One of the must do things when visiting New York City, especially for foodie travelers, is to taste NYC style pizza.
But, why? What is so special about New York City pizzas?
The NYC pie is thin, tender, moist in the middle with a thicker crisp chewy crust or cornicione round the rim.
NYC pizza is eaten in large folded slices. New Yorkers often eat their folded pizza slices on the go.
The Manhatten pizzas tend to have softer bread in the middle, while across the Brooklyn Bridge, the middle is more crisp.
The texture and flavour that set NYC pizzas apart are said to partly come from high gluten flour and allegedly, also the unique composition of minerals in the city's piped water.
Some heritage pizzerias in New York City still use coal to fire their ovens which can reach and sustain steady high temperatures of above 500°C.
The very high temperatures in the coal oven cooks and crisps the pie in 3 minutes, giving the bread and toppings an extra edge in texture and flavour. However, coal fired ovens are gradually fading away as more NYC pizzeria owners opt for lower maintenance gas and electric ovens.
In New York City, they innovate a lot with toppings like creating the Hawaii pizza in the 1910s. The creative tradition continues to manifest (excite or annoy) in sometimes over-the-top NYC pizzas. (As for me, I still prefer the classic pizza Margherita of tomato, mozzarella and basil, with additional chili pepper topping 🤭 )
Let's get on our pizza walk to experience the allure of New York City pizzas.
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| Lombardi's Pizza | 32 Spring St, NYC, New York, USA (at the junction with Mott Street) ⏰ 12 noon to 10pm ☏ (212) 941-7994 |
We start our New York City pizza trail at Lombardi's Pizza, the USA's first pizzeria founded back in 1905 (120 years ago today in 2025).
Lombardi's still bake their fine pizzas with their original coal fired oven which can hold a steady high 500°C temperature.
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| John's Pizzeria | 278 Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village, New York City ⏰ 11:30am to 10pm (Sunday off) ☏ +1 212 243 1680 |
John's Pizzeria of Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village was founded in 1929. It also uses its original coal fired oven to turn out their highly rated classic thin pies.
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| Joe's Pizza | 7 Carmine Street, NYC, New York (near the junction of 6th Avenue and Bleecker Street) ⏰10am to 4am ☏ (212) 366-1182 |
Joe's Pizzeria, you may already have heard of Joe's especially, if you are a Spider Man fan. Joe's was one of the locations featured in Spider Man 2 movie in 2004. Aside from its Hollywood fame which still draws in throngs of tourists everyday, Joe's reputedly serves one of the best pizzas in New York City.
Prince Street Pizza specialises in Sicilian pizza which are either rectangles or squares. Prince is best known for their indulgent pepperoni Sicilian with thick pepperoni "coins" on a fluffy bed (of bread) slathered with tomato sauce and bathed in aromatic olive oil.
Founded in 2013 in their humble hole-in-the-wall shop in SoHo, Prince now has outlets across the country including the far west in California.
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| Artichoke Basille's Pizza | 328 E 14th St, NYC, New York (original shop) ⏰ 11:00am to 5:00am ☏: 212-228-2004 |
Artichoke Basille's Pizza on 14th Street for their unique lusciously rich creamy secret recipe sauce with over twenty ingredients including artichoke hearts. Inimitable, unconventional but delightfully delicious topping, this is a fine example of NYC's innovativeness with pizza.
Artichoke Basille's Pizza outlets are now found across USA but this humble takeaway joint at 14th Street is the original founding shop which opened in 2008.
In New York City, you will often hear locals say the best pizzas are in Brooklyn across the Brooklyn Bridge.
One of the standard bearers of New York pizza in Brooklyn is Grimaldi's. Born of the shop's original coal fired oven, this is one of the best pizzas that I have tasted anywhere.
Right next door to Grimaldi's is Juliana's Pizza. Eating here you may feel an uncanny similarity between the two. Patsy Grimaldi sold Grimaldi's to the present owners and opened next door, naming her pizzeria Juliana's, after her mother.
Of course, this is just a tiny sampling of the thousand pizzerias in New York City. I need to go back to NYC to refresh this list and make another trail. Which are your personal favourites which you like to recommend?
List of pizzerias in this trail:
Written by Tony Boey on 20 Apr 2025
Even I tah boleh tahan prob cannot complete this boy hahahaha. Good job!
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