Your Favorite New York Slices

Summary

Podcast Summary: All Of It – "Your Favorite New York Slices"

Release Date: July 25, 2025
Host: Alison Stewart
Produced by WNYC

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Introduction

In the episode titled "Your Favorite New York Slices," All Of It delves into the rich and diverse world of New York City's pizza culture. Hosted by Alison Stewart, the show celebrates summer restaurant week by spotlighting the city's best pizza offerings—from classic slices to underrated gems. The conversation is enriched by insights from Scott Wiener, founder and owner of Scott's Pizza Tours, who provides expertise on the science, history, and cultural significance of NYC pizza.

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The History of Pizza in New York City

Scott Wiener's Insight: Scott Wiener begins by tracing the origins of pizza in New York City back to the late 1800s. He explains how Southern Italian immigrants arrived in large numbers, bringing their culinary traditions to industrial hubs like New York, New Haven, Trenton, Philadelphia, and Boston.

“[00:50] Scott Wiener: …the earliest pizza in America was different from the pizza that came over from southern Italy. And that became the basis of what we still celebrate today, places like John's Obliquer and Frank Pepe's in New Haven.”

Wiener highlights the significance of anthracite coal, which was readily available and inexpensive, allowing for the establishment of pizza ovens that defined the early American pizza landscape.

Popularity Trends: He identifies two key periods of increased pizza popularity:

1. Late 1800s to Early 1900s: Initial introduction by immigrants.
2. Post-World War II (1950s): A major surge in popularity due to advancements in restaurant equipment and oven technology.

“[02:26] Scott Wiener: …the big explosion that you're mentioning is Post World War II, really in the 1950s, that's when, you know, access to being able to open these restaurants.”

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Listener Recommendations and Personal Stories

Heartfelt Recommendations:

• Lisa from Levittown:
  Shares a nostalgic and emotional connection to Captain Pizzeria in the Bronx, describing her first bite as so exceptional it brought her to tears.

  “[03:26] Lisa: …I cried. I literally cried because there is no pizza like that in the whole world.”

• Ira Flato:
  Recommends Manno's Pizzeria in Ridgewood, Queens, praising their commitment to fermenting dough for five days without chemical additives.

  “[04:12] Ira Flato: …his pizza is just simply the best New York style I've had in a minute.”

Scott Wiener's Endorsements: Scott echoes Ira’s enthusiasm for Manno's and adds his own favorites, such as FNF Pizzeria in Carroll Gardens, Paulie Gee’s in Greenpoint, and more, often highlighting unique aspects like dough fermentation techniques and quality ingredients.

“[05:42] Scott Wiener: …Nick’s pizza. He uses an Italian flour called caputo americana for his pizza, which is a product that I actually helped develop a few years ago.”

Additional Listener Contributions: Various listeners from different boroughs share their top pizza spots, contributing to a vibrant tapestry of New York's pizza scene. Notable mentions include Joe's Brick Oven Pizza in the Bronx, Noco's Tartufata Pizza in St. Mark’s, and Bleecker Street Pizza in Greenwich Village.

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The Science of a Great New York Slice

Dough and Fermentation: Scott Wiener delves into the science of pizza dough, explaining the differences between commercial yeast and sourdough. He emphasizes that sourdough utilizes native yeast and bacteria, leading to deeper flavors and improved texture.

“[09:03] Scott Wiener: …sourdough, then you're using native yeast, yeast that's living in your environment. Plus outnumbering the yeast by a factor of 100 are bacteria. And so it's the bacterial fermentation that end up giving you deeper flavor.”

Flour Types: The discussion extends to flour varieties, particularly double zero flour, which is highly refined and ideal for high-temperature ovens but may not be suitable for all slice shops.

“[12:48] Scott Wiener: …double zero flour is an Italian flour. That's highly refined… it's just a great flour to use in high temperature ovens.”

Sauce Simplicity: Wiener highlights the traditional New York approach to pizza sauce—simple, uncooked, typically consisting of just tomatoes and salt—to allow the quality of the tomatoes to shine.

