What follows is a mish-mash of some of our favorite posts, our top-choice pizzerias, books we like and think you should read, and other fun slice-and-pie miscellanea. Buon appetito!
89 US Highway 46, Elmwood Park NJ 07407 (map); 201-797-6172 Pizza style: New York–inspired thin crust Oven type: Gas oven The skinny: The nostalgia/kitsch factor may draw you in, but the great thin, crisp pizza will hook you. Oh, and the deep-fried calzones and zeppole, which are fantastic Notes: If you want a deep-fried calzone, order the small. The large is oven-baked Price: Plain slice, $1.55 (plus tax); small calzone, $5.24; zeppole, $4.58 a dozen (half orders available)
Geographically speaking, Pizza-Town USA is located in the State of New Jersey, in Elmwood Park, on the side of US Highway 46, between the Garden State Parkway and the Passaic River. Psychically speaking, it is located in the State of Nostalgia.
Raymond Tomo opened Pizza-Town, "America's Favorite Town," in 1958. I can't imagine it's changed much since then. More a roadside snack stand than typical slice joint, it's done up in glossy red, white, and blue paint. Depictions of Uncle Sam abound. The staff works behind a stainless steel–and-glass partition reminiscent of an Eisenhower Era diner or drive-up.
These days, Tomo's children, Lisa, Michele, and Bruce run the show, remaining true to the style of pizza their father made — very thin, crisp crusted pies with a robust homemade sauce and just enough high-quality, part-skim regular mozzarella.
The pizza is delicious. There's no gummy, undercooked dough here. At the same time, it's not crunchy, tough, or overcooked. There's a nice amount of color on the crust and a bit of charring on the underside, along with little bits of crunchy semolina flour left over from the pizza-peel trip into one of the eight hot gas ovens that line the wall behind the staff.
Posted by Adam Lindsley, January 20, 2011 at 4:00 PM
[Photographs: Adam Lindsley]
Phoenecia
2716 Alki Avenue SW, Seattle, WA 98116 (map); 206-935-6550; phoeniciawestseattle.com Oven type: Electric The skinny: A delicious crust and some tasty toppings set this place up for greatness, but the red sauce needs work Price: 10-inch pizzas $12 and up
Until last week, I had yet to find a pizzeria slinging pies with end crusts as disproportionately large as those found at Mozza in Los Angeles. So when I heard that a joint in West Seattle was serving pizza with a cornicione that could give Mozza's a run for its money, I double-timed it to Phoenecia to find out if it tasted as good as it looked. As it turns out, it did.
Phoenecia's crust is enormous, comprising four of the ten inches of pizza real estate. I have to thank nostalgia for the impact Phoenecia's gargantuan crust made on me: it tastes exactly like the fried bread my grandmother used to make. A crisp outer shell gives way to a soft, bready interior that's full of flavor (thanks to a two-day ferment). It's as irresistible as a hot buttered roll. Puffed and charred for two minutes in an electric oven cranked to 850°F, the crust at Phoenecia may not taste quite as sublime as Nancy Silverton's, but it's excellent in its own right.
27 Church Street, Cambridge MA (map); 617-576-1111; cambridge1.us
1381 Boylston St., Boston, MA (map); 617-437-1111 Pizza style: Grilled Oven type: Charcoal grill Notes: Full bar Price: Full pizzas, $13 to $30; half pizzas, $7 to $16
Cambridge, 1 is located in the heart of Harvard Square, in what used to be the the city's original firehouse, with a newer, much larger second location near Boston's Fenway park. Appropriately enough for a former fire station, this hip, minimalist bar, as popular with the locals as it is with Harvard glitterati, serves pizzas grilled over a charcoal fire. With its bustling, noisy atmosphere, capacious booths, and pizzas served on family-style oval plates, it's the kind of restaurant you can go to with a large crowd. Last week I headed over there to put Cambridge, 1's pizzas through their paces.
400 High Street, Orange NJ 07050 (map); 973-675-3336; startavern.net Pizza type: Bar-style Oven type: Gas deck ovens with brick floors The skinny: Some of the best damn bar-style pizza you will eat. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Worth the detour or trip (about 25 minutes from NYC in good traffic). But try a plain pie first Price: Plain pie, $9.50; topped/specialty pizzas, $11.50 to $14.50
And so it was with Star Tavern. I'd never been but had heard and read great things about the bar-style pizza there. When that's the case, you often go in knowing you have overblown expectations — and you brace for the possibility you're going to have to bring out The Truth Hammer.
I'll cut through any suspense: Star Tavern makes an amazingly great thin-crust pizza. I'm craving the stuff as I type this, and not just because I haven't had breakfast yet. If you don't already live in Orange, or in Essex County (because if you do, you already know this), Star is worth a detour — and even a trip.
Posted by Hawk Krall, January 11, 2011 at 10:45 AM
[Photographs: Hawk Krall]
Uncle Oogies
2119 W. Oregon Avenue, Philadelphia PA 19145; (map); 215-335-PIZZa; Pizza style: Philly Oven type: Gas The skinny: Come for the cheesesteak pizza, stay for the Old Italian Notes: Slices available, also great sandwiches and "belly buster fries" Price: Old Italian, $12.99; tomato pie, $7.99; cheesesteak pizza, $12.99
Tucked way down at the Southwestern edge of Philadelphia (in a strip mall across the street from some sort of semi-abandoned military complex) lives one of the city's best kept pizza secrets. Since I moved to South Philly a few months ago, I've been exploring the exotic world of only-in-Philly pizza variations and Uncle Oogie's seems to make them all, and then some.
Most South Philly neighborhood pizza joints are little more than a takeout counter and maybe a table or two, but down here where the city starts to morph into suburbs there's a lot more space for a full dining room packed with cops and workers at lunchtime. The back is teeming with cooks cranking pizzas out of a huge multi-tiered oven that looks like the engine of the Starship Enterprise.
509 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94110 (map); 415-255-1303 2119 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94704; (map); 510-841-4035 Pizza style: New York-style Oven type: Gas The skinny: A solid no-frills slice shop Notes: Half-baked pies and dough available for purchase. No delivery. Price: Regular slice, $2.75; Sicilian slice, $3
These days, San Francisco is awash in delicious artisanal pizzas topped with all manner of creative, locally-sourced ingredients. But, you know, sometimes a fella just wants a slice. That's where Arinell Pizza comes in. There's nothing fancy about what Ron Demirdjian and his crew of heavy-metal-pizzaioli serve at Arinell. It might not be the Platonic ideal of the New York City slice, but it tastes pretty darn good.
