Author: Barbara

#61 Pizza Shackamaxon

January 26th, 2019

Philadelphia, PA

We were very sad when Pizzeria Beddia closed. Even though we had to plan our whole day around going there early, waiting in line, and then waiting for our pizza, it was worth the trip every once in a while to be one of the first 40 in line and eat that amazing pizza. When we heard that a new pizza place had moved into the space, we were very excited to try it because it had big shoes to fill.

Pizza Shackamaxon doesn’t make and serve whole pies. They will, but they’re set up as a slice shop in a city that doesn’t have too many good ones. In this respect, they are essentially set up as the opposite of Beddia, which didn’t serve slices. On their website, Pizza Shackamaxon says “We pride ourselves in being a “slice-first” shop (one of few left in our area) because this means we have the pleasure of serving the many over the few.” I wonder if this is a direct dig to Beddia. If you want a whole pie, you’ll have to order it, and then wait for however long it takes to make.

The big question, obviously, is how do these slices compare to Beddia’s? Well, they are pretty delicious. We took my mom and James, and we each tried a slice of cheese and a slice of tomato pie. Well, James didn’t get his own slices, he just had to try ours. They keep it simple here – only offering cheese, tomato pie, pepperoni, and a special, focusing on local, fresh ingredients.

We ordered our slices and decided to eat at one of the standing tables in house. While trying to juggle our slices (and our baby), we dropped one of the tomato pie slices. We probably would have eaten it anyway, but the guys here were kind enough to bring us a new slice and help us clean up the mess that we made on their floor.

It’s REALLY hard to find a good tomato pie slice. I think this may be one of the only ones that we’ve ever had that tasted just as amazing as it looked. We like our tomato pie slice overloaded with sauce, and this sauce was so flavorful. And the cheese slice was just as amazing. It may not have been as tasty as that cheese pie at Beddia, but it is absolutely worth making another trip back here for, and they are open for lunch.

To visit:
Pizza Shackamaxon
115 E Girard Ave #3907
Philadelphia, PA 19125

BarbaraLeave a comment

5 Boro Pizza Challenge 2019

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!

BarbaraLeave a comment

#36 Paulie Gee’s Slice Shop

October 20th, 2018

Brooklyn, NYC

We first went to Paulie Gee’s Slice Shop last October. It’s located right around the corner from the original Paulie Gee’s in Greenpoint, which we’ve been to now a couple of times. They serve traditional New York slices, both round and square pies, which is very different from the Neapolitan pizzas served at the original.

The first time that we went, they hadn’t yet unveiled the square slice. So we ended up with a cheese slice, and a sausage. On our second trip, we went with the pepperoni with Mike’s hot honey (the Hellboy). These slices are just as good as any NY slice that we’ve had. We’d compare them to the best slices at Williamsburg, Best Pizza, or Joe’s. Perfect amount of sauce and cheese.

The slice shop has since started making square slices – the Freddy Prince is an upside down Sicilian slice with fresh mozzarella. It’s not a reference to the actor, but references both the square slice at Prince Street Pizza and Freddy’s, another pizzeria in Whitestone that was the inspiration for the sesame seed.

There aren’t any unique pizza topping combinations yet at the slice shop. They’re obviously sticking to what they have perfected. But, we’re thinking that they will eventually start offering some more interesting combinations on their slices, as they do at Paulie Gee’s original.

We’d recommend doing what we did last time we went to the slice shop – have dinner first at Paulie Gee’s, and then walk down the street for some extra slices at the Slice Shop. We promise, it’s all worth it. 

To visit:
Paulie Gee's Slice Shop
110 Franklin Street
Brooklyn, NY

BarbaraLeave a comment

Barb and Eric Go To Italy

August 29th-September 12th, 2019

OK, this is going to be a long post. I hope you stick with us. We went to Italy for two weeks and ate A LOT of pizza. When we got back, the first question we got from our friends and family was: was the pizza the best you ever had? The answer is YES. We love our New Haven pizza, and our New York slices, but overall, the pizza in Italy is hard to beat. We’ll walk you through our favorites.

Venice

Venice isn’t known for their pizza. Being right on the water, they are most known for their seafood. So we didn’t expect to eat much pizza in Venice. However, we did find a unique piece of pizza there that we’ve never seen anywhere else. It was called a “pizzaccia” from Antico Forno.