“[13:23] Scott Wiener: …most pizza sauces are just tomatoes and salt and they're not cooked. And they're very lightly seasoned, if at all.”

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Cultural Significance and Evolution of Pizza Hotspots

Historical Pizzerias: Scott outlines the evolution of pizza hotspots, starting from Little Italy neighborhoods in East Harlem and Mulberry Street in Lower Manhattan to Brooklyn’s Red Hook and the West Village’s Italian Quarter.

“[11:30] Scott Wiener: …the first one, and then Lower Manhattan along Mulberry street, the second one. And then you also simultaneously had parts of Brooklyn, like Red Hook had pizzerias in the 1890s.”

Modern-Day Diversity: The podcast underscores how pizza is now spread across all boroughs, each offering unique styles and specialties, reflecting New York City's diverse cultural landscape.

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Special Topics: Gluten-Free and Kosher Pizzas

Gluten-Free Options: Responding to listener inquiries, Scott provides recommendations for gluten-free pizza lovers, mentioning spots like Caste on Fulton Street and Ribalta near Union Square.

“[14:02] Scott Wiener: Caste down on Fulton Street. Excellent. Gluten free ribalta, 48 East 12th street, right by Union Square. Excellent.”

Kosher Pizza: He also touches on kosher options, recommending Kosher Pizza Time on Avenue J, known for its reliable quality and adherence to dietary laws.

“[20:15] Scott Wiener: …on Avenue J called Kosher Pizza Time. It's been open Since, I think, 92 or 93… that's a pretty decent one.”

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Unique Pizza Styles and Innovations

Cup Pepperoni: The episode explores the distinctive cup pepperoni style, where pepperoni slices curl during cooking, creating a cup-like shape that holds toppings and adds a unique texture.

“[18:48] Scott Wiener: …the original pepperoni came in a natural casing. And that means that when you cook it, the natural casing, like the intestinal lining will shrink and the pepperoni will cup.”

Upside Down Sicilian Pizza: Highlighted is Ellen B. Spumoni on 86th Street, famed for its upside-down Sicilian pizza, a regional variation beloved by locals.

“[19:58] Scott Wiener: …they're really known for their upside down Sicilian pizza.”

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Conclusion

The episode wraps up with a celebration of New York City's enduring love affair with pizza. Host Alison Stewart and Scott Wiener encourage listeners to explore and savor the city's diverse pizza offerings, each slice telling its own story of tradition, innovation, and community.

“[20:54] Scott Wiener: Thanks so much. I'm hungry now.”

Listeners are reminded to refer to the upcoming transcript for detailed recommendations and to continue their pizza exploration beyond the episode.

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Key Takeaways

• Historical Roots: New York pizza's origins are deeply tied to Southern Italian immigration and the availability of anthracite coal for baking.
• Cultural Diversity: Each borough offers unique pizza styles, reflecting the city's multicultural fabric.
• Science of Pizza Making: The type of flour, fermentation process, and simplicity of sauce are crucial in crafting the perfect slice.
• Community Favorites: Personal stories and listener recommendations highlight the emotional and communal aspects of enjoying pizza in NYC.
• Innovations and Traditions: From sourdough crusts to cup pepperoni, New York pizza continues to evolve while honoring its rich traditions.

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For those eager to embark on their own pizza tour, the episode serves as a comprehensive guide to some of New York City's finest and most underrated pizza spots, ensuring every listener can find their perfect slice.

Transcript

[Ira Flato]

Foreign.

[Host]

This is all of it on wnyc. Well, to celebrate summer restaurant week here in the city, we've been rounding up the best food New York has to offer, from burgers to tacos to ice cream. And today, we're ending the week with, of course, pizza. A classic New York slice is big and floppy and bendable. Everybody has their favorite spot, but with so many, it's really hard to try them all. We have a guide here of the most underrated New York slices, and our guide to that guide is Scott Weiner. He's the founder and owner of Scott's Pizza Tours. He teaches people all about the science, which I love, the history and the culture of pizza in New York City. Hello, Scott.

