[Photos: Adam Kuban]

There have easily been a dozen times when I'm walking visiting friends or family around the Midtown sights—Rockefeller Center, the Plaza, Times Square—and they want a casual bite to eat. And I've never had the perfect answer... until I discovered Angelo's Coal Oven pizza.

One of only two coal-oven joints left in Midtown (according to Adam Kuban), Angelo's puts out thin-crusted pies with appealing crust bubbles, and well-proportioned sauce and cheese. The sauce is a little sweet, and the crust could have a little more bottom char. But it's got enough salt and good flavor, crisp edges and inside chew, and creamy melted mozz that pulls up in long threads as you lift up a slice. A plain pie ($15.00 small) is an awful lot of delicious eating. My out-of-town family went crazy over "how amazing the pizza is in New York" (they're still talking about it weeks later), and lunch at Angelo's was enough to remind me how exciting it is to have a home-grown pizza culture.

Bottom line? It's not the best example of New York-style pizza in the city—but it's a solid example of the form, the bare-bones eatery's got charm in spades, and when you're looking for a bite near Carnegie Hall, it's one of your very best bets.

Angelo's Pizza

117 West 57th Street, New York NY 10019 (near Sixth Ave.; map)
212-333-4333
angelospizzany.com