Pizza Forever

Nicky D's Wood-Fired Pizza

2009-08-28T14:11:00.000-07:00

Been driving by this place almost every single day so I put it on the short list. It's gotten good reviews online and they claimed there was a hot dude who worked there so I thought, even if the pizza's no good at least I'll have that. I recruited Audrey and Alissa to go with me the other night and I was HUNGRY.

It's got this cute log-cabin feel, from the outside at least - it seemed like it could belong somewhere in Upstate NY and I'd go there if there were motorcycles parked out front. The inside...

From their website

Was happy when we saw there was also an outdoor area, even though it was pretty chilly.

The only problem with the outdoor area besides the spiders were the people smoking next to us while we were eating. But whatever.

We ordered a large pie - half plain and half House Vegetarian (black olives, artichokes, green peppers, mushrooms). $18, I think. It came out looking like this but with two more slices.....

First up - a veggie slice. I'm into that combo of veggies, it looked good, it smelled good...but it was just okay. It reminded me of the Ben's pizza I had on my birthday in that the crust was just too thick and doughy, plus undercooked, and there was too much topping - I couldn't fold that shit. No fucking way. Knife and fork. Ugh. Overall it was nothing special, just pizza. The veggies weren't fresh and it made a huge difference.

The plain slice was slightly better. Same issue with the crust but I could fold it if I tried hard. It was pretty greasy, a pool formed in the middle of my slice immediately. I don't care, just saying. There was a heckofa lot of cheese and probably not a proportional amount of sauce. I definitely preferred this slice to the veggie slice, but this one wasn't that great either. I think when we left I said I really didn't like it. And no hot dude worked that from what I could tell. I wouldn't recommend this place.

Nicky D's Wood-Fired Pizza
2764 Rowena Ave (btwn Rokeby Ave and Glendale Blvd)
Los Angeles, CA 90039

Two Boots

2009-08-27T18:27:00.000-07:00

There's a Two Boots a couple blocks away from where I live in Echo Park. Walkable Pizza. Folks, this could be dangerous...

I didn't hate Two Boots the last few times I had it in New York and I was curious to see if this version would be different. They have Pepsi here, not Coke. Is that different? I don't even know.

The setup is exactly the same as it is in NY, in terms of the menu and specialty pies. It's got an over the top interior with this huge mural on one wall that's like...of what?

There's plenty of seating inside and also outdoor seating if you wanna eat there and at least it's above street level.

Alissa and I each got a plain slice and then shared the Verde e Bianco (spinach, ricotta, garlic - no red sauce).

Hello!

We asked the girl working behind the counter to cut this slice in half for us...it's like she started out okay and then got distracted.

Ok, let's go. The plain slice... you got the typical Two Boots style cornmeal dusted crust which is too much cornmeal in my opinion, but that's their signature. I can handle it, I know what I'm getting into there. But the crust was tough to chew - I couldn't even eat the fat end crust because it felt like too much exercise for my jaw. And there was no sauce. None. There was red stuff, but I couldn't find any sauce. I lifted the cheese to look at what was underneath -- it wasn't there. Where was it? Usually I'll lift the cheese and dip my finger in the sauce so I know what it tastes like on it's own, and I couldn't do that. Seriously, this was a shitty slice, I gotta be honest. Then I regretted getting the white slice since I was already sauce deprived. It was dry and had the same issue with the tough crust. Totally edible, but not "good" pizza in any way.

**Update **
I went back last night and had some of Alissa's plain slice that was sauce heavy and goooood. (The beer I drank before I had it possibly contributed to making this bite exceptional). And while there was too much sauce for Alissa, I thought it was the right amount - and it was tangy and spicy, just how it is at home. Definitely not my favorite style of sauce but consistent with the Two Boots style. So I'm confused now, honestly, about how I feel. Like, I guess I need to go there one more time and make that slice the deciding factor? I really just think there needs to be consistency in the quality otherwise, I'll go somewhere else.