[Scott Wiener]

Hello.

[Host]

And of course, Scott and I would love you in this conversation. We want to hear from you about your favorite pizza joint. You want to shout out an underrated pizzeria, which in your borough has the best pizza. What makes a good New York slice? We know you have opinions. 2124-3396-9221-2433. WNYC. You can call us. You can text us at that number. Scott, you address the history of pizza in New York City. Can you give us just the Cliff note version?

[Scott Wiener]

Well, it's really interesting history because it goes all the way back to the late 1800s when Southern Italians were coming over really in droves, leaving an area of Italy that was really mostly farmland and in a lot of trouble after Italy became a unified country in the 1860s. So a lot of those southern Italian farmers came over to industrial cities like New York and New Haven, Trenton, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Boston. And it just so happened to be that in this part of the country, you could at that time get inexpensively anthracite coal to fuel your bread ovens or your pizza ovens. And so the earliest pizza in America was different from the pizza that came over from southern Italy. And that became the basis of what we still celebrate today, places like John's Obliquer and Frank Pepe's in New Haven.

[Host]

So this is 1800s, though. When did it really, I mean, was it really an explosion in popularity at that point or did was there a moment in history where we can see like the sort of New York slice, the popularity of it, really, like, take hold?

[Scott Wiener]

Yeah, there were two pops and then a huge explosion. So the first pop was really late 1800s, early 1900s, then again after Prohibition was repealed. Then there's a little pop of bars adding pizza to the menu, and then the big explosion that you're Mentioning is Post World War II, really in the 1950s, that's when, you know, access to being able to open these restaurants.

[Host]

Sure.

[Scott Wiener]

The restaurant equipment, the ovens were not really available at the scale that they were after the Second World War. Stainless steel ovens with embedded stone in the base.

[Host]

Yeah, got it. All right, we're talking pizza, your favorite pizza joint. What makes a great New York slice. Listeners, we want to hear from you, 212-433-9692. We're talking with Scott Wiener, who is. Who leads pizza tours. And we have Scott. We have Lisa from Levittown. Hi, Lisa.

[Lisa]

Hi.

[Nicole]

Hi.

[Lisa]

I just wanted to. Oh, I'm sorry.

[Nicole]

Go ahead.

[Host]

No. You have a recommendation?

[Lisa]

Oh, yes. When I was a kid, I grew up in the Morris park section of the Bronx. And then when I was 12 years old, we moved upstate to Orange County, New York. And so I was, you know, very upset about moving. And then we moved. I mean, I came back down here. I moved to Long island to attend Delphi University. But then I would visit the Bronx once in a while. And then after I had my family, we went back to one of those old neighborhood pizzerias, and it was called the Captain Pizzeria, right on Mars Park Avenue. And when I took that first bite, after many years, I cried. I literally cried because there is no pizza like that in the whole world.

[Host]

Oh, Lisa, thank you so much for that.

[Scott Wiener]

I love Captains. Huge slice.

[Host]

Huge slice. Well, also a benefit to that. You know, what I will say, though, is that what I take from that is that no matter where New Yorkers go, one of the first things they do is find the pizza in their neighborhood. Do you think that's true?

[Scott Wiener]

Oh, absolutely. When you're moving somewhere, you always check on where's the nearest hospital, where's the pizzeria.

[Host]

I do. All right, let's talk with Zach here. Hi. From Ridgewood. Hi, Zach.

[Matt]

Hi.

[Ira Flato]

How are you guys doing?

[Host]

Good.

[Ira Flato]

Good. I just want to give a big shout out to Manno's Pizzeria in Ridgewood, Queens, which is my new local spot. Nick's been doing pizza there for the past couple years, and he makes a point to ferment proof his dough for five days. And he also makes a point to not include any chemical additives, including potassium bromate, which is a carcinogen in much of Europe and Canada. And his pizza is just simply the best New York style I've had in a minute.

