Bleecker Street Pizza: (*Door-dashed). Confused this with John’s of Bleecker St. Typical NY style. Decent cheese to tomato sauce ratio. Off-putting taste of too much sugar in the dough. Crust was really bland. Limp/floppy but no instances of crispiness anywhere. Bad. One of the worst pizza experiences I’ve had in a long while.
L’Industrie Pizza in West Village: Had to wait 3 days to recover from the Bleecker experience. Had both the burrata slice and the New Yorker slice (sausage, ricotta, pepperoni). The ricotta had a quality that reminded me of deviled eggs. More tomato sauce forward to cheese, but still a good ratio. The burrata they use is excellent. Tomatoes had the signature pleasant sweetness of the Bianco Dinapoli they use. The dough is good but not more exceptional than a lot of artisanal long-ferment doughs at neo-pizzerias. The standout of this pizza is mainly the ultra-thinnest of the crust. The thinnest pizza I’ve had, short of being a cracker crust, that was still crisp without being stiff.
A solid experience. The lines were long. 30-45 minute line. And then a 20 minute wait after ordering on a friday night. The chef/owner was there. Sweet, happy young people working the kitchen.
Very Fresh Noodles Hand-pulled dry biang biang noodles with cumin lamb. Everything was nice and chewy. Perfect amount of sichuan pepper tingliness for someone who doesn’t want their whole mouth and tongue to go numb. Delicious.
Utopia Bagels Everything Bagel with scallion cream cheese (untoasted). Really good. You can make out the laminated twists in the interior of the dough. Had a beautiful crusty/crunchy cooked exterior. They asked if I wanted it with salt, and I erroneously said yes, so it was a salty experience for someone who likes overseasoning, but found this way too much.
Ess-a-Bagel Everything Bagel with scallion cream cheese (untoasted). Scallion cream cheese was really good. I didn’t find myself thinking much about these during and after eating. Besides the better cream cheese here, Utopia is the memorable bagel.
Katz Deli (*Door-dashed). Nice fat to meat ratio. Wish it was a little fattier. But tender and consistent. Despite the criticisms of the bread being dry or stale, I didn’t have a problem with it. I thought it was a perfect conduit. Keep in mind it was door-dashed which meant the bread had time to steam in the wrapper for 15 minutes of rehydration.
Carlo’s Bakeshop I always get the lobster claws or eclairs when I’m in Vegas. Had to get one here as I was walking past. The lobster claw still does not disappoint. I don’t know how they make the diplomat cream, but it’s almost like ice cream. I don’t think anyone has been able to duplicate that ice-creamy quality of their diplomat cream at other places.