Birthday Weekend Pizza Crawl!

My favorite food in the world is pizza. I could eat pizza probably every day and for every meal. To celebrate my birthday, I decided to drag my sister around New York on a "pizza crawl".


Stop 1: Motorino Pizza
Verdict: Blech, skip this.

Stop 2: GG's

Yes, I have been here before, but I hadn't tried its famous "Grandma Pie" yet. We were planning on going to Bruno's, but it was raining and thunderstorming. Cooper is scared of thunder, so we decided to order GG's on caviar and stay in so he wouldn't be scared. Yes, we are officially those people.

We ordered the grandma pie and the ebony & ivory pie.

{Auntie I love pepperoni!}

{Netflix & Chill (with pizza)}

Verdict: The grandma pie is a square pie on what is basically a focaccia crust. The rest of the pizza was oozing with cheese and appetizing looking pepperoni discs. The sauce/toppings soaked up into the crust nicely, but not in a way that made the pizza soggy. The ebony & ivory pie was good, but, this time, it was eclipsed by my loyalty to pepperoni pizza. I probably won't come back here again, and if I am ordering pizza in, I would pick Luzzo's diavola pizza over GG's.

Stop 3: Bruno's

Bruno is new to the east village, and has received a lot of praise recently! I came here the week before and ordered the mushroom and 'nduja pizza, along with the agnolotti. I looooved the 'nduja pizza and the agnolotti, the mushroom pizza was just okay. This week, my sister and I ordered the pepperoni pizza, summer greens pizza, and the cavatappi pasta.

{Does not re-heat well, so eat the whole thing at the restaurant}

Verdict: We came here for the pizza, and we were wowed by the pasta. I would definitely come back here again and stuff my face with more pizza (pepperoni and 'nduja) and pasta (cavatappi)!

Stop 4: Di Fara's

Di Fara's is one of the "old school" pizza joints in New York. I had heard of 2-3 hour waits at Di Fara's, so I made sure to get there before they opened to get a place in line. My sister and I arrived about 30 minutes before opening, and they had already started taking orders, so we walked right in with no wait. By the time we left, they were only taking orders at the window and called you when your order was ready. We decided to each get a slice - of course - I got pepperoni on mine.

{Look at those thick discs of pepperoni!}

Verdict: The crust was perfect, the pepperoni was perfect, and I would gladly sit on the Q train for 45+ minutes to go back here again! I'm not sure if I would wait 2-3 hours in the cold in line for this, but I would try to get here early to beat the queue.

Stop 5: Totonno's

Since we were already at Di Fara's we decided to stop by Totonno's. We had to wait about 25 minutes for a table. The founder, Totonno Pero, originally worked at Lombardi's, and opened his namesake restaurant in 1924.

Verdict: So the pizza was tasty, but I wouldn't trek all the way out to Coney Island and wait in the cold for it again.

Stop 6: Posto

Well, this is kind of cheating. This place is a delivery staple for me when I'm not ordering from Luzzo's. My favorite is the meat lovers with ricotta as an extra topping.

Verdict: Very good neighborhood pizza, I will come here (and order delivery from here) again!

Stop 7: Roberta's

This place a hipster pizza joint, but it is delicious! Everyone who knows me was shocked when I said I hadn't been here before. My sister and I had planned on ending our pizza crawl at Roberta's on the day of my official birthday. My friends surprised me and we ended up having a bunch of different things - far more than two people could have eaten! For pizzas, we had the margherita, cheesus christ, bee sting, and the good girl. I would have taken more pictures but the lighting was bad and I was busy socializing with my friends and trying to eat as much pizza as my stomach allowed.

{Bee sting pizza  - pepperoni/spicy stuff with honey drizzled on top}

{Cheesus Christ!}

Verdict: Unique and finger licking good pies! I will be coming here again, and will likely have to wait 50-80 minutes for a table. Of all the pizzas we had as leftovers, this was my favorite one to finish off at home during the following week.

Winners:
Bruno's
Di Fara's
Roberta's

Not Mentioned but my favorite in east village: Luzzo's

Do you think I'm horribly wrong on my verdicts? Did I miss some key pizza institutions? I'm happy to conduct a second edition of the pizza crawl in case I missed anything the first time!