[Host]

All right. Hey, now, there's a. There's an endorsement. But I did see you sort of cheering for that recommendation, Scott, is that because you just love it so much?

[Scott Wiener]

Well, like, you know, as a professional pizza lover, when somebody starts to give a recommendation, I try to anticipate what they're going to say, and I nailed it. I'm so glad you said Mano's. I love it. I love Nick's pizza. He uses an Italian flour called caputo americana for his pizza, which is a product that I actually helped develop a few years ago.

[Host]

So you are a pizza expert.

[Scott Wiener]

I'm a lover. I'm just a pizza lover.

[Host]

I'm a pizza lover. All right, we have a recommendation here by text. The highest quality, but under hyped pizza has to be FNF Pizzeria in Carroll gardens. Immediately, one of our producers says, no, don't tell them.

[Scott Wiener]

FNF So good.

[Host]

But people really hold their good pizza joints close to their chest sometimes. Do you find that true?

[Scott Wiener]

I do. And I'm making this announcement to everybody listening.

[Host]

Let's hear it. Let's hear it.

[Scott Wiener]

Don't do that. Because then when they close and you say, oh, I miss it. They used to be so good, you'll be the one to blame.

[Host]

All right, well, we have another text. Sal and Carmine on 102nd and Broadway. Best pizza in that area. Let's get in another call here too. We were going to talk with Nicole, I think. Hi, Nicole.

[Nicole]

Hi. I was going to give a shout out to my absolute favorite pizza joint in all over the city. Paulie Gee's. That's g E E. Polygee's in Greenpoint.

[Host]

Greenpoint.

[Nicole]

Because I lived in Greenpoint for 20 years, and that was the first, like, real restaurant that ever opened in Greenpoint that completely changed the game for the rest of the neighborhood. Paulie makes or made, at least at the time. Everybody wait online. Everyone had to wait for two hours. Even, God, I can't remember his name. The favorite, the famous restaurateur. He waited on ultra 2 hours on a Saturday night. And Polly's like, everybody, you know, there's no reservations, there's no preference. And that's where, believe it or not, hot honey started. That was originally a side order, and then it was pat and Mike decided, you gotta bottle this.

[Host]

I mean, look, people are gonna have to wait in line for a good slice sometime, don't you think?

[Scott Wiener]

Absolutely. And. But also, there's Paulie g's slice shop around the corner. So the caller, I think, was talking about the one on 60 Greenpoint Avenue. The wood fire sits in place.

[Ira Flato]

Got it.

[Scott Wiener]

You can get a Buy the slice version around the corner on Franklin.

[Host]

All right, let's talk with Matt in northern New Jersey. Hi, Matt.

[Zach]

Yes, good afternoon. I just wanted to say, besides recommending any underrated pizzerias, that I had the pleasure of having Scott conduct a tour about three years ago as a team building exercise at work. And it was by far the most enjoyable because the only thing we had to do was listen and eat and ask a lot of questions. So it was a great day. It was a, it was a very warm spring day midweek, and Scott knew every pizzeria in lower Manhattan. So nothing mentioning specifically, but just that Scott does an incredible job taking people around and having many varieties and preparations in a matter of a couple of hours.

[Host]

Love it. All right, thank you so much. Let's it do talk with Matt in Hartsdale. Hi, Matt.

[Ira Flato]

Hi. How are you?

[Host]

Good.

[Ira Flato]

Excellent. Yeah, man, I got some great recommendations so far.

[Zach]

This is awesome.

[Ira Flato]

My kind of question comment is for your guest is about sourdough. Sourdough as pizza dough. And so my recommendation that goes along with that is also in the Ridgewood, Bushwick area.

[Host]

Ops. All right. Do you know ops?

[Scott Wiener]

I love ops. I was mouthing it as you said.

[Host]

It, Mr. Let's talk about, let's talk about Mr. Culler. Let's talk about that. And thanks for the call, by the way. But let's talk about that sourdough crust because that's a thing.

