Away on vacation - Travel free resources » Best Pizza in New York

Which Borough Has The Best Pizza

Maxx — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 12:28:55 +0000

New York City has five boroughs. There is Manhattan which is where the NASDAQ and New York Stock Exchange reside. There is the Bronx, home of Yankee stadium and Rikers Island. You also have Brooklyn which is known for its luxury brownstones, Queens whose unofficial symbol is the unisphere and home to both of the New York airports and lastly Staten Island. So which of these five boroughs owns bragging rights to having the best pizza? It's a tough call!

Most New Yorkers have narrowed it down to two of the five boroughs. While the pizza in the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island is still delicious, it seems that Brooklyn and Manhattan are the two contenders for the best pizza in New York City. The residents though of these boroughs are very touchy when it comes to who has the best pizza. Ask anyone who lives in Manhattan and they will tell you that Manhattan by far has the best pizza. Ask anyone who lives in Brooklyn who has the best pizza and of course they are going to tell you that Brooklyn has the best pizza.

You might be asking yourself, what is so different about the pizza's that are made in these two boroughs. They are both made from dough, with pizza sauce, cheese and toppings right? Well not exactly. A lot more goes into pizza than just dough, sauce and cheese. Each pizzeria makes their pizza in their own unique way and there are some differences between the way it is made in Manhattan vs. Brooklyn

For starters, Brooklyn pizza is baked in a coal fired oven whereas Manhattan does not allow these ovens. Another factor is the fact that a majority of the pizzeria's in Brooklyn are family owned joined whereas Manhattan has its own family own places, there are more and more chains and franchised located there. This could be due to the tourist attractions that comes in the form of Times Square.

Another big difference is that Brooklyn is known for its pies whereas Manhattan is known for the slices. While that may not sound like such a big deal to you, to pizza enthusiastic it means a lot. That is not to say you can't get a slice of pizza in Brooklyn. In fact you can and at a great price. Most slices are priced about a dollar a slice in Brooklyn and in Manhattan they tend to run a little higher.

Brooklyn is also famous for having the type of pizza that you have to fold to eat. In fact it is a given that any slice you get must be folded so that you do not lose any of the great taste.

Most signs are pointing that you will find the best pizza in Brooklyn. Brooklyn's pizza is so famous that Dominos has even tried to imitate their pizza with their own Brooklyn Style Pizza. Although many Brooklynites will tell you that it is not real Brooklyn pizza. The pizza war has been going on between Brooklyn and Manhattan for years now and it seems that Brooklyn keeps coming out just a wee bit ahead.

New York Style Pizza

Maxx — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 09:25:55 +0000

While I am not a true New Yorker, I am a true Italian and I love my pizza. When I was younger I was a fan of the chain restaurants pizza. Pizza Hut and Dominos were among my favorite. It wasn't until I was in college and started going into New York more often that I realized how horrible those really were. New York pizza is untouchable and anyone who tries to mimic those pizzas should just pack it up now.

If you look at the crust of a New York pizza, you will see how crisp and dark it is. Most New York pizzas are baked in a brick oven. Only one of these restaurants can say that they use a coal fire brick oven but mainstream brick ovens are the norm and do the job just as well.

One thing I always hated about other pizzas was that the cheese was put on so thick that when you tried to eat it, the cheese slid right off. This was usually because someone put way to much cheese on the pizza. It does not make for good pizza. How many times have you gotten upset when you got home with a pizza pie only to find out that during all the movement your car did on the way home, the cheese came right off it. New York style pizza does not have this problem because they use the freshest ingredients they can find. You can tell the difference between pizzas that have been made using fresh mozzarella and pizza's that have been made using pre-shredded. You can not only see the difference, you can also taste the difference. Fresh mozzarella flavors the whole pie because the oils that are in it leaks right on to the pie itself. The bread absorbs the flavor and in return you get a pie that is delicious with each bite.

