NYC Schools Chancellor Joel Klein's Favorite Pizzerias

Posted by Adam Kuban, August 18, 2009 at 2:00 PM

New York City schools chancellor Joel Klein is a pizza freak. Who knew? Yesterday, in the New York Post:

"Perfect pizza is as good as it gets. [But] it's got to be perfect," said Klein, who said he first developed his pizza passion while studying at Columbia University, when he drove a city cab all over town on weekends.

But this is troubling:

"If you have a Neapolitan pizza and you pick it up [by the crust] and the tip flops over, that means it's not done right," he said.
"You should be able to pick it up, and it should remain horizontal."

It's always been our understanding at Slice that Neapolitan-pizza-makers don't consider a soupy center a sign of failure and that a Neapolitan-pizza-eater can almost expect it. It's the New York slice that should exhibit as little tip sag as possible.

Oh, and new vocab term, Chancellor Klein: tip sag. Remember that. It'll be on the exam. Pizzerias that get a passing grade from Mr. Klein: Lucali, Luzzo's, Kesté Pizza & Vino, Anselmo's, and Roberta's.

2 Comments

Tags: Anselmo's Pizzeria, Joel Klein, Kesté Pizza and Vino, Lucali, Lucali's, Luzzo's, New York Post, Roberta's

2 Comments:

When I was growing up in NY Metro, "Neapolitan" was used just to differentiate from "Sicilian". A NY slice was Neapolitan, i.e., a thin slice. This was before the actual style of pizza from Naples was popularized by the, shall we say, New Wave pizzaiolis. Chancellor Klein looks to be a little older than I, so I think that he is speaking in the pre-Napoletana context. I think that there is little cause for concern. Hmmm, I'm gettin' hungry.

Summerfield at 11:08AM on 08/20/09

Summerfield: Thanks for the explainer. I'm a newbie to NYC. By the time the boat dumped me on these shores, Naples-style Neapolitan pies were already here and had seemed to supplanted in terminology what I've now taken to calling "New York–Neapolitan." I guess that's what you'd call a retronym.

Adam Kuban at 1:37PM on 08/20/09

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