Pizza Vs. Sex

I don't own a car. But if I did, I would most definitely be rocking out this bumper sticker.

Matzah Pizza For Passover W/ Spike Mendelsohn

I'll be honest... today is probably my least favorite day of the year. It's the first night of Passover, which means I must now go on my annual eight (well, actually nine) day pizza hiatus. Although this will give my arteries some time to unclog, by day five or six I usually start to suffer from some withdrawal symptoms.

If there is anything that can make this holiday more bearable, it's watching a video of Spike Mendelsohn cooking some matzah pizza at the Sixth and I Historic Synagogue in Washington, DC. Although the video is almost a full hour, the pizza portion runs from 31:00 - 44:30.

Even if Spike's matzah pizza is only 1/20th as good as the burgers served up at Good Stuff Eatery... well then, it's probably better than anything I've ever eaten on Passover.

I doubt they'll be serving any matzah pizza at Spike's new pizza joint, We, The Pizza, opening soon [Can DC Pizza Give NYC A Run For Its Money?] in Washington... but it looks pretty good in the video below.

J. Lo Folds Her Pizza. OMG!

It's this week in... celebrity pizza gossip! J. Lo... wait for it... is a folder!

(but honestly... who's even looking at the pizza?)

Midtown's Best Pizza: 57 Napoli Pizza e Vino

Midtown Manhattan is home to some of the city's best food, but when it comes to pizza there isn't a single place which people swear by. That is about to change.

Earlier this month, word spread that a "speakeasy" pizza place had set up shop in the upstairs level of a cafe. And when Midtown Lunch reported this week that there was a $6 lunch special on the menu (available until 3PM), I had to swing by and check it out.

57 Napoli Pizza e Vino (120 East 57th Street) is located on the second floor of C’est Bon Café and once word gets out, I guarantee you this 50-seat spot will be packed for lunch every day. For the quality and quantity of pizza you get, it can't be beat. You get a personal 10 inch pie which will cost you just $6.53 with tax. Considering two slices at a sub par pizza place in Midtown will run you about $5.00 these days, I think the extra $1.53 is well worth it for a personal pizza... made from scratch in front of you... and topped with fresh mozzarella & basil.

Manning the oven is Salvatore Olivella who has previously worked at L’asso and No. 28. When I stopped by, Salvatore was hopping around the kitchen, tossing dough in the air, shoving pies in and out of the oven, and making small talk with customers. The place is pretty bare bones for now and one downside is there isn't really a spot to wait for takeout orders. The other trade off is that because each pie is made as it's ordered, there's about 15 minute wait per order. It's definitely not a quick bite, but rather a nice and cheap place to sit down with some coworkers for a leisurely lunch.

One problem I generally have with many sit down pizza places is that you usually end up spending $15 on a delicious pie, but don't leave feeling particularly full. You won't feel stuffed by a 10 inch pie at 57 Napoli Pizza e Vino, but it's quite satisfying for only $6. Heck... if you're starving, downing a second pie is definitely doable. My only hope is that this place doesn't become a complete madhouse like some burger places not too far away (Shake Shack, Burger Joint, etc). But for pizza like this... I will wait!

* Update: It's been brought to my attention that although the pizza in the photo above was served to me as the $6.00 lunch special, the typical $6.00 pie does not include fresh mozzarella and basil. That being said, your best bet might be splitting a Buffalina D.O.C. pie (featured in photo 1 with Salvatore) with two friends. The pie has tomato sauce, fresh buffalo mozzarella, olive oil, and basil. It costs $22 -- or about $8 each with tax.

2010 Village Voice Choice Eats Is A Hit

On Monday evening I attended the 2010 Village Voice Choice Eats -- easily my favorite NYC food event of the year. More than 60 restaurants set up booths and served up some of their most popular dishes.

A couple of pizza-related notes:

Motorino had a booth once again this year and was serving Insalata di Polpo (octopus, potatoes, celery, capers, extra virgin olive oil, lemon). Owner Mathieu Palombino was personally dishing out portions. Last year, when I heard that Motorino was going to be at the event, I was expecting some of their delectable pizza. But as soon as you walk into the 69th Armory on Lexington Avenue, it makes sense that there are few, if any, places serving pizza. In Motorino's case, there is no way that they could replicate their pies without the ovens they use in their two locations. So instead, they set up shop at Choice Eats to highlight some of their other popular menu items.

The only place serving pizza this year was a place called Slice, The Perfect Food which has locations on the Upper East Side and in the West Village. At Choice Eats, serving pizza means reheating it in a microwave oven. Even before I tried a slice, the owner told me that their pizza was much better fresh and that I should visit one of their restaurants for the real experience. For reheated pizza, it tasted fine -- but the consensus is that pizza is a difficult food item to churn out in large quantities at an event like Choice Eats.

