What's the Quintessential NYC Food?
by Ryan Vlastelica
Our office is about a five-minute walk from Grimaldi's. Man, that pizza is really good. Seriously. Pizza. The answer is pizza.
KELLY
Where she presides: Vesta, Astoria
Favorite drink: Vodka and soda
Pizza is the first thing that comes to mind. We make a really good one here, with a nice thin crust, so if I had friends from out of town wanting pizza I might bring them here. Plus the service is really good here, ahem. If I can't pick this as the quintessential place, I'd want a pizzeria with a brick oven—somewhere in Brooklyn. Just so long as it isn't Chicago-style. That's like cake; you can't pick it up. And not L.A. pizza either. You know why L.A. pizza isn't any good? Because of their water.
KATIE
Where she presides : Liam's Pub, Financial District
Favorite drink: Irish Carbomb
Gotta be a dirty water dog. That's a hot dog from a cart; you know how they keep the dogs heated in that dirty water? Dirty water dogs. They're totally New York. Where else can you get hot dogs anywhere on the street whenever you want? The best place to get them is Yankee Stadium. Get a beer and a dog with the works. That's the best.
GIOVANNI
Where he presides : Butter, East Village
Favorite drink: Vodka
Pizza is never the same anywhere else. Rent in New York is high and pizza places have to perform really well to stay open, because there is a lot of competition and pizza is cheap. So yeah, here, on pretty much any corner, you can get a beautiful pizza slice at any time. I really miss that when I'm in L.A.
VITO
Where he presides : Luca Lounge, Alphabet City
Favorite drink:
ROBIN
Where he presides: St. Jerome, LES
Favorite drink:Whiskey
I'm from L.A. and I've only been here a few weeks, so I don't know yet. But I will say that the pizza places aren't as good in L.A. Even when people come from New York and open a place in L.A. it isn't as good. But I can't get good Mexican here. I'm sorry, but if I wanted to be rich? I'd open a good Mexican place in New York that was cheap.
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