pizza on St Marks Place in the East Village. They even offer a deal that I haven’t seen since 1997: 2 slices and can of soda for $2.75. The “brothers” don’t stop there, they even offer an 18” pie for an unprecedented $8. I see this as an homage to pizza’s history as a peasant food. It may not be an exceptional slice, but even bad pizza is still a lot more fun than no pizza.
Patricia’s of Morris Park
Most pizza fans in the Bronx know Patricia’s; it’s an incredible Italian restaurant that specializes in wood-fired brick oven pizza. Actually, there are three Patricia’s restaurants in the Bronx, but while all three were opened by the same owners, the original location in Morris Park is the only one that remains in their possession. This place is one-of-a-kind because they offer pizza from both their brick oven and their standard gas deck oven. My favorite thing to do is order a pie from each oven; you really get a good comparison of how two identical doughs are affected by different baking methods.
The Pizza Bus will be stopping by Patricia’s for a slice at least once a month.
