Our second venture into true NYC pizzadom took us to John’s of Bleecker Street in the friendly, sunny West Village (it was really part of our first venture, as we hit Grimaldi’s earlier in the day).

In an environment like New York City where there exists a “John’s” or a “Ray’s” on every other corner claiming to be “Famous” or “Original” or “Famous Original,” it’s hard to stand out as another “John’s Pizzeria.” John’s of Bleecker Street, however, has done just that by establishing a following dating back to 1929 with pizza that don’t need no stinking gimmicks.

Establishment. In many ways, John’s doesn’t look and feel like a typical New York Pizzeria, especially in Manhattan where a lot of them are by-the-slice walkups. John’s doesn’t do slices, only full pies as evidenced by their painfully long “specialty” menu that details every single combination of ingredients and toppings in list form. This restaurant is relatively large with a good amount of seating and eclectic decor in the way of mosaic painted walls, intriguing light fixtures and wall hangings, and the spoils of a carve-your-name-into-anything-made-of-wood policy.

In other ways, John’s is exactly like a typical New York pizzeria: popular, excellent at packing as many people as possible into cramped booths (we said a good amount of seating, not good seating), littered with autographs of celebrities (Johnny Depp) and pseudo-celebrities alike (Road Warrior Hawk, two of Vanilla Ice), and featuring a brick oven that spits out good pizza on a daily basis.

Pizza. Our brick oven fired pie of choice was a large sausage and fresh garlic pizza (we were hard sold on the garlic, this is important). This pie came to the table hot out of the oven with a well-charred crust, beautiful melted slices of mozzarella, and a shockingly bright red sauce.

(Again, this is a representative picture because of our camera issues, but just imagine that it has sausage and dark little specs of garlic on it…)

The crust was yeasty and delicious, but it was also rather toothsome and chewy, giving our jaws a more significant workout than even a bagel should. The cheese was of excellent quality and of lower moisture than we’re used to, lending the pie it’s nice, stringy snap with a more aggressive flavor. The sticking point with this pizza, however, was the sauce; while fresh-tasting and cleanly seasoned, the harsh bitterness of the tomato seemed overly concentrated, giving it the taste of a cooked down tomato paste rather than a good sauce. The toppings were nothing special either as the sausage was pretty forgettable and the fresh garlic that was so forcefully recommended to us ended up singed and bitter, not helping the sauce issues in the least. Still, despite its shortcomings, this is probably a better pie than many of the by-the-gigantic-slice, gas fired pizzerias on every other corner in Manhattan can serve up.

The bottom line. John’s of Bleecker Street serves a good pie with big flavors and textures that will hit or miss amongst different palates that stumble into their friendly, intriguing establishment.

Establishment: 15/30
Pizza: 20/30
Hits the Spot: 6.7/10
Large Cheese: $14.00

One of the reasons we’ve tried to keep up with our Pizza Touring is for places like this. While we started with the places we’ve known all our lives in Stamford, branching out into the pizza bastions of the northeast has exposed us to the cultures of textbook New Haven, and now New York pizza pies.

Tucked away under the bridge in Brooklyn’s eclectic DUMBO neighborhood, Grimaldi’s is the quintessential New York pizzeria. Staking the claim to countless prizes bestowed by locals and foodies alike, Grimaldi’s is indisputably iconic and renowned throughout the country as one of the best pizzas you’ll ever have the privilege of eating. Or so we’re trying to confirm.

Establishment. As is the case with many local institutions, Grimaldi’s sports a sizable line that often stretches the length of Old Fulton Street as well as some little quirks (cash only, no slices, takeout line and eat-in line are the same) that everyone begrudgingly deals with. After waiting in the sun (a welcome departure from our usual waits in the cold winter night) for about an hour, we were ushered in, bouncer style, to a packed but deceptively comfortable dining room. Cafeteria-style seating fills the restaurant to the rafters, seating eight to a side in what can be described as a mildly roomy feeding trough. The darkened, close quarters atmosphere is reminiscent of just about everything else in the city (as is the abysmal parking) and, like any respectable big-name pizzeria, Grimaldi’s incorporates photographs of its famous patrons and Frank Sinatra into the decor. Our server was predictably terse and largely pragmatic, doing his damndest to dart from table to table in order to bring menus, take orders, drop checks, and usher a new party into the restaurant.

Pizza. The time we did spend in Grimaldi’s, however, was nothing short of divine. Our pie of choice was a classic Neapolitan topped with crumbled Italian sausage and fresh garlic, delivered steaming hot, no less than five (!!!) minutes after we ordered it.

(full disclosure: this, and all of the other pictures in this post are the best representative photographs that we could find…our camera kind of crapped out on us)

The crust was an oven-blistered masterpiece, delicately thin with a huge, yeasty flavor and the bitter notes of a perfect coal oven char. The cheese was a beautifully fresh, sliced mozzarella that melted into stringy pools of delicate flavor. Slicing through the mildness of the cheese was a phenomenally well-seasoned, fresh and tangy tomato sauce with light notes of natural sweetness. Full leaves of fresh basil complemented the sauce nicely, giving the pie a brightness amidst its inherently strong flavors. The crumbled Italian sausage and fresh, crushed garlic that topped this pizza were very complementary as well, moderately portioned as not to overpower the pie but contributing a good deal of savory, salty notes and working to deepen the flavors of the sauce. Our only criticism—and we’re really reaching here—was with the pizza’s overall texture: it was super thin, especially in the center, and as a result, some slices were on the floppy side. That’s it. This was one good pizza.

The bottom line. If you can stand to wait in line for upwards of an hour and you don’t mind little establishment idiosyncrasies, this isn’t just one of the best pizzas you’ll find in New York, but one of the best you’ll find. Period.

Establishment: 16/30
Pizza: 26/30
Hits the Spot: 9.7/10
Large Cheese: $14.00