Pizza aside, the event was a hit. Here were some of my favorite dishes of the evening in no particular order!

Deviled Eggs With Pickled Mustard Seeds & Smoked Black Peppers
Fort Defiance

Soft Cheesecake With Blueberry Compote, Oranges, And Passionfruit Foam
Spot Dessert Bar



Braied Beef Tongue With Szechuan
Pepper Oil, Cilantro, Peanut and Crispy Nori
Zuzu Ramen

Malva Pudding Dessert
Madiba Restaurant

Buttermilk Pudding With Mango
No. 7

Pumpkin Crostini with Maple Smoked Butternut Squash and Roasted Pepitas
Dirt Candy



Braised Beer Brisket With Schoolhouse Kitchen Mustard
With Hot Bread Kitchen Toast From
Jimmy's No. 43



Mac & Cheese With White Cheddar, Thyme, And Pulled Pork Shoulder
Mama's Food Shop

Crispy Goat Cheese On Flauta Bread
Cheeky Sandwiches

Spicy Thai Salad, Grilled Chicken, And Buckwheat Noodles
With Cilantro Mint Pesto
Mooncake Foods

Spiced Duck Rillettes With Celery Root And Green Apple Remoulade

Juliette

Lamb Meatballs With Mint Broth

Txikito

Brisket Taco

Toloache

Hummus With Assorted Toppings

Hummus Place

Meat Lasagna
Max

Fatty Devil (Deviled Eggs)

Fatty Crab

Chocolate and Olive Oil Bastoncino, Olive Oil Gelato Lollipops
Coated in Chocolate with Salted Breadcrumbs
Del Posto

Cupcakes

Kumquat Cupcakery

Empty House At Veloce Pizzeria; More Pizza To E. Village

There are just too many sit-down pizza places in the East Village. There's Luzzo's, Pizza Gruppo, Motorino, Piola, Veloce Pizzeria, and Tonda all within a few blocks of one another. Now Pulino's has opened a down the street and news came last week that South Brooklyn Pizza is coming to the East Village and the spot that formally housed Cafe Brama is being converted into a pizza place. And this is just a small sampling...

So how much is too much? Well it's yet to be seen whether all of these places will take business away from each other. Which will be the first to close? Are there enough pizza eaters in the area to sustain all of these places? That is, are people willing to drop $15 for their fill of pizza or will the corner slice joint suffice? When I type "pizza" and "east village" into my MenuPages iPhone application, here's what my screen looks like:

By the looks of things, Veloce Pizzeria is not holding up particularly well. After some rave reviews in a number of New York publications it appears as if the hype my have finally worn off. I passed by last Thursday at 8:00PM and surrounding restaurants were packed. It was 65 degrees and the East Village was hopping. Except inside of Veloce, where only two diners were eating.

This week a coupon popped up online: spend $20 for $40 worth of food and drink at the restaurant. Usually, when restaurants push out deals like this it means they're getting desperate for business. Truth is, the pizza at Veloce is pretty good and this coupon is a great deal. We have no clue if they'll be in business for another three months or another three years. But we do know you should swing by while you still can.

Dine In Brooklyn Pick: Toby's Public House

There are exactly five days left for Dine In Brooklyn -- Brooklyn's version of Restaurant Week. You can get a three course lunch for $20.10 and a three course dinner for $25.00 at some of the borough's best restaurants. Check out all of the participating restaurants here. There's a lot of Italian restaurants on the list and a few places that specialize in pizza - like L&B Spumoni Gardens. But I don't suggest going to any of those spots.

You should skip directly to the last page of the Dine In Brooklyn Guide which lists a select number of places which are offering lunch for two people for a total of $20.10 or dinner for two people for a total $25.00. It's on that list that you'll see Toby's Public House.

Through Friday, they'll be offering two people a salad to split, a choice of three pizzas to split (Margarita, Funghi, or Homemade Sausage), and a tiramisu dessert. All for just $20.10 at lunchtime or $25.00 at dinner.

You can check out their website here or my review of Toby's here.

Recap: Sixpoint Anniversary Party At Roberta's

Last month, I went to Roberta's for the first time to celebrate Sixpoint's 5 year anniversary. There was unlimited Roberta's pizza and unlimited Sixpoint beer -- basically two of my favorite things to consume in life. Although they were serving up more than a dozen Sixpoint brews, they only had three types of pizza -- each which were delicious.