Two Boots
1818 W. Sunset Blvd (btwn Glendale and Lemoyne)
Los Angeles, CA 90026

Tomato Pie Pizza Joint

2009-08-25T12:39:00.001-07:00

I don't know how to take pictures at night

Oh my. First of all I have to say I love this place for calling itself a "pizza joint."
Lauren came to visit and we got PIIIIIIIIZZA!!! Farnosh and Alissa went to this place a couple of day earlier and recommended it. Let me tell you why...IT"S AWESOME! yumma yumma. It's good they knew about it because it's a little off the main road and what you do see from the street makes it look like it's closed. But it's not - just park in their lot on Tracy Street if you go and you'll see.

It's cute because you can sit outside on patio furniture away from the street.

...Which is good because the inside is seriously tiny.

Lauren and I split a plain slice and a Mediterranean slice (spinach, roma tomato, zucchini, corn, kalamata and black olives, feta). They cut them in half for us so I didnt get to take a pic of the whole slice. OK. FYI When you get two slices you get a small soda for $0.50...good deal.

I'm not so much into the idea of corn on pizza, but honestly I didn't think about it, and I didn't taste it either. It was so good. The plain slice was great as well. A slightly sweet sauce but not in an overpowering way and everything just seemed really fresh. We then went on to also share the Grandma slice (crushed marinated tomatoes instead of sauce, basically - rated the 7th best pizza in the world by GQ - debatable) and the eponymous tomato pie (no mozzarella but grated Romano on a Sicilian slice). Was too into the pizza go remember to take pics. Sorry.
So I don't think I can even get into it as much as I'm supposed to, but I loved all the slices I tried. The crust was just right on all of them, not too thin, not too doughy, a good amount of salt, not undercooked! Pretty crispy. I went into this LA pizza blogging with the intention of not comparing LA pizza to NY pizza, rather just to itself, but for the sake of full discretion still need to mention that this is the closest to NY pizza that I've had. And maybe that's what I'm into, and maybe you're into it too. I don't know.
The ingredients were all really fresh, the pies were right out of the oven, the owner Garrett was really nice and even offered me pizza making lessons which I was of course too shy to take him up on. Another time, perhaps.
Oh, so when you order here at the counter, you don't wait around at the counter for your shit to be ready, you go sit down and they bring it to you. They thought we were weirdos.

Tomato Pie Pizza Joint
2457 Hyperion Ave (at Tracy St)
Los Angeles, CA 90027

Brownstone Pizzeria

2009-08-21T11:54:00.000-07:00

So I was walking around Eagle Rock last week with nothing to do and 45 minutes left on the meter after a disappointing attempt at vintage shopping. I had heard it was a cute neighborhood, but there was petty much nothing going on besides a couple of coffee shops, a book store, and this place. I wasn't necessarily hungry, but since this place was on my pizza list and I was right there, I decided to pop in because California Joanna is flexible like that.

So as you can see, I was the only patron in there at around 12pm and when I started taking pictures the woman who worked there started chatting me up. She was super friendly, I told her about my pizza blog and she was pretty excited about being up on it.

They have flat screen TVs if you're into that. A football game was on that I couldn't pay attention to.

I got a plain slice $2.50?

This was a fresh out of the oven slice. So hot. So cheesy. I was getting pretty into it, it smelled great. I was like whoa...what if there is good pizza in LA and everyone is just talking shit for no reason? And my first bite was pretty good. But THEN when i wanted to fold it, it just droopity drooped and went limp. Crust was too thin/couldn't hold the weight of the cheese. It wasn't even cheese overload, it was a normal amount of cheese and it was good. The sauce was also good - a little spicy. But you know when the crust is so thin that one bite = half the slice? That's what this was. I didn't really get a satisfying bite until I got to the bottom 1/4 of it where there's more surface area or something. And I'll say the part of the pizza between halfway down and the fat end crust was pretty delicious. But then the end crust didn't have enough salt and was just totally bland. It was almost like flatbread in consistency because it was so thin. Too bad because I really wanted it to be better.

The view outside the pizza place is pretty sweet, but I personally wouldn't want to sit outside because a lot of cars drive by, even in the middle of the day.