The dough is made with Mondako flour and given a slow rise in the fridge of at least a day to develop some flavor. Pies are cooked in a gas oven until they're browned at the edge, lightly charred on the bottom, thin and crispy throughout. So thin and crispy, in fact, that slices sometimes come perilously close to drying out, especially after a reheat. Whole pies are more rounded squares than circles. When you divide up these pies, you get wedges that are extra generous, but they often have one side that's slightly longer than the other, which can make for an awkward fold.
Scott Gairdner's video for "vertical pizza" also features "horizontal Pepsi," "sauce-lover's crust," and "cheese-lover's napkins." LOL. [via Scott Wiener]
1415 21st St. Sacramento, CA 95811 (map);
916-447-1400; zeldasgourmetpizza.com Pizza style: deep dish The skinny: Gloriously rich deep dish pizza served by sassy waitresses Notes: Call about 30 minutes ahead to order.
Zelda's, a Sacramento institution since 1978, has probably been inspiring arguments for about that long. Sacramentans can agree that the Kings are terrible and that Schwarzenegger in person is short and orange, but bring up Zelda's, and you're in for an argument. There are those misguided folks who say that the crust is too rich (I've heard the epithet "Bisquick" tossed around), that the wait is too long, that the place is a dive, that the servers are rude. I say those people are fools and that their souls are as dark as the pizzeria's Christmas-light-lit interior.
A bite of Zelda's deep dish crust (they serve no other kind) is a joyful journey from the pillowy top down to the browned bottom layer. The rim around the pizza's edge is crisp, more like a savory cookie than a flaky pie crust.
A visit to Zelda's is incomplete without a spinnocoli, the delicious sauceless specialty of the house. The lightly buttery crust is topped with a layer of mozzarella, then a layer of spinach and broccoli bits, and then a layer of browned and bubbled feta and cheddar cheese. The tang of cheese pairs nicely with the cruciferous bite of the occasional broccoli stem. It's a seriously rich pizza; I can't eat more than one slice.
I think this is going to be an annual thing now (see 8PTHMD 2009). I ate a lot of pizza in 2010, but these eight pies from around the country* continue to haunt my dreams. Like last year, I'm not declaring these "the best," per se, just eight pizzas I keep thinking about and wanting more of. Are they in any kind of order? Not this year, so don't read anything into it! Just peep the slideshow and salivate!
* Unfortunately, "around the country" in this case was not as "around" as I would have liked. I apologize in advance that four of the eight are NYC-based. Feel free to flame that fact in the comments.
Posted by David Kover, December 17, 2010 at 5:00 PM
[Photographs: David Kover]
Zero Zero
826 Folsom Street, San Francisco, CA 94107 (map); 415-348-8800; zerozerosf.com Getting there: Buses 8X, 14, and 45 will all get you close Pizza style: Neapolitan-inspired California-style Oven type: Wood-fired The skinny: The chef behind Larkspur's Pizzeria Picco delivers more excellent pizza Notes: No reservation? Prepare for crowds. Brunch is served on Saturday and Sunday. Price: pies $9.75 to $16.95
San Francisco's local pizzaioli all seem busy expanding their operations around town. We've talked about Tony Gemignani and Sharon Ardiana. Now you can add Bruce Hill to the club. It's a storyline that might start to get old if the pizzas weren't so darn good.
Bruce Hill (of Pizzeria Picco in Larkspur, reviewed here) features Neapolitan-style pies at his latest joint, Zero Zero. The pizzas are cooked in a Valoriani oven stoked with almond wood, and I'm sure I don't need to tell you what type of flour Hill is using to make his dough (hint: it's the restaurant's name).
Posted by David Kover, December 9, 2010 at 10:45 AM
[Photographs: David Kover]
Ragazza
311 Divisadero Street, San Francisco, CA 94117 (map); 415-255.1133; ragazzasf.com Pizza Style: Neapolitan-inspired California-style Getting there: Bus #24 Oven Type: Gas The skinny: Good crust and stellar toppings. It's only the Margherita that doesn't deliver. Price: Margherita, $12.50; topped pies, $14 to $18; add-ons include an egg, Calabrian chilies, pepperoni, etc., $1 to $3
The critics descended quickly on the new Lower Haight pizzeria Ragazza, which isn't that surprising given that the chef-owner, Sharon Ardiana, is also the one behind local favorite Gialina (Slice review). The decor at Ragazza is similar to that of Ardiana's first restaurant, with old-timey black-and-white photos of her family lining the walls. The pizza aesthetic is similar too: the offerings are decidedly topping-centric.
The crust at Ragazza deviates somewhat from what's served at Gialina. The cornicione at Gialina tends to cross over from crisp to crunchy. At Ragazza, it was softer, puffing quite high in most places. The outer skin was crispy, but thicker than on many of the Neapolitan-style pies I've eaten.
Posted by David Kover, December 2, 2010 at 10:00 AM
Tony's Coal-Fired Pizza and Slice House
1556 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94133 (map); 415-835-9888 Pizza Style: Quite a few. Oven Type: Tony's has six, but a gas-fired and a coal-fired are the new additions. The skinny: Really excellent coal-fired pies. The NY-style slices are good too, though slightly inconsistent. Price: NY-style slice, $3.50; Sicilian slice, $3; Original Tomato Pie with Cheese, $19; Romana, $8 for a quarter-meter
Tony Gemignani is nothing if not a completist. His original San Francisco shop, Tony's Pizza Napoletana, already boasted four different types of pizza ovens and a dizzying array of pizza styles. With the opening of Tony's Coal-Fired Pizza and Slice House—right next door, connected through the kitchen—he has added two more ovens to his collection and several more variations on the bread-cheese-sauce theme to his repertoire. Given the excellent pizza I'd eaten at Tony's Pizza Napoletana in the past (check out L.A. Pizza Maven's and Adam Kuban's glowing reviews), I was excited to see what Tony was doing with his new toys.
Entering Tony's Coal-Fired, you're greeted by a display case featuring a cornucopia of pizza styles. There are New York-style slices, Sicilian squares, and an ovoid Roman-style pie that measures about three-feet long. And a freakishly giant calzone. And this is all before you even look at the menu, which lets you know that you can also order the namesake coal-fired pies, Chicago-style Italian beef sandwiches, and a whole array of other Italian sandwiches. There is only one table inside the shop and two tables outside, so I sent my wife out to claim one as I prepared to order too much pizza.
