NY Pizza Experience

[friz78]

I was in NYC on business this week.  Didn't get to try nearly as many pizza places as I would've liked.  Worse yet, the places that I did try were, for the most part, very disappointing.  Worst pie of the week was Patsy's at 509 3rd Ave at 60th St.  Not much to say other than it was about as average of a pizza as you could eat.  Actually, average might be somewhat kind. I would never go back.

I also grabbed a slice at several different street pizza shops over the course of the week. I couldn't believe how poor the overall quality was for these slices.  Not one was worth noting as standing out above the others.  They were all generally bad.  Let's just say that my trip to NY did not speak well for the current state of pizza in NYC, Manhattan to be exact.
Friz

[Randy]

Ouch! New York pizza lovers should now remove the knife.

From what other have said New York pizza has too strong of flavor in soured dough and stronger tasting cheese for me too.  That might also explain why true New York pizza never made it big outside of New York city. 

If I had grown up eating New York pizza I would probadly be forever trying to capture that flavor if I moved away, much like Chicago people do.

Randy

[Arthur]

I would say there are several views on best places to eat pizza (and specifically in reference to NY) -

1) "the best pizza exists in NY".  Typically held by New Yorkers and ex-New Yorkers.   While the true birthplace of american pizza, not all places in NY have good pizza but many do.  Understanding that for most, pizza is a business and the love is just a small percent of the reason for working at a pizza joint - with the exceptions of Una Pizza Napolitana and Di Fara's.  In general for most places - even the Pasty's and John's it's about money.  Consistency is king and most places (in the country in general) don't maintain the consistency.
2) "pizza used to be great at [fill in some pizza joint that's been around for decades] but now it's gone downhill".  Typically held by long time New Yorker's who like to talk about the good ol'e days.  Although many places fail in the consistency area - and change pizziola's and ingredients - for the most part this is said because so many (non-original fans) people start talking about these old places that they lose the charm they once had and then lose their original fans.  i.e., just not cool anymore to talk about these places.
3) "pizza is great at this pizza joint in [fill in some obscure state like Conn. or Arizona]" - typically held by authors and writers trying to prove the theory that NY does not have the best pizza in the U.S.  While potentially true, it's hard to believe that every pizza place in the US has been tried and this line is typically used to sell more books and get better writeups to separate them from the pack.

Now I believe for most of the forum members pizza places you have been to years ago no longer tastes as good because your own pizza is getting better and adapting to your tastes.   The greatest thing about making your own pizza is that it changes - and just like your pizza is changing your tastes for the pizza of your yesteryears has changed coupled with the difficulty of these pizza joints maintaining the consistency required for great pizza.  Since such care has been taken in making our own pizza and believe that some of the forum members here may already have the best pizza in the U.S.