Tag: new york city

#7 Louie and Ernie’s

April 3rd, 2016

Bronx, NY

After our trip to Queens, we decided to hit another NY borough and we headed up into the Bronx to try another NYC classic pie. Louie and Ernie’s ranked high on the Daily Meal list, in the top 10, so we had some major expectations. When we were researching why it was ranked so high, we kept reading about the sausage, so of course, we had to get half of the pie with sausage to see what the fuss was all about.

The closest you can get to Louie and Ernie’s on the subway is by the 6, but then it is about a 15 minute walk from there. So in total, it took us about an hour to get there from work. The restaurant has a really local vibe, and they only serve pizza.

The sausage was the clumpy-style, instead of the sliced-style (are there technical terms for this?), which we decided that we prefer. The sausage is also made locally, right up the street. We loved the crust on this one, and the ratio of sauce:cheese.

We aren’t quite sure why this is ranked so high, though. Sure, it was a good NYC slice, but to rank it higher than John’s of Bleecker, Patsy’s, or Totonno’s is strange. We liked all of those better. We ranked it on our lists at #40 (Barb) and #69 (Eric), so decently far from the top 10. If we find ourselves back in the Bronx, though, it will be the first place on our list.

To visit:

Louie and Ernie’s
1300 Crosby Ave
Bronx, NY 10461

Barbara1 Comment

#37 Umberto’s

February 20th, 2016 and February 10th, 2017

New Hyde Park, NY

Our first trip to Umberto’s last February was on a Saturday evening, and we drove there with Marg and Scott. As usual, Eric got us off the wrong exit in Long Island, but luckily it wasn’t too long of a detour this time. It is a little tricky to get to from the city because the subways don’t quite get out far enough, so we were glad to have driven there.

On this first trip, we ordered two pies to split between the four of us. The first was the traditional Grandma pie, which Umberto’s is famous for. It has been featured on the Food Network’s “Best Thing I Ever Ate”.  Honestly, I don’t remember what the second pie we got was, because this one was just too good. We’ve had a couple of grandma slices around NYC, but we are in agreement that this is the best that we’ve had. The sauce definitely makes these slices stand out.

 

You may be wondering what the difference is between a Sicilian pie and a Grandma pie. We certainly didn’t know the difference before we started our pizza quest. A Grandma pie is similar to a Sicilian pie only because they are both stretched to fit into a square (or rectangular) pan. The crust is the main difference between the two, with a Grandma pie crust being much thinner and crispier. This is because the crust barely proofs or rises. It is hard to find a traditional Grandma slice outside of NYC. While we would generally go for a Sicilian slice if we had a choice (more bread, of course!), we’d make an exception for Umberto’s Grandma slice.

   

After our dinner last year, Margaret decided that this is the best pizza she’s ever had. She can’t believe that we ranked it at #34 (Barb) and #29 (Eric). To be fair, though, she still hasn’t been to most of the places in our top 20. In any case, she has been talking about this pizza all year and so we decided to go back this past weekend for a group birthday celebration. This time, we (Marg, Scott, Claire, Eric, and I) took the LIRR out to New Hyde Park from Penn Station.

We went with the Grandma pie again (of course) and also got a Veggie pie and one with sausage, peppers, mushrooms, and onions. These traditional pies were good, even with the crust being a little burnt on the sausage. We liked how the crust held up to all the toppings without sagging, although the veggie pie could have used some more sauce. Unusually for us, we had leftovers.

I think Marg will probably talk us into going out to Umberto’s again in the future, even though it is a hike to get there. Until then, maybe we will try our hand at making our own Grandma pie.

Marg, thank you for taking us out to Long Island for this pizza and reminding us how good it is. We will be happy to go again anytime, but we think you need to try some of the other pizzas on the list too 🙂

Claire, thanks for joining us and for providing us with some great photos. I didn’t post the one of the spinach in your teeth, but I’m happy to send it to you to include on a dating profile because it is a real winner.

To visit:

Umberto’s
633 Jericho Turnpike
New Hyde Park, NY 11040

BarbaraLeave a comment

#56 Lee’s Tavern

December 13th, 2015

Staten Island, NY

We’ve been in NJ for a couple of years now, and we’ve been all around New York City, except for Staten Island. We were talking on our drive out to Lee’s Tavern about this, and we both were wondering what we could do on Staten Island aside from eat pizza. (We couldn’t come up with anything, but we’d be interested to know if you have any fun things to do on Staten Island the next time we go there for pizza.)

