Entries tagged with 'Patsy's (East Harlem)'
Posted by DJ Bubbles, March 18, 2008 at 12:30 PM
The sixth slice is as good as the first. Yes, I just said 'sixth.'
I would like to piggyback off of the Real Slim Shady's recent comments on America's Favorite Pizza Weblog and take it one step further with respect to his top two NYC pizzerias. I recently visited both Di Fara and Patsy's within 24 hours of each other, and my memories of both are still fresh in my mind.
When Patsy's of East Harlem is "on," as AK likes to say, they are not only number one in New York, there is some serious distance between them and Di Fara, and I'll tell you why: balance. I may sound like a broken record to some of you, but let's lay it down, and if the comments pour in disagreeing with me, then so be it.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, March 18, 2008 at 8:15 AM
Reaching into the Slice mailbag ...
Thanks to you and others at Slice for updates on the world's greatest food—pizza Napoletana Margherita. As a frequent visitor to New York City, I have come to love this simple, delicious combination of crust, sauce, cheese and a little basil and olive oil.
I have visited almost all of the noteworthy pizzerias in the five boroughs (see my top five listed below) and am puzzled by the lack of recognition for the original Patsy's on First Avenue between 118th and 119th in East Harlem. I have never been disappointed in a Patsy's pizza, as the coal oven produces the best smoky, crispy, chewy crust and a great balance between flavorful sauce, creamy fresh mozz, and basil on top.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, November 27, 2007 at 6:00 PM
Hope you're thoroughly glutted on leftover turkey sandwiches at the moment.
Quick question, I was thinking of finally hitting Patsy's this weekend and was wondering if it's worth the trip to the original up in Harlem? I thought all the Patsy's were owned by the same people but I noticed the original isn't listed on their website. So really who else can I turn to with such a pizza conundrum?
—Bret S.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, October 28, 2007 at 10:00 PM
After starting a six-pizzeria pizza crawl at Franny's, travelers board the" Pizza Express."
This afternoon I had the pleasure of riding aboard what I'll call the Scott Wiener Pizza Express.
Scott Wiener is a true pizza lover, one who keeps a pizza journal that's legendary among those who know him, and his love and enthusiasm for the pie is truly infectious. So much so that a little more than 20 people showed up for a tour that would take us from Prospect Heights to deep Brooklyn, up to East Harlem, and back again to Brooklyn (see map, after the jump).
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Posted by Adam Kuban, March 2, 2007 at 5:30 PM
Adam,
Any idea just how many pizza ovens in NYC are heated with coal?
Mahalo,
E.J.F.
Dear E.J.F.,
I know you've emailed a couple times about this, and my apologies for the delayed response—things have been busy at the Slice–Serious Eats office. Anyway, off the top of my head, here are all the ones I can think of. Readers, if I've forgotten any, do let me know in the comments.
Hasta la pizza,
Adam
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Posted by DJ Bubbles, October 19, 2006 at 10:05 AM
An interesting item hit the Slice inbox yesterday.
OK guys, put this in your pie and smoke it!
A couple of caveats: The list isn't quite as definitive as it claims to be, as it is missing any critical analysis of Staten Island, Queens, and Bronx joints. When you guys post this on the site (front page, please), perhaps you may want to refer to it as "The Definitive Manhattan and Brooklyn Top 10 List." We've all been to these places enough times to know what's going on and who's coming with their A game and who isn't.
Seltzerboy, as a fellow SU alum, I tried to get in touch with you when I first moved to New York, and I also furnished you with a copy of the Syracuse Pizza Manifesto, another masterwork I coauthored. But to no avail, I never really heard back from you other than a weak Orangeman shout out. We'll take you choads in a pie-off any day of the week! Now, without further ado....
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Posted by Adam Kuban, October 4, 2006 at 9:56 AM
Jeff Varasano (left), the man who gained quick internet fame when he announced his successful reverse-engineering of Patsy's Pizza (the East Harlem location, naturally), was interviewed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation yesterday.