The pizzaccia has a very thick crust – a focaccia slab, topped with sauce and cheese. It looks like it would be overpowering and heavy, but the slice was actually lighter than a traditional Sicilian slice. Maybe because the cheese is so fresh, and wasn’t overloaded. There was so much flavor! We could see why the line was out the door!

Florence

We got to Florence next, and we found ourselves at Sud on our first night. It’s located in an upstairs market in a warehouse, and even though the market itself was closed by the time we got there for dinner, the upstairs pizza and bar were still packed.

We ordered two pizzas here – a Capri with fresh tomatoes and cold cheese, put on top of the crust after it cooked, and a regular margherita. These were some of the best Neapolitan pies that we had ever eaten at this point, and we were just getting started. The crust was fluffy and a touch salty, perfectly cooked.

Rome

Our first night in Rome we went to Seu Pizza Illuminati. This was right down the street from our hotel in Travestere, and we were glad that we got there early enough to grab some tables at the bar. The restaurant has a really modern feel and was very family-friendly.

We got two pizzas here too – this one with cherry tomatoes and shaved cheese, and a second with burrata and spreadable spicy sausage. We’ve generally just heard it called ‘Nduja but apparently in Italy they just call it spreadable sausage in the translation. The chef here is known as Rome’s most creative chef to watch, and the restaurant’s name is meant to invoke bright ideas.

The next day in Rome we had a busy pizza day. We were doing a lot of walking, and ended up getting a bit hungry near the Trevi fountain. We spotted a decent looking slice shop, Pizza in Trevi.

These were our first slices of pizza in Italy served al taglio. This means “by the cut”, and the pizzas are baked in rectangular trays, then sold by weight of the slice cut. We tried one with a spicy tomato sauce and one with eggplant, and they were kind enough to cut the slices in half for us to split.

After some more wandering, we made the trek across town to Bonci Pizzarium. We thought that since it was located outside of all of the tourist attractions and main area of the city, it would probably be a quieter stop. We were totally wrong. This place was PACKED. We grabbed a number, and then settled in to wait for our turn to order. There are no seats, just a counter, and there were about 20 different pizzas to choose from. We had a lot of time to think about our order, and it was not an easy decision to make.

We ended up with a few slices here, after about 45-60 minutes of waiting. Our favorites were a tomato sauce and fresh cherry tomato, and a fresh cheese drizzled with oil to finish. These were simple slices, but Bonci has a variety of unique slices as well. I don’t think we’ve ever waited so long for a couple of slices of pizza, but we are not surprised that they are called the best slices in Rome.

Our last stop in Rome was for an early-ish dinner (by Italian standards, anyway). We ended up at La Montecarlo. This restaurant has been around for about 30 years and serves the other traditional “Roman style” pizza – super thin crust.

We heard that the mushroom and onion pizza was the way to go here, so that’s what we ordered, along with some pastas. As you can see, the crust is cracker-thin, the sauce is light, as is the cheese. It probably wouldn’t have been able to fill us up on it’s own after all of the walking we did, but as a side to the pastas it was perfect.

Naples

From Rome, we went to Naples. We arrived around 11 am, dropped our bags at our hotel, and went right to get pizza at L’Antica Pizzeria Da Michele. This is THE place to get pizza and it’s called the best in the world. If you read my post on the best pizza in London, you may recognize the name. There are now a few locations around the world, including a recent opening in Los Angeles.

At 11:30, when we got there, there was already a huge crowd of people waiting for tables. We got lucky and they opened up the second room just as we got there, so we got seats right away. You don’t get a whole table to yourself here as it’s family-style seating. You also only get two options for pizza – margherita or marinara. The pizzas come quickly, and they are LARGE. Not that we had any problems finishing them. It’s also surprisingly cheap. Easily one of the best Neapolitan pies we’ve ever had. The sauce was fresh, the crust perfectly charred and soft, and just the right amount of cheese.

For dinner, we continued our pizza tour of Naples and went to Sorbillo. We showed up here before opening time, and there was already a line up the street. Sorbillo also has family seating, so we were seated in the first wave. There are many more options for pizza here – it’s a little overwhelming. It was hard to pick just two.

One of the pizzas we ended up ordering was a margherita with ricotta, and the other one had ‘nduja. I don’t remember the names in Italian. These may have been better than L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele, but it was honestly way too hard to say which was better. They were both amazing. Truly the best day of pizza we’ve had in our lives.

The following night we went for a long walk across town to 50 Kalò. This was recommended to me by a colleague. It was a lot quieter, and we got a nice table outside. We had a marinara with parm cheese, and a broccoli and sausage.

