New York pizza

I've eaten a ton of pizza up this way, a lot of it good. This has been my favorite

Ribalta Restaurants

 

Also, find the episode of The Flay List where Bobby and his daughter hit restaurants around town? They did one on pizza and went to one in Brooklyn that looked really good.

Bobby's - Joe's Pizza | The Greenwich Village Institution

His daughter's - Emily

 

Yes on Juliana's over Grimaldi's.

Just for background, if case anyone cares. ... since Az refused to go into it.

There was Grimaldi's. ... opened late 80s, or around 1990, I think. ... before the park went in by the water and DUMBO turned into NY's version of a Disney theme park over the last decade. The pizza was awesome.

In the late 90s, Patsy Grimaldi decided to retire, sold the name and got out. The pizza stayed pretty awesome, even though there were Russians making the pies more often than not. The coal-fired oven was the key.

Then, about 8 or 9 years ago, the new owners lost their lease and decided to move a few doors down, to a bigger corner place. They got permission to install a new coal fired oven (they are illegal now). At the same time, they decided to start franchising the name.

It's been a bit downhill since then.

A year after Grimald's moved, Patsy Grimaldi, or his family, decided to reopen in the old spot, using the old coal oven. He couldn't use his name -- he had sold it -- so in came Juliana's. The owner's of Grimaldi's tried to block him, and there was a bit of a legal battle. They lost.

For my money, I'll take a Juliana's pie any day, any time over what Grimaldi's is now slinging. Juliana's is still one of the best pies in NY. People just know the Grimaldi's name, though, and you'll find lines at both, even though Juliana's is superior in my opinion.

Regardless, there is a pizza place on Water Street called Ignazio's, across from the River Cafe, which ingeniously piggybacks off of them. They put a sign out front that says something like "the pizza," and confused tourists go in there instead, or if they aren't confused they see the lines for Juliana's and Grimaldi's and decide it isn't worth it. Just avoid that place.

I'll second most of Az's list. ... and this is something I am really passionate about.

Juliana's and Grimaldi's are sit-down, by-the-pie places. If you want the quintessential NY slice, a lot of places that would have been at the top of the list have closed down, unfortunately, but Joe's (first one on Az's list and that Moddy did a link to) is a NY treasure. Perfectly balanced sauce, good mozzerella and just the perfect thin crust that stays firm. We were actually talking yesterday about getting some pizza there this weekend. I am amazed at how they do it, since they essentially are just running pie after pie into the oven and selling 2, 3 or 4 slices at a time to people rolling through there like it is an assembly line. You'd think it would make for subpar pizza, but it's REALLY good.

The beauty of Joe's, too, is that it's right in the heart of the West Village, so there are a lot of things for you do to there, and if the weather is nice enough, you can grab a couple of slices and walk over to Washington Square Park and people watch while you chow.

 

Ha. I hadn’t even considered the Joe’s outposts. Just not the same to me. I knew the shop by Union Square and the one down by the Fulton St. subway stop, but I had no clue about the others. I learned something.

BTW, from your list, one of my favorites nowadays is Lucali in Cobble Hill / Carroll Gardens, in Brooklyn. It's a bit of a pain, though, because you have to go down there, give the bitchy girl in front your phone number and then you have to kill time around there until your name is up on the list. And it can end up being 3 weeks later, the way they run the place.

But it's a great story, Mark Iacono knew absolutely nothing about making pizza when he opened the place. It had been a candy store, and he grew up in the neighborhood and he decided to rent the storefront because he was getting upset by the Subways and Starbucks going in and destroying the old-school Italian character of the neighborhood. I won't say he does the best pie in NY, but it is up there near the top. It may, however, be the best calzone you can find. ... pretty much anywhere.