Or will the well-regarded "Chowhound" be barking? (Groan.) Mr. Leff will be at Coliseum Books (42nd b/n 5th and 6th) at 6:30 p.m. to talk about his latest release, The Chowhound's Guide to the New York Tri-State Area. You can bet we'll be there—half the Slice staff has day jobs in the building that houses Coliseum. More than that, though, Mr. Leff is indirectly responsible for the website you are reading now. It was his book The Eclectic Gourmet Guide to Greater New York City that led Seltzerboy to Di Fara, who in turn led Adam K. to Di Fara,... More

Impossibly sharp foodblogger Miss Ginsu e-mailed Slice yesterday, alerting us to the following event. Thanks to her, we're happy to point you to the Institute of Culinary Education's Pizza Walking Tour (13th item). The tour, led by Gerri Sarnataro (that's her pictured), starts at noon September 10, a Saturday, at the 26th Street Totonno's (at Second Ave.). It's scheduled to last until 5 p.m. and takes you to Lombardi's, Grimaldi's, and Di Fara. The fee is $70. Because the event is part of the cooking school's Recreational Division, you don't have to be a student there to enroll in the... More

Judge's Dread: Although we were being served some of Long Island's best pizzas straight from an an on-site oven (above) at Adventureland Amusement Park on Saturday, I could feel a touch of anxiety welling up as I perused the judging schedule (top right) and calculated the amount of pizza I'd have to chew through. Nevertheless, I was called there to do a job, and so I steeled my mind, popped some preemptive Tums, and set about judging slices (top left). Ladies and gentlemen, last weekend almost put Slice out of commission, as Saturday was the day I was asked... More

Ever wonder where the best pizza on Long Island comes from? The matter will be settled—at least for this year—on Saturday at Adventureland amusement park in Farmingdale. The second-annual Best Pizza on Long Island Contest will give bragging rights to one pizzeria in each of five categories: Regular Pizza, Sicilian, Marinara, Grandma, and Specialty. The event, organized by LongIsland.com, will take place rain or shine from noon to 6 p.m. In addition to the pizza bake-off, there will be a pizza-eating contest staged by the Association of Independent Competitive Eaters. Among the celebrity judges will be Slice's own editor... More

Countdown: The Javits Center will be the site of the site of the Pizza Marketing Quarterly New York Pizza Show November 2 to 3. The U.S. Pizza Team will hold trials for the 2005 team during the show. This item about the U.S. Pizza Team has been making the rounds today, and at least three readers have tipped me to it. We followed the exploits of 2004's pizza team with great interest, so we wondered what was new about this pizza-team meme. Clicking over to the U.S. Pizza Team site, we saw that it's accepting applications for the 2005... More

A HAVEN FOR PIZZA LOVERS Frank Pepe (left) of Frank Pepe's and the crew at Sally's Apizza (right). These New Haven, Connecticut, pizzerias are said to rival (some even say surpass) New York City's legacy pizzerias. Newsflash!: Today marks the start of the weeklong New Haven [Connecticut] Pizza Fest. We have yet to try Frank Pepe's or Sally's Appiza, but have heard nothing but good. For those in or near New Haven, or anyone curious about that city's pizza, maybe now is the time to go.... More