Whose Favorite Pizza Is That?

You know how it goes with pizza. First, you pick your favorite pizza place.  And then watch the fun start. One friend says: “You’re crazy!”  Another says: “What are you, nuts?”  Your mother calls. Your brother disowns you. Fisticuffs fly. And on and on.

Then, pick your favorite pizza place…in New York City.  Take all the above and multiply it by a hundred. Or maybe even a thousand.  Because if there’s anything New Yorkers are crazy about, it’s their pizza.

Now don’t forget the “style.”  Is it Neapolitan?  Perhaps Sicilian? Deep dish or Chicago style?  Maybe it’s New York style?  Is it cooked in a wood burning oven?  Or a coal burner? What about a good old-fashioned gas or electric “deck” oven? What if it’s grilled? Does the place you love sell slices? Or only whole pies? Are they individual pies or meant to be shared? Oy vey - you get the picture – the possibilities are seemingly endless, and no one style or slice or pie is going to make everyone happy all the time.

Trust me – as a dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker, I have my favorites. And since there has been a virtual explosion in high-quality pizza over the last few years, I guess my favorite pizza depends on what kind of mood Significant Eater and I are in. Or even what neighborhood.

Just last weekend, we decided to take a nice walk “downtown.” Downtown to us means the financial district, Wall St. – that general area.  We usually head off in that direction by walking right along the East River, because almost the entire waterfront has a lovely new promenade for walkers and the views are stupendous...

"Downtown" is one of the oldest parts of Manhattan; it’s where it all started. There are some buildings that are 250 – 300 years old; Fraunces Tavern is the oldest and I think George Washington might have gotten drunk there. Of course if you live in Rome or Paris or London, or almost anywhere but the United States, those buildings are merely babies – but hey, it’s all we’ve got, so - oh, by the way - it also has some of the newest buildings in town...

Nestled among all the old streets, all the old buildings and all the new skyscrapers sits old Stone Street, perhaps the first paved street in New York City. Part of Stone Street is a throwback – a mere alley with no vehicular traffic, cobblestones, lined with restaurants and taverns; the street is filled with tables for people to sit and eat and watch the world go by.

And there, right on Old Stone Street sits one of our favorite pizza places – Adrienne’s Pizzabar.  Adrienne’s makes two styles of pizza – a 10” round pie and what they call their “Old Fashioned Pizza.”  That’s the one we like, a large rectangular pie that’s sort of a cross between New York style and  Sicilian. It’s not all thick and doughy – it’s actually light and airy, meaning two people can almost polish off a whole pie – especially if the two people are Sig Eater and me.   And last weekend, we did just that to a half pepperoni, half plain “Old Fashioned Pizza,” from one of our favorite pizza places...

And because you need your vegetables, the sautéed broccoli rabe (sic) wasn’t bad either. Nor was the walk back home...