The Burger Joint

22nd May 2006

burgerjoint01

The Burger Joint
241 Third Ave.
Distance from Shake Shack: 0.33 miles
Travel Time: 11 minutes

of People in Line: 4

Not to be confused with its definite-article-less famous namesake, Burger Joint , which is famously "hidden" in the Le Parker Meridien, this joint is just a short jaunt over from Madison Square Park on 3rd Avenue and 20th Street and is home to some serious sliders....

Nick''s Pizza

11th May 2006

nicks01

Eating Nick’s we decided that our favorite pizzas don’t have a uniform cheese layer--as you take bites they change, from sauce and fresh basil to an all-mozzarella mouthful, and the flavors really develop in your mouth.

But we’ve gotten to the point where food can make or break the entire evening.  We’d been having slice after pie after slice after pie, and they’d all been so abo...

Denino''s Pizza

10th May 2006

deninos03

After the transcendence of Di Fara’s, we knew our search would have some kind of lull.  After that fateful Sunday our quest changed directions, conceptually and literally.  We called up our friend Paul who grew up on Staten Island, the place nobody from Manhattan goes--maybe for the free ferry ride by the Statue of Liberty, then right back again to Manhattan.

Like any local New Yorker...

Louie and Ernie''s

9th Mar 2006

1300 Crosby, Bronx, NY

P1010045_3

We awoke promptly at 9.  We decided this time to eat some breakfast before we left, slumped down into the plastic bench, and buried our head in books, our ears stuffed with headphones.  The subway didn’t emerge from the ground until halfway through our ride into the Bronx, and we couldn’t see any traces of the large skyscrapers that grounded us to home.

Much like o...

Di Fara''s

8th Mar 2006

1424 Avenue J, Midwood, Brooklyn

P1010080

Unfolding the MTA New York City transit map to reveal the uncharted Brooklyn belly beyond Prospect Park, we spotted a subway stop adjacent to our destination in Midwood, Brooklyn, New York.  We’d read about a small Italian man who, year after year, wins awards for his pizza--sometimes including declarations that it’s the best to be found in New York. ...

Patsy''s Pizzeria

7th Mar 2006

P1010008_1

Patsy’s lays buried in the middle of Spanish Harlem, a place we sane folk only venture through to get somewhere else--not because we're particularly scared--but because there is not much there.  This is not a hanging-out neighborhood.  Its name is not sexy.  Well, not yet.

Patsy's was founded by Pasquale Lancieri, student of Mr. Lombardi, in 1933 when this stretch east of Harlem was a still...

Lombardi''s

6th Mar 2006

32 Spring St., between Mulberry and Mott Streets

lombardi s 1905b

Lombardi's.  The torch-bearer of New York, and even American, Pizza.  The ambassador, and the original.  Any right quest to find the best New York pizza must start here.

We are not too interested in lore, but here you go: the original was created in 1905.  Though there are claims that many Italian breadmakers were creating pizza pies with...