3 Day NYC Pizza Crawl with Fellow Berserkers

Figured I would copy my review and post here.

Me and 6 fellow Berserkers embarked on a 3 day Pizza crawl around most of NYC. Everyone had a slightly different top 5, but we pretty much all agreed on Number 1.

28 pizzerias + a second location of our favorite.

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NY Pizza Crawl 10.21.21- 10.23.21

(My Top 5 ranked are pictured)

L&B Spumoni: Brooklyn- Original Location

Square slice: Nice crust, decent ratio of cheese and sauce. Nothing special and quite uninspired. Heard good things about this place going into the crawl so pretty letdown by the overall taste. (6/10)

Regular Slice: Just OK. Square was better. Cheese on this piece felt a little waxy and overpowered the sauce. (5/10)

Di Fara: Brooklyn

Pepperoni slice: Now we’re talking. When one thinks of NY Style pizza, this is what you want. Great crust, flavorful sauce, perfect amount of cheese and perfect mini pepperoni, which a nice balance of meatiness, texture and flavor. This place will surely contend for Best Pizza in the end. (9.5/10)

Di Fara: Lower East Side

Pepperoni slice- This was our last stop of the crawl and one that we decided to revisit to see if it still held the crown as it was also one of the first that we tried on Day 1. Surprisingly to us, this location was a ghost kitchen mainly used for Doordash, Grubhub, etc., but they did allow walk in orders and had a community seating area inside. We all felt the crust was a touch thicker than the original, but it made very little difference. This place rocks. Pound for pound, Di Fara is the King of NY Pizza. Not fancy, no gimmicks, just great ingredients, perfect style, great flavor and overall, the best place we ate all weekend.

Grimaldi’s: Brooklyn Bridge- Original Location

Ordered “The Don”. Traditional Coal Oven Pie with Italian Sausage, Meatballs and Pepperoni. Have always wanted to visit the original as this place has been a favorite of mine through the years as they have opened some satellite locations around the west coast and was my go-to when I was in college. I think we made the fatal error of ordering a pizza with too many toppings. The meatballs were a bit bland, and the amount of meat was simply too much for this to work. The fresh Mozz was a little too watery as well and overall, a bit of a letdown. Still a great spot and one that I would be happy to eat on any given day, but this was not a memorable visit. (7.5/10)

Paulie Gees: Brooklyn

Pepperoni w/ side of Mike’s Hot Honey. Really nice crust although slightly overcooked so it had a bit too much burnt flavor. Took a bite prior to adding the recommended Hot Honey. First bite was nice and very enjoyable but didn’t feel like it was anything special other than a solid slice of NY Pie. THEN WE ADDED THE “Mikes Hot Honey”. Not something I could eat more than 1 slice of, but man, what a weirdly awesome tasting few bites. The Hot Honey gave the pizza a great mix of sweet and spicy flavors with a nice balance of cheese. A novelty slice for sure, but one that I recommend trying. (8/10)

Roberta’s: Brooklyn

Ordered the “Famous Original” w/ Soppressata. This was a flavor bomb. Really great flavor and the first pizza we had that had a hint of Oregano which gave a nice earthy profile to an otherwise well balanced, but spicy pizza. Great flavor in the sauce and a hint of chili on the finish. One of my favorites thus far and will be toward the top in the end. (9/10)

** We also tried the Margherita with Pepperoni added on. Wasn’t nearly as good, but still nice effort. (7.5/10)

Artichoke: East Village

Signature Artichoke Pizza Slice. Way too decadent. This is a novelty that I just can’t get behind. Basically, tasted like someone ladled Spinach & Artichoke dip on top of pizza crust. No chance anyone would be able to enjoy more than 1 piece of this as an entire meal, and likely would feel sick after. So much cream and heaviness. While the flavors were OK, it’s simply too much for a pizza. (7/10)