The sauce is key also. I use to hate pies that were overloaded with sauce. There were also pies that had chunks of onion or peppers in the sauce. A true New York pizza uses a very thin layer of sauce that isn't dressed up with lots of onions and peppers. Most pizzerias add a little something special to their sauces to make it their own and the rest of us will remain clueless as to what it is. I have heard some really good guesses in some pizzerias. Some people seem to think that nutmeg is the secret ingredient. Others feel paprika is the key. I've heard truly outrageous ones such as added vanilla to the sauce. It is almost a game in the pizzeria's as customers try to figure out what is in the sauces and the employees sit and laugh at the guesses.

My favorite part of the pizza however is the bread itself. There is no other pizza in the world that has a bottom like New York pizza. The bottom of the pizza is usually blackened by the brick ovens and it gives the whole pizza a smoky enhancement. To me it is the best part of the pizza.

While now I don't get to New York as often as I would like, I do manage to grab a slice of pizza every time I go into the city. New Jersey does have some very good pizzerias but they can't hold a torch to New York.

How To Make The Best New York Style Pizza

Maxx — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 19:31:55 +0000

One of the characteristics of a New York pizza is the puffy crust which paves the way to a thin crisp middle. To achieve this effect, the pizza is usually cooked on a stone not a pan or tray. You can still make New York style pizza without it but if you plan to make it a lot, you might want to invest in a pizza stone or quarry tiles. Mind you it might take a while before you perfect the recipe. You may find that you want to add your own touches to it. Have fun with it.

The dough recipe is used widely throughout many pizzerias. You would use about 16 ounces or 3 ? cups of high gluten flour. You will also need 9 ounces of warm water, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of yeast and ? teaspoon of salt. Try to use the best flour you can get. You want to mix all these together until they form the dough and then add the olive oil into the dough. You can use a stand mixer for this. A stand mixer will also knead the dough for you. If you do not have one, you can need the dough yourself for fifteen minutes and then place it in an oiled bowl. Some people recommend you do the windowpane test. This is where you stretch the dough thin to see if it is transparent but not breaking. After the dough is in the bowl, you can put that in the fridge for twenty four hours.

Next you are ready for your pizza sauce. You want a 28oz can of whole peeled tomatoes, 1 garlic clove or more if you like garlic, and 1 teaspoon of dried oregano flakes. The simplest way to prepare this is to combine it all in a blender and then put it into a sauce pan and simmer for thirty minutes.

Your oven should be preheating to about 550. A good tip is to put your stone or tiles in the oven as it is warming up. Only do this if you have a pizza peel to use also. Now you have to work the dough. First step is to press it out into a disk and then start to press it out and stretch it into a large circle that fits your peel. You want to make sure it isn't too thick so that it winds up with a doughy taste. Make sure you put some flour on the stone or the pizza peel if you have one before the dough goes down. If you are not using a peel, make sure you put flour on your stone also.

Next place your sauce and other toppings on. To create a true New York style pizza, it is best if you use fresh mozzarella and not the store bought shredded kind. Not only will it look better with the fresh mozzarella but it will also taste better also. Once this is done, cook the pizza until the crust is dark and crispy. Usually no more than ten minutes.

Making your own New York style pizza takes a lot of practice, but do not get discouraged. Remember these people in New York have been doing it for years.

What Is New York Pizza

Maxx — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 05:24:55 +0000

What is the big deal about New York Pizza? Why is New York considered the best place to get pizza? The recipe for pizza is pretty much the same everywhere right? Dough, tomato sauce and cheese is all you need. Throw in a couple of toppings and bam, you have a pizza. So what is the big deal about New York pizza? I spend my summers in South Carolina and I always had a craving for pizza but my uncles refused to take me to any pizzeria. All of us hailed from northern NJ but I had never eaten pizza outside of New York. According to them, pizza from anywhere but New York was horrible. A few years back I went to San Francisco with my husband and wanted to have some pizza. He quickly talked me out of it, telling me if I ate pizza in San Francisco it would turn me off of pizza for ever. I couldn't understand it. Pizza is pizza is what I though. What is so special about New York pizza and why is it considered the best? After finally getting my way and grabbing a slice of pizza out of state, I realize why New York pizza is the best. Although eating that pizza hasn't turned me off of pizza all together, it has turned me off from eating pizza anywhere else. I finally get why the best pizza is in New York.

