The Pizza Page – Pizza IS Happiness!
Pizza makes me think anything is possible ~ Henry Rollins
The pizza page, how has it taken me so long to add this to my site? For those who know me well, they know one of my absolute loves in life is a slice of NY style pizza. I’ve traveled a lot, have had the benefit of eating fantastic meals, in fantastic restaurants all over the world. But to me there are few food experiences better than that first bite of a perfect slice of NY style pizza. The closest thing to that experience is my first bite of the Rabbit and Dumplings at Cochon Restaurant in New Orleans.
As such, I search out pizza wherever I go looking for places for good slices. So the pizza page will be a reflection of just that, reviews of the pizza places I find in my life and travels. Hopefully it will give you a few good places to get a piece of pizza.
First, some clarification, who invented pizza? Salerno’s Pizza has a site which is one of the best histories of pizza on the web. What we recognize as pizza was invented in Italy, in Naples. But how and where pizza became what we truly know today was created when immigrants from Naples moved to the East Coast, in particular New York and Connecticut. The coal fired oven style of NY pizza is what I truly love and what I will use as my measuring stick for evaluating the pizza I discuss on the page.
What I won’t be discussing is Chicago or Detroit style pizza or even Sicilian style NY pizza. Please understand, these are all great food. I have certainly enjoyed my fair share of each, hell while in grad school I once had a friend buy and drive a pizza down from Chicago as he was returning from a conference. But these other styles of pizza are not what I love, so I’ll let others talk about them. When I say pizza, I’m only referring to NY Style pizza.
So what is NY style pizza? See the photo above, thin and crispy crust, real whole milk or buffalo milk mozzarella cheese and of course, the slice should be at least a little greasy and definitely foldable. A good pizza place will always have shakers available with granulated garlic and oregano. My perfect pairing for a slice is always a coke, that’s my bliss, but I don’t judge people on what they accompany their little slice of heaven with and it even works with a nice glass of red wine.
Toppings and gourmet pizza. I’m not a toppings snob, you won’t hear me scream, “no fruit on pizza!” Honestly, whoever came up with the Hawaiin pizza was a culinary genius, it shouldn’t work, seriously, ham and pineapple on pizza? But it definitely does. However, that’s about as exotic as I like my pizza. For me the standard toppings are pepperoni, sausage, and mushrooms. I don’t like onions, but onion, garlic, peppers and olives are standard adjacent in my book. As soon as you see a menu with 20 different types of pizzas and topping combinations, and you’re not in NYC, you’re likely not in a pizza place I would highly recommend. There are exceptions, but they are few and far between. Anything labeled “gourmet pizza” is immediately out of this conversation and belongs in the category with Chicago and other styles of pizza, it may be good food, but it ain’t pizza, not by my definition. And a special note to my friend Kara, broccoli and carrots should never be on pizza.
Pizza Places In Memoriam
First in my reviews let me start with pizza places in memoriam and I have three. The first, is the single greatest pizza place to ever have existed, I’ll accept no disagreement on this point and will fight you if you try.
The Pizza Pit (Hudson, NY)
I’m sure I’ll be accused of bias as this was my pizza place growing up. But I truly believe I just happen to be lucky enough to grow up 3 blocks from the greatest pizza ever. Every week the owners would drive to NYC to buy ingredients, and these hand tossed masterpieces were served up six nights a week. A tiny little hole in the wall, slices available of course and they would open at 4PM and shut when they ran out of ingredients each night. On a weekend night, it was almost impossible to get a pie after 8PM. You always knew when it was over, because you dialed 828-1170 and kept getting a busy signal. Mr. Bijan had taken the phone off the hook, because they had all the orders they would take that night. The Pizza Pit closed because antique dealers from NYC found Hudson and starting opening storefronts for their businesses in Hudson taking advantage of lower taxes and lower property values. As such, the owner of the building The Pizza Pit was in decided to jack up the rent through the roof and so The Pizza Pit owner retired. He has the pizza ovens in his garage and I have on more than one occasion begged him to make me one last pie.
Don’t know the name in Vegas
The second pizza place I will include in the in memoriam section I have no idea what the name of it was. The pizza place was located in a little strip mall that was located across from the current Planet Hollywood Hotel/Casino on the strip. Next door to where the old Holiday Inn used to be. This little hole in the strip mall, was the first time outside of New York that I ever got a true NY slice. Of course, that part of the strip has undergone multiple changes and is now a massive hotel complex including Aria and the Cosmopolitan.
Arinell
The third one has been my go to pizza place since I moved to the San Francisco area. In the Mission, just off of the 18th street BART subway stop was a place call Arinell. Another hole in the wall, seeing a pattern yet, solid NY slices with an accompanying NY vibe. Arinell fell victim as many businesses to the ravages of the pandemic. It was an easy BART ride into the city to get some good slices. There are supposedly other good NY slices in the city, but none as convenient for me. But I’m on the hunt and will have reviews up soon for a couple of those places.
Current Pizza Places and Reviews
My Little Pizzeria – Brooklyn Heights
My most recent excellent pizza experience came at My Little Pizzeria on Court Street in Brooklyn Heights. It’s near where my brother lives and so I hit it while I was visiting. As a matter of fact at one point, I hit it for five straight meals over two days. While in Brooklyn, I can’t walk past this place without going in for a slice. It’s the epitome of a classic NY slice place and the pizza perfectly represents what I described as a NY style pizza. The picture at the top of the page were my first two slices when I was last there.
F & F Pizzeria – Brooklyn Heights
Frank’s Pizza is ok. Definitely a place that has a standard NYC slice and I really liked their pepperoni. But the slice just wasn’t quite there and they seemed to be bordering a little too much on the gourmet side of things. They also likely suffered a bit from being in direct comparison with My Little Pizzeria.
Secret Pizza – Las Vegas
Secret Pizza has a great gimmick, no sign outside the restaurant. You basically have to sleuth it out on the web, or learn about it by word of mouth. Located on the third floor of the Cosmopolitan Hotel/Casino, they make a really decent slice. However, I have some caveats. First, it’s Vegas, on the strip, so the slices are too expensive. Secondly, their pepperoni is terrible and I always have to remember to avoid ordering a slice with one of my favorite toppings when I go there. But if in Vegas, worth a visit, it’s a fun little adventure finding it, especially if you’re going for the first time.
They’ve opened a location in the Silver Legacy Casino in Reno, but it’s only open on weekends and so I haven’t had a chance to check it out yet.
Celestino’s – Chico, CA
Celestino’s has a number of locations in Northern California, two in Chico and one I lived near in Roseville. I’ll start with the Roseville location, really solid pizza, in the vein of NY style, close but not quite there. But I love this place and it was my go to place in the Roseville area.
About 15 years ago I was at a conference at the California State University at Chico. I wasn’t thrilled with what was on offer for lunch so I took a walk down campus looking for a restaurant. At the base of campus I saw for the first time, Celestino’s NY Pizza. There was a line out the door and a student came walking by eating a slice and it really looked right. And my friends it was, probably the closest I’ve had to a NYC slice in Northern California, it was glorious. Just a really solid slice and over the years when I’ve revisited, they’ve been consistently solid. I stopped in during the pandemic, while school wasn’t in session and the quality was down a bit. But I think that was a pandemic impact, and I imagine, and current online reviews seem to back it up, that the quality has returned.
The Ministry of Happiness 