Brownstone Pizzeria
2108 Colorado Blvd (near Eagle Rock Blvd)
Los Angeles, CA 90041

Dodgers vs. Braves

2009-08-07T10:08:00.000-07:00

It actually wasn't that bad, but very doughy. $8.75

Dodger Stadium
1000 Elysian Park Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Garage Pizza

2009-08-06T12:02:00.001-07:00

First installment of LA Pizza! Can you handle this???! I'm STOKED

Farnosh took me to Garage Pizza the other night when this other non-pizza place we tried to go to was closed.
It was a good introduction to pizza here and I'm happy to say that you CAN get a decent slice in LA.

So this place is in an unassuming little strip mall thing in über -hip Silverlake. They have a jukebox and a counter where you can sit.

There are tons of specialty pies/slices and I know I always review the plain slice but I was feeling wild and I got the "Treehugger" - it has olives, onions, peppers, mushrooms, and roma tomato. I don't remember what it cost, but it wasn't cheap.

Farnosh got artichokes and olives

So this is definitely not "NY Pizza" but it was still good. It's a pretty big slice and the crust, which I assume is one of the major differences between NY style and other pizzas, was good - just a different consistency. Whatever, it was delicious. Sharkey, the guy behind the counter, was a friendly guy and introduced himself and even made some other pizza recommendations for my blog, but I'll definitely be going back here (especially since it's open until 2am and you can come here after the bar).

Pizza lovers unite!

Garage Pizza
4339 W. Sunset Blvd (near Fountain Ave)
Los Angeles, CA 90029

Two Boots

2009-07-31T11:19:00.000-07:00

My last day of work - my last pizza survey.

Someone else will have to carry on the tradition.
I'm feeling a little lazy with the reviewing so I'm just gonna say this pizza was "eh".
Deal with it.

Two Boots

74 Bleecker Street (@ Broadway)

New York, NY 10012

Triangolo

2009-07-15T08:26:00.000-07:00

Back on the Greenpoint Pizza Crawl - stop #4.

I met up with Winona the other night to grab a slice at Triangolo. I knew a trip here was inevitable but I have to admit it was at the bottom of my list since I had a slice a here a few months ago that was Sucky McSuckerson.

Plain slice $2.50

The lowdown: Thin, crispy crust (too thin for me - maybe) with a good fat end crust with enough salt, the right amount of cheese, and a slightly spicy sauce (though not enough of it). I feel like the last time I came here the sauce was sweet - which generally makes me want to barf. Is it possible they changed their sauce or maybe I came on an off night? This was a solid slice. Pretty greasy, but not so greasy that you have a pool of it left on your plate. I guess I wish that the crust weren't so thin because it's also on the smaller side (refer to Schmook's) so when you're done you're like yo, who ate all my pizza? and you get another slice. There's a bunch of tables which is obv good, but what I don't like is how the whole front is open but that's my own thing since I prefer privacy when I dine.

Check out the dope pizza rug!

Check out the dope airbrushed pizzaman art!

Dear Triangolo,

Sorry I've been badmouthing you all over town - you're alright.

*jo

Triangolo

1017 Manhattan Avenue (corner of Greene)

Brooklyn, NY 11222

Alligator Lounge

2009-07-15T08:17:00.000-07:00

Perfection

Wah wah wah:

Free pizza with every drink purchase. I'm not gonna complain (except about the music which is always horrible and too loud).

Pizza Pizza.

Alligator Lounge

600 Metropolitan Avenue (near Lorimer)

Brooklyn, NY 11211

Pizza + Jokes = This is as good as it gets

2009-06-24T09:16:00.000-07:00

Famous Ben's Pizza of SoHo ... Take 2

2009-06-24T08:22:00.001-07:00

It was my birthday yesterday and I got a pizza party at work and you know I was so excited!

Here's what you missed...

Plain - $19

Meatball - $22

Broccoli and Olives (best combo ever) - $25

These pies looked and smelled delicious. Oh man.