Pepperoni Slice. 70/30 sauce to cheese ratio, which is down my alley as I like a pizza with a lighter amount of cheese. Enjoyed thoroughly and way more than the other slice. (8/10)

Sauce: East Village

Pepperoni. Really solid slice with good amount of sauce and nice ratio of cheese/sauce with a nice crispy crust. Didn’t get a ton of flavor from the pizza though and was a little bit underwhelmed. Not bad by any means, but not blown away. (7/10)

Motorino: East Village

Cheese- Neapolitan style. Crust was a bit chewy and although one would expect that to be acceptable due to style, it just felt like it needed another 15 seconds in the oven. Decent flavor, but not memorable. (7/10)

Soppressata Piccante- Way better than the other. A good amount of heat and very flavorful. I’m still a little turned off by the crust as this too was a little chewy. Wondering if the pizza chef just took both out too early as it kind of ruined the overall taste for me. (7.5/10)

Emmy Squared: East Village

Roni Supreme. WOW. This is kind of an unfair review as it’s Detroit Style, but this was fantastic. Ezzo Pepperoni and Calabrian Chilies. This was a flavor explosion in my mouth. Incredible flavors, great heat and the crust was insane. Again, hard to compare this to the others as it’s just different but will absolutely be in the top few for the crawl. Just a fantastic pizza. (9.5/10)

Patsy’s: East Harlem

Not sure you can beat this place for a $2 slice. Really nice balance of flavors and I think this would be the QPR winner of the weekend as it was the quintessential NY style pizza. Proximity to where you would likely be after leaving the bars late night aside, this would be my go-to “I need to soak up the alcohol in my body” late night spot. (8/10)

NY Pizza Suprema: Midtown (Near MSG)

Award winning spot and favorite of Anthony Bourdain. Traditional NY Style. Really nice flavor to the sauce with a touch of sweetness, but not too much. Nice cheese ratio and good crust. For this style, I prefer Patsy’s, but for location and convenience, this place checks the box. (7.5/10)

Zero Otto Nove: Flatiron/ Chelsea

This place rocked. Original location in The Bronx, but as it was the one borough, we didn’t make it to, we decided to go to this location. Tried 3 different pies here. All really great and I would encourage anyone looking for a sit-down meal also known for great pasta and other Italian food to check it out.

Diavola- Sauce, fresh Mozz and spicy soppressata- Great flavor, nice balance of heat, wonderful crust. Can’t do a much better job in the

Neapolitan style. (8.5/10)

Margherita- Sauce, fresh mozz, Parmigiano and basil- Traditional, great flavor. My least favorite of the 3, but on any given day on its own would hold up to anything around. (8/10)

La Carminuccio- Sauce, pancetta, parmigiano, basil and spices. - This is a rock star. I am someone who enjoys more sauce than cheese and so I’m a bit partial to this style but will surely be one of my favorites of the trip. Wonderful balance of flavors, and the spices really give this one a profile unlike the others. If I came back here, this would be my go-to for sure. (9/10)

Prince Street: SOHO

Spicy Pepperoni Square- Great Pepperoni’s on this one. Some of the best we have had. Dough itself was a little spongy and needed a little more crunch. Good flavor, but it didn’t come together for me. (7.5/10)

Lombardi’s: Little Italy

Est. 1905 and claims to be the first Pizzeria established. This pizza style was very similar to Grimaldi’s. Pepperoni- The fresh Mozz to me had a little more flavor than Grimaldi’s. Really nice crust and nice balance. A landmark in the NY pizza scene and one to try if you enjoy Coal Oven style pizza. (8/10)

Famous Ben’s: SOHO

Pepperoni- An abundance of meat on top of the piece. Great crust, good sauce, but unfortunately the loaded pepperoni lacked flavor. It looked much better than it tasted (7/10)