Little did I know, more than 10 years ago, that the late-night slices I was eating from Pizza Wagon in Bay Ridge were better than average. Far better than average, in fact. With their not too greasy slick of surface oil; their thinner-than-average, crisp-pliant crust; and their bright-orange well-balanced mix of cheese and sauce, these slices flew out of the oven and into my mouth, day after day and, perhaps more accurately, night after night.
If you're a pizza-obsessed New Yorker but not a Staten Islander, you may have made the journey out to Shaolin to visit some of the island's iconic pizzerias: Denino's, Nunzio's, Lee's Tavern, or Joe & Pat's. If that's you, you know that getting over there is half the fun — the ferry ride and its cheap beers and amazing views, the unique charm of Staten Island. But, as a Queenser, I'm just gonna say it: Sometimes it's just not worth the trek. Which is why it's a pretty big deal that the folks behind Joe & Pat's have essentially brought their pizza to Manhattan by way of Rubirosa Pizza & Bar.
Rubirosa, on Mulberry Street in Nolita, is helmed by Angelo "A. J." Pappalardo, son of Joe & Pat's Joe Pappalardo, and you'll find the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Anyone familiar with Joe & Pat's will instantly recognize the pizza at Rubirosa. It is a carbon copy of its Castleton Corners forbear, where A. J. began working at age 12. A patchwork of good-quality fresh mozzarella covers a bright-red swath of slightly sweet crushed tomatoes — all atop an ultrathin crust that is crunchy at the edges but gives way to a crisp and pliant middle.
Editor's Note: Hey Slice'rs! Please welcome Andrew Janjigian, who will be chiming in from the Boston area with pizza reviews. Andrew is a writer and test cook for Cook's Illustrated, and he writes about his interests in bread baking, oven building, and mushroom cultivation on his blog, The Fermenter.
[Photos: Andrew Janjigian]
The Riverview
20 Estes Street, Ipswich, MA 01938 (map); 978-356-0500 Pizza style: bar pizza, sort of. Oven type: gas Notes: Cash only; Full bar. For a twist, ask for the pizza the "old way", with the sauce on top of the cheese. Price: Full pies only (12"); cheese pizza, $5.30, "everything" pizza, $10.00
In 2007, The Riverview, a pizzeria in Ipswich, MA made Saveur's top 100 list, closely followed by a positive review in the Boston Globe. Ever since then, it's been high on my pizza to-do list.
But Ipswich is a 45-minute drive from my home in Cambridge, and frankly, if my wife and I find ourselves up on the North Shore, after spending the day at Wingaersheek or Crane Beach, we invariably end up eating fried clams at JT Farnham's in nearby Essex. But two weeks ago, with beach and fried-clam-eating season over for the year (alas), we finally made a special trip up to Ipswich to give the Riverview's famed pizzas a try.
The Riverview is an unassuming place, on the ground floor of a vinyl-sided apartment building just outside of town, tucked away on a quiet side street. We arrived right as doors were opening for business on a Saturday evening, and while the place was mostly empty when we walked in, it soon began filling with customers at a rapid clip. By the time we left an hour later, there was already a short line for tables.
We placed our order, and while our pizzas (one plain, one sausage) were being prepared, we peppered our friendly waitress with questions about the history of the place. It first opened its doors in 1947, serving pizza (and, aside from beer, wine, and cocktails, only pizza) to generations of local devotees ever since. The dance floor that once occupied the back area facing the Ipswich River is long gone, but from the mahogany-sided walls, red vinyl booths, and flickery neon beer signs, it seems little else has changed. And that includes the prices: in Debbie's 22 years of serving pies and beer at The Riverview, the price of the pizza (one size only) has only increased twice, from $4.00 to $5.30 for the basic tomato-and-cheese pie. (The most expensive pie on the menu, the "Everything", is a mere ten bucks.)
1511 Haight St, San Francisco CA 94117 (At the corner of Haight and Ashbury; map) 415-552-6949; sfclubdeluxe.com Pizza style: Somewhere between Neapolitan and bar pizza Oven type: Gas The skinny: Fantastic artisanal pizza at a dimly lit, cool-yet-unpretentious jazz club at the galactic center of hippiedom Notes: Open Tuesday through Sunday, family operated and run. Price: Pizzas $15 to 18, tax included. Order drinks at the bar
I know of no other place like Giovanni's Pizza at Club Deluxe. This well-kept secret is the bar-food half of a jazz club called Club Deluxe, about 100 feet from the famed corner of Haight and Ashbury in San Francisco. And despite the unlikely setting, Giovanni's offers some of the best pizza in town.
Like other past and present residents of the area, Giovanni Iaccarino was not afraid of trying new things. A native San Franciscan of Italian heritage, Giovanni studied pizzamaking in Italy, got married at San Margherita Castle, and came home to ply his craft. He chose to work within Club Deluxe, a non-descript jazz bar that sounds like a strip club in an area that is better known for hippies than pizzaiolos.
When I walked into Club Deluxe for the first time, I had to check around to make sure I was in the right place. There were only a handful of tables in the dimly lit space, none of which were big enough to handle our group of six. The woman who waited on us, Giovanni's mom, struck that delicate balance of being pushy and charming at the same time. She told us that they only had enough dough for six more pizzas, so we should order fast.
51 Bank Street, Stamford CT 06901; tapporestaurant.com Pizza style:Neapolitan Notes: Start with the Margherita and work your way through the menu. Price: Pies, $12 to $16
It's impossible to discuss pizza in Stamford, Connecticut, without at least giving a nod to Colony Pizza (reviewed on Slice here), the home of an inimitable thin-crust pie that has been in a league of its own for 75 years. Stamford newcomer Tappo Restaurant is no Colony, and thank goodness for that.
A modern yet cozy Italian trattoria, Tappo's approach is regional Italian cuisine, with about a third of the menu given up to Neapolitan pizza worship. If the menu at Tappo was suddenly culled to that one page, a beacon of 14 pizza offerings, we wouldn't mind too much. It's not that the rest of the menu doesn't deserve its own nod—in fact, it does. But the pies at Tappo are good enough to make us believe this corner of Connecticut is serious about staking a claim to excellent Neapolitan-style pizza.
