Thanks to reader Greg, we're able to present to you the pizza-family-tree graphic that originally ran with Eric Asimov's June 10, 1998, New York Times story "New York Pizza, the Real Thing, Makes a Comeback." Greg graciously volunteered to snap a picture of this illustration, which hangs on the wall of Totonno's, at the most recent meeting of the Slice Pizza Club. It's a little blurry—it's difficult to get a good photo in low light and when you're trying to get newsprint into focus—but we think you'll be able to read it.... More

Oh, it's such a perfect day ... What do you get when you mix a beautiful Saturday afternoon, a visiting food-loving Aussie (by way of London), and a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge? With the proper catalyst (in this case, a Slice editor), your result is lunch at Grimaldi's Pizzeria. Located at 19 Old Fulton Street, almost directly under the historic bridge, Grimaldi's is the place to stop for a post-journey meal (provided you walked from Manhattan to Brooklyn). And so it was with our weekend excursion to this coal-oven shop in the, uh, Brooklyn Heights? DUMBO? Vinegar Hill? section... More

Special Ed:Besides the spectacular turn-out for this month's Pizza Club at Totonno's in Coney Island, we were also excited to meet Ed Levine, who writes about food for the New York Times. From left: Seltzerboy, Adam, Totonno pizziola Lawrence Ciminieri, and Mr. Levine, who happened to be at the pizzeria doing research for an upcoming book on pizza and who was kind enough to give us some tips for upcoming pizza road trips. Timing is everything. We learned that thrice over earlier today down in Coney Island, where Slice editors were joined by ten readers brave—or foolhardy—enough to tackle... More

A PATSY'S BIRTHDAYThere'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... More

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... More

In lieu of a detailed write-up of Tontonno Pizzeria Napolitano, let us offer you this gallery of photos from a recent trip out to the venerable Coney Island pie shop. Because we enjoy the icy desolation of the boardwalk in winter, we'll be sure to make it out there again soon to give you the full low-down. Bon appetit!... More

One of last night's reruns of Law & Order on TNT contained a Grimaldi's reference. In the episode "Tabula Rasa," detectives Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) and Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) are investigating a suspect who claims he's never been to New York before. After obtaining his credit-card receipts, they find he has visited Grimaldi's—alone, no less. Lieutenant Van Buren: [reading list of card charges] United Airlines, TKTS, Museum of Modern Art Bookstore, Barneys, Grimaldi's Italian Restaurant.Briscoe: Grimaldi's in Brooklyn?Van Buren: You know another one? Charge was for twelve bucks and some change.Briscoe: [with the wisecrack] You can't feed a family of... More

Lombardi's gets a quick mention in the October 23–30, 2003 issue of Time Out New York. In that magazine's "It Happened Here!" sectionette, cleverly subhedded "The Life of Pie," Katherine Pushkar writes: For many New Yorkers, "eating in" actually means take-out Chinese or a large pie. Finding the first lo mein merchant is like eating soup with chopsticks, but pinpointing the first pizza purveyor's spot is a cinch. Genarro Lombardi opened his grocery at 53½ Spring Street in 1897, and by 1905 he'd gotten a restaurant license, giving the city and the nation its first pizza parlor. At some point,... More