[Scott Wiener]

So this is the second time it's been brought up. FNF in Carroll Gardens is also sourdough.

[Host]

What makes it taste different, better?

[Scott Wiener]

So commercial yeast is just a singular breed of yeast. It's Saccharomyces cerevisiae. When you do sourdough, then you're using native yeast, yeast that's living in your environment. Plus outnumbering the yeast by a factor of 100 are bacteria. And so it's the bacterial fermentation that end up giving you deeper flavor. There's more enzymatic activity and it also is a slower release of sugar when you're eating the product. So it's not just really about flavor. It's also about texture. And then there's some health benefits to it as well.

[Host]

Text here. Hands down, Noco, St. Mark's Nocco's Tartufata Pizza and Emiliana are heavenly.

[Scott Wiener]

Love it.

[Host]

We have Nora in White Plains. Hi, Nora.

[Matt]

Hi. I love the show. I am not as widely versed. I haven't, you know, I want to try all these, especially the Italian flowers based pizzas. But I did Love the pizza at Bleecker Street Pizza on. I think it's 7 Avenue south, and it's right around the corner from a club called. It used to be Top Cat and now it's Cellar Dog. They have lots of billiard tables and stuff, but up front they have live music. And if you get a chair up front, you can hear over the sort of rowdy racket. And they let you bring the pizza in or anything else you buy in the neighborhood in. And they also make like old fashioned, like ginger soda right at the bar.

[Host]

Nice.

[Matt]

But I thought the pizza was excellent from New York Street Pizza.

[Host]

Yeah. Nora, thank you so much for that recommendation. So I'm wondering, Scott, did the evolution of New York pizza, Were there kind of hotspots that I could try to pick out, Right, Like Brooklyn, like Arthur Avenue, like. Like Staten island, where it's not just so centralized to those locations anymore that obviously by all of these recommendations that someone can find a good New York slice. But were there kind of hotspots to start with, when you mentioned back in the kind of history of this, like, can you pinpoint a place?

[Scott Wiener]

Yeah, in the early days, it was really those Little Italy neighborhoods, like East Harlem, where was kind of the first one, and then Lower Manhattan along Mulberry street, the second one. And then you also simultaneously had parts of Brooklyn, like Red Hook had pizzerias in the 1890s.

[Host]

Wow.

[Scott Wiener]

And then the West Village, not far from where we are right now was the Italian Quarter, where John's is. And those neighborhoods were really sit down pizza and then they buy the slice. Which happened after the Second World War. That started happening in any part of the city where there was massive foot traffic.

[Host]

Got it. We got a text here. Any recommendations for good pizza in the Jackson Heights area?

[Scott Wiener]

It's a little rougher. I actually really like in Sunnyside. There's an amazing place called Philomenas.

[Host]

Oh, yes.

[Scott Wiener]

So you're nearby.

[Host]

Why were we just talking about Philomenas? I don't remember. All right, another text. Luigi's Pizza on Fifth Avenue and Park Slope. Classic slice that's been around since the 70s. Another text. Here, Grandma, Grandma's pie from Saludi's east on Grand. The whole pie only left. Leftovers warmed up on the top of the toaster are amazing. Pro tip. That sounds pretty good.

[Scott Wiener]

Yeah.

[Host]

And how about we talk? Oh, here. Pizza wagon in Bay Ridge. Best slice. What do you think? Another good question. What do you think about pizza joints using double zero flour?

[Scott Wiener]

What's double zero zero flour? Is an Italian flour. That's highly refined. So that means that when you mill down the wheat, you're sifting out the bran and the germ and leaving just the endosperm behind, like the white flower. So it's just. It's a great flour to use in high temperature ovens. Yeah, but it's not usually that great of a flour to use in slice shops. So I think sometimes people hear that there's a special flour, they don't realize that it's dependent on your use.

[Host]

I mean, we've been talking a lot about flour, the crust, but I mean, are there people who get, like, kind of finicky about their sauce as much?

