Slice
Astoria's Thirty-One Gutted by Fire
Thirty-One, the popular pizzeria just steps from the steps of the Ditmars Boulevard elevated train station, was destroyed by fire early this morning, Slice's Queens correspondent reports. Damaged, too, are McDonald's, Twin Donut, and the optician next door.
Thirty-One, located at 22-48 31st Street, was well-regarded by many of the neighborhood's pizza lovers and had been recommended to Slice by several of them. It served small 4-by-4-inch slices (above) cut from long, oval pies that came from a Woodstone oven. Slice had actually visited Thirty-One several times in anticipation of a review but, like the lazy bastards we are, never got around to it.
"I'm just pissed that I won't get to have another slice from there any time soon," said Dan Dickinson, a resident of Astoria and the source of the photograph above. "It took me a year of going there to realize the good pizza was at the counter, not in the back restaurant portion. Their pepperoni was ridiculously good."
NY1 reports that the fire sent 18 firefighters and one civilian to the hospital and that the cause is still under investigation.
The Daily News recently mentioned Thirty-One in its pizza roundup:
Respectable pie at this unassuming spot near the terminus of the N line: zippy sauce, mild cheese and a nice thin crust. But the main attraction may be the double-crusted focaccia robiola with the creamy cheese filling and drizzle of truffle oil.
18 Firefighters, One Civilian Hospitalized In Astoria Fire [NY1]
The Upper Crust [Daily News]
More photos of Thirty-One by Dan Dickinson