Sheila and I walked to Verdi Square (about 1/2 mile from where we live) and tried two more pizza by the slice places: “Pizza Collective” and “Made in New York Pizza.” How did they stack up?
Pizza Collective serves Roma style pizza–square, crunchy crust. Rosetta bakery serves Roma style pizza, so we had a reference point for comparison. Pizza Collective had a crunchy, airy crust that tasted great, but the rest of the pizza didn’t stack up well against Rosetta. We tried Buffalo and Barbecue chicken. They were both well-sauced, but had minimal cheese and toppings–mainly crust and sauce. Not the worst, but not the best, maybe the worst.
Just a block or two away is Made in New York Pizza, recommended by our nephew, Kaiser Larsen and earning 4.6 stars on Google–high expectations indeed. We were not disappointed. Tried Buffalo chicken (to better compare with Pizza Collective) and Pepperoni mushroom, because it looked good. Crust was one of the best we’ve tried (Ribalta still retains top spot for crust). Crispy, but not so cripsy that it didn’t need to be folded to eat, crust with some chewiness on the edges–good job Made in NY. Cheese was ample and delicious. Sauce was good, not overpowering. Toppings were generous but didn’t prevent tasting the cheese, crust and sauce. Very nice blend.
Current running rankings:
- Ribalta. Still the top–crust is amazing.
- Made in New York Pizza. Excellent crust, toppings, cheese combo.
- La Traviata. Moves up from 5th to second (now to third). Crust pushed it above the others.
- Rosetta Bakery: treating the mini-battle as an aberration and hoping (they’re very close to us) they are still delicious.
- Francesco’s (FranJessica’s). Very close finish to 3 and 4.
- Max Brenner’s. First pizza in NY. We liked it, but it’s quickly fading from memory.
- Pop’s pizza. Same with Pop’s. Remember is as good but fading from memory.
- Pizza Collective. Roma style with good crust (we like Roma-style crust), but lacking in the toppings, cheese, sauce. Good but not great.
Pizza Wars Volume I: https://brianbrandenburg.com/nov-30-2024-pizza-wars-whos-winning-so-far/
Pizza Wars Volume II: https://brianbrandenburg.com/dec-26-2024-team-pizza-wars/