Jeff Varasano on the CBC [.wmv]
Freestyle: October 3, 2006 [cbc.ca]
Posted by Adam Kuban, September 17, 2006 at 11:51 PM
I don't even know what to say about this recipe. Just reading through it makes my head spin. Software engineer Jeff Varasano (above) has been trying for six years to craft a pizza along the lines of Patsy's in East Harlem. As of August 22, he claims to have done so:
This pizza is modeled after Patsy's on 117th street in NYC. I have been working on this for SIX years, but FINALLY I can report that I have achieved my goal. Many people have tried my pie and swear it is not only the best pizza they've ever had, but a clone of the original Patsy's recipe. This pie is incredibly light and perfectly charred. It took just 2 minutes and 10 seconds to bake at 825F....
Reproducing this was no easy feat. It's been a bit of an obsession. I've had a lot of failed experiments. It's only now, in the past 6 months that I can honestly say that the recipe is fully accurate and reproducible. The final breakthrough came in Jan 2005 when I finally got a handle on the proper mixing equipment and procedure. But do not think that following this will be easy. It's not. It will still take practice. A few others have confirmed that by following these steps they too have come to near perfection. This may be the most detailed, accurate and complete recipe on the net for making a true Pizza Napoletana.
To get your oven to 825°, you'll need to do a little hacking. On his own oven, Mr. Varasano cut off the lock that engages during the self-clean cycle so he can still open the door when the unit heats to superhigh temps.
Patsy's Pizza Recipe [think2020.com/jv/recipe.htm; via Perlow]
UPDATE: Full recipe now here [think2020.com/jv/pizza.htm]
UPDATE 2: Mr. Varasano's server has stumbled under the load of Boing Boing and Fark readers. Slice is now mirroring his page: http://sliceny.com/jvpizza.php
Posted by Adam Kuban, August 8, 2006 at 3:18 PM
Just saw Boing Boing mention Turn Here, a video site that features fun footage of places (hopefully) near you. And you and you and you and you. We did a search for pizza and found a couple neat shorts starring competitive eater Crazy Legs Conti. In Part 1, Mr. Conti visits Koronet Pizza in Manhattan's Morningside Heights neighborhood and Pizza Gruppo in the borough's East Village. Both choices make sense, given his eating feats. Koronet's slices are known for their HUGEness (as big as your head) and Gruppo is so thin that you could eat tons of it before feeling all that full
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Posted by Ed Levine, March 9, 2006 at 9:51 PM
New York is the king of pizza cities. Oh, yes, there are other pretenders to the pizza crown. Naples has its adherents, those who champion that beautiful city's high-lipped, slightly wet pies made in gorgeous wood-burning ovens. Chicagoans love their deep-dish pizza, and it is in fact a mighty tasty casserole, but one kind of pizza does not make a strong enough case for designating a city pizza royalty. New Havenites proudly point to the gorgeous, asymmetrical pies that come out of the coal-fired ovens of Sally's and Pepe's. Those are righteous pies indeed, but, again, you have to be able to show some pizza breadth. Pizza variety is why New York City sits comfortably on its pizza throne.
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Posted by Ed Levine, February 16, 2006 at 8:43 AM
Here's the American Pizzeria Timeline, which includes only two non–Pizza Belt entries, Tommaso's and Uno's:
1905: Lombardi's, on Spring Street in New York City, is granted the nation's first license to sell pizza.
1910: Joe's Tomato Pies opens in the Trenton, New Jersey, Chambersburg neighborhood.
1912: Papa's Tomato Pies in Trenton opened by Papa, who learned his trade at Joe's.
1924: Anthony (Totonno) Pero leaves Lombardi's and opens Totonno's in Coney Island, New York.
1925: Frank Pepe opens on Wooster Street in New Haven, Connecticut.
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Posted by Ed Levine, February 15, 2006 at 11:10 AM
You've heard of the corn belt and the rust belt. But what about the Pizza Belt, the part of America that gave birth to what Jeffrey Steingarten calls Neapolitan-American pizza. The Pizza Belt starts in Philadelphia and runs through Trenton and the rest of New Jersey. It extends throughout New York, Long Island, and New Haven and ends in Boston. Think of it as the Interstate 95 belt, with a few detours along the way.
