Midtown Lunch

I’ll admit it, I’m a sucker for a 99 cent slice of pizza.  To my way of thinking most slices in Midtown are frankly mediocre, so I’d rather not pay $2.75-$3.00 for a sub par piece of pizza when I could pay 99 cents instead.  Alas working in the Rock Center area, I’m a little cut off from the sub $1 slice love (at least until the new branch of 2 Bros rolls into the Diamond District later this spring).  When I heard that there was a deli in K-Town serving up 99 cent slices on 33rd street, just two subway stops away, I knew that I had to check it out.

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A few weeks back Always Hungry scouted out the best pizza joints around the Empire State Building. But what about those cheap bastards among us who feel that nobody should have to pay more than $1 for a slice? Lunch’er “Rachel” has just the news you were waiting for: “New deli place in (I think) the old Golden Krust spot on 33rd btw 5th and Madison advertising 99cent pizza. Haven’t tried yet, but thought you should know asap.” Nice… thanks for the heads up!

Related:
Squisito Declared Best Pizza Slice Near the Empire State Building

Always Hungry has taken on the massive task of finding the best slice of pizza near the Empire State Building, and all I can say is… wow. They visited a ton of places, including Little Italy (on 33rd and 5th), Sabina’s aka Kabab and Grill (on 36th btw. 6+7th), Cafe Rustico II (on 35th btw. 5+6th), Aroma (the Kosher spot with the fake pepperoni on 36th btw. 5+6th), Arome (on 32nd btw. 6+7th), and even the pizza inside of Gyro II (on 7th btw. 33+34th). Their verdict… Squisito (on 34th btw. Mad+Park) beats out Little Italy for the top spot.

Related:
Little Italy Pizza Proves You Can Get Good Pizza in K-Town

Got an email from Lunch’er “Elizabeth” on Tuesday telling me about a brand new pizza place called Previti that opened Monday on 41st btw. Park+Lex.

“Hi there, avid follower of the blog. Have a new place for you to check out. It’s called Previti, just opened on 41st and Lex. Get the artichoke slice — delicious!”

Now, when you say “artichoke slice”, are you talking slice of pizza with artichokes on top? Or are you talking a deliciously gross, spinach and “artichoke” dip topped slice- ala Artichoke in the East Village? Turns out it’s a little from column A, and a little from column B.

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Remember when 99 Cent Fresh Pizza operated in Midtown with a monopolistic iron fist?  Their original location, behind the Port Authority on 9th Ave. and 41st, has always been well known for its constant line, and fast service.  A slice of pizza for 99 cents is not going to be the best tasting slice you’ve ever had, but there are always customers- insuring a fresh out of the oven slice every single time.  It may not be a taste revelation, but it certainly revolutionized this fat guy’s view of a slice as a viable snack (i.e. if it costs $1, you can consider it a snack.)

Naturally they expanded to 43rd btw. Lex+3rd a couple of years ago, and quite possibly put Prince Deli out of business (it became a Five Guys Burgers and Fries today, actually.)   So it’s no surprise that competition was going to eventually take aim.  2 Bros Pizza popped up behind Port Authority back in April, with what I think is a superior slice- and there is no doubt it has hurt business. So I’m guessing the owners must be equally scared about the nameless 99 Cent Pizza place which opened last month on Lexington btw. 45+46th (right around the corner from the second location of 99 Cent Fresh Pizza.)  2 Bros is a completely different product, making a side by side comparison pretty easy (Slice agrees with me about 2 Bros. being better), but this new spot on Lexington is run by a former employee of the 99 Cent Pizza place on 43rd.  So naturally I was expecting both places to taste exactly the same.

Not so says this commenter, declaring the new place on Lexington the better slice.  Clearly I needed to check this out for myself.

