September 28th, 2019
Brooklyn, NY
You may remember that last year we participated in the 5 Boro Pizza Challenge. This is a one-day event in New York where you use public transportation or your own feet to eat one slice of pizza in each NYC borough. Last year, we had a small baby and a wedding to get to in Manhattan, so we only got to stop for three slices. This year, we were determined to try all five.
First stop: Norm’s Pizza, Brooklyn
The Challenge starts in Manhattan. We had a bit of a late start due to a bus that didn’t show up at our stop, and then a slightly delayed train, but we made it just a few minutes after the challengers took off. Last year we went up to the Bronx first, but this year we went right across to Brooklyn. We were all a bit hungry. We got two slices at Norm’s – a margherita and a pepperoni. As we were in a slight rush to keep going, James had to take his bites of this pizza while still in the carrier. These slices were really awesome, though, and ended up being some of our favorite of the day.
Second stop: Pugsley Pizza, Bronx
James was needing a nap after those first slices, so we thought that it could be a good time to take the extremely long one hour subway ride up to the Bronx and see if he would sleep in his carrier. It worked for a little bit, until we had to get off the subway and take an alternate subway because of track work (typical weekend in NYC). The noise and hustle during the change woke him up, so he only got about 45 minutes of sleep.
Even though he was still a little cranky, he became happy again as soon as we got off the subway and into the fresh air. We hopped on our scooters and started going out to Pugsley’s. It’s a hike from the nearest subway stop, but we were glad that some of the roads were closed to traffic for a food festival. This made for much easier scootering! While we were at Pugsley’s, we saw some local news crews filming some of the participants. Eric got spotted in the background, which was fun (credit: NY1):
Less fun was the long crowded subway back down to Manhattan with a baby who wanted to walk and not be strapped in his carrier. We were glad to have gotten two solid NY slices to eat, though. One of the fun things about this challenge is getting to try some slices that we wouldn’t normally trek to.
Third stop: Sofia Pizza Shoppe, Manhattan
After the second long subway of the day, we stopped in Manhattan for slices at Sofia, which are some of our favorite slices in the city. This was the only place on the challenge list this year that we had previously tried. It actually is on the Daily Meal’s list.
James was obviously excited to be out of the carrier and rolling around the very clean sidewalks of Manhattan.
We got two Grandma slices here. They are two of our favorites. We must have gotten here after a large rush of pizza challengers, because the pickings for slices were pretty slim. But this was one of James’s favorite slices of the day.
You can see James crawling around in the background on this one, too. He actually ate most of my slice.
Fourth stop: Rizzo’s Pizza, Queens
We weren’t about to get back on another subway so quickly, so we decided to scooter out to Queens. It was only about 3 miles or so. We got to go over the bridge, which was pretty cool. James loved looking at the water and the airplanes, but scootering is a lot harder than we anticipated! Our legs were tired by the time we got to Rizzo’s.
Rizzo’s has been around for ages. It’s a Queens classic, claiming to serve the original thin crust square slice since 1959. It was probably our least favorite slice of the day, but that was probably a combination of the fact that we (again) had some of the last slices left of the pies there, and there really aren’t many good slice shops in Queens.
James ate most of my slice here, too. And then he didn’t want to give it up, so he kept eating it while we started scootering back, and I ended up with pizza all over my shoulder and down my back.
Fifth stop: Paulie’s Pizza, Staten Island
We saved Staten Island for last. We were pretty tired at this point, but we made it down to the ferry and settled in. James loved being on the boat and he got to walk around for 20 minutes, which was great. When we landed, Eric took off on his scooter to grab the last slice. We wanted to make the next ferry back to Manhattan since they only leave every half an hour.
Paulie’s Pizza is known for their vodka slice, so that’s what Eric got. He said it was potentially his favorite of the day. He made it back, we hopped back on the ferry, and then we took the short scooter ride up to the post-event party at Clinton Hall. We hung out there for a little while until we decided it was time to catch our train.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have an easy time getting home, either. Our train was cancelled, James didn’t want to sleep, and we were all exhausted when we finally made it home around 11 pm. BUT, we’d totally do it again. This year it took us 7.5 hours. It’s an awesome event, really well organized, and really a fun way to spend a Saturday.
Let us know if you want to join our team next year!
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