It was in New York that Neapolitan immigrant and grocery store owner Gennaro Lombardi was granted the nation's first Ilcense to sell pizza in 1905. Lombardi's, in turn, spawned Totonno's in 1924 and John's in 1929 and, in an apparently unrelated move, Patsy's in East Harlem in 1933. Joe's Tomato Pies opened in Trenton in 1910, followed by Papa's Tomato Pies in 1912. New Haven was next, where a Neapolitan immigrant Italian bread baker named Frank Pepe opened his eponymous Pizzeria Napoletana in 1925, followed in short order by Paul's Apizza in 1932, State Street Apizza (now called Modern Apizza) in 1934 and finally Sally's in 1938 (founded by Frank Pepe's nephew, Salvatore Consiglio). In Philadelphia, Salvatore and Chiarina Marra opened Marra's in 1927. The Tacconelli family started baking bread in their Port Richmond neighborhood in the 1920s, though they didn't start making pizza until 1946. Similarly, in East Boston, Francisco Santarpio baked bread at his eponymous bakery until Prohibition ended in 1933, when he took over the adjoining storefront and began serving pizza. Seven years before that, Anthony Polcari opened Pizzeria Regina in Boston's North End.
Why did all these pizzerias start in the same 33-year period? What did they have in common? Did Frank Pepe work at Lombardi's before moving to New Haven? Here's what we do know. There was a tremendous wave of southern Italian immigration in the late nineteenth century. These immigrants all came in through Ellis Island, and then fanned out along the Eastern Seaboard looking for work among relatives, neighbors, and friends who had come from the same area in Italy. New York, of course, was where they landed, so it made sense for a certain number of them to look for and find work there. Trenton had hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs and a burgeoning Itallan-American community called Chambersburg. New Haven had many factories (including Colt Industries), as well as a plethora of fishing and port-related jobs. Philadelphia (South Philly) and Boston (East Boston and the North End) both had fast-growing Italian-American communities with thriving commercial centers.
What can we conclude from all this? That the development of America's pizza culture closely followed southern Italian immigration patterns. If the southern Italians had come into this country through Duluth, Minnesota might have been known as the Land of a Thousand Pizzas.
Ed Levine is a regular contributor to the New York Times Dining section and is author of New York Eats and New York Eats More. He also maintains a blog: Ed Levine Eats. This entry is an excerpt from his book Pizza: A Slice of Heaven
, published on Slice through special arrangement.
Posted by Adam Kuban, August 10, 2005 at 6:00 PM
This is another week-old one that we neglected to post about during our renovation. The Daily News did a roundup of New York City's best pizzerias last week. As we told Eater, the new foodblog from the folks who brought you Curbed:
A nice roundup, I think. A lot of it is old hat to me, but there were some nice surprises in there, particularly a couple Brooklyn places (Graziella's, Laura's) that have been lurking one or two neighborhoods over from Slice HQ.
Irene Sax knows her stuff, and I agree with most of her assessments, although I don't know why she rated a chain Patsy's on the Upper West Side instead of the original in East Harlem. What's nice here is that they've really done a comprehensive roundup of the best places in each borough instead of picking, say, a top-five or top-ten list. It's a nice piece that's actually useful to anyone in any of the five boroughs.
You really should click through to the article and have a look at Ms. Sax's quick rundowns. For as long as we've been publishing Slice (and probably long before), Sax has been the News's pizza expert.
Here, we'll list Sax's picks and link to our reviews, when possible. When not possible, I, uh, well, I just offer up comments and such willy-nilly. Read on after the jump....
Upper Crust [New York Daily News]
The Boroughs' Best Pizza [Eater]
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Posted by Adam Kuban, October 15, 2004 at 2:41 PM
How Old Are You Now: Slice celebrated its one-year anniversary on Wednesday evening at Patsy's in East Harlem. Patsy's is one of our favorite pizzerias and is notable for being one of the few coal-fired-oven shops that sells pizza by the slice—for a buck fifty, no less (top right).
PATSY'S
Location: 2287 First Ave. (b/n 117th/118th)
Getting There: 6 train to 116th; walk east to First; turn right; walk 1.5 blocks up
Payment: Cash only
The Skinny: One of our favorite pizzerias, but has suffered from inconsistent pie quality of late. Stick to the plain pies, either regular or fresh mozzarella, and try going with a number of people—multiple pies guarantee that you'll get at least one or two superb pizzas.
