Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Pizzerias
219
New York's Pizzeria Classics
A Coal-Fired Family Tree
New York, New York
In New York City—where it often seems
there's a pizzeria on every corner—locals
can't even agree on who is the oldest
pizza maker in town, let alone which one is
best. Granted, New Yorkers love nothing
better than an argument, so the debate
may never be settled. The basic template
is a thin-crust pizza with smooth tomato
sauce and melted mozzarella, but beyond
that, the esoteric shades of distinction are
endless.
One important factor is having a coal-
fired brick oven, which turns a thin crust
into a crisp, slightly charred wonder. Since
Manhattan stopped issuing permits for
new coal-fired ovens, only the old-timers
have that edge—places like
Lombardi's
in SoHo/Little Italy, at 32 Spring St. (
&
212/
941-7994
),
John's Pizzeria
in west Green-
wich Village at 278 Bleecker St. (
&
212/
243-1680
), or
Patsy's,
in East Harlem at
2287 1st Ave. (
&
212/534-9783
). Lombar-
di's claims to be the city's oldest pizzeria,
citing Italian grocer Gennaro Lombardi's
1905 license to sell his original tomato
pies; however, the original Lombardi's
closed in 1984, to be reopened by a grand-
son 10 years later in a new brick-walled
location down the street (snagging an
existing coal oven from a defunct neigh-
borhood bakery). Lombardi's pizzas are
excellent, especially the red clam pie, but
that gap in time makes John's, which
opened in 1929 in this traditionally Italian
part of the Village, qualify as the oldest
continuously operating
pizzeria in Manhat-
tan. John's famously doesn't make deliver-
ies, doesn't sell slices, and takes cash only,
which allows this no-frills spot with scarred
wooden booths and Formica-topped tables
to keep its focus on making excellent
blistered-crust pies. Patsy's is the baby of
the bunch, dating only from 1932, when
Pasquale Lancieri—who was trained by
Gennaro Lombardi—opened his pizzeria
in Manhattan's third Little Italy, in northern
Manhattan. Though the neighborhood is
now Spanish Harlem, devotees still crowd
into the retro dining room—replete with
checkered tablecloths and pressed tin
ceilings—for delicious thin-crust pizza.
One way to get around the Manhattan
permit issues, of course, is to build your
coal-fired oven in Brooklyn, which is what
Lancieri's nephew Patsy Grimaldi did at
Grimaldi's
(19 Old Fulton St., Brooklyn
Heights;
&
718/858-4300
). There are usu-
ally lines down the street to get into this
cramped, cash-only spot, but at least you
get dynamite Manhattan skyline views
while you wait.
And speaking of Brooklyn, the last
entrant in that oldest-NYC-pizza contest is
Totonno's Pizzeria Napoletano,
which
first fired up its coal ovens in 1924 in
Brooklyn's then-popular Coney Island, at
1524 Neptune Ave. (
&
718/372-8606;
www.totonnos.com). Despite Coney
Island's current decrepitude, family-run
Totonno's still draws customers to its
unpretentious original storefront. Never-
theless, Totonno's has wisely expanded
into Manhattan, with two modern branches
(1544 Second Ave. in the Upper East Side;
462 Second Ave. in Murray Hill) that hold
up the family tradition surprisingly well.
You'll also see several Patsy's locations
around town, but be aware that a fran-
chise merely licensed the name from Lan-
cieri; their pizzas and pastas are perfectly
fine, but hardly classics. Then there is
John's huge, snazzy offspring in a decon-
secrated church near Times Square (244
W. 44th St.;
&
212/391-7560;
www.johns
pizzerianyc.com); while it lacks the origi-
nal's old-school charm, its wood-fired brick