The crust on these was airier, but the pizzas were the same size as the other two pizzas that we’d had in Naples (all larger than American Neapolitan-style). There were also a lot of options to choose from here, but we felt like we could take our time and relax a bit more without having the rush of the long line building behind us.

Our final pizza was a late-night fried pizza from Pizzeria Di Matteo. Pizza fritta is pretty common here, and it is like a fried calzone. We ordered a traditional one, which came with provolone, ricotta, tomato sauce, and some type of bacon.

You can eat in here, but a lot of people take their fried pizza (and fried other things, like arancini) to go. So that’s what we did. We only got through a few bites of it, though, before we realized we were stuffed and then we saved the rest for an early breakfast the next day.

And that’s it! We definitely ate our fair share of pizza on this trip, but we also ate a lot of pasta, and gelato!

We’re not sure if we’ll get back to Italy anytime soon, but if we missed any good places, please let us know!

BarbaraLeave a comment

101 Best pizza places 2019

It’s that time of year again. We look forward to the list coming out every year, and now even more so since we get to vote on it! This year, over 1000 pizza places in were considered, narrowed down to the top 101, located in 30 states. We were two of the “pizza experts” who were asked to vote again this year.

Now, our discussion of the results.

101 Best Pizza Places (2019) : places in bold are new to the list in 2019!

#101 Acaro and Genell, Old Forge, PA
#100 Settebello, Salt Lake City, UT
#99 Mother Bear’s Pizza, Bloomington, IN
#98 Pizza Domenica, New Orleans, LA
#97 Scuola Vecchia, Delray Beach, FL
#96 DeLuca’s Pizza Napoletana, Hot Springs, AR
#95 Moose’s Tooth Pub and Pizzeria, Anchorage, AK
#94 Mission Pizza Napoletana, Winston-Salem, NC
#93 TriBeCa Allie’s Cafe, Sardis, MS
#92 Timber Pizza Company, Washington, D.C.
#91 Cloverleaf Pizza, Eastpointe MI
#90 Pizzeria Lola, Minneapolis, MN
#89 Jay’s Artisan Pizza, Buffalo, NY
#88 Monza, Charleston, SC
#87 Micucci’s Grocery, Portland, ME
#86 Frank and Helen’s, University City, MO
#85 Pizza Hacker, San Francisco, CA
#84 Slab, Portland, ME
#83 Zoli’s NY Pizza, Addison, TX
#82 Inferno Pizzeria, Darnestown, MD
#81 Il Forno, San Antonio, TX
#80 Young Joni, Minneapolis, MN
#79 Bonci, Chicago, IL
#78 Emmy Squared, NYC and Nashville, TN
#77 King Umberto’s, Elmont, NY
#76 Scarr’s, New York, NY
#75 EVO, Charleston, SC
#74 Pizza Delicious, New Orleans, LA
#73 Del Popolo, San Francisco, CA
#72 O4W Pizza, Deluth, GA
#71 Ken’s Artisan Pizza, Portland, OR
#70 Zaffiro’s Pizza, Milwaukee, WI
#69 L&B Spumoni Gardens, New York, NY
#68 Pizzeria Bebu, Chicago, IL
#67 Pizano’s, Chicago, IL
#66 Umberto’s Pizzeria and Restaurant, New Hyde Park, NY
#65 Bocce Club Pizza, Buffalo, NY
#64 Al Forno, Providence, RI
#63 La Nova, Buffalo, NY
#62 Pizzeria Vetri, Philadelphia, PA
#61 Pizza Shackamaxon, Philadelphia, PA
#60 Pizzeria Locale, Boulder, CO
#59 Pizza Rock, Las Vegas, NV
#58 Serious Pie, Seattle, WA
#57 The Cheese Board, Berkeley, CA
#56 Loui’s Pizza, Hazel Park, MI
#55 Bread and Salt, Jersey City, NJ
#54 Flour + Water, San Francisco
#53 The Original Tacconelli’s Pizza, Philadelphia, PA
#52 Papa’s Tomato Pies, Robbinsville, NJ
#51 Roseland Apizza, Derby, CT
#50 Metro Pizza, Las Vegas, NV
#49 Pizzeria Mozza, Los Angeles, CA
#48 Vito & Nicks, Chicago, IL
#47 Santillo’s Brick Oven Pizza, Elizabeth, NJ
#46 Zuppardi’s Apizza, West Haven, CT
#45 Juliana’s Pizza, Brooklyn, NY
#44 Colony Grill, Stamford, CT
#43 Rubirosa, NYC, NY
#42 Cane Rosso, Dallas, TX
#41 Joe & Pat’s Pizzeria, Staten Island, NY
#40 CoalFire Pizza, Chicago, IL
#39 Mama’s TOO, NYC, NY
#38 Louie and Ernie’s, Bronx, NY
#37 DeLorenzo’s Tomato Pies, Robbinsville, NJ
#36 Paulie Gee’s Slice Shop, Brooklyn, NY
#35 Pizza Brain, Philadelphia, PA
#34 Paulie Gee’s, Brooklyn, NY
#33 L’industrie Pizzeria, Brooklyn, NY
#32 Star Tavern Pizza, Orange, NJ
#31 Regina Pizzeria, Boston, MA
#30 Tony’s Pizza Napoletana, San Francisco, CA
#29 Antico Pizza, Atlanta, GA
#28 Apizza Scholls, Portland, OR
#27 Burt’s Place, Chicago, IL
#26 Galleria Umberto, Boston, MA
#25 Roberta’s, Brooklyn, NY
#24 Motorino, New York, NY
#23 Lovely’s Fifty Fifty, Portland, OR
#22 Pizzeria Delfina, San Francisco, CA
#21 Piece, Chicago, IL
#20 Modern Apizza, New Haven, CT
#19 Lombardi’s, New York, NY
#18 Grimaldi’s, Brooklyn, NY
#17 Pizzeria Bianco, Phoenix, AZ
#16 Di Fara, Brooklyn, NY
#15 Pizzeria Beddia, Philadelphia, PA
#14 Prince Street Pizza, New York, NY
#13 Una Pizza Napoletana, NYC
#12 Santarpio’s, Boston, MA
#11 Joe’s, New York, NY
#10 John’s of Bleecker, New York, NY
#9 Lou Malnati’s, Chicago, IL
#8 Patsy’s, New York, NY
#7 Sally’s Apizza, New Haven, CT
#6 Totonno’s, Brooklyn
#5 Buddy’s Pizza, Detroit, MI
#4 Pequod’s, Chicago, IL
#3 Razza Pizza, Jersey City, NJ
#2 Lucali, Brooklyn, NY
#1 Frank Pepe Pizza Napoletana, New Haven