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You would think keeping kosher would eliminate the desire for pepperoni pizza (it’s pork, plus you’ve got the whole milk and meat thing), but apparently those who follow the kosher laws still want to feel like they’re breaking the rules without actually doing it.  Solution?  Draw rings of “pepperoni” using red sauce.  Genius!  Does anybody know if this is a widespread phenomenon, or just a single inspired act of brilliant subterfuge?  Who cares that it will taste like a regular cheese slice with extra sauce.  It’s still amazing! Want to try this faux pepperoni pizza?  It’s at Aroma, a new generic Kosher deli on 36th btw. 5+6th.

My go to spot for pizza in Koreatown is the Little Italy Pizza on 33rd btw. Mad+5th, but Ultraclay has got another option.  He hit up Pizza Rustico 2 recently (on 35th btw. 5+6th) and stands behind their buffalo chicken pizza. “The bleu cheese is a thinner dressing that I’d like, but is just strong enough to balance out the tang and spice of the buffalo sauce.” Not as good as the slices he remembers fondly from college in Massachusetts (where dipping pizza in blue cheese dressing is considered de rigueur) but close enough.

Pizza Rustico 2, 25 W 35th St (btw. 5+6th), 212-736-1114

So I finally got a chance to swing by Bombay Eats yesterday, the Indian restaurant on 52nd btw. 8+9th that serves New York style pizza with toppings like chicken tikka and saag paneer.  The first time I visited, they weren’t selling the Indian pizza by the slice so I had to ask them to take a piece of cheese pizza and top it with saag paneer from their buffet (which is $10.95 all you can eat at lunchtime, but doesn’t include pizza.)  Of course after Midtown Lunch’ers descended on the restaurant in full force, they decided to finally offer the Indian pizza by the slice.

I stopped by yesterday to check it out.

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99 Cent Fresh Pizza seems to be taking it from all sides these days.  First, 2 Bros Pizza opens one block away from their “flagship” location behind Port Authority, and now this.  It seems as if another 99 Cent Pizza place is opening on Lexington btw. 45+46th. (just two blocks away from the 99 Cent Fresh Pizza on 43rd.)  But here’s the kicker, apparently the owner of the new spot is a disgruntled former employee of 99CFP.  And to add insult to injury, he’s never opened a pizza place before- so after securing the lease, when back to the owners of 99CFP for help.  (Are you following all this?)  Part of me thinks that we can always use more $1 pizza in Midtown, but tell that to the now shuttered Prince Deli (which very well could have been put out of business by the arrival of 99 Cent Fresh Pizza on43rd.)  At least 2 Bros Pizza had something to offer (aka better pizza) when they opened one block away from the Port Authority 99CFP.  If this new location turns out to be a bad 99CFP ripoff- it might just end up going the way of the Prince.

Lunch’er Adam used the ML Forums to organize a meetup at Bombay Eats yesterday so lunchers could sample the various Indian pizzas being offered by Bombay Eats (on 52nd btw. 8+9th Ave.) See, despite my pleading they don’t offer their Indian food topped pies by the slice, only as an entire pizza. They’ll jury-rig a slice of saag pizza if you ask nicely, but if you want to try the real deal you have to order a whole fresh pie. Not a problem if you can get 8 lunchers together for lunch… which is exactly what happened yesterday. Lunch’er “Adam Prato” sent in this report:

Lamb Keema Pie. Photo courtesy of Jessica@Food Mayhem

We actually had a great turnout. At the start, 5 of us midtownlunchers (jessica@foodmayhem, wellerfan, stevenp, scottyelich, and I) showed up for the Indian Pizza outing. After some deliberation, we decided to order 2 18″ pies; stevenp had heard that the 14″ was too doughy, which was exactly my concern since the difference between most “medium” and “large” pies is how thin they stretch the same amount of dough. We went with the Lamb Keema and the Saag paneer. Shortly after ordering, 3 of my coworkers (all of Indian descent) had unexpectedly stumbled in after a meeting since I told them all about the “indian pizza” phenomenon. Though they were there for the buffet, we coerced them into the indian pizza. With the magic number of 8 people, we were able to order a 3rd pie! So we went with the Chicken Tikka.

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