WTF Happened to New York Pizza?
Wednesday, March 5th, 2025Back in 2008 Jon Stewart rightly mocked Sarah Palin and Donald Trump for (among other things) saying they had a slice of real New York pizza at Famous Famiglia’s, a national chain suitable only for tourists and stranded airport travelers. But recently I realized that I haven’t had a slice of New York pizza better than Famiglia’s at a public restaurant for a very long time. Why?
First we need to establish what New York pizza is. It’s a single slice with Mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce, and a medium crust. You can sprinkle it with garlic, oregano, or crushed red pepper if you like, but it doesn’t come with any toppings, and it’s sold by the slice, not the pie. We can talk about Sicilian and calzones too, but for now let’s stick to the basics. A New York slice is a hot, take out food for a very reasonable amount of money that you can eat while walking down a Brooklyn street, not an entire pie served at a fine dining restaurant. You can find it in every neighborhood in the city, from Tottenville to Bedford Park. And for the last some-odd years this classic style of pizza has roundly sucked.