This is me digging in

A slice from this pie weighed approximately 90,000 lbs. I could barely lift it. I needed 2 plates and then the most horrible thing happened - I couldn't even fold it. What??? Way too topping heavy! So I had to eat my pizza open like a weirdo - on my birthday. Delicious toppings - but too much of a good thing...you know how it goes. It was weird that the broccoli was just stalks and no florets. I almost couldn't eat another slice after this one but of course I had to have a plain slice just to see. THE PROBLEM IS their delivery slice is NOTHING like their in-house slice. Maybe because the pie is 2" smaller and they still use the same proportion of dough and cheese? Listen, I don't know what their doing, but this was more of a Pizza Hut* style deep dish slice than a New York pizza slice - you know, the one I loved so much last time? It was obviously delicious, but I was blindsighted by this disappointment. All aspects of it were good - the crust was thick but had good taste, the cheese was delish, there was just too much of it. I really wish I had taken a plate pic so I could do a side by side comparison of this slice and the one I got there a few weeks back. You can scroll down to that post if you need a reminder and then scroll up and check out the plain pie, I guess. Anyway, the sauce was good but didn't come through at all since there was so much other shit going on. I almost exploded after two slices. Barf just thinking about it. Also, there were puddles of grease and the actual pizza box was leaking grease onto the table. I had to "do the dab" to this slice and I never do that. That's all I have to say about that, I guess. Oh, also, I found a hair on my slice but to be fair it totally could have been mine.

I still trust Ben's for a solid slice in their establishment but I would not order a pie ever again which I guess is good to know.

*Don't think I'm hating on Pizza Hut - because I'm actually obsessed with it - but it's just not the pizza I was expecting.

Famous Ben's Pizza of Soho

177 Spring St. (corner of Thompson)

New York, NY 10012

P.S. Because I'm cool like that and fun to work with, this is what I make my co-workers fill out at pizza parties

Famous Ben's Pizza of SoHo

2009-05-27T11:43:00.001-07:00

Yikes! it's been a week...I forgot to blog this :(

Lara had a week off work and was nice enough to come meet me for lunch one day. Now, I've been wanting to blog Ben's Pizza for a long time - there's a debate in my workplace about whether Ben's is any good and since this has been going on for awhile now, I'm gonna review it already.

ayyyyyyyy

There are plenty of tables here but it's always very crowded at lunchtime so I try to avoid it. There's an outdoor sitting area (but on the sidewalk- I hate that - I'd rather sit on one of the benches by the fake park when it's nice out bc at least it's recessed from the street and people walking by aren't like on top of you). We waited until 1:45 and there were plenty of seats available inside. Phew.

I got a plain slice! $2.75

while Lara opted for the fresh mozzarella. I respect that - it's just not how I personally roll.

Both good-looking slices!

I have zero complaints about this pizza - I suppose there could have been more sauce as it was a very cheesy slice, but I definitely enjoyed it the way it came. There was just the right amount of grease to make it yummy and not gross and this is the FIRST slice where I don't have to say "not enough salt in the crust". GREAT crust! Yes, perhaps a little thick for some people, but not as thick as Pomodoro's for sure, and just the right thickness for me. So mazel tov, Famous Ben's Pizza of SoHo. I will request you for my birthday pie - I am excited to see how you taste with olives and broccoli.

Lara's review:

At Ben's Pizza I ended up getting the Mozzarella Slice for $3. I typically gravitate towards slices that are sauce heavy - often picking slices that don't have any cheese at all. For the purposes of Joanna's blog, however, I thought it made the most sense to get something that has all of the typical pizza ingredients.

Anyway, it was delicious. The sauce was kinda sweet (but I like that) and heavy on the garlic (I like that too), and the cheese was easy to bite into so I wasn't like I took a bite and the entire piece of cheese came with it. That did happen with the basil though, which was fine. My slice wasn't greasy but I don't really like greasy pizza so it worked out. Oh and the crust was fine, but not really noteworthy aside from needing to write something about it for the sake of this review.
My only real gripe about the place was that there isn't a napkin dispenser on each table. Luckily, being a professional, Joanna noticed it immediately and brought some napkins back to the table from the front counter so I was able to use some of those.