Posted by Kevin Hayes, November 11, 2010 at 12:00 PM
[Photographs: Kevin Hayes]
Lincoln Lounge
209 Stevens Avenue, Mount Vernon NY 10550 (map); 914-664-9747 Pizza style: Great versions of bar pizza and grandma-style pizza The skinny: Fantastic crispy bar pizza and delicious, if soupy, square pies.
One of my favorite things about old pizzerias in and around New York City is that they're often relics of Italian neighborhoods that no longer exist. I love finding an old-school pizza place tucked in among cuchifrito joints and college bars; you can see a little bit of the history of the neighborhood peeking through.
Mt. Vernon's Lincoln Lounge is one of those places. Opened in 1950, the Lincoln Lounge is still owned and operated by the same family—my 20-year-old waiter was the great-grandson of the restaurant's founder.
Though it sits on a pretty desolate corner in a not-particularly-inviting neighborhood, the Lounge feels like a place that generation after generation has enjoyed. There are Christmas lights hanging from the ceiling and pictures and reviews crowding the walls. The tablecloths are vinyl and the wood paneling is abundant.
The pizza comes in two varieties, square and round. We ordered one of each: a round plain pie and a square pie (pictured above) with a mix of hot and sweet sausage.
I used to think that flour was the most important ingredient in bread. I've since changed my mind. While flour (wheat or otherwise) provides the bulk, without yeast there would be no lift. Okay, you can make quick breads with baking powder, but when people think of bread, they're usually thinking of yeast bread.
When I'm bored, sometimes I think about what foodstuffs I'd bring along to an alien planet. Of course I'd want to bring along plenty of flour to make cakes, cookies, muffins, and breads. I'd have my chemical leavenings in my suitcase, too, but what about yeast? It's a living thing. Would they let me bring that to my new homeworld, or would the alien version of customs police stop me at the border? And if I couldn't bring my own, would there be an alien equivalent that would allow me to culture a sourdough starter? Because without the help of yeast, my breads would be pretty dense.
Yeast is such a common thing here on Planet Earth that we don't give much thought to how amazing it is, and what a boon it is to bakers, brewers, and winemakers. And yeast is such a fun guy. Or, more accurately, a fungi. It converts the fermentable sugars in the dough into carbon dioxide and ethanol, and those bubbles, trapped in the matrix of gluten, are what causes bread to rise. When the dough is baked, the yeast dies but the pockets of air remain, giving the bread its unique texture.
33 Havemeyer Street, Brooklyn NY 11211 (North 7th/North 8th streets; map); 718-599-2210; best.piz.za.com Getting there: Closest train station is Bedford Avenue L train Pizza style: Somewhere between New York–style and Neapolitan-American Oven type: Wood-fired oven cooks the pizza, with reheats done in a small gas-fired oven The skinny: Backed by the folks behind Brooklyn Star and Roberta's, Best Pizza makes use of an old bakery oven to make some really great wood-fired pizzas that defy easy categorization Notes: Best Pizza has recently started delivering its pizzas; I know where I'm calling next time I'm at my Tuesday night bowling league Price: Regular slice, $3; white slice, $3.50; grandma slice, $4
When you're ballsy enough to call your pizzeria Best Pizza, you've really gotta walk the walk.
Fortunately for this month-old wood-oven pizzeria in Williamsburg, the moniker is a study in truth in advertising. Ladies and gents, I am excited about this place. It's putting out some great, no-nonsense wood-fired pies that defy easy categorization,* with a style of pizza that gives nods to old-school New York–slice joints and coal-oven Neapolitan-American places like Totonno's or Patsy's East Harlem.
The backstory: Best Pizza opened in the space that used to house the well-received Brooklyn Star, which was helmed by Momofuku alumnus Joaquin "Quino" Baca. Brooklyn Star closed for a spell after a fire damaged the place — sparked by the very oven that now cooks some great New York–style pies.
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[Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]
New York pizza is my favorite style of pizza. Sure, I love me a neo-Neapolitan, sit-down-with-a-fork-and-knife on occasion, and grilled pizzas are fantastic in the summer. Even chewy, Roman-style pizza bianca has its place. But the pizza I find myself most often craving is of the simple, by-the-slice, medium-thin, crusty and lightly chewy style.
Luckily for us, it's also the variety that seems most easily adaptable to the home kitchen. Unlike, say Neapolitan pies which require wood-burning, 1000°F ovens (or at the very least a reasonable workaround), the modern* New York pie is baked in gas ovens that don't often go north of 500 to 550°F or so—a temperature range not out of the pale of even the most bog-standard home oven fitted with a pizza stone.
Pizza-heads may need no reminder, but Anthony Mangieri, the man many consider the nation's finest Neapolitan pizza-maker, opened his long-awaited San Francisco spot Una Pizza Napoletana several weeks ago. Mangieri had shut down his wildly popular New York pizzeria of the same name in 2009, promising a move out West by early 2010; by the time he finally rolled up the metal gates in September, the pizza-mad citizens of San Francisco had lined up by the dozens, clamoring to get in. Eater wrote that some die-hard Mangieri fans had even flown out from New Jersey for the opening.
1006 Route 46 West, Clifton NJ; 973-473-3339 Pizza Style:New York/Sicilian Oven Type: Gas The Skinny: The round slice is decent but not extraordinary. The Sicilian, on the other hand, is exquisite Price: Round slice, $1.85; Sicilian slice, $1.95
In his allegorical tale that anticipated the Second World War, André Maurois' Fattypuffs and Thinifers tells of an underground land where two races of people live in a state of constant conflict. The Fattypuffs, plump, joyful and leisurely, predictably succumb in battle to the Thinifers, who are austere, hard-working, and complete killjoys. The unexpected result of the victory is the formation of the United States of the Underground, in which all distinctions of weight are abolished and the differences between the Fatties and the Thinnies begin to disappear. I found some Fattypuffs and Thinifers myself in Clifton, New Jersey but I hope that they never reach a similar detente; I want my fatties fat and my thinnies thin. Last week I told you about one of the thinnest slices I had ever eaten when I tried the Emma-style pie at Mario's. I found an equally compelling slice, although one that could not be more different at Bruno's.
Located in a strip mall off Route 46 in Clifton, Bruno's has been around for decades, and the worn oven tells the tale—you can barely read the Bari logo on the door. It has all the hallmarks of a neighborhood pizzeria: The wall is decorated with pictures of little league teams sponsored by the restaurant, and the menu is an unadulterated affair—no chicken wings or wraps to be found anywhere. Just two kinds of pizza: round and Sicilian.
