Posted by Adam Kuban, August 1, 2008 at 10:00 AM
So you're visiting the Holy Land, huh? First thing you're gonna do is grab a slice, right? Of course you are—you're a Slice reader, after all. Well, if you need to know where the best places are, Jerusalemite runs through six of 'em. The best? Big Apple Pizza, wouldn't ya know?
At first glance, it appears that someone did a lot of shopping at one of the myriad of tschoky stores that litter Times Square. New York license plates and Statue of Liberty figurines ordain the walls and countertops. Back in they day they used to blast recordings of New York radio stations (Z100 if I remember correctly) to contribute to the "authentic" atmosphere. Their pizza is without question one of the best Jerusalem has to offer.
I love the idea of blasting Z100 for authenticity. But you'd run the risk of driving your customers batty.
Related
Milk, Honey, Pizza: Green Door Pizza, Jerusalem
Posted by Adam Kuban, January 31, 2007 at 12:18 PM
Dear Slice,
My name is Oded. Me and a friend started a new pizza site in Hebrew at
www.pizzanet.co.il. The site features all sort of funky Pizza information such as the history of the pizza, trivia, famous pizza related quotes, recipes etc.
The site is entirely in Hebrew, except for a new English index we just added (we are working on translating the content to English). We are without a doubt the biggest informational site about Pizza in Hebrew.
—Oded
Dear Oded,
I'm going to have to trust you that all the triva, recipes, funky pizza info, etc., exists on your site, since I can't make heads or tails of Hebrew! Welcome to the world of pizza blogging. You have chosen to walk a strange, maddening path!
Be`teavon and hasta la pizza,
Adam
Posted by seltzerboy, June 19, 2006 at 9:00 AM
GREEN DOOR PIZZA
Location: The Muslim Quarter, Jerusalem.
Getting There: From the Damascus Gate, make the first left off El Wad.
Telephone: 02-627-6171
Hours: Fluctuates depending on business. On busy days -- en Shala, Mr. Ali says (Arabic for "G-d willing") -- 7 a.m. to midnight. On slow days, he closes as early as 6 p.m.
Do the time warp: Abu Ali greets visitors to Green Door Pizza from his "pizza pit." After cooking an egg-and-cheese pizza, Mr. Ali coats it with uncooked tomatoes just before serving it.
WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY SELTZERBOY .::. Let's say you've just traveled 5,600 miles, becoming the first person in your family in 2,000 years (give or take a few hundred) to return to your homeland. Would grabbing a pizza be on your mind? It wasn't on mine, either. Alas, duty calls.
We all eat pizza on the road. Not just to see how it measures up; we like to be reminded of home. But this wasn't one of those trips. Surrounded by the beauty and vibrancy of Israel, I never felt like I wasn't home. So I waited until home took its weekly vacation -- on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath, Jerusalem grinds to a halt -- to explore the local pizza trade. The only place to do that on Shabbat is the Old City. Aside from the Jewish Quarter and the Western Wall, life there beats as usual.
Holy land: A view of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City. The Dome of the Rock, Islam's third-holiest site, was built in 691 C.E. Below it is the Western Wall, the only surviving portion of the Second Temple, destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E.; it is Judaism's holiest site.
Old City is the part of Jerusalem that dates 4,000 years and draws religious pilgrims and curiosity seekers from around the world. It's easy to get lost amid the narrow streets and alleys, each filled with a different story from the city's compelling past. Following the action in this one-square-kilometer town, it's little wonder I ended up deep in the Muslim Quarter -- the largest and liveliest section of the walled city. What's surprising is that with nary a tourist following me, I ended up eating something called Arabic pizza. Much of Old City involves visiting ancient places; in the Muslim Quarter, even everyday life looks probably just as it did when the Ottomans ruled. Except that for most of the Ottoman Empire, pizza didn't even exist.
Not far from the Damascus Gate, Green Door Pizza is a respite from the bustle. Whereas all the action in the Muslim Quarter takes place on the street ("streets" are about 10 feet wide), the Green Door does its business in an actual sit-down restaurant. It's near the intersection of El Wad and Suq Khan ez-Zeit, but good luck finding any street signs. Most outsiders just call this the Arab shuk, using the Hebrew word for "market." You'll know you've found the right place when you see its large green doors, unmistakable amid the seemingly endless paths of stone.
Down a few steps are a few mismatched plastic tables and chairs. As I enter, an elderly man is eating a whole fish from a frying pan at the table nearest the door. From the next table, two middle-aged men look up with large smiles. "Welcome," an Arabic-accented voice says from the back. "Come." It is Abu Ali, standing ten feet back from the entrance -- and three feet down. Mr. Ali, who runs the Green Door, works from a three-foot-cube "pizza pit." In the hollow with him is a wood-fired oven (powered by a combination of olive wood and lemon wood); the oven's opening and Mr. Ali's waist are level with the restaurant floor. Talk about working in the trenches.
Continue reading »
Posted by Adam Kuban, November 5, 2003 at 3:01 PM
Israelis in Tel Aviv have cooked what they hope is the world's longest pizza. Channel News Asia reports, "The labour of love included 30 hours of work, 25 cooks, 150 kilos of dough, 50 litres of tomato sauce, 60 kilos of green olives, and 80 kilos of mozzarella cheese."
Palestinian spokesmen vowed to retaliate with an even longer pizza.