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Lee’s Tavern is one of two pizza places on Staten Island that made the 2015 list. It’s primarily known as a family and community bar, although the pizza always gets mentioned in “Best of NYC” lists. I don’t think I’d call it one of the best in NYC, although Eric has ranked this higher on his list.

The consensus is to order the clam or the pepperoni here so we ended up trying the white clam and then also a veggie to round it out. The crust is pretty thin, kind of similar to Rubirosa. The toppings were OK. The veggies weren’t cut very small, so it was a little difficult to eat. As for the clam, well, if you’ve tried a New Haven clam pie, you won’t be very impressed. We were happy to try something different, though.

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Another thing that didn’t sell us here was the service. If you are a regular here or part of the town, you may be actually greeted and seated when you walk in. We walked in, waited a bit for them to even notice that we were looking for a table, and then waited way too long to get our pizza. It wasn’t even that it was crowded (you can see behind me in the photo that there are empty tables!) The family next to us offered to sell us one of their slices, for $10. We must have looked extra hungry.

To visit:

Lee’s Tavern
60 Hancock Street
Staten Island, NY 10305

BarbaraLeave a comment

#30 Lombardi’s

November 11th, 2015

Manhattan, NYC

We took another walk and lunch date to Lombardi’s, which is only a 15 minute walk from our office. Lombardi’s claims to be the first pizza in the United States (opening in 1905). It is not the longest-running open pizza place, though, since it closed down for 10 years in the mid-80’s and changed location. So the location where it sits today has only been open for the last 20 or so years.

We got the traditional pie here, which was tomato sauce with fresh mozzarella. It had a nice coal oven bake to the crust. The sauce was good, and there was a lot of it, which we liked. We also had a side of breadsticks.

We understand that Lombardi’s is another one of these New York Pizza Places that’s on every tourists’ list, but we didn’t love it. Similar to how we felt about Joe’s – its a great NY pie, but it wasn’t anything special.

Also, it was a bit overpriced. We wish that we were back in 1905, when their pies sold for 5 cents!

To visit:

Lombardi’s
32 Spring Street
New York, NY 10012

BarbaraLeave a comment

#10 Joe’s Pizza

 November 4th, 2015

Manhattan, NYC

After our lunch at John’s of Bleecker, we walked right down the street to Joe’s for slices. We obviously were really hungry. It was pretty crowded for the lunch rush, so we took our slices outside to eat. The standing room inside was a little tight.

We ended up getting a slice with fresh mozzarella, but also a classic cheese slice. We both liked the fresh mozzarella slice better, I think, although if you are looking for the classic NYC slice, we recommend the cheese.

Joe’s comes up regularly in lists of the “Best NY Slice”, and we do agree that it is worth listing because it is such a fixture in the NYC pizza scene. However, we have had better slices in the city, and so we can’t say that its our favorite.

It is safe to say that after this stop, we were definitely full. We were thankful that we got the medium pie at John’s, instead of the large!

Our favorite location is the one on Carmine Street, although Joe’s has several locations around the city, including one on 14th Street in Manhattan and also in Williamsburg.

To visit:

Joe’s
7 Carmine Street
New York, NY 10014

BarbaraLeave a comment

#22 John’s of Bleecker

November 4th, 2015

Manhattan, NYC

Our second stop was John’s of Bleecker, for a traditional NY pie. This was actually our second time eating pizza here. A year or so ago, Eric bought me a gift certificate to John’s because he had heard that it was one of the oldest and best pizzas in the city. This time, we just walked up from our offices for a lunch date.

John’s of Bleecker is the third oldest pizza place in the city (after Totonno’s and Lombardi’s), and it was started back in 1929. Bleecker Street is not the original location, however, the pizza is still the same coal-fired brick oven pizza that it was back then.

We went with the original cheese pie here with roasted tomatoes. A medium was just enough for the two of us to split, although last time we split a large pie.  As you will see, we have big pizza appetites.

The atmosphere at John’s is very no-frill. They don’t take reservations and the wait in the evening is always long. Diners over the years have scribbled names and dates on the booths. While they have some sides and salads, it really is all about the pizza. This is just as it should be, since the pizza is excellent.

First bites:

The pizza scene in New York can be a bit overwhelming, but it’s safe to say that John’s of Bleecker is guaranteed a high ranking on our list.

To visit:

John’s of Bleecker Street
278 Bleecker Street
New York, NY 10014

BarbaraLeave a comment