710 Van Houten Avenue, Clifton NJ 07013; map); 973-777-1559 Pizza Style: "Emma"-style Oven Type: Gas The Skinny: Skinny is right! The wafer-thin crust has remained unchanged since 1945 Price: Small pie $9, large $11
Emma Barilari liked her pizza thin. That's understating things a bit. She liked her pizza so thin that dollar bills laid flat next to a slice threatened to tower over it. So thin that light passed through it.
But, at the same time, she didn't like it to be as crisp and arid as a cracker; she wanted some pliancy and textural contrast there. This is something that takes some skill and a particular set of circumstances to achieve, something that might even require a "secret family recipe." That might have been a problem, except that she and her husband happened to own a restaurant called Mario's.
260 Belleville Turnpike, North Arlington NJ 07031 (map); 201-998-9095; pizzalandpizza.com Pizza Style: "Old-fashioned" Oven Type: Gas The Skinny?A unique style of pizza that has remained seemingly unchanged for decades. Price: slice, $1; pies, $10; double dough, $12
"What style of pizza is this?" I asked Al Pawlowicz, owner and pizza maker at Pizzaland, the New Jersey pizzeria immortalized in the opening credits of HBO series The Sopranos. He looked up from behind the counter, straightening his wiry frame and peering through flour-dusted glasses, and answered quickly and succinctly "old-fashioned."
Pawlowicz has been making pizza at Pizzaland for a decade, starting off as an employee and eventually buying the place about five years ago from the original owner's son. Pizzaland dates back to 1965, when legend has it that Italian immigrant Frank DiPiazza won the squat brick building in a card game and promptly opened a pizzeria. The unique style of pie that he developed endures, the recipes handed down from father to son (Frank died in 1991) and on to Pawlowicz. The building and the decor hasn't changed much either.
So when I visited Donatella Arpaia's under-construction pizzeria yesterday (which I posted about this morning), she and our translator, Maurizio De Rosa, kept asking, "When is Ed Levine going to show up?" (And what am I, chopped liver?) So I got on the horn and got Ed to pedal down to the future home of Donatella's for a visit. (Yes, Ed rode his bike down, if you're wondering why he's wearing a bike helmet in throughout this discussion.)
The Naples natives in the room were adamant that an oven built on-location with all materials shipped over from Naples (save water, I imagine) would be superior to prefab units. ("By just a bit," De Rosa said.)
Skeptical, Ed kept pressing them on this issue, and of course, the conversation turned to the differences between strict-constructionist Neapolitan pizza as made in Naples and American-influenced developmentalist Neapolitan pizza.
Anyway, the folks in this room get very passionate and animated when talking about pizza. Who would have ever thought that would happen? I love the part where Enzo Coccia pulls out a historical photo of a pizza-maker from his wallet(!) and the part where Maurizio tells Ed:
"You are not the first reviewer! In 1750, a Neapolitan guy took the trouble to write a book of pizzeria reviews in Naples. With the names and the address! He was the original Ed Levine."
998 Ardmore Blvd., Forest Hills, PA 15221 (map); 412-271-9171; thevincentspizzapark.com Pizza Style: Rustic American Oven Type: Gas Price: Medium (8 cut) pies start at $10.75
When I put out the call on Serious Eats Talk a few weeks ago for tips on where to eat pizza in Pittsburgh, Steel City residents and a few others produced a list that anyone living in—or planning on going to—Pittsburgh should bookmark for future reference. I'd initially hoped to hit two or three different places, but as things worked out, I only had time for one. Five people suggested Vincent's Pizza Park, and their advice turned out to be outstanding.
Long before contemporary pizza rock stars like Nancy Silverton at Pizzeria Mozza (reviewed here and here) and Nick Lessins at Great Lake (reviewed here and here) made their pizza names on the backs of hearty, almost rustic crusts that would be immensely satisfying with no toppings, cheese, or sauce whatsoever, I suspect there were plenty of people who similarly eschewed anything resembling dainty traditional Neapolitan ones for something much more rugged. One such pizzaman was Vincent Chianese, who put out "Vinnie Pies" for 55 years before selling his interest in the place a few years ago. While his pies live on, the man behind them passed away in March.
Ladies and gents, you are looking at the best regular slice around the Astoria-Ditmars N/W stop. Which shouldn't come as a surprise, since A) it's in the back of Rosario's Italian market, where proprietor Rosario DiMarco has ready access to high-quality ingredients and B) a number of Slice'rs recommended it in this post.
405 East Boston Post Road, Mamaroneck NY 10543 (map); 914-698-3564; mdiner.com Pizza Style:New England Greek Oven Type: Gas Price: Plain cheese: small $7.10 large $12.10, Mamaroneck Special: small $12.10 large $17.10. Notes: Open 24/7
One of the more esoteric pizza styles is the New England "Greek" style of pie, so called not because it contains feta cheese on a pita but because it gained currency by being served out of Greek diners. The pie is largely confined to New England, although I was lucky to find a fine example of the breed just north of New York City in Mamaroneck, New York.
Mamaroneck is renowned in the world of pizza because of Sal's Pizza which serves one of the finest Sicilian slices around. But it should also become a destination to anyone interested in sampling a unique and delicious regional variation of pizza. For homesick New Englanders it's one of southernmost points where the pizza is served. I don't know of any other diners serving the pizza style in Westchester County, although I do remember that the now-closed Cosmo Diner in Rye, New York, used to serve it. (Additionally, Slice'r "samm" reports that you can find it in NYC proper at Astoria's Gyro Uno.)
Posted by Nick Solares, April 23, 2010 at 10:15 AM
Sacco Pizza
819 Ninth Avenue, New York NY 10019; map); 212-582-7765 Pizza Style:New York–style Oven Type: Gas The Skinny: A classic slice of New York City Price: Plain slices, $2.50, toppings add 75¢; plain pies, $14, toppings $2 each
I enjoyed two classics Wednesday night. First I headed up to Terminal 5 and watched British ska revival band The Specials blaze through a set so awesome and moving that I had to choke back tears. I have been listening to and watching the band since 1979, when I, along with with anyone else with sense, was caught up in the ska revival that swept the England that I grew up in that hot summer. The memories of my youth flooded back as the band blistered through a torrent of hits—"Too Much Too Young," "Do the Dog," A Message to You Rudy," "Stereotype"—and left me emotionally drained and physically tired. After the gig, needing food, I hopped in a cab and headed downtown—destination unknown. I was thinking Motorino or perhaps Pulino's. Clearly pizza was on my mind.
