They make small/personal size pizzas at most places.
Agreed – In fact, it’s the usual practice at places that sell pizza by the slice. I prefer un-reheated pizza (In fact, I’ll sometimes ask for it cold instead of having it reheated), but freshly made pizza is clearly the best.
And I don’t think any part of the New York pizza experirence derives from its being re-heated. Freshly made NY pizza has the taste and feel of NY pizza already.
If you’re ever in Moscow, check out the Conservatory just off the Garden Ring, not far from the American Embassy. They have a little kiosk where they sell personal size pizzas fresh from the student lunchroom kitchens. Cheap and really good eats. (I buy 'em by the bagful!)
Many places outside the NYC area don’t sell pizza by the slice. That’s really only a thing in places where walk-up customers are likely - malls and in urban areas. Even in the NYC area , actual restaurants with pizza on menu serve whole pizzas, not slices . although they may have a personal size pizza on the menu, Including one that I know of where the restaurant and a pizzeria share ownership and the kitchen. Can’t get slices in the restaurant .
Well sure, I wouldn’t expect to get a single slice at a sit down restaurant with waitstaff. But I was in Los Angeles and every pizza place I went to there had slices just like in NYC. And I assume Long Island in included in “NYC” here because every single pizza place there has slices. From what I remember it was the same in Savannah. Haven’t had pizza in any other places to compare.
I’ve found plenty of pizza outside NYC that was just as good as good NYC pizza - but it was ALWAYS a small independent pizza joint. It’s not New York, it’s the nature of the place, and outside NYC, generic pizza chains own a bigger slice (ha!) of the market.
the last NY pizza I had was ridiculously delicious, no doubt. But there’s a place not far from me in Burlington, ON that’s just as good - you just have to go past the Pizza Pizza, Little Caesar’s, Pizza Hut, etc. and not bother with that cheap trash. I wouldn’t feed Pizza Hut to a dog I didn’t like, but that’s true in NYC too.
That’s why I said NYC area. It’s easy to get pizza by the slice in Westchester, too.
Pretty sure LA and Savannah are urban. Like I said, slices are sold in places where walk-up customers are likely. Which is mostly malls and urban areas ( and I forgot highway rest areas). Nobody is going to get into a car and drive 20 minutes through the suburbs ( or a rural area) for a slice or two.
From what I gather, it’s the sauce and the crust that make NYC different, with the NYC water having something to do with it, like it does for bagels.
I think that’s where it’s most common, but it’s not unheard of around here for pizza places with dining rooms to have pizza-by-the-slice on their menu, especially at lunch, regardless of whether they’re in heavily pedestrian areas or not.
I’ve seen it all over the place. Not only in big cities (New York, Boston, etc.) and in suburban malls, but in small-town pizzerias, as well. It’s also a standard of chains like Papa Ginos, and at places like 7-11. Small-town pizzerias that deal with customers coming in for lunch provide a one- or two-slice plus a drink special (like Papa Ginos) because they know most people don’t want a whole pizza for lunch.
NYC has very good water, but it’s only available in NYC. I’ve had excellent pizza and bagels in Westchester where the water supply is considerably less desirable. I don’t see that the water quality matters as long as it’s not incredibly hard or contaminated. Good bagels and pizza come from good ingredients and good cooks following a good process.
Central NY here. Many places sell pizza by the slice, grocery stores, pizza shops, delis, gas stations, malls, convenience stores. When I worked downtown, I’d be out on my lunch hour doing errands, no time to sit and eat somewhere. I’d grab a slice of plain cheese pizza from a shop, sold served on a paper plate with a napkin. Fold the slice in half and scarf it down, maybe sitting on a bench for 5 minutes, or just scurrying along back to work, trying not to dribble grease on my clothes. The pizza was neither good nor bad. Even so-so pizza was better than no pizza at all, we ate take-and-go slices for convenience, not fine dining.
That kind of pizza consumption seems much more common in NYC in other places. When I spent significant time in NYC, I had a reheated slice 1-2 times a week. It’s good, cheap, quick, and can be found everywhere. I never had a whole pizza or pizza fresh from the oven when I was in NYC. Back home, I virtually never get a slice of pizza like that. And back home I don’t eat pizza nearly that often, either. So for me, the “classic” NYC pizza is a reheated slice from a display case since that’s the only NYC pizza I ate and I ate it often. I would tend to think that the process of “cooking the pizza, having it cool in the case, and reheating the slice” would impart a different flavor or texture compared to having it straight from the oven. So when I think of what NYC pizza tastes like, I’m relating it to what the pizza-by-the-slice tastes like versus pizza-from-the-oven.
First time I’ve seen the kitchen whites and towels credited for that great NYC pizza taste. LOL!
Sorry, I’m not sure whether I was just slow when I first read this or whether I am being whooshed now. Are you saying that that pizzerias in NYC/Philly are regulated by the mob?
I much prefer a reheated slice to one from a fresh pie. The cooling down/reheating process makes the crust the perfect crispness. Note that the reheating needs to be done in a pizza oven. My local place in the Philly burbs would have a huge selection of pies sitting behind the counter at lunchtime. You told them what you wanted, they would take the slices and pop them back into the pizza oven for a few minutes and presto - pizza perfection.
I will also second the opinion that the cheese matters. I’ve found one place here in the desert that uses cheese and sauce that tastes like Philly pizza, but alas they use a strip oven instead of a proper pizza oven so I don’t get the good texture.
My Google-fu is weak. What is a strip oven? Like one of those conveyor belt thingies?
Yes. Not sure if that’s what they are called in the restaurant biz, that’s what they’re called in the electronics business. (Side note: I worked at one place that built hybrid circuits. Production yield suddenly started falling after lunchtime. Turns out one of the workers took to heating up his lunch in the strip over, contaminating the afternoon production lots.)
There were a lot of mob owner businesses supplying pizzerias and restaurants in general in some major cities. The mob ‘owned’ suppliers were often the best deal for a restaurant, but only because they had ‘out competed’ other businesses in the area. Their usual operations included loan sharking and money laundering where small restaurants were often ‘involved’. Many pizzerias were started by Italian immigrants sponsored and funded by mob connections. As usual it’s a mix of legitimate and corrupt business operating in an environment where details are hazy.
So ‘regulated’ by the mob maybe, or just heavily influenced by mob activities inside and outside the law. Can’t say the situation has continued to this day but it was apparent in the 70s and 80s.
Re: sitdown restaurants that sell pizza by the slice - there are two such establishments within a mile of my house. One’s a purely independent standalong store, and the other is part of a local chain called Fellini’s - just seven stores, and all in the Atlanta area.
Reheated pizza gets a pass from me, but that’s probably because I enjoy cold pizza almost as much as fresh-out-of-the-oven hot.
Agreed - something is lost in the reheating, IMHO.
I often have to stop the counter person from putting my slices into the oven, and never get the “topping added” thing where they sprinkle pepperoni or whatever on a plain slice and add more cheese, which only partially melts.
I haven’t asked they to actually chill the pizza (yet) but I definitely look forward to the next morning’s slice from the fridge.