Famous Ben's Pizza of Soho

177 Spring St. (corner of Thompson)

New York, NY 10012

I want it so bad I could barf

2009-05-27T11:42:00.001-07:00

Lucali: Citysearch's Best Pizza 2007 from Citysearch on Vimeo.

Joe's Pizza

2009-05-14T12:18:00.000-07:00

We had an impromptu pizza party at work today to welcome a new staff member, but I didn't have my camera with me so no pics :(

We were supposed to get it this time from Original Ray's on Prince Street (which is what I get if I'm at Sweet & Vicious and need food), but were totally dicked over when we called to order and were told that they wouldn't deliver to our office. We were like, huh? it's like 5 blocks, okay..."Ladies, that's a dealbreaker." 30 Rock - LOL...anyway...pizza.

We ordered three pies: plain $20, broccoli and black olive $26, and meatball $22.

Here is an example of what a plain slice might look like at Joe's

image borrowed from loremipsum on Flickr

The plain was OK. Nothing to complain about but nothing special either. I was insanely into the veggie slice. Yum yum yum. Meateaters loooved the meatball.

Reviews from my coworkers (I make them fill out surveys at pizza parties - so what?):

"Great pizza"

"Very good stuff"

"The one with broccoli and olives is very good!"

"Meatball is the best. Broccoli and olives great - no complaints"

"A fine slice"

"Love this place!"

"Very satisfied. Great texture, nice toppings, good sauce and not too much cheese. Perfect package, like a woman with big hips and a small waist :) meow!"

"Top of the list right now. Let's go"

Joe's totally rules the school right now, obvie.

My boss put this chart together of our pizza parties on Excel. Amazing!!!!

Pros: Taste

Cons: Delivery took an hour, They charge you for spice container things, I found a piece of pepperoni on my veggie slice (which is why one must examine food carefully)

Joe's Pizza

7 Carmine Street (btwn Ave of the Americas and Bleecker)

New York, NY 10014

Cafe Rustico II

2009-04-30T11:41:00.000-07:00

Last week I did karaoke with my work friends at iBop.

That place is cool because you can bring your own beer and order a pizza right to your room, which of course we did.

Bud Light 40s + pizza + karaoke = best night ever?

I apologize for the crappy pic, there was like, a black light or something

A large pie is $16. A slice at the place is $2.50.

pretty much I'm a loser

So I can't really give this pizza a proper review since I had my 2 slices about 6 beers into the evening...but from what I, and everyone else there, remember it was really good.

Seriously, I highly recommend it if you're ever in the area. No joke.

Cafe Rustico II

25 W. 35th St (btwn 5th and 6th Ave.)

New York, NY 10001

Lenny's Pizza

2009-04-22T11:39:00.001-07:00

Image stolen from the Slice blog

So I was in Park Slope on Monday and had an hour to kill before recording. It was pouring and this place is right by the studio so I stopped in. Technically I'm only supposed to review Greenpoint pizza, but I make the rules here and decided now I just do whatever. This place has a good reputation, I don't know why.

I got a plain slice $2.50

The asymmetry of the fat crust bothers me

Fine. It looks good - it always does, right? Looks can be deceiving. Folks, for those of you who are into it, Lenny's is a thin crusted slice. I am not one of these people who are into it, apparently. The crust was so thin that the sauce just made it soggy. The sauce was good, but listen - I don't want a soggy slice. And although not as greasy as the slice from Russ, this is still an intensely greasy slice. The cheese is good - no complaints. Will there be a day where I complain about cheese? I dunno. So I had this mush of a slice of pizza and when I got down to trying to enjoy the fat end crust, I just couldn't. This crust tasted the most like cardboard out of all the slices I've reviewed so far. Needs more than salt to fix this one.