Rubirosa: SOHO

Apparently, this is a family member of Joe & Pat’s in Staten Island (we will get to them later in this list). Pepperoni- Cracker thin crust, but not too thin where it felt like I wasn’t eating pizza. Nice flavor and not super filling. Sauce was nice, pepperoni flavor was nice. This is a place to go when you don’t want to fill up on Pizza but want your fix. (7.5/10)

Arturo’s Coal Oven: SOHO

Pepperoni- Great Coal Flavor, but not overpowering. Pepperoni flavor was pretty weak. Great Sauce. Very enjoyable due to the robust nature of the sauce. Middle of the pack for the crawl. (8/10)

Joe’s: Village

Pepperoni- Standard NY Style Pizza. Nothing noteworthy and completely forgettable. You could get this slice at any decent NY Style pizza shop anywhere in the country. (5/10)

John’s of Bleeker Street: Village

Pepperoni. GREAT NY Style slice and what Joe’s wishes they could walk in the shadow of. Little area inside to sit down and enjoy some quality Pie. Great ingredients, great flavor, and a must try for those looking for an authentic slice of NY Style pizza (9/10)

Two Boots: West Village

An Abomination of Pizza shops everywhere. This place is terrible. We tried the Bayou Beast as they didn’t really have the most traditional slices. Andouille Sausage, Shrimp and Crawfish. It’s as bad as it sounds, but at this place, seemed to be the best option. While the ingredients were fresh and had some flavor, the crust was terrible, and the profile on pizza doesn’t work. This place has several locations which is beyond me. If you like this place, good on you, but it’s no Bueno. (3.5/10)

Denino’s: Staten Island

Pepperoni-Really nice start to the Staten Island leg of the trip. Really nice crust and flavor to meat and sauce. One of the best spots on SI for sure and worth the visit. (8/10)

Brother’s Pizzeria: Staten Island

Sicilian Pepperoni – Had better hopes for this place as it came highly recommended. Didn’t enjoy at all. Flavors weren’t terrible, but overall, completely underwhelming. (6.5/10)

Ungaro: Staten Island

100% Coal Fired Vs. some spots that are Coal and Gas as permits take forever apparently and this place whose owners are no strangers to the SI pizza scene having sold their 2 Domenico’s locations felt the itch to get back into the game and open this place did a great job. They opened during the pandemic in January of 21’ due to permit delays so got the short end of the stick with no PPP and had to continue paying rent throughout the shutdown, but finally getting their due. Really nice flavors and some of the best pepperoni meat tasted the entire trip. Overall, a really nice pizza. Not in the top tier, but worth the visit. (8/10)

Goodfella’s Pizza: Staten Island

Ordered the “Old World” style pepperoni with Fresh Mozz. Nothing wrong with this spot, but like Joe’s it brought nothing noteworthy to our trip. An easy pass. (4.5/10)

Joe & Pat’s: Staten Island

Pepperoni Margherita- This place was awesome. Similar in style to it’s relative Rubirosa in terms of the thin crack crust, but just enough chew in the slice to love it. The flavors were great, and this was the type of place if I lived close that would be my go-to spot if I was in the mood for pizza. Not super filling and a nice atmosphere inside. Great place and I’ll be back the next time I come to NY. (9/10)

Pizzeria Giove: Staten Island

2-time world champion and winner of Beat Bobby Flay, Giorgio (owner) is the only one making pizza at this upscale pizza spot. We had to try his multi award winning Variopinto white pie. I’m not normally a fan of this style, but the hype was too real to pass.

