[quote]ChrisPowers wrote:
[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:
Do not get pizza from any random place. The best pizza is from Lombardi’s on Spring street between Mott and Mulberry in little italy. It’s coal oven pizza. Every other pizza place is gas oven and is completely different. If you just want regular gas oven pizza then take your pick of the thousands of places. Oh but if you go to Lombardi’s you have to order a whole pie. No slices. Polishing off a regular sized one is very doable though.
Shake Shack in Madison Sq Park is also worth it for a good burger and custard shake.
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Never been to Lombardi’s, but it does have that reputation. However, it’s coal oven, which is great, but if you want to try the thin crust slice of pizza that made New York pizza famous, the closest I’ve seen to the glory days is the actual, REAL, original Ray’s pizzeria at 27 Prince Street. It’s gas oven pizza, still served by the slice, which is what old school pizzeria pizza is, in my book. Whatever you do, don’t just randomly walk into any pizzeria named Ray’s, or you will most likely be served absolute garbage. Try a plain slice to see what it’s all about, then grab a pesto slice if you want, which is equally good.
The same goes for the dirty water dogs. Maybe 20 years ago, you could get a great street vendor dog. Those days are long gone. The closest you can come to that now is Gray’s Papaya (Papaya King is supposed to be good also, but I’ve never gone). Whatever you do, don’t mistakenly walk into some random Papaya hot dog joint like Papaya Dog, or you will likely be served crap also. You’ll want to order a bunch of dogs (at least four, I’d guess), but get at least one plain with mustard. As your drink, of course do the papaya drink.
Sucks that it’s come to this in New York, but it has. The worst part is that you have tourists coming here, grabbing a horrible, cold, bland dirty water hot dog at the first stand they see, and thinking that that’s what made NYC hot dogs famous. Ditto for any random pizza joint. They leave thinking it’s all bogus hype, and that Chicago pizza is better than New York pizza. Not to knock Chicago, but what they serve is so different from true Neapolitan style pizza, I hesitate to call it pizza. I’m sure it’s great though. As for the Chicago hot dog? Eh, don’t get me started…[/quote]
Yes for sure original Ray’s for a slice of gas oven pizza. I live in Brooklyn and eat regular pizza here but Ray’s is good.
And seriously try Lombardi’s at least once in your life. Half plain/half calamata olives is the way to go.