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NYC Slice

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Re: NYC Slice

#201

Post by neilv »

sometalk wrote: post #195
neilv wrote: post #182

The best slice in the Boston area ("the city that always sleeps") was the one you could get at 2am. It had a loose connection to HN-style hackers. Hi-Fi Pizza and Subs was a rare place that would serve the Central Square clubgoers around last call, as well as the people walking home in the cold from a late night at MIT. There'd be a welcoming warm light from the somewhat gritty street, and a fast moving line. You'd g…

Man, I loved Hi-Fi. Don't get me wrong, I love Clover, but Hi-Fi was special. Their mozzarella sticks used to have south asian spices sprinkled, and to me it was the the best of the east and the west. So many late nights were thawed by that place. FWIW, I think Mary Chung wanted to retire and be done with it.

One time, I was picking up rare takeout at Mary Chung, and I somewhat excitedly asked the older woman at the register, "Are you Mary Chung?" She smiled and said, "Yes, we are." :)

Re: NYC Slice

#203

Post by noduerme »

Grazester wrote: post #170
noduerme wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Less mentioned about NYC is the 24-hour egg and sausage breakfast sandwich, fresh off a griddle. This, more than pizza, was my staple when I went to college in New York.

I see you did not go to college on a tight budget.

Egg and bacon / egg and sausage were like $2 when I was there in the 90s. And they were about twice the diameter of the ones you get at McDonalds. I don't know what it costs now, maybe this is something like avocado toast that's become anomalously expensive, but calorie for calorie it was as cheap or cheaper than pizza back then. They could be bought from most bodegas that had a stove, as the peer points out. (The LA equivalent of this type of bodega was the "roach coach" - distinguished from modern food trucks by (a) an apparent lack of formal licensing, (b) presence of construction workers eating there, and (c) charging about 30% the price for the same items. The breakfast burrito, however, had not yet migrated to the East Coast).

Re: NYC Slice

#204

Post by yamtaddle »

mprovost wrote: post #189
JustSomeNobody wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I make pizza at home. If you let the dough ferment cold for at least overnight, the results are pretty darned good. I usually do a 3 day ferment in the fridge.

This is the downside to pizza at home. Step 1 is always "go back in time 3 days and make dough".

My bread-machine dough takes 5 minutes of hand-on time and is ready in two hours. It's not as good as if you let it rest or do a fancier hand- or mixer-prep, but it absolutely will not keep your pizza from being better than any of the major chains (not that that's a high bar, but still).

Re: NYC Slice

#205

Post by lifeisstillgood »

cammikebrown wrote: post #145
awhitty wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I 100% agree, and I've only visited NYC a couple times. Each time I visit, I try to eat at least one slice of pizza and one bagel every day. The thing that blows me away is how generally good they are, no matter where I buy them. Of course I'll look at reviews, but I won't walk more than 5 blocks to get a slice. Never been disappointed. Same thing visiting Paris - you can hunt for the BEST croissant, but the remarkab…

Arsicault is also about three times the price of a croissant in Paris

Everything in SF is about three times the price of Paris ...

Re: NYC Slice

#206

Post by TylerE »

yamtaddle wrote: post #5

> but the overall quality of your average slice in the city has definitely suffered This is true of the big national chains, too. They've kept prices relatively stable for damn near 25 years, at this point, but quality has gotten far worse over that same time span. That mouth-watering Pizza Hut pie you remember from 1992 isn't all nostalgia—every now and then I find single-location or small-chain joints that make piz…

The big national brands did a big stealth price hike a few years ago when they took away free delivery. So that $15 pie is now about $25 or $26 by the time you add fees, taxes, and tip.

Checking through old emails from Papa Johns (Garbage pizza, but sometimes you WANT garbage pizza.)

I know it was free delivery at somepoint, but it's hard to pinpoint as prior to 2010 their emails didn't include a broken out receipt, just a total.

But, in 2010 it was $1.99 then soon after went up to $2.50.

In 2019 that was bumped to $2.75.

No orders between late 2019 and early 2022.

Early 2022 it was $4.49, then shortly after $4.79, then bumped to $4.99 in July, where it is as of my last order a few days ago.

Re: NYC Slice

#207

Post by MuffinFlavored »

yamtaddle wrote: post #5

> but the overall quality of your average slice in the city has definitely suffered This is true of the big national chains, too. They've kept prices relatively stable for damn near 25 years, at this point, but quality has gotten far worse over that same time span. That mouth-watering Pizza Hut pie you remember from 1992 isn't all nostalgia—every now and then I find single-location or small-chain joints that make piz…

> The biggest thing I have noticed is the decline in the amount of sauce put on slices. I’m sure this is a cost-saving measure, but the overall quality of your average slice in the city has definitely suffered.

Isn't cheese more expensive than tomato sauce? Why would the restaurants skimp on a cheaper ingredient (tomatoes) instead of more expensive (cheese)?

Re: NYC Slice

#208

Post by TylerE »

yamtaddle wrote: post #172
dcow wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I occasionally get caught in the trap of trying their Brooklyn crust and every time I come to the conclusion that it's a lackluster disappointing product that isn't in any way different from any of their other pizzas in terms of quality. I've maybe had dominoes 2 times in the last 5 years which is why I keep forgetting XD

They tricked me once. I was hoping for something akin to Pizza Hut's short-lived early-'00s "Big New Yorker", which wasn't really like NY pizza but was a lot better than everything else PH was serving at the time. Nope, just as bad as their regular pizza.

The crust is what you see, but it's the sauce and cheese you taste.

Re: NYC Slice

#209

Post by babypuncher »

pandama wrote: post #120
babypuncher wrote: post #28

I find the perceived sensitivity to food pricing, especially in high income areas like NYC, interesting. The author points out that in 8 years, the average cost of a slice of pizza has hardly moved, but the amount of sauce on them has been reduced as a cost cutting measure. Would a pizza place really see reduced traffic if they kept the same recipe and raised their price another $0.55 to compensate for inflation?

High income but also high competition.

I get that it's high competition, but once the price difference between two slices of pizza is a few coins it stops being a deciding factor for me.

Re: NYC Slice

#210

Post by aqme28 »

freejazz wrote: post #168
Grazester wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I came into this thread I immediately did a search for Prince knowing there would be a comment about it here. I do like their slices but I am not leaving mid-town for that. I perfectly enjoy Upside Pizza slices.

Prince st pizza is a joke, it's literally just a pepperoni gimmick and any serious NY'er isn't putting up with that crap, let alone waiting on a stupidly long line to eat it.

It's a great pepperoni, but there's no way I'd queue to eat one.
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