For starters all New York pizza is wide and thin and can be folded. Folding the pizza is part of the fun. If you try to eat it without folding it, you are likely to burn yourself with the oil from the cheese as it drips off the end. It has a thin and crispy crust which comes from the dough being hand tossed. The dough itself is the key to the great pizza. Most of the Pizzerias in New York use high-gluten bread flour. Although most people believe the real secret behind the great tasting pizza crust is the water in New York. Yes, many people believe that the compound make up of New York tap water is the big secret behind the great tasting pizza. In fact people believe this so much that many out of state New York Style pizzerias actually order the water to be sent to their store so they can replicate the recipe. Sending water out of New York has been one of the ways that people all over the world can enjoy New York's pizza.

The ingredients play a big part in New York pizza. Unlike some places in other parts of the country that will use Ragu sauce and packaged cheese, New York pizzerias use only the freshest ingredients and they prepare them right in the restaurant. There is one restaurant in Brooklyn that roasts the red peppers right there in the oven. The mozzarella cheese is fresh and it is the full fat kind of cheese. To ask for any sort of low fat pizza is a sin in these places.

It took me a while before I fully appreciated the fact that New York does indeed have the best pizza anywhere. Once you have a taste of that Heaven, nothing will ever compare.

What To Look For In A New York Pizza

Maxx — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 22:58:55 +0000

How many times have you heard someone say "New York has the best Pizza" a lot right? But where in New York do you get the best pizza? There are thousands of pizzerias located all through out New York and each of them claims they have the best pizza. Where do you start and what should you look for?

For starters, do not even think about finding the best pizza at any chain or franchise. While Dominos, Papa Johns and Pizza Hut are popular in New York, they are not what most consider "real" New York pizza. Their recipe is the same throughout all the locations and the ingredients are not always fresh. Dough is brought into each of these stores on a truck from somewhere else in the world. That goes the same for the cheese and sauce. Have you ever seen the back of one of these places? It is filled with tubs of their sauce and freezers full of dough.

What is so great about New York pizza is that it is all fresh. Many pizzerias make their own dough. The bakers and staff come in early in the morning and start measuring out the yeast and kneading the dough. What's even better is that most of these places do not use any high tech gadgets to get the job done for them. These bakers know the secrets to getting that perfect dough and one of the secrets is to do it themselves. No machine is going to be able to get the dough consistency that they want. When you are looking for the best pizzeria, make sure you are at one that makes its own dough.

Speaking of fresh, the pizza sauce should be fresh too. Again in most pizzerias in New York, especially those that are family owned, make their sauce the day they use it and do not keep any for leftovers. Many will tell you that the sauce is a secret family recipe and they can not give out the recipe no matter how much you plead and beg. You are not going to find the best pizza at a place where they use sauce from a tub that has been sitting in the fridge for three days. They also spice up their pizza using only the freshest of spices.

You will also notice the cheese on the pizza. A good New York pizzeria uses fresh mozzarella. They would never be caught using a store bought block of cheese or even the already shredded cheese. Only the best ingredients go into New York pies and this includes fresh mozzarella that is cut into thick slices and placed on the pie.

Perhaps one of the most important things to look at is how the pizza is cook. New York pizza is famous for its thin crust and eating a pizza that is doughy is just a crime. Real New York pizza has a thin slightly charred bottom. New Yorkers laugh at pizza crust that is coated in corn meal. Coating bottom pizza with corn meal is a trick that many professional cooks will tell you to do, but in all actuality real pizzeria's use flour and that is it.