I like that there's a good amount of seating in the back and God knows I love wood paneling. The old guy who works there (is that Lenny? I don't even know...) was nice, cracking jokes that I had to politely laugh at since they were directed at me since I was the only one in there and while Hot 97 blasting over the speakers is not my thing, they played T.I.'s Whatever You Like, which of course you know made me happy because you guys know me so well; however, credit cannot be attributed to the establishment for that one. Run-on sentence much? I don't even bother editing apparently...Sorry dad.

Pros: A lot of places to sit, Lunch special of 2 slices and a small fountain soda for $4.50

Cons: Crappy pizza for realz, my Diet Coke fountain soda (which they don't put any ice in) tasted like root beer halfway though.

Lenny's Pizzeria

594 Fifth Avenue (btwn 16th St and Prospect Ave)

Brooklyn, NY 11215

dream dude? dream pizza

2009-04-07T10:21:00.000-07:00

This movie was posted on the Slice blog, thought I'd share. This is where I'll go for my post-Passover pizza

Russ Pizza

2009-04-07T07:07:00.000-07:00

So I met up with Christine on Saturday for GPC #3 after she'd looked an apartment. I'd never been here which is kind of ridiculous, but I think I've always been turned off by the amount of people it looks like are in there on line since it's such a narrow entrance? When I got there there were a bunch of people waiting around, this doesn't seem like fastest place and I get the impression they don't really care.

I don't think I knew they had seating in the back in the way that Italy Pizza also does. The seating area is pretty substantial and it seemed like most of the people who were on line were taking their pizza to go and not hanging around like us.

Plain slice $2.25

This slice is not from a fresh pie, and it needed to be heated up. It took longer to heat up than it should when I'm hungover and want pizza AND as you can see, it's smaller than the Schmook's slice. I have to say I really liked it though; the cheese was salty, the sauce was good - it reminded me of one of the Park Slope pizza places I used to go to growing up. Smiling, I think? The crust was okay; it was crispy and wasn't undercooked but it could have used more salt. The main issue here is that this is one helluva greasy slice. Christine did "the dab" - seriously, check this out:

Kind of gross, but listen, we got another slice to share just to be sure and we got a slice from a fresh pie. It kind of does make a difference. It was still amazingly greasy, but very good.

What else?

Pros: Yum, my favorite so far on the GPC
Cons: Slice too small for amount I want to eat, slow service, fountain soda tasted like crap and the large isn't large enough

Russ Pizza
745 Manhattan Ave (Btwn Meserole and Norman)
Brooklyn, NY 11222

Fornino

2009-03-31T08:58:00.001-07:00

image stolen from some Yelp review

Dinner with Gideon last night at Fornino. Technically it was my second time there but I'd never had the pizza before...What?! I know.

image stolen from NYMag

I had pretty high expectations because they have won some Best of Citysearch award which is a big time big deal I guess, and it's posted right out front. Anyway, it's a cute little place that doesn't take itself too seriously. No tablecloths (yes, that's an indicator). So yeah, nice casual brick oven pizza. Love it. The waitress was very nice - Hi, and it wasn't too crowded, but it wasn't empty either. The atmosphere is cozy and it didn't take too long to get our pizzas.

I got the Ortolana ($11) since I had gone through the menu earlier in the day and couldn't stop thinking about it. Also, my new rule for eating whole pizzas is that it has to have a lot of veggies on it to make me feel less guilty about it. This one has zucchini, eggplant, broccoli rabe, and roasted peppers. This pizza is definitely smaller than the one from Gnocco, but seems to be the right amount of food for someone like me. Absolutely nothing was wrong with this pizza, but it didn't blow me away. I don't know if Gnocco has ruined me for all other pizzas or what (hope not), I just didn't feel the same way about it as I thought I would. The crust was perfect: thin and a little charred - the way it should be, fresh ingredients, the eggplant was delicious like butter and I don't even like eggplant. I can't put my finger on it, I just didn't fall in love with this pizza and want to marry it. There was no oomph to it, I guess. I still ate the whole thing though. Please.

Gideon got the Siciliana ($11) which has cherry tomato, anchovies, onion, eggplant, capers, and olives. He added the Mozzarella as an extra. He's so excited to eat that shit. Wouldn't you be?