But as my cab sped down Ninth Avenue, I spotted Sacco Pizza, a place that looked as classic as The Specials sounded. In fact the current owners brought the place in 1975, a couple years before The Specials got their start as the Coventry Automatics, but Sacco might be as old as 50 years.
282 Bowery, New York NY 10012 (at Houston; map); 212-226-1966; pulinosny.com/ Pizza Style: "Bowery style" Oven Type: Wood Stone gas-assisted wood The Skinny: It could never have lived up to all the hype that preceded its opening but Nate Appleman has succeeded in developing an exulted form the of bar pizza, bolstered by a superb in-house butchery and partner Keith McNally's front-of-house professionalism Price: $8 to $19 Notes: Reservations recommended
When I heard that Pulino's Bar and Pizzeria would be serving "Bowery style" pizza it brought back memories of an argument I witnessed outside of the now-defunct CBGB's that ended in an assault. The weapon, both comical and terrifying, was a steaming slice of pizza that was mushed into the face of an unfortunate victim to napalmesque effect. It is probably not the evocation that owners of Pulino's are looking for, unless the headlines of the New York Post are to be believed.
The hype surrounding the opening of Pulino's, the collaboration between prolific New York City restaurateur Keith McNally (Balthazar, Minetta Tavern, and others) and James Beard Award–winning chef Nate Appleman, late of San Francisco's A16, raised expectations to a fever pitch in pizza-obsessed New York City. A16 is VPN-certified, and the early assumption was that Pulino's pies on the Bowery would be Neapolitan in style, with a puffy crust and soft, liquid centers.
179 Union Avenue, West Haven CT 06516; 203-934-1949 Pizza style: New Haven-style pizza Oven type: Gas-fired Price: $27 for a medium fresh clam pie
I love fresh clam pizzas. Actually, I should say that I love the idea of a pizza made with freshly shucked clams, freshly grated Romano cheese, fresh garlic, maybe fresh Italian parsley, and a splash of olive oil. The reason almost every clam pie I've had in the last 15 years has fallen short of my considerable expectations is that all fresh clams are not created equal.
The clam pies I've had recently (say, the last five years) at various Frank Pepe's locations in Connecticut and Yonkers, New York, and at Lombardi's in New York City have been dominated by rubbery chunks of fresh clams that taste as if they had come out of one of those white plastic buckets of preshucked clams. These clams, serious eaters, are not a recipe for clam pizza nirvana.
But yesterday, out of nowhere, while driving back from Boston, I encountered the grand slam of clam pizzas, the best clam pie I've ever had, in a New Haven–area pizzeria that has never been mentioned in the same breadth as Pepe's on Wooster Street, where as far as anyone can discern, the clam pie made with freshly shucked clams was invented way back when by Frank Pepe himself. Where?
Name: Pizzahacker, aka Jeff Krupman Location: San Francisco's Mission District now, born in Columbus, Ohio (Bexley) Occupation: I sell pizza (illegally) in the streets/parks and work on the oven in between. Also working on web apps—latest is txtli.com (recently launched from thestartupbus.com) Website: thepizzahacker.com Twitter: Find out where he'll be cooking next by following @PizzaHacker
When did you start pizza hacking? Did you start in your backyard and eventually move to the streets with your product?
I've been making pizza at home since I moved to SF in '94 and couldn't find any decent pie. I came up w/the "FrankenWeber" (renaming PizzaForge to avoid trademark hassles) early last year and joined the burgeoning SF street food movement soon after.
How long have you been obsessed with pizza?
I think I always loved pizza even more than other kids—my answer for "what to do?" in high school was invariably, "let's get some pizza and watch a movie." The real bolt of lightning was probably eating at Antica Pizzeria da Michele in Naples in 2001.
I've been trying to figure out which came first (the FrankenWeber or the Egg—haha) to me (I know the LBE has been around for a long time). I remember I didn't think the LBE was a very elegant solution when I saw it.
You're talking about releasing a commercial product. Would this be a kit that buyers could use to modify their existing Webers or would it be completely finished by you?
"VPN accreditation aside, the regular New York slice is more authentic, truer to type and just plain tastier than the Neapolitan pies."
Naples 45
200 Park Avenue, New York NY 10166; map); 212-972-7001; website Pizza Style:Neapolitan, VPN-certified Oven Type: Wood-fired The Skinny: This VPN-certified pizzeria fails to live up to the promise of the ingredients and oven, but there is an unexpected pleasure in the take-out section. Avoid the sit-down side of the restaurant and opt instead for the to-go slices Price:Dine-in, Individual 10-inch pie, $16.95; take-away Neapolitan slice, $2.75; take-away NYC-style slice, $1.90 Notes: Pick-up and delivery available: 212-972-7000
Naples 45 is a sprawling, glittery restaurant located within the MetLife building that happens to be VPN-certified. Having eaten at the two other VPN-certified restaurants in New York (La Pizza Fresca [March 5, 2010] and Kesté [March 8, 2010]) just last week, I thought I should venture up to Midtown and see how Naples 45 stacked up.
The restaurant is not strictly a pizzeria; the menu offers a range of pastas and other Italian fare, and the place is certainly more upscale than your average pizzeria. It is staffed by hosts in suits and offers an extensive wine list. While the restaurant seems to attempt to create a casual mood, the place feels a bit stiff and a bit corporate. A fact not helped by the building's overzealous security guards, who will pounce on you for merely taking a picture of the restaurant exterior. That's never happened to me at a pizzeria before. Come to think of it, that's never happened to me at any sort of restaurant before.
What is it about Portland, Oregon?!? The place has not one, not two, but three (THREE!) artisanal pizza carts. Pizza CARTS, mind you — not pizzerias.
I'm not super in love with the word artisanal, but I'm using it here as shorthand for the type of pizza made that employs an "...oven running at 800 degrees slinging out freshly made pizzas with ingredients like fresh mozz and doughs allowed to ferment for 24 hours," as Nick Zukin writes in his Portland pizza cart roundup on his blog, ExtraMSG.com.
It was late in the day on Friday when Slice learned that Antonio Starita of Naples's Pizzeria Starita would be in town making pizzas at Kesté Pizza & Vino for one night only.
