Your Personal Pizza Stories
If you've got stories to share, please use the form on our "Perfect Pizza" page - Click here to find it. Johnny Pizza, "The Pizza Consultant"We received a post the other day from a fellow who told us we could call him Johnny Pizza, "The Pizza Consultant." Johnny's from Long Island and now lives in L.A.
Little Vincent's is VERY GOOD! It's my favorite on the Island and well, I really can't think of anyone better. Colosseo is good. There is one excellent place on Johnson Avenue in Lake Ronkonkoma not too far from the train station, it's EXCELLENT. AMAZING crust, kind of like my crust. I use 3 different mozzarellas and 2 other "secret" cheeses blended so the taste is pretty amazing. There's a place called Angelino's in North Hollywood that has a nice pie - kind of an unknown "neighborhood" place - great crust etc. - best pizza I've had outside of NY. Sazio in Delray Beach, Florida is just as good. Actually better than many New York places. Once the Italians sold out the recipes changed and, well, only a few great ones remain. Joe's Pizza from Downtown NY opened here in Santa Monica and now one on Sunset - very good crust but sauce is too dry - and too light on the cheese. Have you been to Pizza Stop in Lake Ronkonkoma on Portion Road? The owner is really nice - his pie is really good - GREAT Sicilian. Johnny promised to send us pictures of some of the pizzas he made in New York, and he was good as his word. The one that really got to us is this one:
Johnny, if you only knew how much we love a good Grandma pie... Brooklyn in the good old days, the Hudson Valley,and Rome!Joe Brancatelli (of joesentme.com) wrote this in response to ourquestion, "so what's your favorite pizzeria, Joe?""Well, I think we all go back to childhood on stuff like pizza. I grew up eating Trio Pizza (Avenue U and East 19), which was an outgrowth of Arco, several blocks down Avenue U. Can't speak to the quality of either of them having moved quite a few years ago. More recently (that would be 17 years ago...) I lived on Kings Highway and East 21st Street and the pizzeria on Kings Highway just off Ocean Avenue was quite good. I'm talking New York slice and square good. I found their Sicilian quite good on taste-like-you-grew-up scale. These days, I live in the Hudson Valley and pizza of high quality is a hard get, although one long-time contender (Longobardi in Wappingers Falls) and two more recent transplant from Arthur Avenue (Antonella's, now in Fishkill and Wappingers Falls) are decent. And a place called Brothers in Beacon, run by Albanians, is nice. They all make good round pies. The Sicilian, not so much. A classic, New York City-style Sicilian is going the way of bialys, I fear... I know this will sound silly, but I'd never heard of Grandma style until the New York magazine story a few months back. And I was so impressed with the picture of Adrienne's pie in the story that I went down to Stone Street (and being THAT close to Goldman Sachs HQ scared me...) to check it out. I was muchly impressed, I must say. Impressed enough that I will add Umberto's to the list of places I want to hit. I am sure I can find a reason to be in New Hyde Park SOME day. As for what I crave today, well, I am extraordinarily lucky. I get to Rome a lot. And I much prefer Roman style to Neopolitan now for round pies. I think Da Baffetto, generally regarded as Rome's best, is slightly overrated. But there is so much interesting pizza in Rome, the standards are amazing. As for a square pie, there is a place called Pizza Buono (Corso Vittorio Emanuele) that does astonishingly good work. A great Margherita and a truly brilliant pie with julienned zucchini. There's also a place called Arte on the Via Arenula that is superlative. Pizza Buono gets my nod,though, because it is open until 2am. But do you know what bugs me most, Cary? That great pizza is now a matter of searching, even in New York. I mean, when you and I were growing up, there was no such thing as bad pizza in Brooklyn. We just assumed all the pies were great--and they were. And even into the late 1980s, when I was living on Kings Highway, there was good pizza--in several styles. There was a guy on 22nd Street who made a very light and airy Sicilian unlike anything I've ever tasted. Every block in Kings Highway from Ocean to Coney Island Avenues a pizzeria and all with something to recommend them. No more, I fear. BTW, one terrific round pie place that never seems to get any publicity is Sacco on 9th Avenue and 52nd in Manhattan. It's an old-fashioned slice joint but it does terrific work. A light, flavorful pizza with no fuss and no muss." DelVecchio's Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria, Hilton Head Island, SCPaula Hunter sent us this -- her favorite pizzeria for more than one reason: 
"I'm half Italian and grew up eating pizza made at home. For most of my young life, that was it for me....nothing compared. Now, I'm married to a Long Islander transplanted in the south who owns his own pizzeria. What can I say? I think I'm bound by marriage vows to my favorite pizza now!" Thanks for writing, Paula! We noticed on your site that several of DelVecchio's hero sandwiches are named for towns on Long Island and that classic New York and Sicilian pizza are available -- please thank your husband for bringing a taste of Long Island to the South. Since we can't vouch for it, hope we can get down there to sample the pizza and add to our pizza stories soon! Tony's in Brentwood, LIChandra Amand wrote to tell us about her favorite pizzeria:
"The most anazing pizzas I have ever eaten are found on a side street in Brentwood, LI, where there are 2 other pizza places in close proximity; one is on the same block by the IGA supermarket, the other is on Washington Avenue, the intersecting main street. Why would you choose Tony's on Clarke Street -- because it is simply the best, the best in town and for my taste, the best I have found on LI. If you are longing for a really great pizza and your partner wants a fine Italian meal, then Tony's is surely for you. It is an unassuming place, but you can assume that you will love the experience. Tasting is believing." Thank you, Chandra! It's a future stop for us... The Pizza Capital of the WorldBruce Generotti of Pennsylvania shares his remembrance of the pizza in Old Forge, PA:
There is a little town called Old Forge which local people refer to as the Pizza Capital of the World. The type of pizza that they make in Old Forge, and there are a lot of places that make it, is referred to as Old Forge pizza. Many years ago (I was living in Valley Forge), a co-worker went home to Scranton and brought a few Old Forge Pizzas back with her for the group at work. People could not stop talking about it. Even today when I tell some of them I was visiting my mother, they ask if I brought any back with me. My wife who is from Philly was at a sales call in Scranton a few months ago. She went out of her way to bring a couple of trays home. She loves it. Yes, they are called trays and not pies. They are cooked on a rectangular tray and are cut in squares like Sicilian pizza. I actually never heard of a pizza pie until I went to college. The cheese is the secret. It is a mixture of several kinds of cheese, not including mozzarella. For me the best red pizza is from Revello's and the white pizza, double crust stuffed with cheese is from Acaro and Genell." Thanks, Bruce. We'll have to get out there for a tray! Update: We recently had a chance to visit Old Forge and eat half a tray of Revello's pizza. We've never tasted anything like it! Not sure we loved it (we are from New York), but it was unique! Keep those stories coming...
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