5 Slice Day Downtown NYC

[zare111]

Now that two more of the hypest slices in the city have opened locations just south of Grand Central I figured I'd spend a day walking around stuffing as many slices in my slicehole as possible. Figured I'd limit it to the hip new school joints, I'll have to go back for Joes, Suprema etc. I made it to 5 though didn't quite finish the crust on any. Didn't like time any bakes with a stopwatch but I wrote down oven details for oven tech sickos like me. In order of the pics down below:

Scarrs: Incredible vibe in here. Feels like the pizza party at the coolest kids from high school's house. They definitely don't have any compunction about explicit lyrics on the soundtrack despite the all ages clientele. I don't want to be negative but I'll say it was just OK. Extremely thin and crispy but maybe a tad overbaked? Nice color on top and bottom though. Oven at 620, top and bottom both 2.

Lucia: I think theyre in the process of expanding to the space next door but right now this is basically a grab and go operation. Really liked this slice. Crust oddly reminded me of a Detroit texturally, like dense but fluffy if that makes sense? Oven at 625, top 2 bottom 1.

L'industrie: 45 minute wait for the hypest cloutiest Instagram famous slice around and... it deserves it. Perfect light and crunchy texture gives way to intense salty bite but underneath there's a lot of dimension to the crust flavor. You can see specks of bran and germ in the dough balls and they all look perfectly risen. I think I was unusual ordering a plain, non-burrata'd slice; it's not even on the menu. But the light cheese and sharp zing from the parm were excellent. Really impressed by the whole operation here, it's a madhouse but the team just dances through the chaos. Oven at 644, top 8 bottom 3.

Mama's Too: Also a fun controlled chaos in here. Got to the front of the line and was told the next plain round "house slices" wouldn't be done for 15 mins so I stood to the side to wait awkwardly but I didn't mind. As you can see they put a TON of parm and basil on each slice. Crust really crunchy and fluffy. The ovens aren't front-facing but the owner told me they bake the round pies around 600.

Upside: this was sort of an extra stop on the way back to the train, one location of a city chain that supposedly does all natural leavening. Couldn't necessarily tell from eating it though I'll admit my palate was kinda shot at this point. Sort of an upscale version of like Sbarro's which is maybe the intention? Nice full sauce and cheese flavor (I think they hand-stretch the fresh mozz) but the crust was floppy and seemed underbaked. Oven much lower than the others, 560 top 6 bottom 4. Remarkable how dead this place was at dinnertime after seeing lines out the door at the other spots though I think the Upside locations in Manhattan are not far apart.

[junep]

Now that two more of the hypest slices in the city have opened locations just south of Grand Central I figured I'd spend a day walking around stuffing as many slices in my slicehole as possible. Figured I'd limit it to the hip new school joints, I'll have to go back for Joes, Suprema etc. I made it to 5 though didn't quite finish the crust on any. Didn't like time any bakes with a stopwatch but I wrote down oven details for oven tech sickos like me. In order of the pics down below:

Scarrs: Incredible vibe in here. Feels like the pizza party at the coolest kids from high school's house. They definitely don't have any compunction about explicit lyrics on the soundtrack despite the all ages clientele. I don't want to be negative but I'll say it was just OK. Extremely thin and crispy but maybe a tad overbaked? Nice color on top and bottom though. Oven at 620, top and bottom both 2.

Lucia: I think theyre in the process of expanding to the space next door but right now this is basically a grab and go operation. Really liked this slice. Crust oddly reminded me of a Detroit texturally, like dense but fluffy if that makes sense? Oven at 625, top 2 bottom 1.

L'industrie: 45 minute wait for the hypest cloutiest Instagram famous slice around and... it deserves it. Perfect light and crunchy texture gives way to intense salty bite but underneath there's a lot of dimension to the crust flavor. You can see specks of bran and germ in the dough balls and they all look perfectly risen. I think I was unusual ordering a plain, non-burrata'd slice; it's not even on the menu. But the light cheese and sharp zing from the parm were excellent. Really impressed by the whole operation here, it's a madhouse but the team just dances through the chaos. Oven at 644, top 8 bottom 3.

Mama's Too: Also a fun controlled chaos in here. Got to the front of the line and was told the next plain round "house slices" wouldn't be done for 15 mins so I stood to the side to wait awkwardly but I didn't mind. As you can see they put a TON of parm and basil on each slice. Crust really crunchy and fluffy. The ovens aren't front-facing but the owner told me they bake the round pies around 600.

Upside: this was sort of an extra stop on the way back to the train, one location of a city chain that supposedly does all natural leavening. Couldn't necessarily tell from eating it though I'll admit my palate was kinda shot at this point. Sort of an upscale version of like Sbarro's which is maybe the intention? Nice full sauce and cheese flavor (I think they hand-stretch the fresh mozz) but the crust was floppy and seemed underbaked. Oven much lower than the others, 560 top 6 bottom 4. Remarkable how dead this place was at dinnertime after seeing lines out the door at the other spots though I think the Upside locations in Manhattan are not far apart.

I just viewed an excellent video about UP. A you tuber visited and made a pizza with the owner. at the pizzaria on Mulberry and Spring in Soho. The finished slice looked incredible - exactly what I've been aiming for They make their own fresh Mozzarella daily. They use Grande low moisture mozzarella. Their sauce is cooked with some honey, oil and rosemary. He said his Vodka sauce is his regular cooked sauce with  cream and lots of butter added. I assume vodka too, but he ddn't mention it probably because that ingredient was obvious! The bake on the oven showed the oven at 555F. and he said their baked is around 7 minutes. I wish I knew what flour he use and what his dough hydration was. Life is good!
https://youtu.be/mPVQKm0iUEM?si=Vr3M5KSGvJaEOvSe

[caquilino]

It can be hard to not let NYC food media hype or "legendary" status effect your opinion. I live just outside of NYC. After 150+ reviews of average to world class spots, I've learned to keep my expectations in check when I do a tour.  It's just pizza. It can only be so much better than what I've had before. It's rare to find a pie revolutionarily better than what I've had before it. And that especially goes when you've eaten a lot within the same pizza "genre", so to speak. Plus as I've become more of a pizza maker myself, I've realized I'll prefer my own pies a lot of the time. You become more discerning.

I've had L'Industrie and Mama' Too. Both great slices in the same genre, whatever you wanna call it, Artisan New York style by the slice. Thought they were both were deserved their rep, particularly L'Industrie. Though they could both stand you be saucier, IMO. I have a great pizzeria by me, Baci's, and I'd put in the same category. So it was harder to be blown away by them, even if they both got 8+ ratings in my book.