4 ms·

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

by rcme 4y ago

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. All the places that typically top people's list, like Joe's Pizza, Prince St. Pizza, Bleecker St., etc., are all very mid. You can get an equally good slice as those big names in almost any neighborhood.

1980phipsi 4y ago
Joe's was my local pizza place. Then I moved. It's still my local pizza place.
- john_cogs 4y ago
  If I’m in the neighborhood and feel even slightly hungry, I’m stopping at Joe’s.
mgce 4y ago
I travel well outside my neighborhood for standard slices regularly and I've never felt it's a waste of time. But maybe an out-of-towner feeling they need to find the perfect slice is a different perspective than mine as a local. I know what I want out of the places I seek out and I'm comfortable with whatever extra time investment that requires.
- xtiansimon 4y ago
  True. If you’re on vacation you want something to ground your day’s activity and a story to tell the peeps back home.
Grazester 4y ago
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.
- freejazz 4y ago
  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.
  - aqme28 4y ago
    It's a great pepperoni, but there's no way I'd queue to eat one.
  - pzone 4y ago
    It didn’t always have the lines. Especially post pandemic the calculus is different. Still a damn good slice worth trying at least once.
    - freejazz 4y ago
      I tried it because I worked around there and it was before it went viral. There's no need to travel across the city to try a "slice". When I'm in a neighborhood that has a good spot, I'll stop through. There's nothing about Prince st that requires it being tried unless you want to participate in the trend. It's just a basic pizza place that went viral because they put a stupid amount of cupping pepperoni on their slices. It's really got nothing to do with what I'd call my conception or experience of pizza as a lifelong New Yorker.
pzone 4y ago
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.
- twoodfin 4y ago
  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.)
  - akgerber 4y ago
    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.
- rcme 4y ago
  I don’t know the pizza in the area that well, but I remember Luigi’s in Clinton Hill being pretty good. Have you tried it?
stephencanon 4y ago
If you’re in NYC and you want the _best_ pizza, step 1 is to take the train to New Haven.
- djbusby 4y ago
  Narrowed down to three places, but all real close, so you can try them all on the same trip.
- rcme 4y ago
  Everyone loves the pizza from where they grew up.
  - stephencanon 4y ago
    That’s true, but the “holy trinity” are regarded by an awful lot of people not from New Haven (like me) as being among the best pizza anywhere.
- localhost3000 4y ago
  *apizza
cloverich 4y ago
Frankly because in many (not all) places (and especially true the further back you go) -- there's very few good ... anything. When I first moved to Austin TX in 99 I remember being really puzzled by how bad all the food was. Like nearly everything was mediocre. Very slowly better places popped up and everyone talked about them. The one exception was BBQ, and to that end yes -- the "best" was Franklins but frankly it was nearly all very good. But overtime, other good stuff started to pop up, and eventually there were enough good places that "the best" became less interesting. Still, Austin is far away from NYC, and of the few times I visited Europe (Italy specifically) nearly everywhere in the US is a bit behind. IMHO that's largely b/c of how new everything is. Overtime as areas become more established, things get passed down and around, the quality of everything goes up. And in some places, there's so much good stuff that yeah it makes no sense to talk about best anymore. But for many places the difference between the best and the rest is the decision point of "is it worth going at all?".

by rcme 4y ago

1980phipsi 4y ago

Joe's was my local pizza place. Then I moved. It's still my local pizza place.

john_cogs 4y ago
If I’m in the neighborhood and feel even slightly hungry, I’m stopping at Joe’s.

mgce 4y ago

I travel well outside my neighborhood for standard slices regularly and I've never felt it's a waste of time. But maybe an out-of-towner feeling they need to find the perfect slice is a different perspective than mine as a local. I know what I want out of the places I seek out and I'm comfortable with whatever extra time investment that requires.

xtiansimon 4y ago
True. If you’re on vacation you want something to ground your day’s activity and a story to tell the peeps back home.

Grazester 4y ago

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.

freejazz 4y ago
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.
- aqme28 4y ago
  It's a great pepperoni, but there's no way I'd queue to eat one.
- pzone 4y ago
  It didn’t always have the lines. Especially post pandemic the calculus is different. Still a damn good slice worth trying at least once.
  - freejazz 4y ago
    I tried it because I worked around there and it was before it went viral. There's no need to travel across the city to try a "slice". When I'm in a neighborhood that has a good spot, I'll stop through. There's nothing about Prince st that requires it being tried unless you want to participate in the trend. It's just a basic pizza place that went viral because they put a stupid amount of cupping pepperoni on their slices. It's really got nothing to do with what I'd call my conception or experience of pizza as a lifelong New Yorker.

pzone 4y ago

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.

twoodfin 4y ago
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.)
- akgerber 4y ago
  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.
rcme 4y ago
I don’t know the pizza in the area that well, but I remember Luigi’s in Clinton Hill being pretty good. Have you tried it?

stephencanon 4y ago

If you’re in NYC and you want the _best_ pizza, step 1 is to take the train to New Haven.

djbusby 4y ago
Narrowed down to three places, but all real close, so you can try them all on the same trip.
rcme 4y ago
Everyone loves the pizza from where they grew up.
- stephencanon 4y ago
  That’s true, but the “holy trinity” are regarded by an awful lot of people not from New Haven (like me) as being among the best pizza anywhere.
localhost3000 4y ago
*apizza

cloverich 4y ago

Frankly because in many (not all) places (and especially true the further back you go) -- there's very few good ... anything. When I first moved to Austin TX in 99 I remember being really puzzled by how bad all the food was. Like nearly everything was mediocre. Very slowly better places popped up and everyone talked about them. The one exception was BBQ, and to that end yes -- the "best" was Franklins but frankly it was nearly all very good. But overtime, other good stuff started to pop up, and eventually there were enough good places that "the best" became less interesting. Still, Austin is far away from NYC, and of the few times I visited Europe (Italy specifically) nearly everywhere in the US is a bit behind. IMHO that's largely b/c of how new everything is. Overtime as areas become more established, things get passed down and around, the quality of everything goes up. And in some places, there's so much good stuff that yeah it makes no sense to talk about best anymore. But for many places the difference between the best and the rest is the decision point of "is it worth going at all?".