Finding the best pizza is really all up to you. It is a matter of your taste and what you like the best. You could find yourself at what everyone swears is the best pizza in the world and hate it. It is all a matter of taste, but the above pointers is what you should keep in mind on your search.

Grimaldi

Maxx — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 23:36:55 +0000

Grimaldi's has been hailed as one of the best pizza places in New York. In fact Zagats has awarded them this honor nearly six times. The owner of Grimaldis's is Patsy Grimaldi and he is no stranger to pizza and pizza places. He learned the art of making a good pizza from Patsy Lancieri. Patsy Lancieri learned the art from none other than Gennaro Lombardi who opened Lombardi's in 1905 and was coined the first pizzeria in America.

Grimaldi's only use the freshest ingredients on their pizza. In fact they import most of their ingredients in from Italy. They have a limited selection on toppings and stick to the basics which is nice. They make their own dough and sauce daily. Employees at Grimaldi's are taught by Patsy Grimaldi himself that the dough is one of the most important aspects to making a good pizza. When it comes to the flour for the dough, they do not skimp on it and buy the best that money can buy.

However what makes Grimaldi's pizza one of the best pizzas in New York is their crust. Grimaldi's crust has a smoky flavor and the bottom of it is usually black which everyone loves. This is the reason why you will usually find a line out the door on nights and weekends. The line moves fast though especially becasue they can make nearly 100 pies in the course of a half hour.

The secret of this pizza is a great coal fire brick oven. Patsy Grimaldi believes he is one of the last true "old timers" who know how important this oven can be. Grimaldi's bakes its pizza at 850F and there are not many gas and electric ovens that can get that hot. This coal oven is what gives the crust the crispiness and smoky taste. Thanks to this oven, Grimaldi's pizza bake in four in five minutes and he claims that knowing and understanding the brick oven is the secret to producing a great pie.

Do not expect to find any slices here. Grimaldi's believe that a pizza is to be enjoyed whole and not just buy the slice. Most people do not complain because the pies are so thin and light tasting that they can eat more of it then they would a "normal" type of pizza.

Their staff is not just any ordinary staff. You will not find just anyone working here. Most of the staff members have to have at least three years of experience working in Brooklyn before Grimaldi will allow them to work in either of his two stores. He has a store also in Hoboken and that store always has a coal fire brick oven. Many people ask why he didn't open up a location in Manhattan. The answer is simple; Manhattan will not allow any coal fire brick ovens. So instead of risking his reputation as having the best pizza in New York, he opened a much needed second location.

Grimaldi's is located just under the Brooklyn Bridge. If you are ever in the area and get a craving for some really good pizza, this is the place to go.

Best Pizza In New York

Maxx — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 05:59:55 +0000

Its hard to imagine that a city that is famous for its crime, drugs and amount of homeless people on the street could have anything good come out of it. However most people will say that New York has the best pizza. To be more specific New York has the best thin crust pizza and Chicago has the best deep dish pizza.

Little Italy and Brooklyn are the home to two of the best pizzerias in New York. Gamaldi's and Lombardi's. Both are family owned business that have good old ethics. They both use coal fired brick ovens which they swear is the secret to their smoky crusts.

Is it because New York has such a wide variety of people that allows them to best pizza. It could be also because of all the Italian-American families that reside in New York and New York City. Some of these families have been living in New York since their grandparents or great grandparents came over to the US. Some of these families took a risk and opened their own pizzeria. Some succeed and some failed. Most of them however brought their traditions out of the house and put them into their restaurants. These are the people who know that making a good pizza is a skill that requires practice. They practice making each pie as if they were painting the next masterpiece and they take pride on their work. If you do not finish your pie, some restaurant owners can get very insulted while others offer to wrap it up for you and whisk it away before you have a chance to say "No".

