And I am back... I was on the road for 16 days and hit 29 pizzerias (4 of them twice). I only ordered plain cheese (or if it came with basil that was ok) as I am a sausage guy but the East Coast is not usually known for sausage and I don't do pepperoni or other toppings. On the way out I stopped in Toledo at Schucker's (since 1948) for their Hot Roast Beef sandwich (I think was brisket) with mashed potatoes and brown gravy all over the plate. It was fantastic. They are also know for their pies with at least 20 of them daily so I got my go-to a chocolate cream which was great. I stopped at Schmucker's on the way home too.
The first destination was Detroit where I took a friend to two places I have had many times. Tomatoes Apizza (Farmington Hills) for a coal oven New Haven style pizza. Then my favorite for Detroit style - Buddy's Pizza which I have had a couple dozen times by now. He lives in LA and said he had a great Detroit style pizza out there called D-Town Pizza. He said Buddy's blew it away.
Up next was an afternoon in Buffalo where I had beef on weck sandwiches at Charlie The Butcher (very good) and Schwabl's (amazing). I also squeezed in a so-so slice at La Nova Pizza which is a big deal in Buffalo. Reminded me more of Costco Pizza which I like as a guilty pleasure.
Then I had pizza slices near Scranton in Olyphant (Armenti's) and Dickson City (Basilico). Regular classic slice at both plus one grandma slice (the first place I went to was sold out of them). Both slices were solid and the grandma slice was very good. Later my friend in Philly picked me up at my hotel and we drove down to see the Cubs play the Phillies. He had a box of tomato pie pizza from Corropolese Bakery (open since 1924). This was a room temperature rectangle of dough with a thick sweet sauce on top and a sprinkling of Romano. That's it. I really liked it. He said it's common to just have it on your kitchen counter all day and you grab a square anytime you feel the urge.
The following day I took a ride to Princeton, NJ to have a New Jersey bar pie at Conte's. It was heavy on the cheese (which was very tasty) and had a different crust than I expected but I really liked it a lot. For dinner we went to one place I had on my radar for many years - DeLorenzo's Tomato Pies in Robbinsville, NJ (formerly Trenton). It was so good we ordered a second pizza. The dough was the star - crunchy (beyond crisp) with a fantastic rich flavor (olive oil?) plus the crushed tomatoes on top were nice. When we came back from New York a week later I went to DeLorenzo's in Yardley, PA and it was just as great (I did get half sausage as it looked good but it was decent at best). We also had a pizza at Angelo's in South Philly. It was delicious but too bready on the edge after a while. I loved the atmosphere of waiting for Angelo's on that side street. They would be yelling the names of the people waiting outside the door to come and get it. I saw a no parking sign with the handwritten added threat, "You take-a my space, I break-a you face!"
Next up was 5 glorious days in New York where I had the following:
Brooklyn:
Best Pizza (slice and grandma)
Di Fara (slice and grandma)
L'Industrie (slice)
L&B Spumoni Gardens (Sicilian)
Manhattan:
99 Cent Fresh (slices)
Joe & Pat's (half of a full thin pizza)
Joe's (slice and fresh mozzarella slice)
John's of Bleeker St (two visits - full pies)
Lazzara Pizza (half of a thin square pizza)
Mama's Too! (upside down pizza)
Patsy's Pizzeria (slices)
Pizza Collective (two Roman squares)
Sauce Pizzeria (slice)
Scarr's Pizza (slice and Sicilian)
Upside Pizza (Sicilian)
Zazzy's Pizza (slice and Sicilian)
Everything was very good to excellent. The lowest rated were Lazzara and probably Upside. The best slice was Di Fara but John's was our favorite overall for a full pizza. L'Industrie had an amazing crust. Joe's fresh mozzarella slice is better than their classic one. Patsy's was fantastic. Pizza Collective was the shocker - their Roman style squares were incredible. You really couldn't go wrong at just about any of them. Even 99 Cent pizza was very good.
We did want to hit Lucali but decided it wasn't worth the effort to get there and have to wait in line or be there at an odd hour on this trip. Looking back we could have gone there after L&B Spumoni Gardens but c'est la vie. Prince St Pizza was another I probably should have gone to (we were so close) but I don't eat pepperoni and since that's all people raved about, I wasn't interested. I loved Joe and Pat's (original is on Staten Island) but I was unable to try their grandma which I will next time. You can't hit them all... Of course I had to go to Katz's Deli for my one non-pizza meal which did not disappoint. Saw all the main attractions as well. Now that we've done a lot of the main pizza joints and truly know how to do this right, we can branch out to Queens as well next time.
I left Philly with another Corropolese Tomato Pie on the passenger seat and headed south to the Baltimore area where I tried a pit beef and gravy fries at Pioneer Pit Beef. Great meal with super thin tender charcoal smoky meat on a kaiser roll. Spent most of the day at Gettysburg and then hit a Chaps Beef location in Frederick, MD for another winner. My last day was walking around the DC area at Arlington National Cemetery and the National Mall with a friend. Had a mid-Atlantic favorite fast food chain for breakfast twice - Bojangles. Spicy chicken biscuit and a chicken fried steak biscuit (I added country gravy).
If that wasn't exciting enough, I am likely going right back to the East Coast this month to Cape Cod for 2-3 weeks and you know what that means... New Haven apizza here I come. In addition I will try the "red strips" aka Rhode Island tomato pie along with grilled pizza in Rhode Island. Rhode Island pizza! Who knew?