[Scott Wiener]

Everybody. Come on. Everybody's finicky about their sauce. But the thing about sauce that I think most people don't realize is that in New York, most pizza sauces are just tomatoes and salt and they're not cooked. And they're very lightly seasoned, if at all. So if you're trying to reproduce a great New York style pizza, really concentrate on dough and then let the good tomato do the talking.

[Host]

Got it? All right, Shout out to Joe and Sal's in Crown Heights. Best slice in the neighborhood. Talking about crust. Here we have someone who texts and asks, do you have any good recommendations for gluten free, gluten free pizza?

[Scott Wiener]

I got a ton. You ready? Write this down.

[Host]

Yeah, let's do it.

[Scott Wiener]

Caste down on Fulton Street. Excellent. Gluten free ribalta, 48 East 12th street, right by Union Square. Excellent. And then Joe and Pat's does a really good cauliflower crust, but it's got a ton of cheese in the crust. So if you're vegan, don't touch it.

[Host]

Got it.

[Scott Wiener]

But those are the big three right now.

[Host]

All right. And we should just let our listeners know. There will be a transcript of this conversation that's coming. So don't you know. Yes. If you want to get it this weekend, probably write it down so you don't forget. Will have something for you next week as well, so you can go back and review the whole list. All right. I moved to Soho in 1984. This texture says pretty much the only two storefronts that remain unchanged since I got there are pizza joints. Arturo and Ben's. And let's see, what's the other? Oh, we only get the one. Okay. Arturo and Ben's has a coal oven. Tastes different from any other in the city. Talk about. You mentioned coal. So how you make the crust is also an issue.

[Scott Wiener]

Yes, it is. And so I mentioned coal before Because Arturo's correctly at Houston and Thompson has a coal fired oven since 1957. And it's really about how the dough is made and then how that dough interacts with the oven. So coal is very dry. That means that as it bakes the pizza, it depletes moisture very quickly. And so you end up getting, you won't get the fluffy, light crusted pizza. You, you're gonna get the more slightly dense charred pizza. So if you like that darkness in the flavor, you love it.

[Host]

All right, let's talk to Martin upstate. Hi, Martin.

[Martin]

Oh, hi. Good afternoon. Well, I'm upstate at the moment, but my whole life I've lived in the Bronx. I've been eating pizza since I've been 10, going to school and eating pizza at 15 cents a slice. I'm always in search of the best slice. There's a nice slice at 231st street off Broadway. The one train called Joe's Brick Oven Pizza. It's big and it's $2.50. And I wanted to pose a question to the guest. Currently, our slice pizzerias is the mozzarella cheese. Make believe Mozzarella. What are they using?

[Host]

All right, we've got. You're gonna hear it here first, Martin. Are we about to do some myth busting here, Scott?

[Scott Wiener]

Yeah, sort of. It's not make believe. I understand what you're asking about is, is this real cheese or is this fake cheese? So the world of ingredients for any restaurant is vast right now. Very high quality or you can get very low quality. The better pizzerias are the ones that are using this high quality cheese that they're either shredding in house, which is always nice if they're buying pre shredded. There are a couple companies that do a good pre shred, but by and large, pre shredded cheese is gonna come coated with anti caking agents and mold inhibitors. It's cheaper, and if it's closer to the expiration date, you're gonna get a better price on it. And so you can tell when a pizza is shiny and has the orange sludge around the top. I mean, come on, it doesn't take a pizza expert to know what that means.

[Host]

Thank goodness we have a pizza expert. We're talking with Scott Wiener, who directs tours all about pizza, the history and the science and the culture of pizza here in New, uh, let's see, we have. You can't talk about New York City pizza here says this texter, without mentioning Lombardi's on String Spring street, opened in 1905 it's the first pizzeria in New York State, fact or not. Fact.

[Scott Wiener]

Scott Lombardi's actually opened in 1898.

[Host]

Oh, well, there you go.

[Scott Wiener]

They. I know, it's weird. They have their own year.

[Nicole]

Wrong.

[Scott Wiener]

It's. It's older than they think it is.

