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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.
Thus far, this has actually been the best pizza I’ve tried in the city, so I’m bumping it straight up to a 10.

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 you can really sink your teeth into. This pizza deserves every bit of adoration it’s loving fans lavish upon it, so if you haven’t been here yet, it’s high time. Walk over the Brooklyn Bridge if you’re up to it and want the scenic view, or just hop the A train and walk a couple of blocks, but either way, you can’t fail to enjoy this pie.

This past Friday I trekked from my office all the way across town to try a pizza that’s gotten a lot of buzz, and many excellent reviews: Una Pizza Napoletana. I am about to contradict those rave reviews.

Other: 1
I’m placing the “Other” category (usually the last topic I consider) at the top of my list today to make a point. Pizza is not typically, and in my opinion never should be a pricey meal, so I’m just going to come right out and say that this pizza is an unscrupulous gouge. Una Pizza Napoletana currently sets its prices at $21 per 12″ pie. For those of you who might have a little trouble visualizing this, the pie I ultimately received was about as large as a vynil record, perhaps a little smaller, and was only fit to satisfy one person, if that. The fact that I was being forced to pay such exhorbitant prices to enjoy this much talked about pizza definitely detracted from my enjoyment of the experience.
Additionally, efforts to make the restaurant space as much like a European cafe as possible were misplaced at best. Since you’re paying the same as you would at a fairly nice restaraunt, you might expect certain amenities to make your dining experience more pleasant. What I got was New York City tap water served in a wine bottle, and a table where I was literally rubbing shoulders with the couple next to me. As you may have realized, I don’t hold most restaurants to overly high standards, but when the price is so obviously inflated, I definitely expect a premium dining experience and this was not it.

The Pizza: 7
For all my criticism, the pizza was actually quite good. It wasn’t $21 bucks good, but that point has already been treated. Basically you get a choice of 4 pies with slight variances in what I would consider condiments (garlic, sea salt, basil), all priced at $21. I asked for a recommendation from my server and before I had even finished my sentence he was saying “Margherita” so that’s what I ordered. When this apparent piece of art came out of the oven and onto my table it was piping hot with a crunchy, nicely charred crust. The additions of sea salt and olive oil to the pizza came out loud and clear in the taste and were points that I greatly appreciated, but the dirth of mozzarella got me down, as I believe a good spread of cheese is extremely important to a quality New York Pizza. The Pie still earns a high rating for its uniqueness and quality, but i can’t give it top marks due to the scarcity of the cheese.

Toppings: 0
This one is easy. There are no toppings! You can only order one of the 4 variations on the menu and are explicitly told not to deviate from them in any way. You can’t rate what you can’t eat, so Una Pizza Napoletana scores a straight 0 in this category.

The Bottom Line
Just don’t bother. When it comes down to it, it’s simple math: you’re paying fine dining prices for a decent, albeit unique pizza in a cafe atmosphere. I’m sorry, but I’m just not buying it. I’ve had a lot of great pizza’s at much more reasonable prices, even at sit down restaurants, and while this one is no joke, at $21 bucks per person, pre tax and tip, without even ordering drinks, I can’t find any way to justify the trip. Save you’re money and go to Lazzara’s, Grimaldi’s or Two Boots, all of which have delicious, unique, good-sized pies at reasonable prices.

I picked up the Lazzara’s tip from a dedicated pizza article in Time Out New York and decided to give it a whirl. So after work on Thursday, the Last NYC Hero and I got on the 1 train and headed up to 38th street and 7th avenue to enjoy some delicious pizza. I couldn’t have been happier with the results!

The Pizza: 7
This particular restaurant (and it is an actual sit-down restaurant btw) doesn’t make pizza by the slice, so Malcolm and I ended up deciding on the Lazzara’s Special pie. This means that I didn’t get to try a pure, unadulterated slice of cheese pizza, but I can infer from the pie we did get that this place has a pretty solid slice. The pizza itself is square and comes with six slices, each with a flavorful, flaky, even crackery crust, a slightly salty sauce, and an individual square of mozzarella baked onto each slice. Altogether, the basics make for what I’d imagine to be a very good cheese pizza.

The Toppings: 10
I’d easily say this place has the best toppings I’ve tasted out of all the places I’ve been thus far. The special pie we ordered came with a perfect combination of prosciutto, sun-dried tomatoes, and black olives. It’s a salty slice to be sure, but if you’re down with that, then this pizza is going to be one of the best you’ve tasted. Seriously.

Other: 7
This place may be famous for its pizza (the pizza section dominates half the menu) but it’s a full-blown Italian restaurant with white table clothes and great service. The only potential drawback is that you have to buy a full pie, but the plain pie is reasonably priced (around $10) and while the specialty pies are more expensive, they’re still reasonable for the ingredients and are WELL worth it.

