Lunch: New York Pizza Suprema

Posted by Adam Kuban, December 12, 2007 at 2:00 PM

New York Pizza Suprema calls this an "upside down pizza," but it's essentially a Sicilian slice that goes crust, cheese, sauce instead of crust, sauce, cheese. We had it for lunch today at Slice–Serious Eats HQ.

I asked pizza authority Ed Levine here at the office: "Well, isn't it essentially a 'Sicilian' pie? I've heard that, traditionally, Sicilian pies were made this way."

"Well, they were," Ed said, "But it's become the orthodoxy that it's the other way around" (i.e., crust, sauce, cheese).

Whatever. The upside down pie at Suprema is just plain good. The thicker crust stands up nicely to a sauce that can at times be a bit too sweet on a thinner slice. And they do a good job of, you know, actually cooking the pie through. Ours was nicely well done.

And, who knew: Pizza Suprema makes its own fresh mozzarella in-house.

New York Pizza Suprema

Address: 413 Eighth Avenue, New York NY 10001 (at 31st Street; map)
Phone: 212-594-8939

11 Comments

Tags: Garment District, Manhattan, Midtown, New York Pizza Suprema, NYC

11 Comments:

Also known as a "Grandma Pie", no? There is a place in Lyndhurst, NJ called Mr. Bruno's. They are known for their "Square Pie" has it has come be known around those parts. They do the crust, cheese and sauce. It's very good.

davey at 8:06PM on 12/12/07

Detroit pizza is traditionally made this way.

liza0828 at 8:17PM on 12/12/07

this is a great pizzaria wonderful crust and fresh cheese

zac simon at 9:32PM on 12/12/07

Liza, where do you go for traditionally made Detroit pizza?

foodinmouth at 9:54AM on 12/13/07

It's hard to tell from the picture, but that slice looks pretty thick and I think grandma slices are usually very thin.

Charlie Fogg at 2:47PM on 12/13/07

@Charlie: You're correct. It was too thick to be considered a "grandma" slice.

Adam Kuban at 2:51PM on 12/13/07

Foodinmouth I'm not Liza but it would be Buddy's. A Detroit tradition.

Colorado Jim at 4:04PM on 12/13/07

L&B puts the sauce on top o' the cheese as well. I think Rosa's in Maspeth does as well but its been a while since I had a square there.

BrianPrestonCampbell at 9:58AM on 12/16/07

Point in fact, John's pizza (on Bleeker) makes their pizza crust/cheese sauce.
their reasoning being that the cheese sort of attaches itself to the crust as it bakes so you don't get the cheese sliding off of the slice with the first bite.
also, the sauce makes its way down through the cheese as the cheese melts, and most of it ends up under the cheese anyway.
grimaldi's does the same thing.

mcspacebar at 12:43AM on 12/17/07

There used to be a small chain in Florida, called Dino's, that made their Sicialian pie this way. it was actually quite good, though their regular pizza was not. it was soon taken over and renamed Brooklyn's, at least the main location we used to frequent. Brooklyn's, sorry to say, is a disgrace to their name.

bronxpizzaboy at 1:57PM on 12/17/07

I grew up in Miami eating Mike's Pizza at least twice a week, and he always made his sicilian slices this way, I think it's the best

fishermb at 8:14AM on 12/20/07

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