271 Bleecker St New York, NY
Tucking into Kesté’s “Regina Margherita” can seem like eating pizza for the first time. A few bites in, and you’re struck by the sensation that life, such as it is, may have nothing more to offer.
71 Clinton Street New York, NY
This Lower East Side joint produces such a tender-crusted Margherita, made with fresh mozzarella and bright, zingy sauce, and it's the only place we can think of that sells wood-burning-oven pizza by the slice.
328 E 14th St New York, NY
Great New York slice-joint pizza. Nothing else like it in the world.
2357 Arthur Avenue Bronx, NY
A smoked mozzarella pie with squash cream, its potential sweetness countered by chile flakes and nubbins of pancetta.
91 1st Ave New York, NY
This is where you’ll find the city’s only coal-oven pizza sold by the slice ($1.75), and for pizza scholars, that alone is reason enough to leg it up to the original Patsy’s in East Harlem.
1888 Eastchester Rd Bronx, NY
The Pure Bliss manages to support the weight not only of carefully distributed splotches of creamy ricotta, tangy tomato sauce, and pungent pesto, but also of grated Pecorino and melted fontinella, a domestic fontina-like product they’re very fond of here.
533 West 47th Street New York, NY
Baked in oil-slicked pans until the edges crisp up a little, the pies are topped with inventive, often seasonal ingredients but our favorite is the simple but unfathomably satisfying Pomodoro, a sweetly intense slick of tomato, olive oil, and salt.
1880 Hylan Blvd Staten Island, NY
S.O.S. makes a decent clam pie, but our favorite is the plain old cheese-and-tomato with house-made mozzarella.
435 Halsey Street Brooklyn, NY
The tomato sauce is sweet and vibrant, the buffalo mozzarella is first-rate.
54 Stone St New York, NY
Besides a good crust, what elevates it above the norm is fastidious ingredient sourcing, including top-notch mozzarella that gets deliciously browned on top as Grandma pies often do.
34 E 52nd St New York, NY
The notably crunchy pie ($20, good to share at the bar) is thin as a communion wafer, its free-form surface decorated with dollops of tangy tomato sauce and the telltale grilled-pizza combination of Pecorino Romano and bel paese.
231 Mott Street New York, NY
Emporio’s pizzas are still fairly pliant and well-conceived—especially the guanciale-and-kale variety that’s painted with béchamel and garnished with slivers of salty Pecorino.
108-26 Ascan Avenue Forest Hills, NY
The style is Old School New York Neapolitan, with discrete puddles of sweet fresh mozzarella amid a simple swirl of good tomato sauce. The crust is crisp but flexible and somehow achieves a smoky essence.
1424 Avenue J Brooklyn, NY
It’s pizza that’s big and bold, rough around the edges, and more than a little messy; it’s what New York–style pizza is all about.
31 East 20th Street New York, NY
The crust here is chewy, pliant, and soft enough to double-fold without cracking.
319 Graham Ave Brooklyn, NY
The tomatoes are bright, the buffalo mozzarella sweet, and the crust exhibits a range of appealing textures, from crisp and chewy to light and airy.
103 1st Avenue New York, NY
Pizza here is a sophisticated stunner of a twelve-inch pan pie, distinguished by a shallow crust that’s at once springily tender and crisp (an unusual touch of potato in the dough sees to that), plus toppings of uniformly high quality.
211 1st Avenue New York, NY
Luzzo’s serves what its menu calls pizza Napoletana, but it’s not what you might think. Like the Roman, it’s uniformly thin and crisp with only a modest cornicione, yet it has the silky, tender, inviting mouthfeel of the Neapolitan minus that style’s puffy, sometimes heavy chew.
230 9th Ave New York, NY
A hot and cold, sweet and salty, raw and cooked union of chunky tomato, creamy cheese, and peppery Greenmarket arugula.
295 Flatbush Ave Brooklyn, NY
It's all about the impeccably sourced toppings here, like the miraculously unrubbery littlenecks that grace the white clam pie.