New York City’s Best Pizza – News & Updates on the Pizzerias of Manhattan (NYC, NY) | Scott's Pizza Tours
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.
Pizza Bus Delivers People to Pizza
As of high noon today, tickets are officially available for the Pizza Bus! Starting April 27, we’ll visit four of the best pizzerias in New York every Sunday afternoon. Pizza Walks are also available, but by request only. Just fill out the form on the Contact page to request a Pizza Walk and we’ll add it to the schedule.
Roberta’s
This new spot in Bushwick boasts a brick oven that the owners rescued from a closing pizzeria in Italy. Its menu features interesting flavor combinations such as garlic-potato and ham-pineapple-jalapeno but the real star is the crust. It’s light, airy, tender and crisp. A peak at the underside reveals a nicely varied char pattern, thanks to the heat conducted by the oven’s brick surface.
Am I Just a Square?
Today I really went for it. After dozens of visits, I finally tried a “regular” slice at L&B Spumoni Gardens. Over the course of my pizza-eating life, a “regular” slice has always been considered the standard. But that’s not the case at L&B. In this topsy-turvy sector of Brooklyn, pizza doesn’t abide by any “rules.” Here, the square slice (Sicilian) is head honcho. And get this, they go so far as to put the mozzarella underneath the sauce! It may sound crazy, but it tastes delicious.
Of all the times I’ve stopped in for a slice at L&B, I don’t think I’ve even considered getting a wedge. It never made sense. Just look around: the counter is dressed with a line of cheesed and sauced crusts, patiently awaiting their final bake. Dozens of rack slots are filled with square pies that will be consumed as the day passes. In the beautiful outdoor seating area, not a single little league player sports a wedge on their paper plate. Either L&B’s Sicilian is so good nobody ever bothers with the “regular,” or the latter is abysmal. No better day than today to solve this age-old riddle.
All it took were three words.
“One regular slice.”
And then four more.
“... and four squares, please.”
The deal was done. I felt like I was about to cross the streams. When I sat down, I examined the slice. Everything seemed to be in order. The underside had some nice variation and the cheese-to-sauce ratio seemed about right. I took a bite. Then another. Then another. It wasn’t half bad! But it also wasn’t remarkable. The crust was wimpy and the sauce wasn’t working for me in this context. Everything about the square that seemed to defy logic just worked perfectly, but the wedge had no such quirks. It can only be described as “average.” I feel sorry for the wedge. It must get lonely being the round pie at L&B. Squares have so many friends and fans. Every photo and report about L&B speaks of the beloved square. Not the case for old wedge, who is considered king everywhere but here. In this small outpost in Brooklyn, the square rules the roost.
What to do with the anonymous triangle? Do I feel so bad for it that I let it split the rent with my square slice? Should I fluff its ego by raving about it to friends and family? Probably not. I can’t say I’ll ever try it again, but at least I won’t lost any more sleep over the mystery of the wedge at L&B.