[Host]

Lucia's Pizza and Flushing, Queens. Yes. Another one you're glad that we're mentioning, Is that right?

[Scott Wiener]

Yeah, because I, you know, I love talking about underrated pizzerias. And in Flushing, there's not a ton ton of pizza, but that's a classic 1960s slice joint. Hole in the wall. Something to celebrate.

[Host]

Let's bring Jose and Long island into the conversation. Hi, Jose.

[Jose]

Hi. How are you doing?

[Host]

All right.

[Jose]

Good, good. I just want to mention Lucia's Pizzeria. I've been eating there since I was attending school, Flushing High School. And every day after school, we were head over there. And it's one of the most messiest pizzas. And it drips. The sauce just drips off the slice of. But, you know, it was just amazing. The cheese and the sauce and the combination between the cheese, the sauce and the bread, it was just amazing. So I just wanted to mention them.

[Host]

Thanks so much, Jose. Appreciate the call. Any recommendations here from this text or a question for Bed Stuy?

[Scott Wiener]

Oh, yeah, Lots of good stuff in Bed Stuy. There's Saraghina. There's Speedy Romeo, one of my total favorites. There's Luigi's, which is. I guess. I guess that's closer into Clinton Hill. But Bed Stuy has this place called Norbert's. I don't know if it's still open, but that was my jam when I lived over there.

[Host]

Got it. Shout out to Nino's in Bay Ridge. They make a cup pepperoni square slice, to die for. What is a cup pepperoni square slice?

[Scott Wiener]

So you know how when you get a pepperoni pizza, most of the time the pepperoni lays flat? So that's a version of pepperoni that became popular in the 70s, 80s, 90s. Before that. The original pepperoni came in a natural casing. And that means that when you cook it, the natural casing, like the intestinal lining will shrink and the pepperoni will cup. So it's an old school type of pepperoni.

[Host]

Oh, I have seen that.

[Scott Wiener]

You see a char.

[Host]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Nicole]

It's delicious.

[Host]

Okay. All right. So now we're talking about toppings. Oh, yeah. Are there places that you can think of where here you can get a good crust. Here you can get a good sauce. Here the toppings are great, or is it really just about like.

[Scott Wiener]

It's the combo, you know, it's pizza. It's the combination of all of it. I really don't like the idea of isolating cheese from tomato from whatever, because you know what? Those are components. What you're making is the pizza. And it's the way that they come together that sings.

[Host]

Ellen B. Spumoni the best. I don't know if you know that one. Yeah.

[Scott Wiener]

On 86th street they do. They're really known for their upside down Sicilian pizza.

[Host]

Okay.

[Scott Wiener]

If you go there and get the round pie, I don't know what you're doing with your life. You gotta get the square.

[Host]

Got it. All right. Best kosher pizza.

[Scott Wiener]

That's a rough one. There's a place on Avenue J called Kosher Pizza Time. It's been open Since, I think, 92 or 93, right next to Di Fara, which I'm surprised hasn't come up yet, but that's a pretty decent one.

[Host]

All right, I'm gonna shout out my neighborhood. I like Bono Trattoria. Do you know it? Oh, I guess I know where I'm taking you for dinner. All right. We've been talking about pizza, the best slice in New York City with founder and owner of Scott's Pizza Tour, Scott Wiener. He teaches all about the science, history, and culture of pizza in New York City. And I think we've just inspired a whole bunch of people to get a slice on the way home. Scott, thanks for your time.

[Scott Wiener]

Thanks so much. I'm hungry now.

[J]

This is Ira Flato, host of Science Friday. For over 30 years, the science Friday team has been reporting high quality science and technology news, making science fun for curious people by covering everything from the outer reaches of space to the rapidly changing world of AI to the tiniest microbes in our bodies. Audiences trust our show because they know we're driven by a mission to inform and serve listeners first and foremost with important news they won't get anywhere else. And our sponsors benefit from that halo effect. For more information on becoming a sponsor, visit sponsorship wnyc. Org.