So is a high Italian population the reason for New York having the best pizza? There are some really good pizzerias that are not owned by Italians and they still have some great pizza. So what else is it that could make the pizza in NY the best anywhere?

Many people will say it is the hard water that does it. Any good pizza maker knows that they should use only the best flour that is high gluten when it comes to making their pizza. They mix it with tap water and some swear that the tap water is what makes the pizza so tasteful. In fact, there have been some cases where a pizzeria owner will move out of New York to say South Carolina. They think that they have found a great opportunity to open a pizzeria and boast that it is New York style pizza. However once they start making the pizza pies, they realize something is off and not right. Most of the time they draw the conclusion that they need New York City's water and begin to place frantic phone calls to friends or family to get some New York water shipped out to them.

No one knows exactly why the water works so well. It could be the chemical make up of the water that helps with the flour. Many people doubt that the water has anything to do with it. However if you were to ask any baker who lived in New York, if his pizza's come out the same as it did then. Chances are it hasn't.

New York is home to so many things, it is home to Broadway, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, and Saint Patrick's. We can now also say that it is home to the best pizza.

Where To Find The Best Pizza In New York

Maxx — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:17:55 +0000

There are many pizzerias all through out New York. Some of them have fantastic pizza and some have not fantastic pizza. It is hard to describe what fantastic pizza is, since it is different for everyone. For some people, including myself, a great piece of pizza is one that you bite into and taste the spices. You can tell it is made with only the freshest ingredients and not a lot of oil. Other people like the pizzas that come with the thick doughy crust and others love the pizza from the chains.

One of the must eat pizza places that you should go to on your quest for the best pizza in New York is Grimaldi's pizza. Its original location is in Brooklyn NY right under the Brooklyn Bridge. Grimaldi's is well known for using fresh ingredients, and a great oven. They make their dough daily and make their sauce daily too. Grimaldi's also knows that in order to make a great pizza you have to have a great coal fired brick oven. They bake their pizza at 850F which gives their crust the right amount of crispness and smokiness. Grimaldi's had become so popular that they opened up a second shop right in Hoboken NJ.

You should also check out Lombardi's in Little Italy in NY. Lombardi's has bragging rites to being the first American Pizzeria back in 1905. Over a hundred years later, they are still holding strong against the competition. Lombardi's is so famous that there is often an hour wait just to sit down in the restaurants. Just as with Grimaldi's, they make their own dough daily and know how to make the crust dark and crispy on the outside and soft and yeasty on the inside.

Savoia is also another great place to get the best pizza in New York. Once again it hails in Brooklyn and cooks its pizza's in a wood burning oven. Not only does it serve pizza but it has a full menu of pastas, salads and meals.

If you are in Manhattan, you might want to check out Sal and Carmine Pizza. These guys grew up making pizza and use the freshest ingredients. Reviews have said that the sauce has a rare tang to it. Sal and Carmines are one of the pizzeria's that refuse to deliver. They feel that you should eat their pizza right then and there in all its freshness.

New York is the home to countless of good pizzerias and many of them have been in the Zagats guide. Part of the fun of living in New York is trying all of the pizzerias out and deciding for yourself who has the best pizza. There have been some people who claim that Grimaldi's pizza isn't as great as they make it out to be and others who rave about it. As with anything in life, only you can decide what the best pizza is for you and your taste.

Why New York Has The Best Pizza

Maxx — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:45:55 +0000

The city that never sleeps is how Frank Sinatra coined New York in his hit song "New York, New York" and he is right. New York is always wide awake. It is home to a thousand restaurants, some well known (think Tavern on the Green and the Blue Room) and others not so well known. Every year thousands of people gather in Time Squares to watch the ball drop on New Years Eve and even more tune in to watch it on TV. New York is home to Broadway, The Mets, The Yankees, the Giants and the world's best pizza.