I was jealous of his olives. I didn't try it so I can't say anything about it.

Pros: Fresh ingredients, tons of pizzas to choose from - actually 30, Olive oil on the table, Backyard seating in the warmer months, Right off the Bedford stop of the L

Cons: Missing the "it" factor?, Would prefer more attentiveness to refilling the water glasses

For the record: I'm totally willing to go back and give it another shot when I'm done making the rounds.

Gideon's review...

Being a New Yorker, I'm a sucker for Neapolitan. Places like Grimaldi's, John's and Arturo's have been doing thin crust, wood oven pies since long before I was born. And I hold them to the gold standard: smoky, crispy-chewy crust, fresh sauce and high quality cheese. Plus whatever fresh toppings get pulled out of the fridge. Mmmmm yeah. But with new comers like Lil Frankies and Nick's giving the old guys a run for their money, I figured Fornino in Brooklyn would have on it's A game as a contender. Brooklyn represent, right? Or Williamsburg. Or whatever. But like a lot of Billsburg, Fornino tries really, really hard only to miss the mark compared to the real thing. Don't get me wrong, I'd take a Fornino pie over some store bought bullshit any day of the week. But the sauce was tepid, the toppings on mine felt out of a can, and when the crust is the best part of your slice, you know you're in for trouble. I give it a proverbial 5 out of 8 slices. I'd go back. But given that Grimaldi's is less than a mile away, and Fornino only has pizza on the menu, somebody in that kitchen gotta step it up. Best part of my meal was shooting the shit with Joanna.

Fornino

182 Bedford Ave (btwn N. 6th and N. 7th)

Brooklyn, NY 11211

Schmook's

2009-03-29T14:03:00.000-07:00

These people are famous now!

Christine and I went to Schmook's yesterday for stop #2 on the Greenpoint Pizza Crawl (GPC).
Plain slice $2.25

Again we got slices from a pie that wasn't fresh. This pizza looks better than it tastes. It's pretty heavy - there is a lot of cheese. No complaints there. My main issue with this slice is that the crust was too thin for the amount of cheese it had on it. The crust was crispy but undercooked and didn't have enough salt. The sauce was good and the cheese was good, I just don't like it when you fold the slice and it breaks in half. I'm gonna have to take points off for that. I mean, it was good but nothing special.

Christine liked it better than I did.

There are ten seats, so I guess the seating situation is good enough. One thing that really bothered me was the horrible screeching sound of the bottom of the chair scraping against the tile floor whenever someone stood up or sat down. It's really hard not to be distracted by and totally takes away from the ambience.

This guy was really nice. And you see that pie? $12

Pizza porn:

...They also have beef patties? $1.75

Pros: Huge slice, Cans of Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi, Convenient to Nassau stop, Good topping selection, Good slogan "Schmook's - It's a Pizza Place"
Cons: Annoying sound from chairs that I can't get over, Lame crust

Schmook's Review By Christine

I think that Schmook's is probably the 3rd or 4th by-the-slice pizza place that I have tried in Greenpoint. I've always been intrigued by its circus-lights exterior, but it's a little out of the way for me, so I was glad to finally have an excuse to try it.

I hear all of Joanna's points, but for me, the way the crust cracked when folded was hardly an issue. This could be a question of style -- I don't really like to fold my slice in half because eating it that way makes me feel like I'm eating half as much. For this reason, I like a slice with a relatively crispy crust, and this one didn't sag or get sloppy.

I thought the interior of the place was pretty nice. It looked like they had put a little money into new tables, chairs, and a paint job relatively recently, and to me that made the place seem clean. However, the entire back of the restaurant was taken up by stacks of empty pizza boxes. I don't know what's going on storage-wise in other parts of the building, but I have to believe that there is a better place to keep all those boxes, especially given the seating crunch that was going on while we were there. There's nothing I hate more than feeling like I have to race to vacate my seat because someone else is standing and waiting -- in this case it was a woman who eventually wound up grabbing an empty chair and lifting it over our table to a corner. If that had been me, I would just have gotten my slice to go rather than do that, but I guess that's neither here nor there, and certainly it isn't Schmook's fault.