12 new places this year, as well as many that were on previous years but not last year’s. There’s a bigger representation of places in the midwest, which of course are more difficult for us to get to and try, but we’ll be giving it our best shot (maybe another road trip is in the future?)

Overall, we’re really happy with how this list looks. Glad to see our favorite, Pepe’s, at the top. We went back to Razza again this year and still we were not excited by it! We have a hard time figuring out why it keeps making the top of the list. The rest of the top 10 is pretty solid. We maybe wouldn’t have put Lou Malnati’s in there, given how chain-like the restaurant is these days.

Una Pizza Napoletana’s new location in NYC makes some of the best neapolitan-style pies in the city, so we’re very glad that it’s holding strong in the top 20. We understand about Di Fara’s slide this year, although we’ll still say that it’s a better slice than Joe’s. Pizzeria Beddia is back near the top with it’s new location in Philly, where it makes more than 40 pies a night. We’ve been there, and it’s earned it place on this list (that post, and a few others, to come).

We miss Keste on this list this year, and Emily (which is definitely better than Emmy Squared). BUT we are SO GLAD to see CoalFire pizza back at a solid spot on this list.

For the new additions – we’ve already been to a few of these. There are always a few newcomers to the NYC pizza scene, and it must be really hard for these places to gain attention, given the overwhelming number of slice shops in NY. Last year, it was Scarr’s and L’industrie, which we agreed were solid additions. This year, it’s Mama’s TOO and Paulie Gee’s Slice Shop, and having been to both, we agree with these being added. Pizza Shackamaxon in Philly took the old location of Beddia, and it also makes a really, really good slice.

So what are our pizza plans for the upcoming months? Well, going back to Chicago is near the top! We’ve got a few to hit down in Washington D.C., and we’ll of course still be making our way around NYC. And if anyone is really interested in going to Alaska, please let us know, because Moose’s Tooth is back on the list again, and we still haven’t been…

BarbaraLeave a comment

#91 Margherita Pizza

August 10th

Queens, NYC

Well, it’s been a while since we’ve been back on here posting about our pizza adventures. This it not because we haven’t been eating pizza, but because we haven’t been to many places on the list that we haven’t already covered in previous posts. At this point, if we want to go to a place on the list that we haven’t been to, we’ll have to get on a plane. We’ve mostly spent the last few weeks going back to some of our favorites in NYC.