There was a "margherita" pie with mozzarella, tomato, basil. There was a pie with speck, mushrooms, oregano, onions, mozzarella. And there was a pie with mozzarella, mushrooms and artichokes.

MARGHERITA

SPECK, ONIONS, & MUSHROOMS



ARTICHOKE AND MUSHROOMS

With fewer than 10 pies on the menu, I will be returning soon with friends in hopes of trying them all. Until then, enjoy the less than stellar photos above. Let's just blame it on the beer.

Free Pizza @ Standings During NCAA Tournament

The NCAA Tournament kicks off this afternoon. There's no better place to watch all the action then at East Village bar Standings (43 East 7th Street). Even if college bball isn't your thing, they'll be serving free pizza for lunch at 1:00 PM today and tomorrow.

I'll be honest though... even the best Cinderella story can't beat the excitement surrounding Slice's March Madness Pizza bracket (see What "Pizza Madness 2009" Was All About).

I met Adam from Slice back at a pizza meetup in October, shortly after he'd gotten the news that he'd be flying around the country to try different pizza places for an article in Every Day with Rachael Ray. The feature came out great and it's the exact type of trip I'd love to plan around the country.

A Closer Look At The 99 Cent Slice

If you're reading this right now, you probably know that yesterday The New York Times published an article about the proliferation of pizza places in New York City that are selling slices for 99 cents (Where a Meal Can Cost a Fortune, 99¢ Pizza Catches On). I've been aware of this trend for quite some time, but I've been paying particularly close attention to it over the past few weeks.

The article primarily focused on two growing chains that have made it their business model to sell cheap slices: 2 Bros. Pizza and 99¢ Fresh Pizza. The article mentions that there are four locations of each, with a fifth location of 99¢ Fresh Pizza opening soon.

Back in January, I compiled a list of all the places serving 99¢ slices on my other blog (NYCDAILYDEALS). Other than the 2 Bros. Pizza and 99¢ Fresh Pizza locations, I included Mamani (151 Avenue A) and three Papa John’s locations (23-33 Astoria Boulevard; 40-18 Greenpoint Avenue; 21 Maiden Lane). Since then, Slice has noted that a Papa John's in Manhattan has joined the 99¢ trend. But it doesn't stop there.

Adam Kuban, Slice

Recently, I've been coming across new 99¢ slice places every few days...

First I noticed that Mario's Pizza (147 E Houston) which just opened on the Lower East Side was selling 2 slices of pizza for $2.

And then I noticed $1 slices at Olympia Deli (753 6th Avenue)...

And the same deal at K Food (18 E. 33rd Street)...

And then I saw an ad for Lizzie's (31 W 8th St), which claims to be the "Home of the Dollar Slice."

And just yesterday I passed by 99¢ Fresh Hot Pizza (495 Lexington Avenue) -- not to be confused with 99¢ Fresh Pizza...

And this list doesn't include places that fall just outside of the $1.00 and under range. Like Eden (166 North 7th Street) in Williamsburg which sells slices for a whopping $1.25.

Or 14th Street Pizza (226 East 14th Street) where slices are an outrageous $1.50 each!!

So what does all of this mean? Well it serves as confirmation that New York City is, in fact, experiencing a boom in cheap slices of pizza.

It's funny... because over the past year or two we've been going through a pizza revolution in New York City like never before. And it's the proliferation of expensive upscale artisinal pizza places that has been well documented. But I think people are starting to realize that it's affected the low end of the pizza spectrum too.

For every Pulino's or Paulie Gee's that opens, another $1 budget pizza shop pops up. The ingredients are typically cheap, as are the costs for these places. They're generally just counters and an oven -- sometimes a few seats -- so in order to be profitable they're able to sell slices at the prices that they do. Furthermore, they're taking business away from the guy around the corner who is selling slices for $2.50.

And although the $2.50 slice might be of slightly better quality -- most people don't care. If you're a homeless person on the corner of 43rd Street, or a drunk NYU student on St. Marks Place, you could care less. People will always be looking for deals in New York City. And with the competitive nature of the city, someone will always be trying to offer you a product at a cheaper price.

If this was an SAT problem, it would look something like this:

Louis Vuitton Bag: Knockoff Bag In Chinatown ::

(A) Yankees Playoff Tickets: Mets Playoff Tickets
(B) Slice Of Di Fara: Slice Of 2 Bros. Pizza
(C) Shake Shack Burger: Minetta Tavern Burger
(D) The Dirty Projectors: The Strokes
(E) Strand Books: Barnes & Noble

You get the point. You're paying less for a lower quality product. But that won't stop people from buying fake bags and it won't stop people from buying 99¢ slices. Let the games begin!