I hate the sight of a baby in a restaurant. Those fat little saps can't appreciate the food. They crap themselves. And, worse, they're prone to noisy outbursts. But when the baby in question is Slice and it's celebrating its first birthday, things are different. And so on Wednesday night I found myself at Patsy's in East Harlem, with a handful of Slice readers, as we marked this site's first anniversary with a very special Pizza Club.
With its coal-fired oven; tasty pies; legendary provenance; and large, downbeat dining room, Patsy's was the natural choice for the occasion.
In his book American Pie, Peter Reinhart describes two kinds of perfect pizzas: the contextually perfect pizza and the technically perfect pizza. The contextually perfect pie, he says, might not be perfect in execution, but for some reason it's the perfect pizza at that time. Maybe, as a cash-strapped graduate student, it was the place you began your first date with the woman who, a couple years later, would become your wife. Sure they used canned mushrooms and their crust was a little too thick, but you can't order a pie there without thinking of how nervous you were meeting her there before heading off to see Titanic. Or maybe it's the only place you can afford to take your kids when you have 'em for the weekend 'cause your lying cheat of a husband left you for that tramp, gained custody, and then took half your goddamn money, but gee how those kids love that pizza and damn how they look at you when you indulge them in the doughy goodness that their Atkins-following dirtbag of a father denies them. That is contextually perfect pie. Technically perfect pie is like the pizzas that a coworker and I had last night at Una Pizza Napoletana.
The first time I had Patsy's, it embodied both kinds of perfection. From the red patinated neon sign in the window to the empty, dimly lit dining room with its Frank Sinatra portrait on the wall and its black-and-white penny-round tile floor—this was a classic Italian eatery (even though it was by then owned by Albanians). Heck, I half expected to find a gun taped behind the toilet tank. And the pizza itself, my word. Thin, light, crisp charred crust. Perfect balance of cheese and sauce. Excellent toppings. You get the picture. It has been a favorite of mine since.
Joining me on this auspicious evening were seven guests. Slice's metro editor, Seltzerboy, had tickets to the Yankees game and sadly could not join us. As for our roving reporter E-Rock, I sent that sumbitch to Chicago as punishment for having missed too many pizza clubs in the past. (He will, of course, provide a full report of his deep-dish detention session.) Among the illustrious guests were veteran pizza clubbers Tien, Janelle and Joe S. Rounding out the party were first-timers "JXM" (a good friend I was happy to see there), Youngna, Danny G., and Jen from Gothamist.*
What can I say about Patsy's that I haven't already said? Once all the guests that seemed likely to come had arrived, we ordered four pies: a plain with regular mozzarella, a plain with fresh mozzarella, a sausage-and-onion pie, and a mushroom pie. First out was the sausage and onion (above right). Normally my favorite combo for a pie, the meat and vegetable proved to be tasty but sog inducing. This was universally the least favorite pie at the table.
Next out were the plain pies—both the regular- and fresh-mozzarella varieties. These were well received, with a couple Patsy's first-timers commenting that they represented the best pizza they had ever had. Unfortunately, I had had better from Patsy's. While not as soggy as the plain regular-mozz pie I had on Tuesday night (I was doing pre-club recon work), it wasn't up to the level of quality of which I knew Patsy's was capable. The mushroom pie, which followed quickly on the heels of the two plains, also was not well received (though it did prove more popular than the sausage pie). Mushrooms, with the large volume of water they release while cooking, are notorious crust soakers.
By 9 o'clock, we were down to a single slice of regular plain and one of mushroom, thanks largely to Tien trying to determine how few bites it would take for him to eat a slice (right).
That's when Danny G., who we had written off as a no-show, walked in. He made quick work of the two remaining slices and we ordered another plain regular-mozzarella pie. Out in no time at all (it only takes about four minutes for a pie to cook in the coal oven at Patsy's), this pie put all the others to shame. It was the perfect pie, technically, and even Patsy's first-timers could tell that it was markedly better than the rest.
