Short answer is no. We’ll start with Joann’s, an Italian restaurant, not from from us. Who knew that an expensive Italian restaurant serving decent but not worth it food was just around the corner from us? We visited with Cory and Carolyn Katseanes, good friends and great people. Joann’s food was good–I’ve found it’s hard to find bad Italian food. Their pizza, however, came up short. We went there for lunch and tried the burrata cheese salad and some cheese-stuffed gnocchi in vodka sauce. Both were excellent, and probably worth their high cost. To leave no stone unturned when it comes to pizza, we also ordered a smaller Sicilian margherita pie. Crust was a little charcoaly, but just tasted burnt. Crust was also bland, with little distinctive flavor, other than the burnt, the cheese was good, and the sauce was just OK. Bland, burnt, and plain-textured crust thrust Joann to the bottom third. We’ve had great Sicilian pizza before at Mama’s Too and at Prince Street. Sorry Joann, you’re no Mama’s Too.
Limelight Pizza. Limelight was a popular club back in the 80s and 90s. All that is left now is a cool church building and a pizza parlor. They claim their coal-fired oven cooks the pizza with a nice charcoal flavor. I found the pizza tastes good, but without the charcoal-flavored taste of John ‘s of Bleeker Street or Patsy’s. Limelight’s toppings of Italian sausage, peppers and ricotta cheese were fresh and tasty but the crust was bland, more chewy and floppy than others, and with only a slight crispiness on the outer edge. Solid for the toppings but no threat to the leaders or even to the second tier. I think the best of Limelight was the 90’s. Cool building though.
Sorry about the thumb in the photo–How did that get there?!?
Thumbless photo of a slice. Looks good, doesn’t it? Toppings were tasty
You can tell when Limelight was in the limelight by zooming in on the photos hung on their wall. Extra credit if you can identify each celebrity.
Told you it was a cool building. Not sure of its history.
So, where does that leave the final rankings? See below:
- L’Industrie. Burrata is amazing. NY crust, freshness, toppings. All first rate.
- See No Evil. Really a tie with L’Industrie. Excellent crust, toppings, spiciness combo.
- Scarr’s. The crust really is that good, ground fresh on premises. The spicy Hotboi pizza is excellent.
- John’s of Bleeker Street. So tightly bunched at the top of the list. Hard to see Mama’s Too drop to #7, but that charcoal flavor.
- Patsy’s Pizzeria. Fresh basil leaves on top of ricotta and coal-fired crispy, chewy crust. Verrry nice!
- Upside Pizza. A surprise with delicious NY style sourdough crust, tangy sauce and not just plain old cheese. Currently #2 NY style
- Mama’s Too. Mama knows pizza. Crispy Roma crust with sharp tasting toppings and plenty of fresh mozzarella.
- Song ‘E Napule. Excellent Neo crust.
- Lucia. Did not disappoint. Crunchy, chewy crust is similar to L’Industrie. Ricotta cheese base (instead of tomato sauce) was creamy and tasty.
- Prince Street Sicilian slices. Please don’t order NY style slices here. Sicilians are a very close second to Mama Too’s with some nice spice.
- Ribalta. Still great pizza. Crust is outstanding. Cheese is still the best, but not by much. Probably should be higher but recency bias hurts it.
- Joe’s. Maybe the institution boosts it a little, and maybe the police and firefighters eating there when I picked up boosted it. But good pizza.
- Don Antonio. What’s not to like about a deep-fried crust.
- Made in New York Pizza. Excellent crust, toppings, cheese combo.
- La Traviata. 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.
- Baggios. Tasty but no big differentiators.
- Little Italy III. The crunchy coarse semolina sprinkled on the crust boosted this one.
- Two Boots. Great toppings with good crust, good cheese, OK sauce. I think fresh vs. reheated (by the slice) makes a difference.
- Francesco’s (FranJessica’s). Very close finish to 3 and 4.
- Limelight. Fun building. Nice toppings. Dull crust. Their best was in the 90’s.
- Max Brenner’s. First pizza in NY. We liked it, but it’s quickly fading from memory.
- Roma. How dare they burn the bacon? Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?
- Pop’s pizza. Same with Pop’s. Remember it as good but fading from memory.
- Rosetta pizza. Not Rosetta bakery. OK pizza. Nice to have ham and pineapple again.
- Pizza Collective. Roma style with good crust (we like Roma-style crust), but lacking in the toppings, cheese, sauce. Good but not great.
- Emmy Squared. Barely survived disqualification–server dropped knives on me. Detroit style. Gouda was especially flavorful.
- Fiorello’s. Dashed expectations. Thin crust was extra thin and somewhat flavorless. Cheese was tasty, but not a lot of it to taste
- J’s Pizza. Takeout steams the crust while in the box, rendering it non-crispy. Expected more and better from J’s.
- Joann’s. Good Italian-other-than-pizza. Pizza was more burnt than charcoal flavored, even though Sicilian style is usually great.
- Soho Pizza. The 18 inch $8 pie did them in. Young missionaries are very sorry to see them go.
- Little Caesars. Had some on quick visit to Utah for our granddaughter Chloe’s blessing. I guess I’m becoming a bit of a pizza snob. I still like Little Caesar’s pizza, but it doesn’t compare well with NY pizza places. Maybe it was from sitting in the box, but the crust lacked crispness and was bland. Cheese was just OK, sauce was scarce and run-of-the-mill.