The Bottom Line
I have to say that the pizza I had at Lazzara’s easily ranks in my top 5, and I’ve had quite a few pizza’s in my day. It was an $18 pie, so it wasn’t cheap, but this basically would have covered the cost of the three premium ingredients on it at any other pizza place anyway. Unlike at other pizza places however, after splitting the Lazzara’s Special with Malcolm, I was so pleased that I was actually considering getting another half-pie! It’s probably a good thing that Malcolm dissuaded me from the indulgence, but the fact remains that I can’t recommend this place highly enough. Even though it’s out of the way for me, I can see myself going back for this amazing pizza again in the near future.

Last Tuesday, on somewhat of a whim, a friend and I decided to check out UCBT, making this my second trip to the famed New York Improv venue. As you may recall, I saw two partially scripted performances during my last visit, which played to a relatively empty theatre (probably owing to the weather). Well this time was a little different.

Harold
This time around, we came to see long form improv in a format known as The Harold. These are 30 minute continuous improv performances in which the eight or nine members of an improv troop alternate jumping into or redefining a scene. Once a handful of scenes or themes have been created, they shift somewhat randomly from scene to scene, elaborating on each one until the end of the show. In at least some cases, the scenes overlap or simply collide into eachother with comical results.

Another major point that set this night apart from my first visit was the crowd. When we arrived a little before 8pm, the theatre was completely packed, even to the point where there was actually standing room only for parts of the show. The crowd was pretty much what you might expect it to be, which is young and energetic, and of course, ready to laugh.

The Improv
We saw three groups perform, though I only recall for certain that two of them were Bastian and Tantrum. The improv they put on was fairly entertaining, but as I’ve discussed previously, improv isn’t an exact science and it can sometimes end up in a place that isn’t all that funny. For example, imaginary giant foam hotdog hats were very funny. Explaining that the greatest prank ever pulled was to build a second statue humping the main one in the schoolyard was very funny. Rape counseling wasn’t that funny.

This is the second time that I’ve encountered seriously taboo topics in a UCBT improv show, and both times I was less than amused. While I’m inclined to say that taboo subjects don’t have to be unfunny simply because they’re taboo, I do think that if you’re gonna go after them, you have to have a really great (and probably well thought out) angle. Unfortunately this is a fundamental weakness of improv, because it’s supposed to be spur of the moment, and at least in this case, the brilliant angle never really materialized. Sorry improv-ers, it’s just not working! Stick to the funny hats!

The Bottom Line
Despite some scenes that were of questionable comedic value, it’s still a hell of a show for just 5 bucks, and it goes on for over 2 hours, though you are by no means obligated to stay that long or even arrive on time for that matter. Just stake out your seats early and enjoy the energy and innovation of the improv Troops. The Harold shows happen every Tuesday night from now till forever as far as I can tell, so if you like long form improv you’re pretty much out of excuses to visit UCBT at least once.

I unexpectedly ended up at the strangest film festival for bicycle enthusiastes this saturday. Bizarre, i know. I don’t even own a bike anymore. Anyway, there was supposed to be a block party outside the theater, but it didn’t really materialize because of the rain. There was a crazy guy that looked kind of like a cross between a pirate and a clown, and some cyclists doing stunts on their bikes for a littlewhile though. One guy could actually do a 360 from standing which was pretty impressive while it lasted.

Once we got inside, I was able to see a series of shorts about cycling that lasted for what felt like about two hours. Some of the features were pretty entertaining, like the first one to play, entitled “Tag,” which was basically a five minute clip of an extreme cyclist chasing down and extreme rollerblader. Another entertaining spot was a strangely suggestive short about the love of a man for his bike. Unfortunately it wasn’t all fun and games. There was definitely a very strong political message as well.

I hadn’t really given it much thought, but cyclists in this city have a pretty rough time, with virtually every motorist in the city willing to violate the bike lanes to double park, make a turn, or just plain pass other cars. Cyclists are stuck in a constant struggle not to be squashed by cars, or struck by stray cab doors, and so they’re pretty keen on getting more safety concessions from the city. That meant that the film festival had quite a few pieces on this subject, like “In Memoriam,” a film dedicated to the 14 cyclists killed in the city in 2006. At this point I should say, politics in film isn’t really my bag, especially when i’m not expecting it. To be fair, the shorts did bring up important points about underappreciated safety concerns for the cycling community, even if they were just preaching to the choir.

The Bottom Line
The Bicycle Film Festival was a bit of an unplanned detour in my weekend, but for $8.50 i got to see a pretty hefty mix of shorts, some of which were highly entertaining. The street fair would have been a lot more fun if the weather wasn’t so bad, but it was solid, all things considered. While I don’t suppose this event will be coming around again for a while, it’s definitely something worth checking out if you’re a bicycle enthusiast, and may be an interesting diversion even if your not.

If you’re a New York pizza enthusiast, chances are you’ve heard of Two Boots. Well here’s your chance to hear about it again! Two Boots is in the East Village at 44 Avenue A between 3rd and 4th street, and is actually not only an excellent pizzeria, but a video store with (I’m told) a considerable collection of indie films. Now on to the review.