The exception was Margherita Pizza, in Queens. This was a new addition to the 2018 list, and we had never been there. It’s a bit difficult to get to via subway, so we made a stop here back in August when we were driving out to Long Island.

This place always comes up near the top of the lists of best slices in Queens (although to be fair, there aren’t too many good slices in Queens at the moment). We ended up with a couple of cheese slices, a Sicilian, and a pepperoni.

James has really gotten the hang of his pizza-eating. He takes the “smush it in my face” approach, hoping that most of it gets in his mouth. He’s more a fan of the cheese that falls off the pizza than the crust.

The slices here are traditional NY slices. Greasy, yes. Cheesy, yes. Probably twice as much cheese as crust. It’s been around since 1966, so you know it has a good following. It was definitely busy during the lunch rush. We enjoyed the slices, but we wouldn’t make the trip out to Jamaica for them, specifically. There really isn’t too much special to say about these, actually. It’s exactly what you’d expect from a NY slice shop, which isn’t a bad thing at all, just slightly boring to write a post about. So, here’s another picture of James eating his slice.

To visit:

Margherita Pizza
16304 Jamaica Ave
Jamaica, NY 11433

BarbaraLeave a comment

#78 La Piazza

April 20th, 2019

Merrick, NY

After we had our nice lunch in Port Washington at Salvatore’s Coal Oven Pizza, we were about to head back when Eric had the idea to drive across Long Island to Merrick, to stop at La Piazza for a second lunch. We were pretty full, but James seemed happy still and we saw that La Piazza sold slices. Eric reminded me that we could drive an extra 30 minutes then, or we’d have to drive all the way back out to Long Island another day. So we got into the car and headed over to Merrick.

La Piazza didn’t get ranked as highly as Salvatore’s, but they seemed to be most famous for their square slices. Specifically, the Grandma slice. So that’s what we went for. We got one Grandma slice and one Sicilian. We noticed that it had been ranked on the top 101 back in 2013 as well, although only at #100.

When we walked in it was clear that this is a family Italian eatery. There’s a takeout spot for slices, with high tables and a few lower tables. Then there’s the sit down area with table service. La Piazza doesn’t just do pizza – it does pastas, salads, panini, although of course we are here to review the pizza so we can’t speak to how good anything else is. While we realize that pizzas are usually the best freshly made, we really didn’t have the time (or room in our stomachs) to order a whole new pie.

Even though James should have been full of meatballs, he was very excited to try this Grandma slice. I was less excited, as I have had many more Grandma slices in the past few years than James has, and this one didn’t seem to me to be anything worth raving about. It was an OK slice, as was the Sicilian. Both were a little greasy, a little chewy. They may have been sitting out a bit too long under the glass counter. We didn’t think that they were bad in any way, but they also weren’t as good as many slices that we’ve had recently in the city.

Also, someone commented on our instagram post that they live in Merrick and had never heard of this pizza. So while we aren’t saying that you shouldn’t go there, if you’re going to drive out to Long Island, you should probably hit Salvatore’s instead.

To visit:

La Piazza
2191 Merrick Rd
Merrick, NY 11566

BarbaraLeave a comment

#51 Salvatores Coal Oven Pizza

April 20th, 2019

Port Washington, NY

We rarely get out to Long Island unless we’re going to see family. It isn’t the easiest drive, and there is always traffic. However, on the 2018 list this year there were two new pizza places out on Long Island, so we knew that we’d have to get out there one day this year. Even though we had plans to be on Long Island for Easter Sunday, we decided to spend the Saturday prior driving to Port Washington to Salvatore’s Coal Oven Pizza.

Salvatore’s was started in 1996, but the roots of the restaurant are with Patsy’s in Harlem. The great nephews of the owners of Patsy’s opened Salvatore’s on Long Island, bringing the coal fired style of pizza outside of the main boroughs. They don’t take credit cards and there are no slices, but you can order pizza to take out. We decided to just eat in, and ordered a regular margherita pizza, with additional ricotta. We also ordered a side of the meatballs to start.