Contextually, I'd say Patsy's is still tops. Our waiters, Joey and Victor were, in that New York sort of way, hard-edged yet friendly. They were fast, attentive, and willing to answer many of the questions that this inquisitive crowd had, so we were especially sorry to have almost stiffed them on the tip. (With the excitement involved in raffling off a copy of American Pie, which went to Joe S., this reporter forgot about leaving the gratuity on the table.) Technically, however, the last few times I've been to Patsy's, there has been a disturbing consistency of inconsistency. Time was you could count on a superb pie. Now, it seems, there's a great-pie–merely-OK-pie ratio of 1:2 or, at worst, 1:3.
Given its place in our cheese-clogged hearts, we hope that this is just a phase for Patsy's, and we're going to hold off downgrading it from Eight-Slice status (eight of eight is our highest rating). But be warned when you visit Patsy's: You might want to go with a large group so you're sure to get at least one or two transcendent pies.
###
All images by Tien Mao, except top right and bottom right, which are by Joe Schumacher. (Out of spite, E-Rock took the Slice digicam to the Windy City.)
* It was fitting that Ms. Chung was in attendance because when I started Slice, Gothamist was one of the blogs I looked to as an example of what to do and how to present information. Friendly in tone, enthusiastic, and decidedly not cooler-than-you, Gothamist's support in terms of mentioning Slice now and again and then linking to us has been invaluable. Plus, I sorta "borrowed" their templates (their design is aces) and Jake was nice enough to let me keep using them when he found out.
Posted by Adam Kuban, October 3, 2004 at 3:45 PM
PIZZA CLUB NO. 6 AT PATSY'S
Date: October 13
Time: 8 p.m.
Location: 2287 First Ave. (b/n 117th/118th)
Getting There: 6 train to 116th; walk east to First; turn right; walk 1.5 blocks up
Payment: Cash only
The Skinny: Slice's favorite coal-fired pizza in New York and one of Gotham's venerable pizza institutions
Speaking of Pizza Club, Slice will be having a very special pizza club on the 13th. Why so special? Well, it's our one-year birthday. That's right, folks. Hard to believe isn't it? We know you can't imagine your life without Slice and yet we've only been around a short while. How time flies. Wait till we hit the terrible twos.
Anyway, Pizza Club No. 6 will be at Patsy's (the one in East Harlem). 8 p.m. As always, Pizza Club is not exclusive and is open to anyone who simply shows up. We do ask that you RSVP by e-mail (pizzaclub (at) sliceny (dot) com) so we can gauge likely attendance and make the necessary table arrangements—no later than noon on October 12, please! Space is filling up, so hurry!
All seats at the reserved Slice table are taken. Sorry! Join us at the next Pizza Club, date and location TBD.
A previous Slice-related birthday at Patsy's.
All Slice entries on Patsy's.
Posted by Adam Kuban, June 9, 2004 at 6:00 AM
SAY NUMBER 13: Dom DeMarco, Slice's "Italian hero," makes the cover of this week's Village Voice. The alt-weekly's Robert Sietsema tallies his top 100 Italian restaurants, DeMarco of Di Fara fame clocking in at lucky thirteen.
Robert Sietsema of the Village Voice runs down his top 100 Italian restaurants. Seeing as how pizza is Italian or Italian American (depending on style), there are more than a few pizzerias in the mix.
The usual suspects appear throughout as well as a few surprises and what might be hidden gems. Following, we've digested the list, ignoring any nonpizza establishments. For the full list, click here.
We were delirious yet dismayed to see Dom DeMarco of Di Fara Pizza on the cover—heartened that Mr. DeMarco is once again getting the recognition he deserves but upset that the crowds at his pizzeria will inevitably grow larger (and also perplexed that he ranked no higher than thirteen while less-deserving places sit in the top ten).
Well, without further ado, here is the list, parsed for pizza entries...
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Posted by Adam Kuban, March 30, 2004 at 2:45 PM
A PATSY'S BIRTHDAY
There's been some talk about the East Harlem Patsy's lately in the Simply the Best section over to the right. Some people (me) have raved about it, while others (Greg, C. Mike) have reported that it has gone downhill. Looking to kill two birds on Sunday, Patsy's became both the subject of a (quick) Slice review and the site of my thirtieth birthday dinner.
We don't know if it had something to do with the fact that the venerable institution is looking for a "pizzaman" (hello, EEOC!), but the first two pies to arrive at table were cause for concern among the assembled members of the Slice staff.