Overall, I agree with Joanna that the crust, especially the thick edge, could have used a lot more salt. There was a lot of cheese, which I liked, and it stayed in place even though my slice wasn't folded. I also liked the size of the slice -- huge.

Finally, I think this is a great place to order delivery from. Delivery is free with a minimum order of $10, and as you can see in the picture, $12 gets you an absolutely gigantic pie.

Schmook's, if you are reading this, your pizza makers are very friendly, and I like that you have a bar along the front window for casual people-watching. Get some new felt on the legs of your chairs to cut down on that awful screeching, and maybe consider storing your ready-to-go pizza boxes someplace else. B+!

Schmook's
86 Nassau Ave (btwn Manhattan and Leonard)
Brooklyn, NY 11222

Check it

2009-03-28T18:55:00.000-07:00

Hot pizzaman from Italy Pizza!!!

Covert spy pic. Afterwards we ran away giggling like schoolgirls.

Gnocco

2009-03-12T10:50:00.000-07:00

image stolen from NYMag

Holy crap.
First of all, don't get too used to me reviewing places like this. Second of all, holy crap. Again. So I went here on Monday for my dad's birthday. Lovely atmosphere, really nice/helpful/non-overbearing waitress. It seemed there were a lot of birthdays happening there.

image stolen from NYmag

Yadda yadda yadda ... this is the pizza I got

I know, right?!!!!!!!!
it's called the Vegetariana ($13.50) and I'm not positive but I think it had olives (kalamata?), artichoke, eggplant, mushrooms, and cherry tomatoes. It blew my mind.

Bro homes loved it too

I recommended this place the next day to some friends who went there that night and I got this email the next day:
Subject: Why
Body: Didn't you mention that HOT HOT bartender who works at Gnocco? Even though I suspect he moves his wedding band to his pinky finger to throw potential big spenders and tippers off the track. Additionally - the food was amazing. Thx.

Needless to say I'll be going back on not a Monday to assess this situation for myself.

Pros: Unreal bartender, backyard seating
Cons: Bartender wasn't working when I went there

Gnocco
337 E. 10th Street (btwn A and B but closer to B)
New York, NY 10009

Italy Pizza

2009-03-10T16:30:00.001-07:00

On Saturday afternoon I went to Italy Pizza. I chose it as the first stop on my official Greenpoint Pizza Crawl (GPC) because based on what I already know I think it's my favorite.

I got a plain slice - $2

The slice i got had been sitting around for awhile so the cheese had congealed. I could have waited for a fresh pie, but didn't feel like it. It had a nice crispy crust (I personally don't have a preference for chewy or crispy but this was nice). It's got a thick crust, so it's pretty heavy. I like that the sauce isn't sweet. I don't like sweet sauce, ugh. I don't know if it's because I was hungover, or what, but I felt pretty gross about halfway through my slice. I had to take a breather. It was pretty greasy but in a good way.

My friend Chris got a white slice that also was pretty heavy and made him feel gross. But look at that bubble!

He liked it. The crust on his slice was much thicker and chewier. I like that there's an inconsistency there.

yummmm

So when you walk in the pizza counter is right there and you might not know there's seating in the back if it's crowded. I would order from this place, but I don't think I'd wanna walk the 4 blocks to my apartment from here with my slice, so the seating situation is good. I like the back area for privacy as well. I don't like people on the street watching me eat my pizza, okay?

Also this was on the wall and I feel like I need it for my apartment.

Pros: Good selection of slice toppings, Hot Italian guy making the pizza, really good fountain soda
Cons: I heard they put the pepperoni on the slice after it's already cooked, I was too embarrassed to take a picture of the Pizza Man.

Italy Pizza
788 Manhattan Avenue (btwn Calyer and Meserole)
Brooklyn, NY 11222

This is Pizza Forever

2009-03-10T07:28:00.000-07:00