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In Search of New York Pizza
Being a New Yorker by birth and having lived there for nearly 35 years, my love for pizza has followed me to the West Coast and the Gulf Coast. I would always seek out pizza. I have, in the past, encountered many pizzerias calling themselves New York Pizza, Best New York Pizza, or New York Style Pizza. I would always avoid them like the plague, knowing they were the furthest thing from the original. I had a television show in Lake Tahoe called “Simply Food and Wine.” I would approach the owners of restaurants and ask if I could do a twenty-minute short on their restaurant. I would feature a signature dish and pair it with wine. There was a “New York Pizza” at the Lake. The owner called me several times for a twenty-minute short; he thought that with my New York accent, it would help sell more pizza. Bear in mind that I made money on each restaurant. I finally broke down and stopped by for a slice; it looked like a New York pizza and tasted like cardboard. I refused to sign him.
One should never believe New York Pizza; however, my wife and I recently moved to Ocala, Florida. Our house is a bit off the main road; we are rural with a twenty-minute ride to civilization, if a Dollar General is civilization. Low and behold, a little strip mall nearest our house featured a #1 New York Pizza. I thought, here we go again and I had to try some since the kitchen wasn’t quite set up for cooking. I have traveled to Italy many times and was spoiled by the pizza; it was amazing. New York had John’s, Pizza, and Lombardi’s, the first pizzeria in America, along with Ray’s, Famous Ray’s, and Original Ray’s. There were pizza wars in New York during the 1980s.
Suddenly, I stumbled on a gem of a pizzeria. During our first week in our new house I ordered pizza three times, and stopped in twice, they also featured Sicilian Pizza a square deep dish pizza. The owner, Orlando, lived in Queens and was New York-trained. The Best, Number One , New York Style Pizza I found right outside my front door, go figure?
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1 Reply
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Wow. Good for you. You got the best of all worlds. New York Pizza in Ocala. God always has a way.