PizzaGanza 2003™

PizzaGanza™ 2003=

Debbie’s 31^{st
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.co= m is for you. Today we will be visiting several New York City Pizza establishmen= ts in honor of Debra Lynn Cooperman’s 31^st birthday. Our goal: rate them, and decide the best Pizza in = New York City. You will be rating each p= izza place on multiple criteria on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being the worst and 5 b= eing the best. At the end of the day we will total all the scores and see who wi= ns. Debbie’s votes count twice!

Pizza Place	Crus= t	Sauc= e	Chee= se	Fold= ability™	Ingr= edient Balance	Tota= l Points

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Official tastingmenu.com contributor

John’s P= izzeria

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

The debate bet= ween camps is largely stylistic, centering on the distribution and amount of che= ese 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, <= /span>Brooklyn, NY 11201-1322, (718) 858-4300

Grimaldi's cru= st is thin and crisp, thickly redolent of smoke and char; the sauce is savory, fu= ll 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-roast= ed 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 giv= es 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 m= odel a century ago, offers a lusher pie with a choice of 14 toppings and a sligh= tly thicker crust. Exercise the free garlic option.)

Patsy’s = Pizza

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

The Original Pats= y'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 slic= e, 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 a= nd the slice topped with modest amounts of fresh mozzarella and unspiced tomato sauce.)

Totonno’s Pizzeria Napolitano

1544 Second Ave <= /span>New York NY (212) 327-2800

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

My dad, who gr= ew 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 havin= g the 16-inch pie whether you like it or not (Don't worry, you'll like it). The t= hree basic pies each cost $14.50. The classic margherita—mozzarella, tomat= o, 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 fat= her, 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—I= an Zaretsky