Starita is an instructor at the Associazione Pizzaiuoli Napoletani, the Naples-based governing body that both teaches pizza-making and certifies pizza-makers as adhering to authentic Neapolitan ways.
Why Kesté? Among Starita's protegés is Kesté's Roberto Caporuscio, who now works as head pizzaiolo at Kesté and who teaches and certifies aspiring pizza-makers on this side of the Atlantic for the APN.
Starita was on his way back to Naples from the International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas and decided at the last minute to work the dough alongside Caporuscio in a sort of one-night-only pizza supergroup secret show. Here are photos from the evening.
31 East 20th Street New York NY 10003 (map); 212-598-0141; lapizzafresca.com Pizza Style:Neapolitan Oven Type: Wood-fired oven The Skinny? This VPN-certified (since 1997) restaurant serves a fine example of Neapolitan-style pizza Price: Margherita, $17; variations, $18 to $20
In 1983 acclaimed filmmaker George Lucas tasked audio engineer Tomlinson Holman with developing a standard to insure that the audience would hear in the theater what the director heard in the screening room when mixing a film. The result of a yearlong analysis by Holman became known as THX. (The name was probably derived from Lucas' first film, THX 1138, although some dubbed it the Tomlinson Holman eXperience.) THX is not, as is often believed, an audio delivery system like Dolby or DTS surround sound but rather a set of metrics governing such things as room reverberation, amplifier power, ambient noise and light, and dynamic range. It is intended to guarantee a consistent experience from theater to theater. THX does not manufacture audio systems; rather it certifies theaters to insure that they comply with the THX standard. With the rise in popularity of Dolby surround sound and home theater in the early 1990s, THX began certifying home-audio equipment. It is now possible to assemble an entire THX-certified surround sound system in the home. THX sound systems can sound wonderful, but it is not the only way to get great sound in the home—it is possible to assemble a system that is equally compelling without certified components. THX reminds me of another organization that uses an acronym: the VPN (Verace Pizza Napoletana Association).
VPN is sort of like a THX for Neapolitan-style pizza. VPN does not make pizza any more than THX makes audio equipment, rather, it is a certification body. VPN attempts to ensure that there will a consistent pizza experience when eating at a certified restaurant. Thus a set of parameters were established—only wood-burning ovens are used, the tomatoes must be from Naples, the cheese buffalo mozzarella, etc. I have had very good pizza in VPN-certified restaurants. But just like THX in audio, I don't think that VPN certification is the only way to get great pizza. In fact, the pizza that came closest to what I experienced in Naples outside of the city—Una Pizza Napoletana and Motorino—are not VPN-certified.
Clockwise from top left: Toby's is usually packed, especially in summer, when this photo was taken. It still weirds me out when a Slice review gets posted at a pizza joint. The pancetta-mushroom–black garlic pie and a Margherita. [Photograph: Adam Kuban]
Toby's Public House
686 Sixth Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11215 (at 21st Street; map); 718-788-1186; tobyspublichouse.com Oven Type: Wood-burning Pie Style: Neapolitan/New York–Neapolitan The Skinny: A relaxing, laid-back pub whose name belies the fact that there are some first-class pizzas coming out of the rustic wood-burning oven here. My God, man, get the black garlic pie! Previously: Toby's (6/30/2008) »
Not that anyone has ever asked that question*, but the answer could reasonably be found at Toby's Public House.
Because while the pizzas may be personal-size and done up under the supervision of native Italian Nicola Bertolotti in a rustic wood-fired oven in the back of this casual neighborhood bar, they seem to have moved more along the pizza continuum toward American-style pies.
This was something I noticed over the last two Saturdays as I visited Toby's with Girl Slice.**
I'm not going to get too into the whole Neapolitan/authentic/whatever issue, since that's been done to death here on Slice and since what most people care about is whether the pizza tastes good. And Toby's tastes damn good, my friends.
1300 Crosby Avenue, Bronx NY 10461 (at Waterbury Ave.; map); 718-829-6230 Getting there: Closest train is the 6 at Buhre/Crosby aves; from there, it's a 15-minute walk south along Crosby Pizza style: New York Oven type: Gas oven The skinny: ZOMG. You need to get the sausage or sausage-and-onion pie. It will become an obsession
When I posted my Top 8 Pizzas of 2009, there was one that didn't make the list. Not because it wasn't worthy but because I published that rundown just days before I visited Louie & Ernie's in The Bronx's Pelham Bay neighborhood. (Sure, I'd been before—but not in 2009, so even though I knew it deserved mention, I couldn't add it in good conscience.)
That list, if you recall, wasn't "the best," it was a list of pizzas that haunt my dreams. Louie & Ernie's sausage pizza surely qualifies as hauntingly flavorful. To wit, I'd only had it once before.
In early 2004.
That I could still recall the awesomeness of that pizza nearly four years later says something, right? I wondered if it was as good as I'd remembered. It was. Full blabbage, after the jump.
Posted by Nick Solares, January 15, 2010 at 1:30 PM
Top: The late José Jiminez stretching dough and transferring a pizza to the oven. Above: Recent pies from Patsy's in East Harlem. [Photographs: Nick Solares]
Patsy's Pizza
2287 First Avenue, New York NY 10035 (117/118; map); 212-534-9783 Pizza Style:New York–Neapolitan Oven Type: Coal The Skinny: Classic New York pizzeria offers a taste of history but has declined since the death of long time pieman José Jiminez Price: $1.75 a slice, $11 a pie, pie toppings $3 each
For most of the time that I have lived in New York (which is going on a quarter century) my answer Favorite pizza in the city? has remained the same: Patsy's of East Harlem.
That has not been the case for a few years because I have become a devotee of the church of VPN, gravitating toward the original style of pizza as we know it to the point of making a pilgrimage to Naples.
The aficionado of the Neapolitan pie lives in a gilded age with new spots opening weekly. But what of the roots of New York (and indeed, American) pizza? I had not visited Patsy's since the death of José Jiminez, the master pie man who had worked the oven since 1977, and I worried that the pies would not be the same without him.
It's time for another round of The Food Lab. Got a suggestion for an upcoming topic? Email Kenji here, and he'll do his best to answer your queries in a future post.
Just as the jocks like to stick together and nerds travel in packs, obsessives bordering on the psychotic (like me) seek out the acquaintance of others like themselves, in a manner that some say borders on the, well, the obsessive.
