pizza weekend in nyc

I kind of wanted to title this "let's eat some pizza in Neeeew YOOOORRK!" in honor of the girl at the gelato place last night who was getting DOWN to the Alicia Keys song...which, for the record, isn't that good. Jay-Z helped her out with that one.


I am currently sitting in my brother's living room in Saddle Brook, NJ. I've pretty much eaten pizza exclusively since getting here yesterday afternoon. There was a scoop of gelato, a cup of coffee, and a cheese sandwich at Murray's (http://www.murrayscheese.com), but everything else has been pizza. Really. It's sickening. I love it.


I arrived at my brother's yesterday afternoon (much later than I'd hoped to arrive, due to being foiled by daylight savings time...grrr.). We headed straight into the city for some shopping in SoHo, and made plans to meet up with Anne for dinner. Before finding a neat segue into the pizza, let me talk for a minute about shopping in SoHo.

So...look, it's typical, it's not particularly hip, etc, but every single time I'm in New York, I end up in SoHo cos I love Uniqlo and Muji way too much. 19.50 for the best fitting jeans ever? Yes please. Seriously, between those 2 stores, I got new sneakers, jeans, 2 cardigans, socks, a notebook, my favorite candles, travel accessories, and more...for under 100 dollars. And all of it just fits so right. Sort of obsessed. Go Japan. Nick, fortunately, shares my passion for these two stores. I love that my brother is a man who shops.

Anyhow, after we Uniqlo'd and Muji'd it up, we walked down Bleeker Street singing the requisite Simon and Garfunkel song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5UY1t47TNY) to meet up with Anne and Steve at John's. Classic Village brick oven place. It's good. It's really good. In fact, it's not worth comparing it to other pizzas I've eaten up to this point this year (yes, there have been better pizzas in the past. But not yet in 2010). We were seated in a very cozy window booth, and it was one of those "historic" booths--everyone's name all scratched into it, etc. Anne, much like me, is a bit of a pizza purist--she prefers a good cheese pizza. I'd forgotten that Nick gave up meat for Lent, and so, much to my benefit, it turned into an all vegetarian pizza night. We got a large cheese and a large mushroom between the four of us, and none was wasted, that's for sure. We devoured those pizzas.

The crust was a dream: blistery with that nice charry taste, thin, chewy, crisp...mmm. The sauce was also well done--brightly flavored and very authentically tomato-y, not sugary or bitter, and perfectly distributed (I hate heavy handed sauce). The cheese was just a plain cheese, not fresh mozz slices, and it was also distributed in perfect balance. The mushrooms...were good. I don't know. I think that they maybe could have been more generous, but they were fresh mushrooms, so that's a plus. The cheese was, for me, the winner between the two, but both were very, very good. However, John's pizza reminded me of one of the greatest plights I face every time I eat truly good pizza. And in fact, this plight could indeed be the hallmark of a great slice for me. You see, when the pizza is just right and when the crust is really just that perfect balance of thin, crispy, chewy goodness, I get into the following trouble. You see, when it comes to food, I'm very impatient. I need a bite of that pizza as soon as it's set down, and I almost always burn the roof of my mouth on that first bite. And then, with the roof of my mouth all tender...it gets scraped by those sharp edges on that perfect, perfect end crusts...a truly good pizza, therefore, brings me both deep pleasure and a little pain. It's earned. I like that. Anyhow, after eating 5 slices (yes, 5), I was in serious need of some gelato to sooth my scraped up mouth. Really people, gelato is the only solution.

Before moving on to my next pizza, I need to pause to give Anne some credit here. You see, Anne really was the one who inspired me to make this pizza resolution and start this pizza blog, because Anne has told me in the past that, since moving to NYC for law school, she's been on a pizza quest, seeking out the best in New York. Every time I've stayed with her, we've gone out to try the most hyped up pizza joints, and visited some of the big classics. Together, in January of 2008, we went to Lombardi's (New York's original pizzeria), and found that, though it was good, it was perhaps not the best. She encouraged me to walk several extra blocks out of the way late one night when I needed a slicem in order to go to Famous Joe's on Carmine at Bleeker, even though I passed countless places en route from her dorm on Mercer (worth it. best slice, easily).Two summers ago, we trekked all the way out to Coney Island to go to Totonno's...which still stands as the best pizza I've ever had, made even better by the fact that we rode the Cyclone and walked around the boardwalk after the pizza. I really hope that Totonno's won't be changed too much by the fire that happened there last spring. That'd be heartbreaking. But anyhow. What I'm saying here is that Anne really deserves major props for being my inspiration in this blog, and the queen of the NYC pizza quest, and my sister in pizza eating adventures.


Anyhow. Today, in order to celebrate spring break, I did one of my favorite things...one of those things I rarely get the opportunity to do. I went into the city this morning and spent the entire day just walking around exploring by myself, window shopping and eating. Due to a slight train mishap, I didn't get to the city until 11am (note to self: when in Secacus, asking "Does this train go to Penn Station?" is a real gamble. The man was correct when he said "yes" but...he meant Newark Penn Station, not New York Penn Station...durrrr). But that was okay, because that meant I arrived at Famous Joe's at the perfect time--right after the opening rush was done, and they'd juuuust pulled out a fresh cheese pizza. 2.50 can buy you happiness. It really can. It's just such a perfect slice! Not too greasy (but...greasy enough to be just a liiitle sinful), floppy enough to fold, but still perfectly crisp. Great sauce, great balance. Just damn. good. pizza. Plus, I love that the parm, red pepper, salt, and pepper available all came from the CVS next door. Nice. Go there people. It's worth it. I could have eaten 2 slices, easily, but I decided to pace myself in order to allow me other treats throughout the day.

I walked all over the village, NoHo, SoHo, and into Chinatown today. I just walked and walked and walked. I turned down every interesting looking side street. I tried to go down streets I'd never been down. I went into little stores and galleries I'd never been into. I avoided all chains. I went into many eyeglasses shops--all of which were out of my price range--and tried on many awesome frames (I need new ones). I stopped in coffeeshops for cups to go. It was windy, grey, and rainy, but...man. Best day ever. I did a big loop, more or less, so that I could end my day at Murrays for the aforementioned cheese sandwich (with jalepeno coleslaw, chips, and a drink), before catching the train at West 4th Street station. Next trip to NYC, I'll aim to do a different chunk of the city. I need a day like this in Brooklyn too (I've been wanting to get to CB I Hate Perfume for FOREVER!).

Once home, Nick called and said he wanted to pick up a pizza for dinner cos it was easy. No complaints here. Yes, I can have pizza for the third time in 24 hours! Sounds fantastic! We got a margherita pie from Donnagios, which is this place up the street from his apartment. Um. Not a winner of a pie. I guess cos it was a margherita rather than a regular cheese pizza, they were trying to be fancy, but the sauce wasn't right. It tasted like spaghetti sauce--it was dark, sweet, and really thickly applied. Too much. The crust was decent, but the over all experience was low on my list for the weekend. Too bad. It really didn't stand a chance though, when you think of it...I'd just eaten some of the known contenders for best pizza in New York, and...well, this is just some joint up the street in Saddle Brook, New Jersey. I mean, Jersey! Poor New Jersey. It always loses.