That's right ask anyone and they will tell you that New York has the best pizza anywhere in the world. Not only will native New Yorkers tell you this, but also anyone who has visited the big apple and tried a slice of heaven. There are many urban legends as to why New York has the best pizza.

Some people feel that the reason why New York as the best pizza is because it has a high population of Italians living in one of the five boroughs. These Italians, who live there now, come from a long line of pizza making families who have passed down the recipe over the years. Some families have a secret sauce, others season the pizza differently and some use different cheeses. Some even believe that some pizzeria owners have their dough flown in from Italy.

Some say it is the type of pizza that New York Pizzeria's make that make the best in the country. New York is famous not for deep dish pizza, but for thin crust pizza. In fact in order to be a true New York pizza, most people feel that the bottom of the pizza needs to be blacken, not a golden brown. Many people also feel that the thinner the crust, the better it is.

The most common believe for the reason why New York has the best pizza is because of the water. That's right. Many people believe that New York's own tap water is the reason why the pizza tastes so good. Business owners swear by New York's water. Some pizzeria owners who have moved on to other states have complained that even though they are using the same exact recipe they used in New York, their pizzas are not coming out the same. They believe that the chemical make up of New York's water works in harmony with the yeast and flour particles and creates the perfect pizza dough. In fact, some people claim that owners of New York style pizzeria's in other states might actually have water from New York flown in to get their pizza to taste the same.

Regardless of whatever the reason, the fact is that New York still provides its residents and visitors with the most delicious pizza you might ever taste and they keep it affordable too. You can walk down almost any block in the city and find at least one if not more pizzerias. New York is a haven for great food and the pizza is probably the best anywhere.

Lombardi

Maxx — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:22:55 +0000

Perhaps the two best New York pizzas are found Grimaldi's and Lombardi's. It sort of makes sense if you think about it. After all Patsy Grimaldi's uncle who taught him all he knew about pizza, learned it himself from Gennaro Lombardi years ago. It is only natural that these two pizzerias are rated among the best and have a history for long lines and good times.

Lombardi's wasn't always a pizzeria. It started off in the Little Italy section as a grocery store back in the early 1900s and it became the first American Pizzeria in 1905. Now it has been in business for almost a hundred and three years. Lombardi's was not that popular in New York until just after the Second World War When it was a grocery store its most popular item was tomato pies which men wrapped in papers and tied with a string to go to work with. From there it just grew.

The Lombardi you see today on 32 Spring Street is not the original Lombardi that was standing 100 years ago. Back in 1984 Lombardi closed its doors but reopened again ten years later in a new location and it has been there every since.

Just like with Grimaldi's you might find a line there depending on when you want to get in. Most often the wait can be an hour or more but if you go during an off time you should get in quicker. The pizza however is worth the wait. You have to trust me on this. Lombardi's has been one of my favorite pizzerias since I was in college and I keep wondering if they are every going to move Jersey. They opened a location in Philadelphia but closed it due to renovations

There are many reasons why this is hailed as home of the best pizza in New York. Not only do they make their dough in house, but they also have fresh mozzarella, homemade tomatoes sauce and top their pies with fresh basil and Romano cheese. Just like with Grimaldi's a brick oven is used to achieve the crispy blackened bottom of the pie.

Unlike Grimaldi's however is the choice of toppings that you have. You can choose to have criterion pancetta (Italian bacon), homemade meatballs, red onions, red peppers and anchovies to name a few. You can even have clams put on your pizza if you would like! Lombardi's also has an excellent and affordable non pizza menu also. You can order calzones, salads, clams and mushrooms to name a few.

Lombardi's is world famous and has seen its share of celebrities and has also developed a relationship with some of its regulars. Regardless if its your first time in there or you millionth time in there. Lombardi goes out of its way for everyone and anyone who steps food in their door. From the moment you step inside, you feel like family. If you are planning a trip to New York in the next few months. Make sure you stop by Lombardi's for the best pizza you probably ever have tasted.