Eric (and James!) both loved the meatball starter, but the pizza here really stole the show. Salvatore’s came in right near the top 50 on the list, so we had really high expectations for the pizza. We really liked the coal-fired crisp to the crust, and the sauce was really fresh, slightly sweet. They were generous with the ricotta but not so much that it was overwhelming.

We’re not sure that we would rank this so close to the top 50, but it was a good addition to the list this year. We love the coal oven pizzas in Manhattan (Patsy’s, John’s of Bleecker, Grimaldi’s), and this one stays true to the style of those pies. We’d come back if we were ever in this area, but I’m not sure that we’d trek out to Long Island again just for this pizza.

To visit:

Salvatore’s Coal Oven Pizza
124 Shore Rd
Port Washington, NY 11050

BarbaraLeave a comment

#73 Arizmendi Bakery

March 20, 2019

San Fransisco, CA

I was really looking forward to pizza at Arizmendi Bakery, mostly because I LOVED the pizza that we got the last time we were in San Francisco at the Cheeseboard in Berkeley. Since I was staying downtown in SF on this trip, I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to make it out to Berkeley for another Cheeseboard pizza, but Arizmendi works the same way and it part of the same cooperative. Even better, while the Cheeseboard only has one location, Arizmendi Bakery has expanded to four locations around the city. I was lucky enough to have one right near my work meetings!

When we went to the Cheeseboard, Eric and I ordered a whole pizza, which was a lot. Here, my friend and I decided to just get a couple of slices (it was our third pizza of the trip). Arizmendi serves one “pizza of the day”, and they change the selection each day depending on what is available. You can check out their pizza schedule on their website each month.

The day that we stopped for lunch, the pizza was tomato, ricotta, garlic oil, basil, and parm cheese. It wasn’t their most creative option, but it seemed to be a good “classic” to gauge the style and taste of the pizza. I ended up getting two slices, but probably could have gotten more. These slices weren’t as big as the slices from the Cheeseboard. It wasn’t really an issue, though, since I also ordered a delicious homemade scone.

The slices were nicely crispy. I don’t really want to compare it to a frozen pizza, but you know how those frozen pizzas crisp up in the oven and are stick straight when you pick them up? That’s what this was like. Although the flavors on this were much better – perfect amount of parm cheese and basil. You don’t really get that on one of those frozen pies.

The seating in here is tight, especially right around the lunch rush. We were lucky enough to grab a spot by the window. They don’t have any outdoor seating either, so you probably would have to count on taking your slices to go.

I just looked at their schedule for April, and they have listed a pizza with cauliflower, baby kale, masala curry, and garlic oil. Would love to try that! Actually, it’s probably a good thing that I don’t work near one of these places in SF because I would have to grab a slice every day. And also probably would grab more scones, and bread, and rolls….

To visit:

Arizmendi Bakery
1331 9th Ave
San Francisco, CA 94122

BarbaraLeave a comment

#81 Del Popolo

March 17th, 2019

San Francisco, CA

After a full day of walking around San Francisco with friends, we were ready for some dinner. Next on the list was a new addition to the 2017 list, Del Popolo. Just like Pizza Hacker, Del Popolo began as a mobile pizzeria. In fact, it started out in a shipping container! In 2015, they opened their shop serving wood-fired pizzas in Nob Hill, although they keep their mobile pizza business going as well.

We decided that we needed to split three pies here between the three of us. We ordered a margherita, a Bianca with mozzarella, ricotta, basil, and garlic, and the potato pie (we’re from New Haven, after all!). It’s hard to get a potato pizza right, but the guys at Del Popolo did it. There was just enough rosemary and the prosciutto was a nice change from the bacon that we’re use to getting at BAR.

We really liked the crust on these. They had a nice char from the oven and were soft and doughy. The sauce on the margherita was also slightly tangy, and the pizzas weren’t soggy in the middle like some Neapolitan style pies that you can get.

We also tried some orange wine. No, that isn’t wine made from oranges! It’s actually a white wine that has some of the skins left on, giving it an orange color. The wine didn’t taste much like a white wine, though, which according to this website, is normal. Our waitress did mention this to us and made sure that we knew what we were ordering, which was very helpful. Could orange wine be the next rosé? We’d order it again.

These were probably my favorite pizzas from this trip to San Francisco. It’s hard to say if they are better than the ones that we previously got at Flour+Water because they seemed very similar and equally as good. We’d have to go again and test them back-to-back to say for sure. Either place is worth a stop for dinner.

To visit:

Del Popolo
855 Bush St
San Francisco, CA 94108

BarbaraLeave a comment