Tag: pepperoni

#90 La Nova

February 16th, 2018

Buffalo, NY

After our first pizza stop, we headed up to Niagara Falls. There really isn’t too much to do around Buffalo, aside from visiting the Falls. Especially in the middle of February. The good part of timing the trip like this, though, was that there were very few people at the park and we had great views of the snowy falls! We didn’t stay there too long, because it was cold and windy, and more importantly, we had more pizza to eat!

Our second pizza stop in Buffalo was at La Nova. La Nova has been around since 1957, which is pretty impressive. It claims to be the largest independent pizzeria in the US (although I don’t think they’ve updated their website because the last time we checked, it was only ranked at #20). It probably looked exactly the same back then as it did when we stopped in for dinner. The whole restaurant has a very 50’s-vibe, with red tables and walls and old pictures everywhere. Not surprisingly, it also claims to have some of the best wings in Buffalo. It was clear when we were there that La Nova has a huge local following, even with all of the other pizza places around Buffalo. For a Friday night, the place had a huge delivery wait line, and plenty of people who stopped in for slices.

We decided to sit down and eat, since we didn’t feel like just bringing a couple of slices back to our hotel, and we wanted to see some more of the local scene (which included a homeless woman on drugs coming into the pizza place every 15 minutes to harass the customers and staff). We ordered a small cheese and pepperoni, and Eric also ordered a side of the wings.

The verdict: not as good as our first pizza stop of the day, Deniro’s. The crust here was a little thinner but it was topped with the same amount of cheese, which oozed off of the pizza like crazy. This also could have been because we couldn’t wait for it to cool down to dig in. The pizza at La Nova was a little more greasy, maybe partly due to the good number of pepperoni they threw on. You can see that yellow grease in the picture above.

Eric said the wings were good, but they weren’t the “best he’s ever had”. But then again, we definitely aren’t wing connoisseurs, so we should leave that up to others to debate.

Overall, we thought this would be the perfect pizza place to order food from after a late night of drinking or while watching a football game. It wouldn’t be our first pick to eat on a regular Friday night, mainly just because the cheese made it SO HEAVY. We couldn’t even finish it (although we may have been able to if we also didn’t have to try the wings).

To visit:

La Nova Pizzeria
371 W Ferry St
Buffalo, NY 14213

BarbaraLeave a comment

#89 Deniro’s

February 16th, 2018

Depew, NY

Apparently, Buffalo, NY has a big pizza scene. We were not aware of this until we read the 2017 list. We also didn’t know that there was such a thing as “Buffalo-style” pizza. Since there were 3 pizza places on the new list that were located around Buffalo, we decided that a road trip there this year was necessary. Talking with Arthur Bovino (who pretty much created the list, in case you didn’t know) over lunch the other day also convinced us. We really had to see what the fuss was about. 

We decided to take our mini-road trip over this past long weekend. We started out from NJ early on Friday and made it out to Buffalo around 1 pm. Our first stop: Deniro’s.

We were very excited to get out of the car after our 5 hour drive, but a little bummed that the pizza place didn’t have any seating. They had a little “seat” along the window, so we sat/stood to eat our half-pepperoni-half-plain pizza. We went with a medium size, since we were getting more pizza in a few hours for dinner. It ended up being plenty of pizza for us, and we actually couldn’t finish it. If you know us at all, this is HIGHLY unusual. We almost always finish our pizza.

So what, exactly, IS Buffalo-style pizza? It has been compared to Detroit-style, but we didn’t think it reminded us of that at all. It’s also been compared to Sicilian, which we don’t think is quite true either. Yes, the pizza has a thicker crust and a hefty amount of cheese, but that’s about where the similarities end. The pepperonis are thick and the sauce is somewhat sweet, and the pizzas are round.

Eric said that the pizza at Deniro’s reminded him a little bit of Pizza Hut. This isn’t necessarily a negative comment (as someone pointed out on instagram), because he associates Pizza Hut with his childhood. (Although, we should also add a disclaimer here that he hasn’t had Pizza Hut in about 10 years). Deniro’s is definitely comfort food – heavy, cheesy, and doughy. I disagreed with his comparison, though. The crust is similar and they are both cheesy, but this cheese was more flavorful and the sauce was better.

We felt pretty full after this, so we went for a walk around Niagara Falls. We had to make room for our second Buffalo-style pizza on the list that we had planned for dinner. It was a decent start to our road trip.

To visit:

Deniro’s
2251 George Urban Blvd
Depew, NY 14043

BarbaraLeave a comment

#23 Prince Street Pizza

December 16th, 2017

Manhattan, NYC

One of our favorite slice joints around Manhattan is Prince Street Pizza. We stumbled upon Prince Street pizza back when we started working our way around NYC, even though it wasn’t on the original 2015 Daily Meal list that we started working from. We kept coming across the name on other “Best of” lists, so we knew that we had to make it a stop, especially because it was within walking distance of our offices. AND THEN it made it on the 2016 list, and again on the 2017 list. It was about time.

If you are walking around SoHo/Nolita and looking for a slice of pizza, this is one of the best. (Williamsburg Pizza would be another good bet.)  It has an old-school charm, even though it is a relatively new establishment. It’s location, though, is pizza history: it is half of the original location of Ray’s Pizza (of traditional NY pizza fame). These days, you may find a “Ray’s Original” on a number of NY street corners, but the “original” Ray’s no longer exists, having given in to a rent/lease dispute back in 2011.

Prince Street Pizza is known mainly for their square slices. THE slice to order is the spicy square pepperoni slice with a fresh Fra diavolo sauce. You just have to do it. And not just because those little tiny cups of pepperoni are so darn instagrammable. It just tastes amazing (and this is coming from someone who is not the biggest fan of pepperoni).  The plain cheese slices and margherita slices are also good. You could get one of those too. We would never just stop at one slice!

The crust on the square slices here isn’t thick and heavy like some Sicilian slices. It is pretty light and airy, making it easy to eat more than one slice.

You won’t get a seat to eat in Prince Street, especially if you come for slices during the lunch or dinner rush. You should be prepared to take your slices to go. There is a small counter inside, but it is pretty tight to sit if you aren’t by yourself.  This isn’t a place to linger – get in, order, and move on.

Eric has recently recruited a bunch of people from his office to take trips over to Prince Street for lunch. It makes me really sad that my office has moved out of SoHo and I can’t regularly join them.

I mean, just look at those ronis! Right?

To visit:

Prince Street Pizza
27 Prince St
New York, NY 10012

BarbaraLeave a comment