Introduction

A New York Thing

Pizza is synonymous with New York. I don’t view it as an Italian thing. Especially slice pizza. It was born here, you know what I’m saying?

It caters to everyone. It’s not a bougie thing; it’s super accessible and anyone can have it. It’s what I always wanted in opening a spot, specifically a shop like what I grew up with in the city, where anybody could line up for an affordable slice and everybody got treated the same.

I fell in love with pizza because it brings people together from all over. It forces them to congregate and talk to each other. Slice-shop culture with counter service is different from being in a sit-down restaurant. In my shop, you get someone from Middle America next to someone who grew up in the hood here. You’ll see a Muslim person next to a Jewish person waiting on line together. We get photographers, construction workers, building supers, regular people from the neighborhood. You don’t see that anywhere else. It’s democratic. That’s what makes New York slice pizza beautiful.

When I talk about New York–style pizza, I mean pizza how the old-school spots where I learned to make pizza used to do it. And the way I do it is a big slice, thin but sturdy enough to fold, crispy but soft, with the perfect balance of crust, sauce, and cheese. No one truly does New York–style pizza like how I do it, using fresh-milled organic flour and all-natural ingredients. There’s nothing like it.

For me, pizza was the one thing that always made sense. When we were kids, it was what we could afford if we had a couple dollars in our pockets. When we were hungry, it was the go-to and a quick meal. The shop was our meeting place. There was no dollar menu when I was a kid, but pizza was always there.

And there wasn’t ever an option that was healthy with organic or allnatural ingredients. On top of that, I felt like the quality of slice pizza went down from what it used to be. From working in pizza shops and being in the restaurant industry over the years, I saw where people started cutting costs once they were able to access cheaper, subpar ingredients when low-cost wholesale distributors came on the scene.

So after years of working at these spots, learning the ropes, and then running other people’s shops—as well as lots of research in my free time—I was like, you know what? Let me make a New York–style pizza that tastes great and uses good ingredients and fresh-milled wheat but doesn’t taste like it’s whole grain. It has that New York flavor profile and texture and it’s healthier—that was the goal for me. That’s what I created, and still, no one else today does it.

I know we’re the best pizza in the city, and in the world, in my opinion. People love us. And I’m talking mad people, including outside of just the pizza or food worlds. It’s everybody from car people to fashion people who follow us, support, and come through. I like that. But our community actually loves everything about the shop, not just the pizza, the staff, or the space. They love the brand; they love the story. It’s a real story. I just do me. I do New York shit. That’s all I know, and people see that. That’s the beauty and what I love.