The plain pie (above right, foreground), which we ordered with regular mozzarella (some people believe the fresh mozzarella sogs down the light superthin crust), was only a few notches above what you'd get at a regular slice joint. Seltzerboy, E-Rock, and I exchanged worried looks as we got halfway through underdone, barely charred slices laden with too much sauce and too much cheese. The mushroom pie (above right, background) was saved only by the presence of the incredibly fresh high-quality fungi topping it.
After going through just two pies among five people (the crust is so thin that it's hard to fill up quickly), we were still hungry but waited for a sixth companion to show up before ordering more. The second round of pies consisted of a fresh-mozzarella-and-basil pizza and one with regular mozz topped with peppers and onions (sorry about the onions, LW!).
Oddly enough, something happened between the first round and the second round, with José (who was working the oven that night) making the save. The fresh mozz pie had a perfectly crisp yet airy and flexible crust—and just the right amount of telltale charring—with none of the sogginess that often comes about from the fresh cheese's moisture. Now, this was the stuff that makes Patsy's such a transcendent pizza experience. And pepper-and-onion pie was none too bad, either.
We can't explain what would make for the difference, though we have a theory. At the beginning of the evening (6:30 p.m. or so), there was only one other table of diners. But as we ate our first two pizzas, the place started to hop. By the time we ordered our second two pies, most of the other tables had been served. We think that the oven might have been allowed to cool down during the day but was then fired up during the dinner rush. Who can say?
Because Patsy's has long been one of our favorites and has rarely let us down, we'd like to think the first two pies were a fluke and that the best thing to do is order around 7:30 or 8 p.m. But maybe there's some truth to the rumors going around. What can anyone else tell us about Patsy's?
Posted by Adam Kuban, March 11, 2004 at 11:52 AM
We're adding a new sidebar box, the Slice Syllabus, to the site today. This box will be home to the canon of New York–pizza literature—such that it is—and any student of the genre would do well to read from this list. Your first assignment: "New York Pizza, the Real Thing, Makes a Comeback," by New York Times food critic Eric Asimov.
In this June 10, 1998, story, Asimov hails what was then a resurgence of "classic New York pizza."
I'm not talking about the by-the-slice pies congealing in neighborhood display windows as they await reheating or the sodden boxes delivered to the door. I'm talking about classic New York pizza: pies cooked quickly in extremely hot ovens, generally coal-fired, until the thin crust achieves a gloriously charred, smoky crispness. The dough is prepared daily; the mozzarella is real, not packaged; tomatoes are the best quality, and toppings are simple and used in moderation—no pineapple or Thai chicken. The pizzas are cooked to order and never sold by the slice.
Among the pizzerias he cites as indicators: stalwarts John's on Bleecker Street and Patsy's in East Harlem, joined by newcomers—at the time of publication—Grimaldi's in Brooklyn Heights, Lombardi's on Spring Street (reopened only in 1994, despite the name's storied provenance), Nick's in Forest Hills.
Asimov speculates on the boomlet's origin:
Why the renaissance? It's driven, I think, by the same sense of renewed connoisseurship that gave rise to the microbrewery boom, for example. And as with the ponds of microbrews measured against oceans of Budweiser, it's easy to forget that the number of classic pizzerias amounts to no more than a leaf of fresh basil in a sea of canned tomato sauce.... The determination to make pizza the hard way seems to come from being born and bred into a pizza-making tradition. New York pizza did not exist before 1905, when Gennaro Lombardi, a Neapolitan immigrant, began to sell pies in his grocery store in Little Italy. Lombardi's was by most accounts the first New York pizzeria, and Mr. Lombardi, who hired and trained a series of other immigrants, became the sturdy tap root of a tree of family and acquaintances that would go on to define great New York pizza.
The story is a family tree of sorts that outlines the great New York pizza dynasties and gives insight into the relationship between various Patsy's sprinkled throughout the city. In fact, the print edition was accompanied by an illustration of New York's pizza family tree. If memory serves us right, there's one framed and hanging on the wall at the Coney Island Totonno's, which also is mentioned in the full text.
[Thanks to Seltzerboy for digging this one up.]
