Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Things I'm Addicted To: Best Pizza

It takes a lot for me (or anyone) to willingly ride the G train. But wait, the G train does take me directly to one awesome place: Best Pizza. I wrote about it after my first visit, but that feels like ancient history after going many (many many) more times in the past few months.

My internal monologue typically involves a death match over what to eat for dinner and how far to travel. Yet when it comes to Best Pizza, I seemingly can rationalize the trip in an instant. Gotta take the G from Long Island City back to Brooklyn? I might as well stop at Best Pizza! Or, I'm in Williamsburg running errands, it would be a crime not to grab lunch/dinner/afternoon snack at Best Pizza! I'm in the East Village? I could take the L and cut back down...


I also rationalize visits by taking people who've never been, like my friends John and Tom this weekend and Steve a few weeks before that (these pictures are Steve's from that visit).

The best of the best is the white pizza. Caramelized onions and sesame seeds elevate the too-often-boring white slice to a whole other realm of pizza synergy (and every once in a while I'm fairly certain they sprinkle a little orange zest on it too). The leopard-spotted crust, usually on the thinner, crispy side, remains remarkably pliant in support of piles of ricotta.


A recent addition to the menu is the meatball sub, which no less an authority than Ed Levine proclaimed the best meatball sub he's ever had. Its deceptively small (and they just knocked up the price a dollar to $9). You'll think you've been screwed meatball-wise, but don't fear, the meatballs, filled with Pat LeFrieda short ribs, brisket, bread crumbs, a bit of ricotta and "secret herbs," pack much more flavor than expected. They're also blasted to a deep crusty brown in the wood-fired oven. The same anchovy laced tomato sauce on the (frustratingly inconsistent) grandma pie tops the sandwich, along with a dose of sliced basil. Shavings of Romano cheese round everything out.


The bread, made by Law & Food favorite Roberta's, holds everything together. You would be remiss in not adding a rainfall of parmesan and some of their spicy oil to be soaked up in the catacombs of spongy yet chewy bread. 

If you haven't been, go now (oh, and get the pickled vegetable slice too).

Shallots, broccoli, cauliflower and mushrooms. 

33 Havemeyer St
Brooklyn, NY 11211
http://best.piz.za.com/

2 comments:

  1. The Grandma slice is inconsistent? Sheeeyit, that's news to me. I've had it every time I've visited (4 times) and walked away in grandma love every time. I did notice the anchovy in the sauce varying each time I stopped by, but not enough to frustrate me :)

    Best Pizza is easily my favorite addition to Williamsburg over the past two years. I can't visit the neighborhood without schlepping up there for a slice!

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  2. Maybe I'm frustrated because the grandma slice seems capable of such awesome highs? It's also possible that I've been loving the white slice so much that I'm hyperaware of any minor flaw in the grandma (like inconsistent amounts of anchovy).

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