Coulda been. It was on the SE corner of one of the cross streets. Here’s a NY pizza story: Not long after I moved to Brooklyn in October 1993 a Dominos opened in Bay Ridge. They offered large pizzas for some ridiculously low price. They were gone in a few months.
Fits the bill so far. Here’s a pic:
Sad.
Wow, this thread really takes me back! It looks like I never properly checked in afterwards, but it was a great trip! My then fiancee (now my wife and the mother of my three kids) went with me, and we definitely ate a lot of pizza. We managed to make it to most of the places you all suggested (not the ones in New Haven, sorry). I know we did Lombardi’s, Joe’s, Grimaldi’s, Di Fara’s, one of the Ray’s and at least a couple other places. Unfortunately, with it being a dozen years ago I no longer remember which was my favorite, and I’ve long ago lost the notebook in which I recorded my observations.
I do remember my wife’s favorite, although not by name: it was whatever random shop happened to be across the street from our hotel, where we went to get a late night snack even though the place wasn’t on our itinerary. They also had cannoli, which my wife had never had before – and which she enjoyed despite thinking “It’s in the Godfather” was an odd way for me to recommend a dessert.
The other significant thing about that trip is that we decided to see a Broadway play, Rabbit Hole, that we knew nothing about except that it starred Cynthia Nixon, John Slattery, and Tyne Daly (and that there were same-day tickets available). It wasn’t until we were sitting in the audience that we found out it was about a couple grieving the death of their young son, who had been hit by a car. This was rather triggering for my wife, who had lost her sister to a car accident years before. So when we discovered the subject I turned to my wife, horrified, and asked if she wanted to leave. But she said, “No, I think I’ll be OK” and we ended up staying for the whole show and enjoying it in spite of everything.
This experience convinced my wife to revive her idea of becoming a therapist for traumatized kids, which she had previously considered but had believed would be too much for her to handle emotionally. As soon as we got home she applied to the Masters in Social Work program at the big university in our town (where I was already a student in a different grad program), on the very day of the application deadline. She got in. This led directly to us meeting some of our best friends to this day, and also had a ripple effect from her career, to where we wanted to live, to my career, to when we had kids… I mean, we both considered it a significant decision at the time, but looking back now 12 years later I’m kind off blown away by how much everything that came since would have almost surely been completely different.
So even though i didn’t know it at the time, that was probably the most life changing trip i ever took. And the pizza was delicious!
Wow. Thanks for the update, tim314. Amazing how seemingly insignificant events can play such important roles in our lives.
I opened this thread out of mild curiosity, almost closed it when I saw the date of the OP, then quickly read through the more recent posts. I’m so glad I read to the end.
I’ve got a question about “Best X food in Y large metropolitan area” as it crops up quite a bit. There’s dopers’ personal reccomendations and the posting of consensuses of popular guides. For personal reccomendations I’ve got no problem, but if one of the main guides consistently says for example “the best seafood in New York is at Chloe’s crab shack” how does Chloe’s stop becoming either prohibitively expensive or impossible to get a table at?
It doesn’t, really. In college, I was on the weekly student newspaper and one of the regular things we did was the annual pizza poll. We’d gather in someone’s dorm lounge or apartment and order plain cheese pizzas from every place in town that delivered to campus, all the same night. We’d taste-test each one and then publish the results. Whichever place came out on top was then flooded with orders. At least once, the increase in business and subsequent slow deliveries put a pizzeria out of business.
So my idea was to order from the restaurant in second place, figuring it was almost as good and going to be less busy. (Not to mention that the pizza poll was never very scientific. None of us had any training in properly evaluating food, and trying twenty-something pizzas in one evening doesn’t do the last one justice.)
Though I am not a New Yorker, I can recommend Keste on Bleecker Street near NYU. I was introduced to it several years ago by one of my Italian friends (a Roman, but born and raised in Naples) who, at a meeting in New Jersey announced he wanted to sight see in New York that evening and that we would eat at “the second best pizza restaurant in New York”, the first best having recently closed down when the owner/chef decamped for other parts.
I don’t know if it is the best, but having eaten Neapolitan pizza in small neighborhood places in Naples (guided by my friend), I can say they serve a pie that is as good as the best I’ve tasted.
I like thin crust pizza and I go to Rubriosa on Mulberry between Prince & Spring when I’m in town.
I’ve had several ‘the best’ pizza’s in and around NYC. My conclusion is it’s all hype not worth anything in terms of pizza taste. NY pizza, inside NYC, and in it’s suburbs is in generally very good to great, though they are some bombs out there. Don’t go to chains (including Sbaro), but go to local ones, hopefully ones that seem busy and you should not be disappointed. But you will be disappointed if you then go to one of those rated the best as they will be no better then what you already had.
Also to note that there are now many gourmet pizza places and while good in it’s own right, is a different animal then what is great NY pizza.
I’m quite fond of both the flavor of the crust and the freshness/ flavor of the ingredients used at Grand Avenue Pizza on 30th Avenue in Astoria, Queens.
Take the N or W to the 30th Avenue stop and walk up to 35th Street. ( you get off onto 31st Street. )
Truly some of the best pizza I’ve ever eaten. I’m no expert. But I dabble. The pizza in Philly where I grew up was more than acceptable, but nothing as fine as the NYC-area pizza I’ve had.
Also, my two cents? Avoid the classic tourist trap pizza joints, like Grimaldi’s under the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn, or Patsy’s Pizza. ( The area is called DUMBO. Take that for what you will… 
)
Instead, get recommendations here for regular neighborhood joints !!
ETA: By comparison, I have eaten the pizza baked and served in the café inside of the Coliseum in Rome. It is without doubt some of the shittiest pizza I have ever eaten.
I’ve had some pretty good pizza in Rome, and some good meals. But to be fair, everyone knows that if you want great Italian food in Italy, you got to get OUT of Rome.
I’ve never been to Naples, but I can vouch for the pizza of Sicily as some tastebud dynamite. Particularly in Taormina and Cefalu.