Variopinto- Stracciatella, pancetta, zucchini, garlic & Herb infused cheese, EVOO. Explosion of flavors and such nuance at the same time as each item hits your taste buds at different times. If I was more into White pizza this would rank higher on my overall list, but give it credit for opening my eyes to what good white pizza can taste like. The crust was great, super light and had good crunch. World’s best pizza? Not for me, but a wow factor for the style. (8/10)

Naso- Sauce, Fresh mozz, sweet Italian Sausage, Hot soppressata. Nice flavors and same overall love for the crust itself. For me, too much cheese, but splitting hairs here. The flavors were great, and I encourage anyone in SI looking for great pizza to try this place. (7.5/10)

Lee’s Tavern: Staten Island

This is a tough one as the pizza itself wasn’t great. Tasted like really good frozen pizza. That said, one of our favorite stops on the entire crawl. This place was the “Cheers Bar” of Staten Island. The people were welcoming and had crazy personalities. A place that if you are having a bad day or just want to laugh while having a drink you would go to. Ask for Auntie Nori to be your server! Unfortunately, the pizza was a miss. (5/10)

Scarr’s Pizzeria: Lower East Side

Cheese pizza slices as the pepperoni wasn’t quite ready and the rain started to fall. Traditional NY slice. Really liked the sauce and enjoyed the hint of Oregano in it, which surprisingly, very few places had. Great crust and overall nice balance. (8/10)

MY TOP 5:

  1. Di Fara - Pepperoni

  2. Emmy Squared- Roni Supreme (although this was Detroit Style so unfair comparison)

  3. Roberta’s- Famous Original with Soppressata

  4. Zero Otto Nuevo- La Carminuccio

  5. Joe & Pat’s- Pepperoni
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7 Likes

Ok, that is a beyond great write-up. Outstanding! Thank you!

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It’s even a good read the second time around.

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I was watching this unfold on Facebook (with Brian and Jennifer’s posts) and absolutely LOVE the concept - fantastic write-up. Hope others get to see it when they end up looking for NY pizza!

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Kudos and accolades for such a worthy undertaking, and such a great writeup! Few would dare such a bold and ambitious undertaking.

But I feel like any discussion like this isn’t complete until the Big Man weighs in:

That’s outstanding. Wow

How much cardio workout did you guys do in the morning and evenings to sustain multi days of this! :heart_eyes::heart_eyes:

this is unbelievably impressive. now i regret that i never got around to trying arturos when i lived near by. motorino is definitely one of the more elastic crusts in new york. also, i am surprised by all the positive feedback about scarrs; i tried it a few times when they first opened and found it to be terribly mediocre at best. definitely felt like it was more about the scene than the quality of the product.

Thanks! This is, as others have said, amazing! So happy to see Di Faras in the top slot. And pleasantly surprised to see Roberta’s so high, a personal favorite of mine, but even I admit it is about the entire menu/experience and my long-term relationship with them.

And I am sure you are going to get many additions to your list…the pizza that I like most in NYC at the moment is Ops and I am pretty serious about pizza.

Wish this would have been 2 days earlier lol. But I did enjoy my pepperoni slice at Scarr’s on Saturday afternoon. Will keep this list handy for next trip.

how would you compare Roberta’s in LA to NY?

Same style but not as good.

Also the overall vibe in NYC is dramatically different that LA.

Joe’s and John’s are not really comparable. Completely different style.

My Goldbelly DiFara’s was mediocre when compared to the original spot on Ave J

No anchovies? [snort.gif]

Went to L&B once a few years ago and found the sicilian to be a pile of mush.

Needless to say, haven’t been back

Great write up. Glad it worked out and you guys had fun. Thanks!

Was unaware of a West Coast location. Truth be told, I didn’t know about many of these spots until we started putting our list together. After leaving L.A which is where the majority of the good pizza is at, I’ve lost track of the new spots out here.

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there is now a Chicago location too. Haven’t been yet

Everyone is welcome to join the 8th annual DiFara’s offline on Fat Tuesday 2022 in Brooklyn. Last time we did this in 2020, just days before Covid, cost was $50 for all you can eat pizza. You can read reviews in the offline forum. It’s BYO of course. :wink:

dh

no clue if it was often the case but the 1 year I joined, was a struggle to get food

Jordan,

Have you been to Paulie Gee’s in Chicago?