My eyes are slowly opening, allowing what seems like a galaxy’s worth of light to flood directly into my brain. I’m where I should be. I’m in my bed, in my hotel room.

Good.

I’m thirsty, yet my body is screaming at me to let nothing in to my stomach. My brain feels like it’s floating in my skull. It’s pulling at whatever tethers it with every movement causing dull pain to travel from side to side within my head as I slowly move across this small and impossibly bright room.

I become aware that my roommate for the weekend is alive. He’s turned on the faucet in our shared bathroom and the familiar sound of small pills rattling around in a plastic jar echoes from the open doorway. He has headache medicine. I’ve never wanted anything more.

I don’t have time for this. I swallow two Advil with the least amount of water possible and take one of those showers where you just think about everything you’ve done in life that led you to this moment.

I get dressed. It’s time to roll.

We awoke Friday morning after a Thursday night full of pizza, drinks, and missing moments. While we were far from feeling alright, there was no time to writhe around and cautiously sip water. We had things to do. Before the pizza shops opened we decided to grab coffee and head to the top of the Empire State Building. The caffeine and morning air did wonders and by the time we were done taking in the incredible views from the 86th floor observation deck we were ready for the first pizza of the day.

We quickly headed to the Upper West Side and started our Friday at Sal and Carmine, a New York-Style slice shop. The pizza was underwhelming and acted as little more than an appetizer for what would be another day of incredible pies. The next stop was Mama’s Too, a highly regarded shop serving up traditional and Sicilian-style pies.

The Rustica, a square slice with mozzarella, grated parmigiano-reggiano, charred potato, rosemary, and cracked black pepper stopped time. It was the best pizza of the trip so far (only to be dethroned later that night by every bite at Lucali). My order also included Cacio e Pepe and classic cheese squares that were incredible. Mama’s Too single-handedly changed my perspective on what a square slice can be and I’ll no longer overlook that style like I had before.

After eating five pieces of pizza at two back-to-back stops before noon, we decided to let the morning’s dough, cheese, and sauce settle. Rain was moving in along with cooler temperatures so we headed towards a coffee shop to wait out the weather. With coffee in hand and the smell of fresh rain in the air our group of six grown men went for a romantic four-mile walk through Central Park. As I overlooked the park from the gorgeous Bethesda Terrace my stomach started to rumble.

By the time we arrived at PQR, a Roman-style pizzeria known for its light and airy crust and square slices cut with scissors, we were exhausted. The trek through Central Park had burned off what little energy we had. We took a chance and ordered beers, which proved to be an excellent move as they paired perfectly with the mozzarella and prosciutto slices. We also ordered squares of something the PQR staff called “double pizza” which was basically a large rectangular pie stuffed with pork. It wasn’t the best thing I’ve ever eaten but it provided the necessary fuel we required to rally and continue on with our day.

After all, Lucali awaited (see Part 1)

Saturday morning found us in much better shape than the day before. Refreshed and ready to take the NYC pizza scene by storm we started off with a duo of vodka slices at Prince Street and Rubirosa. Prince street ended up being one of my favorites from the whole trip and was a hard act to follow for Rubirosa who’s cracker thin crust and unsettling sparsity of cheese fell a bit short for me.

Still feeling great we powered forward towards the Littleneck Clam pie at Pasquale Jones, topped with clams, garlic, lemon, broccoli rabe, and cream. This pizza was totally different than everything else we had ordered to this point, and it was a welcome change. The balance of the salty clams, the bright lemon, and the cream made for such a good experience that we ordered a second one upon finishing the first.

And then it was nap time. Glorious, glorious nap time.

Recharged, we arrived our reservations at Una Pizza Napoletana, a New York Times two-star restaurant owned by Anthony Mangieri, the only person that is allowed to craft the pies served there. The Neapolitan pizzas are served as small uncut pies with incredibly pillowy crusts, almost like a pillow with a small circle of toppings in the middle. The dough is chewy and delightful and available toppings such as cubed salami, smoked mozzarella, and egg allowed our group to get some unique and delicious orders going.

 

Our final planned stop for the night was Kesté, but unfortunately there was a 45-minute wait for a table. Luckily Joe’s Pizza (that’s right, the employer of Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker) was right around the corner. We stood on the street, eating incredible foldable slices of cheese pizza while overlooking Washington Park, thinking about how full we were yet how we were once again eating pizza whilst waiting for our table to eat more pizza. When the waitress set down the two pies at Kesté we all just stared at them. it was obvious we were done for the day. Maybe even the whole trip. We somehow powered through them and decided to enjoy our last night in the city with a two-mile walk back to our hotel.

I was on empty, yet our trip’s organizer rallied with one of our friends and hit one more spot near our hotel, Marta. I asked they bring me a slice, which they did. I was asleep by the time they returned, but I was determined. I awoke, ate the slice without even sitting up in bed, knocked the to go container to the floor, then immediately fell back asleep.

Few men know such dedication.

Friday and Saturday were just two days of the Great 2019 New York City Pizza Trip. We ate at 22 pizza shops in approximately 72 hours and I’ll be doing my best to recount the highlights of the trip in a series of articles here at Barrels and Mash.