Pizza Quality: 9
This pizza is good. Really really good in fact! When you take the first bite, you’ll realize immediately that this is not your everyday pie. So what’s so different about it? Well if you ask me, it’s the sauce and the crust that make this pie special. The sauce is definitely unusual. It has a bit of a kick to it, and what I want to say is a stong suggestion of basil. Whatever it is, it’s wonderful. The crust was also an integral part of what made this pizza so great. It’s thin, making the plain slice pretty light, and has a crunchiness to it that struck a good balance with the rest of the ingredients. Other pizza’s I’ve tried around the city have been good, even great, but they don’t really bare comparison with this delicious slice.

The Toppings: 9
This place has some crazy specialty pies. As it panned out, I didn’t end up with anything too wild, just a slice of chicken and tomato. This slice was fantastic. The fact that the pizza is thin and light made it ideal for toppings, even something that I’d typically consider bulky like chicken. The quality of the ingredients was excelent as well, and you could tell that someone put some care and thought into making this pizzas. All around excellent!

Other: 6
Nothing too special about the atomosphere or price here. There were some cool retro booths and a nice view, so this place rates a little better than some hole in the wall pizza joint, but it’s still not the ritz.

The Bottom Line
Do it. It may be a bit of a walk from the nearest subway, but it’s more than worth it. I think you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t try one of their specialty pies or slices, but the plain slices are great too. So there you go. No excuses, just get over to the East Village and try it. Give it a taste and you’ll be a believer. Meantime, watch for my writeup on the Bicycle Film Festival which will be forthcoming shortly.

Yes, my parents were in town last weekend, and we actually managed to see and do quite a bit for just the couple of days they were here. Here’s a copy of the itinerary I put together for them:

Friday
The Focacceria (Italian)
The Comedy Cellar

Saturday
The Met
Carne-Vale (Brazilian)

Sunday
Brunch
Happy hour on the river

A pretty solid schedule with some wiggle room for doing other fun things like getting stuck in a cab in traffic. That’s New York for you though. Anyway, I’ll hit each point quickly so as not to completely overwhelm you

The Focacceria
Probably my favorite Italian restaraunt in the city, I highly recommend this place, and virtually anything on the menu. The Penne Vodka and Cannolis are particularly good. I love this place because the food is good, the place is never too crowded, and the service is always friendly and accomodating.

The Comedy Cellar
I saw Collin Quinn here! That makes him my first celeb sighting in the city actually, even if it was on stage. Unfortunately I have nothing flattering to say about him. He jokingly mentioned that his career must be downhill cause no one was laughing. Well, I think everyone realized that it wasn’t as much of a joke as he’d like us to believe, cause really, no one was laughing. Happily, the other comics were fantastic and my parents had a great time. It may also be worth noting that we followed this up with a random jazz place and got a little schnookered before turning in for the night. I’ll figure out the name of the place later.

The Met
After a night of strong drink, the Met was perhaps not as fun as it really should have been. This place is massively, enormously, stupendously humungous. Man is it big. Even if you were sober as a judge you wouldn’t be able to see this whole museum in a day and would be completely absurd to try, so we picked a few things that wouldn’t tax our addled brains too much: Roman sculpture, Dali, Modernism, and a healthy dose of fresh air on the roof, overlooking central park. A good time that could have been much, much better, but I suppose you just can’t have it all.

Carne-Vale
Carne-Vale is a Brazilian Churrascaria, which are typically very expensive restaraunts that serve obscene quantities of top quality meats. I’ve managed to find one that’s not quite so expensive, but still keeps the obscene quantities of good food. Maybe not the place you want to go on a first date, but it was perfect for a family of carnivores like mine. The one downside to this place is that the service can be a little hit-or-miss, but if you’re not too picky, it doesn’t exactly matter. Once you sit down, service is pretty much limited to red light, green light. Flip the card to green, and they bring more meat. Red, they don’t. Simple, effective, delicious, just the way meat should be.

Cafe des Artistes
Mother’s day brunch isn’t the time to be stingy, but we really pulled out all the stops on this one. My mother lived here in the city, once upon a time, on the upper west side, and used to dine at this restaraunt when it was presumably a little less high-brow than it is today. Thus, we decided to treat her to a prix fix brunch with champagne and a side of nostalgia. It was extravagant, delectable, but a little short in the fun department because we managed to get served by the one snooty jerk SOB on the staff. I should say that this seemed like an abberation, because his fellow waiters and hosts pretty much got us what we asked for when he consistently ignored us. Normally I wouldn’t outright complain about service, but for a restaraunt like this, with the prices being what they were, service really ought to be impeccable.

Sunset on the River
Last stop, the ferry. I decided to end the escapade with a nice riverboat tour of the city, so we hopped over to the South Street Seaport (which is an attraction in itself) and climbed aboard a New York Water Taxi. It didn’t have much in the way of frills, but we got to sit on the upper deck and look at the skyline from both the Hudson and the East River as the sun went down. They also served beer and wine for those inclined, but it wasn’t quite what i’d consider an uproarious expedition, so we kept it low key and enjoyed the view.

And that concludes 2007 parents’ weekend in NYC!