Tuesday, October 24th, 2006, 7:00 PM John's Pizzeria, 278 Bleecker St, New York, NY (Greenwich Village), one pie (8 slices) for $14.00 While John's has a long and highly regarded history of pizzamaking, it's present incarnation falls well short of the serious artisans that sustain the city's high pizza culture. Consistency issues aside, John's main problem is a thoroughly mediocre crust. It doesn't matter how good their oven is or what baking tricks they apply; their dough is simply not built to distinguish itself. And in my view, a quality crust is 50% of the equation for a great pie. But while their star may have fallen, the pizza is far from inedible. I still enjoy eating here and am always glad to drop by when there's no line outside.

Friday, October 7th, 2006, 11:00 PM George's Pizza, 726 W. 181st St, New York, NY (Washington Heights), 2 slices at $1.75 each 11 PM. Hungry. Tired. Won't even think of cooking. Too late for Mexican order-in. Ahhhh, George's...

Saturday, September 30th, 2006, 5:00 PM L&B Spumoni Gardens, 2725 86th St, Brooklyn, NY (Bensonhurst), 2 square slices at $1.75 each The square slices here are simply superb. Imagine an extra-thick, yet pliant and moist, wedge of slightly charred crust smothered in a bright coating of sweet, fresh sauce and topped with a sprinkling of cheese, and you have an L&B square slice. I've seen this style elsewhere, but not this quality of execution. These guys have been around for 60+ years, so they know what they're doing (although it's interesting that their round slices are wholely unexceptional). I wish I lived close enough to eat here regularly. But I don't, so this can only be an occassional treat.

Thursday, September 28th, 2006, 1:00 PM Giuseppe's, 341 Lexington Ave, New York, NY (Murray Hill), 2 slices at $2.00 each These are the worst two slices I've ever had here. The cheese was burnt. The crust had the consistency of a phonebook. It just wasn't coming together today. So be it. When fortune frowns on you, make do and move on.

Tuesday, September 19th, 2006, 11:30 PM George's Pizza, 726 W. 181st St, New York, NY (Washington Heights), 2 slices at $1.75 each George pulled the old bait-and-switch on me tonight. After I placed my order, he promptly cut two slices out of the latest plain pie and tossed them in the oven, only to immediately remove two extra-cheese slices that were already in the oven and bag them up for me. I don't claim to understand this. But pizza men works in mysterious ways, so I accept this. Predictably, tonight's meal was substantially gooier than normal. I enjoyed the change of pace, but I'm still sticking with plain slices in the future.

Sunday, September 17th, 2006, 4:30 PM Picasso Pizzeria, 303 South End Ave, New York, NY (Battery Park City), 2 slices at $2.25 each Fine art this isn't. But Battery Park City isn't exactly overflowing with culinary destinations. So if you want pizza without having to venture into the madness of the real city, this is where you go. There's not much to say about it. This is typical, greasy, cheaply made pizza. It fills you up but fills you with guilt ("should I have really put that into my stomach?"). The garlic knots, however, were quite tasty. They were soft, oily, and cheesy in all the right ways. So there's something to alleviate the guilt.

Sunday, September 10th, 2006, 3:30 PM Sal's Pizzeria, 8619 4th Ave, Brooklyn, NY (Bay Ridge), 1 plain slice for $2.00 "To win without risk is to triumph without glory." - Pierre Corneille. We live in a vast sea of opinions on everything imaginable. This sea wraps itself around all that we love and fear, from the most magnificent treasures to the most unsightly garbage. And as it does so, it creates thick fogs that obscure our views and confuse our senses. Those treasures that we see, are they real? Or are they mere mirages, no more than the beautiful clouds that spill out of endless opinions as they lap up against a vapid core?

Sunday, September 10th, 2006, 3:00 PM Nino's Pizza, 9110 3rd Ave, Brooklyn, NY (Bay Ridge), 1 grandma slice for $2.00 Today's fine weather was a prime opportunity for a combination rollerblade trip / pizza crawl through Brooklyn. Starting from Red Hook, my friends and I rolled our way to Coney Island, stopping at selected places where our internet reseach suggested great possibilities. And we struck gold with Nino's. While the storefront doesn't look like much, each of the three slices we collectively ordered (one grandma, one vodka, one plain) was excellent. Great ingredients, great balance, great results. Mastering just one pizza style is hard enough, but mastering three is sheer brilliance. These guys truly understand pizza. They deserve all the accolades that come their way.

Saturday, September 9th, 2006, 5:45 PM Jasper's Pizza Pronto, 3733 Riverdale Ave, Bronx, NY (Riverdale), 2 slices at $3.25 each It's all about the "Jasper's Special" here: a delightfully oversized rectangle of thick tomato slices, mounds of garlic, and other tasty surprises that produce one of the city's more memorable slices. I've never had the plain (round) pizza here, and I'm not sure I'll ever get around to it. But that's okay. That's most definitely okay.

Sunday, September 3rd, 2006, 5:30 PM Tony's Pizza, 4233 Broadway, New York, NY (Washington Heights), 2 slices at $1.75 each Today's pizza wasn't up to par with my previous experiences here. I think it wasn't sufficiently reheated, so the cheese had something of a laying-around-on-the-counter-too-long quality to it. That said, it still wasn't bad and I still have faith in Tony's potential for quality pie.

Friday, September 1st, 2006, 7:00 PM City Pie, 166 W. 72nd St, New York, NY (Upper West Side), 2 slices at $2.00 each Yes, my slices were really greasy. But this remains my favored 72nd St pizza destination, because, grease aside, it's not at all bad. It certainly rips Ray Bari (further down the block) to shreds. And don't get me started on Pizza Cave.

Tuesday, August 29th, 2006, 7:30 PM Tony's Pizza, 4233 Broadway, New York, NY (Washington Heights), 2 slices at $1.75 each Who would have thought that good pizza resides on a smoggy stretch of Broadway next to the uptown Port Authority bus terminal? In the three or so times I've been here I've had nothing but happy experiences. And this includes my most recent visit, when the old, reheated pizza still tasted great. I'll have to stop by a few more times to form a final opinion, but so far Tony's is giving me positive vibes.