The first time I heard that the mineral content of water might have an effect on the properties of bread dough was about eight years ago, when I read Jeffrey Steingarten's gloriously obsessive piece about Roman breads in the chapter titled "Flat Out" in his book It Must Have Been Something I Ate:
In the shower, the shampoo refuses to lather. This means that Roman water is high in minerals, which can be good for the color and texture of bread, but slows fermentation and tightens the dough. I reach for my scuba diver's underwater writing slate, as seen on Baywatch, indispensable for recording those flashes of insight that so often strike one in the bath. We must test the water of Rome.
Unfortunately, despite the heroic efforts he goes through to bring true pizza bianca and pane Genzano to the home cook, the water issue is never satisfactorily resolved.
Well, eight years later, I've decided to try to resolve it for myself, along with the help of another obsessive: Mathieu Palombino, chef-owner of New York City's Motorino, who kindly volunteered to aid me in my little experiment.
I have to reveal something shocking about Girl Slice, the woman I am about to share the rest of my life with: She's not a big pizza-eater.
In fact, she pulled a bit of a bait-and-switch on me when we first met.
Before we started dating, she told me some story about how she loved the pizza at Joe & Joe in Kensington so much that she ate a whole pie of it one day and then a whole Patsy's pizza the next day. I was like, Whoa. She'll be able to keep up with me.
And then, when we started dating, things done changed.
The Potato, Pancetta, and Fontina pie from Pizzaiolo in Oakland, California. [Photographs: L.A. Pizza Maven]
Sliding in just under the wire for retrospective posts, our man in L.A., L.A. Pizza Maven, checks in with his Top 8 Pies of 2009. Sit back, grab a drool cup, and view gallery of pizza deliciousness! —The Mgmt.
A trio of pizzas from Sally's Apizza in New Haven, Connecticut. [Photograph: Adam Kuban]
I've eaten a lot of pizza in the last year or so, but these eight pies from around the country continue to haunt my dreams. I'm not declaring these "the best," per se, just the top eight I keep thinking about and wanting more of. I could have easily reeled off eight more, but these were the pies on the front burner of my brain when I commenced this little exercise. Are they in any kind of order? Yes—the chronological order in which I ate them. Peep the slideshow and salivate.
The big news in pizzaland yesterday was that Domino's announced that it had a new core pizza recipe. The crust now has a garlic-herb seasoning; the sauce is supposed to be sweeter and bolder; and the cheese, well, the company is promising "shredded cheese made with 100% real mozzarella and flavored with just a hint of provolone," which makes you wonder what they were using before.
Anyway, as soon as we posted the news on Slice, we jumped to dominos.com to order.
How does the new Domino's pizza taste? you ask? Is it better? Is it good?Find out, my friends, after the jump.
Sorry, Rich. I'm actually trying to juice the Slice traffic numbers by making you and the rest of the readers who have been following Pizza Madness 2009 check the site every day.
... Just kidding. I just got a bit behind with Thanksgiving and now the holidays and all that jazz. Now it is time to tell my tale. In mind-numbing dear-diary detail. For I wish to remember this day until time withers my body and mind. Here we go ...
So, yeah, Pizzeria Bianco. It's been a bit of a (very inside) joke around here that yours truly, the editor of a pizza weblog that purports to be on top of all things pizza, had not ever been to Bianco. It really start to hurt when almosteveryoneIknewhadbeen and emailed in about it. And then when folks like Norman and Paulie and Famdoc started giving me shit about it in the comments.
Well, thanks to the project Ed and I are working on, it was now my time.
Anticipating lunch at Pizzeria Bianco spin-off Pane Bianco, I walked hurriedly along the moving sidewalk in Phoenix's Sky Harbor airport, stopping only to snap a photo of the dramatic airport backdrop (above) before grabbing a shuttle bus to connect to the city's awesome little light rail system.
Posted by Adam Kuban, November 16, 2009 at 12:25 PM
Clicking in to the Slice inbox today, we've got a message from longtime reader TJ, who wrote to Slice in early September asking, "If I could only eat at one NYC pizzeria besides Di Fara, what should it be?" I opened that one up to discussion here, and it looks like TJ's taken all our advice into consideration and has his pick—Patsy's East Harlem. But he mentioned New Haven pizza, and I've got some thoughts on that. Feel free to chime in once again, folks. --The Mgmt.
Our pizza order at Sally's (from left): tomato slice and mozzarella pie, plain pie, sausage pie. [Photographs: Adam Kuban]
I'm heading up [to New York CIty] this coming weekend.
I am taking your recommendation—Patsy's in Harlem—as the second pizza visit aside from Di Fara (worried about Dom retiring before I get a slice, so this was the only absolute MUST STOP for me).
Other stops—Katz's, Yonah Schimmel, Peter Luger, White Manna Hackensack, Rutt's Hut, Ess-a-Bagel, Papaya King. (Would have included a stop at Shake Shack if they were not closed for the season.) And some random street noshing, whatever looks good, maybe a random slice here and there.
One of the days we head out to New Haven for Pepe's.
Really, looking forward to this, and thanks for your piece on SliceNY.
316 Virginia Street, Seattle WA 98101 (map); 206-838-7388; website Pizza Style: Artisanal Oven Type: Wood-fired The Skinny: The crust is soft and incredibly airy but takes most of its crispness from a dusting of cornmeal. The Margherita is good, but the real thing to get here is the sausage-and-cherry-bomb-pepper pie. It's amazing. Price: $14 to $16. Happy hour half-pies are $5 M–F, 3–5 p.m.
After 48 hours of reminiscing, hanging out with old friends, and eating aboatloadofpizzainPortland, my next stop was Seattle, aka Jet City, aka the Emerald City, aka the place that, as I saw it, would begin to kick my pizza-eating ass on what I had taken to calling "Pizza Madness 2009."
I viewed Portland as the calm before the storm. The place to ease into what would soon become a whirlwind of pizza-sampling on the West Coast. The City of Roses is pretty damn easy to get around via public transit. Plus, I had friends there who I'd assumed I could hitch rides with as long as I Tom Sawyered them into the pizza madness themselves. So I had a fairly relaxing visit and did some memory-lane sightseeing in the morning hours before my destination pizzerias opened for the day.
But I only had one day in Seattle.
One day for four pizzerias, some of them seemingly far-flung, and I was using a public-transportation system I was unfamiliar with. Luckily, the first lunchtime option, Serious Pie, was half a block from my hotel.
Long before contemporary pizza rock stars like Nancy Silverton at Pizzeria Mozza (reviewed 
