Monday, January 22th, 2007, 1:00 PM Giuseppe's, 341 Lexington Ave, New York, NY (Murray Hill), 2 slices at $2.00 each The fine chefs at Giuseppe's were horribly off today. This was easily the worst pizza I've ever had here. The spicing was criminally unbalanced and, dare I say, did I taste onions? Nasty!

Friday, January 19th, 2007, 7:00 PM Pizza Box, 176 Bleecker St, New York, NY (Greenwich Village), 2 slices at $2.25 each I've never seen Pizza Box so crowded and disorganized as it was today. I could barely get the attendant's attention to order, and after I did order he could barely get access to the cash register to collect my money. I spent more time at the counter than eating. I guess that's the risk you take when you show up at prime dinner hour. Is it worth all this hassle? Absolutely.

Tuesday, January 16th, 2007, 8:00 PM Tony's Pizza, 4233 Broadway, New York, NY (Washington Heights), 2 slices at $1.75 each My ongoing experiment with Tony's continues to be encouraging yet inconclusive. Tonight's slices really weren't distinguished at all. They weren't great. They weren't bad. They just were. But I retain hope. One of these days I need to order a pie, because I'm dying to know how it tastes fresh out of the oven.

Sunday, January 14th, 2007, 2:00 PM Luzzo's, 211 1st Ave, New York, NY (East Village), 2 pies at $18 each Luzzo's is a relative newcomer in the gourmet pizza restaurant scene that's always had a lot of potential that they don't quite know how to realize. They bake with top-notch ingredients in a superior coal oven, but use the oven only sparingly, failing to fully exploit its unique capabilities over traditional gas ovens. The result is great pizza that's not sublime. You could do worse than this. But they've raised prices since my last visit, and at $18 a pop I'm less inclined to come here regularly.

Friday, January 12th, 2007, 11:00 PM Pizza Box, 176 Bleecker St, New York, NY (Greenwich Village), 2 slices at $2.25 each Today's crust was far too brittle for a respectable pizza foundation. But everyone has their off nights and I'm more than forgiving with Pizza Box. Besides, this aberration only highlighted the fine quality of their other ingredients all the more. So my late-night snack was still tasty and still enjoyable.

Wednesday, January 10th, 2007, 3:00 PM Koronet Pizza, 2848 Broadway, New York, NY (Morningside Heights), 1 (huge) slice for $2.75 I haven't been here for the better part of a year, so I was curious to see how things have changed in the land of the giant slice. While the old, beat-up menu has been replaced with some newfangled chalk-based concoction, everything else is pretty much the same. My slice was really decent today, easily a standard deviation or so about the Koronet mean. That was a nice surprise, and I hope to have such luck again the next time I visit.

Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007, 8:30 PM George's Pizza, 726 W. 181st St, New York, NY (Washington Heights), 3 slices at $1.75 each Tonight I was lucky enough to catch George two minutes before the next available pie was finished baking. That meant super-fresh pizza was coming my way. This was certainly worth an extra slice over the traditional two. And it didn't disappoint. I raced the box home as quickly as I could and proceeded to enjoy the best George's meal I've had in months. May such good fortune strike again soon.

Saturday, December 30st, 2006, 6:30 PM Pizza Box, 176 Bleecker St, New York, NY (Greenwich Village), 3 slices at $2.25 each Pizza Box was tonight's backup option after failed plans to dine somewhere more upscale. My requirements were as follows: reliably tasty food, casual and relaxed atmosphere, suitable for extended book reading, and walkable from Union Square. I was up for somewhere new, but couldn't for the life of my think of other qualified candidates. Joe's, with no seating, fails the book reading requirement. Pizza 33's 23rd St. location is slightly better, but I didn't want to take the risk for such a long hike. Bleecker St. Pizza was an option, but I don't have enough confidence in their reliability yet. Most everywhere else nearby just sucks. So Pizza Box it was, and they were great as usual. Long live Pizza Box!

Friday, December 29th, 2006, 1:00 PM Bella Napoli, 130 Madison Ave, New York, NY (Murray Hill), 2 slices at $2.00 each I've heard good things about Bella Napoli but never had the chance to visit until today. While I wasn't thrilled when the counter man reheated a whole pie to serve my order (at the height of lunch hour, plain pies should always be fresh), the pizza was indeed tasty. Although it was more oily than I would like, the portions were decent and the spicing (which is what really defines the pizza here) was unique and satisfying. As an added plus, my slices were well-done and slightly charred (albeit unintentionally). I'd like to try a fresh pie some time, but I'll be back either way.

Tuesday, December 26th, 2006, 9:00 PM Jo-Jo's Pizza, 3828 Union Deposit Rd, Harrisburg, PA, one 16" pie for $10.00 Travelling through strange lands makes people do strange things. The sights and sounds of these exotic locales delight the spirit and tantalize the mind. But as they do so, they blur the lines between fantasy and reality, spreading a thick fog of illusion that chokes our rational circuitry and dulls our practical instincts. If we're not careful, it can make us do terrible things. This is precisely what caused me to willingly enter Jo-Jo's, pay for a pizza, and eat it. Common sense says that any place specializing in "Taco Pizza" must be avoided at all costs. But I wasn't myself tonight. And I was hungry. I thankfully later regained enough perspective to leave the final slice in the box. But by then damage had been done. I now have to live with the knowledge of what it's like to experience Jo-Jo's. Fellow travelers, take care and remain vigilant.

Thursday, December 21st, 2006, 6:00 PM Lucali, 575 Henry St, Brooklyn, NY (Carroll Gardens), 2 large pies (one plain, one basil) at $18.00 each Lucali is a promising new establishment that gives us hope for the city's future in fine pizzamaking. The owner, a young Brooklyn native, was inspired by Di Fara to learn how to make the best pizza possible and serve it to you and me. While he has a lot to learn (pizza mastery takes decades), his intentions are honorable. And intentions are what truly matter. Those who make pizza out of love chart a fundamentally different course from those who make it for money. They chart a course where quality inevitably improves over time. And if they're talented enough, patient enough, and discriminating enough, that quality becomes greatness. This is where all fine art comes from. But the art itself is no more than the validation of the artist's commitment. It's that commitment, that will to excel, that's truly important. Even today, Lucali's pizza is great. While I'm somewhat uncomfortable with the $18 price tag, I look forward to coming back and watching how it develops.

Sunday, December 17th, 2006, 2:00 PM Rigoletto Pizza, 208 Columbus Ave, New York, NY (Upper West Side), 2 slices at $2.00 each This is my preferred slice establishment in the Upper West Side. It's got high ceilings, a decorative atmosphere, and decent (although variable) pizza. There's nothing else even remotely good in the surrounding fifteen blocks, so Rigoletto essentially wins by default. It only suffers from two pitfalls: The space is tiny, so it's often hard to find a seat. And it leaves such a diminutive footprint on the local streetscape that I often fail to find it completely. I really ought to commit the address to memory.