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'New York Sun' on Artichoke Basille's

Posted by Adam Kuban, May 28, 2008 at 8:45 AM

Photograph courtesy of The Beef Aficionado

When it rains, it pours, huh? The New York Sun writes about Artichoke this morning, as well. I knew this story was coming out, since I was quoted in it, I just didn't think we'd get hit with two Artichoke Basille items today. The thrust of the Sun piece is that Artichoke is one of the few pizzerias holding down the fort when it comes to good slices in Manhattan and that people are nuts for it.

Mr. Connolly, a New Jersey native, said the best pizza is typically from the Garden State and Staten Island. "Pizza stinks in Manhattan for the most part. Most places use bad ingredients," he said. "But New Yorkers will wait on line for an hour for a slice of pizza. They won't do that anywhere else in the world."

And this bit of news should excite the boozehounds among us:

Starting in July, Artichoke will offer a 32-ounce Styrofoam cup of draft Budweiser for $5. Now, there is only a half-size refrigerator with bottles of root beer and seltzer water. "If you serve Bud at 33 degrees, if you keep it cold, you can turn it over fast," Mr. Garcia said. "I anticipate the beer being a big hit."

As if they need anything else to make that line longer.

After the jump, the ramblings of a madman. (That would be me.)

Here's what I ended up blathering about the joint:

Adam Kuban, the founder of Slice, a Web log that chronicles the city's pizza scene, is one of the food Web loggers who have helped put Artichoke on the map since it opened just after St. Patrick's Day.

"These guys came along, and they've immediately joined a small crew of people making serious slices," Mr. Kuban said. "Manhattan has kind of fallen down when it comes to slices. There are a few places holding down the fort. Other than that, some of the better slices are outside Manhattan."

He said some of Manhattan's best slices can be found at Joe's in the West Village, Sal's and Carmine's on the Upper West Side, Vinny Vincenz in the East Village, and Pizza Box on Bleecker Street.

And I sound like a complete asshole with this quote, positioned just after the one in which co-owner Francis Garcia talks about how proud he is of the signature slice:

Slice's Mr. Kuban said he loves Artichoke's plain pizza and its "light and airy" Sicilian square, but the artichoke pizza doesn't do it for him: "It reminded me of this artichoke spread that I used to eat at a local brewery in college."

Still, I'll stand by that. I'm not a huge fan of that slice, but the other two on offer rock.

Artichoke Basille's Pizza & Brewery

328 East 14th Street, New York NY 10003 (East Village; map)
212-228-2004

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Tags: Artichoke Basille's, Artichoke Pizzeria, East Village, Manhattan, New York Sun, NYC, Press, reviews