Pizza Search - Little Italy
There's a primal connection between food and New York City, which is home to a lot of firsts for things which you can sink your teeth into, like the Buffalo Chicken Wings, and the first Pizzeria - Lombardi's. In fact, among the many attractions in New York, there's a lotta foodie tours, and places which are famous for both food and for being well known - like Nathan's Famous, and Katz's, and even entire streets, like Bleecker Street.
Anyway, I got to thinking about all the pizza slices I've devoured over the years, and which one I would rate as the best. Its easy to answer that if you have a slice of pizza in your hands, and you say that its the best pizza you've ever tasted. But its a wee bit more difficult if you're suddenly asked about it. So I decided to refresh my memory with a tour of all the best pizzerias, starting with Lombardi's at 32 Spring Street in Little Italy.
Order a pepperoni at Lombardi's. Comes with a thin crust, black and charred crisp bottom, and you get a soft and mouthwateringly yeasty taste inside. Bite into it, and the mozzarela and the fresh tomatoes and the pepperoni mix into a heady experience, with the salty tang of the cheese stealing its way in to balance the charred crust, and the sauce enhancing the taste of the pizza, instead of drowning it. Gad, I had forgotten how good this tasted.
Didn't really have a heart to try out any other pizza immediately after this, since it wouldn't be a fair contest. How hungry you are plays a big part in how tasty your food seems. If you're not hungry, it just won't taste as good. So, I had to work it out of my system, and only try out the next one when I started feeling like having a bite again. My editor's been cribbing about my not doing anything during the holidays inspite of being in NYC, so I thought I'd take a quick look around, and get some conversation going and develop some contacts at 3-4 of the recently opened New York hotels, including Andre Balazs' Standard on the High Line and the new Cooper Square hotel.
The Cooper Square was close by at the Bowery, so I decided to take a look at it first. From the outside, its a 23 story weird looking glass monstrosity which looms menacingly over the Bowery. The restaurant wasn't open, but the hotel was. At least, in part. Didn't seem to be anything awesome inside, although does look like they spent a lotta money on it. And time too, apparently. One of the people I talked to said the project had been going on for 4 years, and was nowhere near completion.
From there, I went over to the High Line, where The Standard looks magnificent, but hasn't opened yet (which was surprising because it was supposed to open on Dec 10), so nothing much to say about it. I also wanted to take an in-depth look at the Jane NYC hotel, where I'd been invited by the Jane Street Association as to come and see how terrible living conditions were. I had no wish to go poking around a rat infested dump with sketchy water and heating, but it was a new hotel, so I'd have to talk to somebody. But right now, I had a lot of Christmas shopping left (c'mon, gimme a break. I never know what to buy...). More on that, and the Jane NYC and a couple more pizzerias, after Christmas. Merry Christmas to you too. :)
