Out-of-towners are obsessed with the BEST, most obscure everything. It's one of the things I liked least about living in the city. Everything always felt like a competition about who knew the coolest places. It's comical that someone would travel more than a few minutes within NYC just to try a slice of pizza. Like if it's a nice neapolitan pie, sure. But just for a standard NYC-style slice? That's a waste of time. A…
If you’re in NYC and you want the _best_ pizza, step 1 is to take the train to New Haven.
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…
One thing I've heard said about French food generally in the past is that there's an entire supply chain in France around French food in particular so you really tend not to get bad French staples at very many places--even if it's a random touristy place. You can rinse and repeat in many places for various items. For example, when I was last in Germany, you'd get good sandwiches with good bread at any random train st…
Not to mention they have typically been making the regional food for centuries, if not millennia. The selection can be more limited in the EU, but the quality is incredible, and at a very low price point compared to US.
You can get cheese and wine made in the US ~ as good as French, but it’s 5x as expensive.
I disagree. Here in Prospect Heights the pizza is a solid notch below than Prince St or Bleecker St and I think it is worth making a pit stop to get a slice at those places. Restaurants like L’Industrie are worth a whole trip on their own to visit.
L’Industrie was on my Google Maps list of “places I heard about in the dark days of 2020 and will visit post-apocalypse”. I think it was the first of those that I did manage to hit, and absolutely lived up to the hype. Probably the best individual slice I’ve ever had. (Also really enjoy Prince St., haven’t tried Bleecker St. to date.)
Prince Street genuinely is very good, especially the square pies. It's just a pain in the ass now that the lines have gotten long.
That's what I used to tell people about San Francisco when I lived there twenty years ago -- the high end restaurants are great, but what's more impressive is that the average neighborhood eatery is more often than not really amazing, too.
> the high end restaurants are great, but what's more impressive is that the average neighborhood eatery is more often than not really amazing, too. Absolutely! I share the same. Part of that is the fine dining though. Fine dining is its own culture, and just like other Bay Area industries, once you get some good chefs in the city, they'll train people who open their own restaurants. Then the quality expectations go…
The other advantage California has is how fresh & delicious the produce is, year-round.
Native New Yorker here. Out of towners are obsessed with the BEST slice, but the true measure of NYC's 45 degree greatness is the decent quality following a Poisson distribution. My tip: just travel to any random spot in the five boroughs. First; you will be impressed how close you are to a pizza spot wherever you are. Second: you will be impressed with the slice, and with the variety of people who are good at making…
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…
One thing I've heard said about French food generally in the past is that there's an entire supply chain in France around French food in particular so you really tend not to get bad French staples at very many places--even if it's a random touristy place. You can rinse and repeat in many places for various items. For example, when I was last in Germany, you'd get good sandwiches with good bread at any random train st…
Native New Yorker here. Out of towners are obsessed with the BEST slice, but the true measure of NYC's 45 degree greatness is the decent quality following a Poisson distribution. My tip: just travel to any random spot in the five boroughs. First; you will be impressed how close you are to a pizza spot wherever you are. Second: you will be impressed with the slice, and with the variety of people who are good at making…
They're not hunting for the "best slice" because they want the best slice -- they just want a story to tell. Most people can't tell the difference between good and ok food.
Everyone has an opinion about good food and ok food. None of them are wrong.
One thing I've heard said about French food generally in the past is that there's an entire supply chain in France around French food in particular so you really tend not to get bad French staples at very many places--even if it's a random touristy place. You can rinse and repeat in many places for various items. For example, when I was last in Germany, you'd get good sandwiches with good bread at any random train st…
Not to mention they have typically been making the regional food for centuries, if not millennia. The selection can be more limited in the EU, but the quality is incredible, and at a very low price point compared to US. You can get cheese and wine made in the US ~ as good as French, but it’s 5x as expensive.
I don’t know about the cheese but I disagree with you about the wine. For example Californian wine is excellent, and you get a much higher quality for the money than with French wine for anything below $150. French wine is in much higher demand so all the lowest quality is sold too, instead of being made vinegar or discarded, becoming the entry level. French wine is subjected to strict rules that don’t allow them correct them like the Californian do, like adding a bit of water here or there… etc. In places where you have to import both the quality difference for the money is evident, within the us is abysmal
I have to strongly disagree. It is kind of fun and amazing how many pizza places there are around every corner. The problem is, most of them are sub par. In fact, I feel bad for people visiting who just walk into a random slice place because odds are it won't be very good. The great thing about NY pizza is that it very good and very plentiful. But the crappy slice joints are even more plentiful.
I agree. There are so many crappy pizza places in NY, especially in Manhattan. It’s a risk trying some random place. NJ has better and more consistent pizza and bagels. That said, I don’t even try to get pizza elsewhere, I’ve had some really extra gross greasy pizza in other states. For some reason, I’ve never been to a mountain town that can get it right.
Agree. I grew up in NJ and lived a few years in NYC. NYC has a lot of variation in what is called NY style pizza. A lot of it is bad. In NJ, the NY style pizza is a lot more consistent and overall better than NYC. Living in NYC I was always puzzled how there could exist such bad pizza there. Mostly I’m talking about Manhattan. Maybe it’s bad to me and not others, and has to do with NYC having so many residents that grew up elsewhere, bringing their own varied tastes in pizza?
Everyone is obsessed with NYC but these types of slices can be found in all the major east coast cities and is definitely one thing I miss about Philly. I'm in LA now and you'd think with how many Italians there are around here there'd be a higher standard but nope.
Philly and New Haven are basically the only 2 other cities that have solid “pizza cultures”. If you go to Baltimore, DC, or Boston you can’t get anything close to an NY slice without traveling significantly out of your way. Even then, the ubiquity of the NYC slice shop can’t be matched
You'd be surprised. My absolute favorite pizza in the entire world is from a small family owned pizza place in the suburbs of Philly.