New York Pizza Suprema, NYC

This past summer, I spent a month living in New York.  I enjoyed a glorious month of *real* summer weather (sorry, SF, 63* days do NOT count!).  And while I was there, of course, many culinary adventures were had.  Along with getting a few classics bagels (ok one from Liberty Bagels, great one from Murray's), of course I had to do the other cliche New York thing and get pizza.

I had a relatively short list of pizza places narrowed in on (which, is no easy feat, given just how many there are, and how *everyone* has a different place they swear by), and was agonizing over making this very important decision of where to go, when I lucked out, and an easy decision was made for me.  At my office, someone had an event, had tons of extra pizza, AND it was from one of the places on my list.  

The place in question was New York Pizza Suprema, which has been around since 1964. 

Storefront.

I swung by early on in my trip to scope it out, as I generally do.  NY Pizza Suprema is NOT fancy, in any way.  Definitely a no frills, slightly gritty place, located right near Madison Square Garden.  No dining area.

Box of Excitement!

The boxes tell some of their accolades, which of course include some "best slice" awards, but, nearly every pizza place around claims those.

The restaurant started out focused very solidly on *plain* slices and nothing more.  You simply could not add toppings. The owner believed in a quality product that didn't need to hide under toppings.  They do still highly recommend the plain cheese slice, but have since introduced toppings.  They make the sauce fresh daily, make their own mozzarella, and really do take pride in the product.  The menu is pizza, and only pizza.  They do not offer salads, subs, sides, or any desserts.  Pizza.  By the slice or whole pie.  They do have plentiful vegan offerings now, and toppings such as chicken parm or baked eggplant, not just your standard pepperoni/sausage/mushrooms/onions/peppers/etc, but they haven't strayed more than this.

Pizzas!

The hosts ordered quite a selection, and had plenty left.

I quickly snagged a few assorted slices, tried them cold, and then heated them up later at "home" in the toaster oven.  I was thrilled with my slices, and honestly, would have gone back for more if I could have.

Cheese. $28/pizza, $4 slice.

"Famed for receiving the only perfect score by the Slice Harvester who sampled over 375 slices in Manhattan. Our famous signature pizza with a light delicious thin crust slightly charred, topped with our famous homemade tomato sauce and imported Pecorino Romano cheese and finest Grande Mozzarella."

I started with the simple cheese pizza.  The baseline to judge any pizza place by, particularly as they tell you to, right?

I'll admit, one bite is all it took to tell me this was a good, very classic, slice of pizza.  The crust had a great chew.  Crisp but not burnt.  Right thickness to support the weight of the toppings and not be limp, but not overwhelm.  It didn't have a particularly interesting flavor, but, the makeup of it was all exactly what you want in a crust.  

Next, the sauce.  This was a saucier pizza than I was expecting.  Definitely sauce forward.  The sauce was good, slightly sweet.  But you definitely need to want sauce.

And finally, the cheese.  The cheese was a highlight for me.  It was perfectly melty cheese.  Great pull to it.  And they certainly don't skimp on that either.  Very flavorful cheese, about as good as pizza cheese can be really.

The pizza was sliced into proper huge slices, where more than one would be an undertaking.  

So overall?  Yup, perfect pedigree of a good slice.  Ratios all in balance, and, once you fold it in half, easy to pick up and eat, no fork/knife required.  Exactly what you want from a NY slice.  I'm not a huge pizza fan, but, I can't fault this in any way, besides maaaybe being a bit too saucy.  ****.

$28 price for such a large pie (or $4/slice) was quite reasonable.

Mushroom. +$6/pizza.

Next I moved on to a more interesting one, this one with mushrooms.  The base was exactly the same as the cheese - again, great chew, sturdy, saucy, awesome cheese.  It came very nicely loaded with cooked sliced mushrooms.  Every bite had plenty of mushrooms. None slimy. No complaints here.  ****.

Standard toppings are $6 each, and more premium offerings like breaded buffalo chicken, whipped ricotta, fresh mozzarella, fancy imported pepperoni are $8, again, quite reasonable.

Mushroom + Pepperoni. +$12/pizza.

And finally, pepperoni and mushroom.  

I got the last slice, which had suffered a bit in transit, but was still perfectly good.  Nothing more to say about the crust, sauce, and cheese.  All exactly as with the others.  The pepperoni was good too - somehow not too greasy, and it crisped up very nicely in my toaster oven later.  

This was my favorite of the three I tried, mostly because I really like toppings (ssh, don't tell the owner!).  ****.

I'm not sure if this was the standard domestic pepperoni (+$6) or imported pepperoni (+$8), as they offer both, but either way, I'd gladly get it again.