It’s the middle of summer in New York, which means that the city typically clears out on weekends as people head to the mountains or the beach. While the streets may look a little emptier than usual, you’ll likely still be able to find New Yorkers and tourists gathered en masse in a few places, increasingly at new and noteworthy pizzerias around the Big Apple.
Baby Luc's, the new slice joint featuring pizza by Mark Iacono of Lucali fame, opened in Brooklyn.
The debut of Baby Luc’s in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn this past week attracted lines starting before the 5 p.m. opening time, a few blocks away from sister restaurant Lucali’s familiar block-wrapping queues. La Cucina Italiana has visited the new slice joint, which also serves mezcal negronis, and can confirm that the hype is worthy. In the early going, Baby Luc’s is limiting its pie output, which means that the slices can sell out in a couple of hours.
Even on sleepy weekends, you’ll still find a line outside F&F Pizzeria, located a half-dozen blocks down Court Street from Baby Luc’s. The Frankies Spuntino Group opened F&F in 2019 with pizzas designed in collaboration with pizza legend Chris Bianco and bread-making whiz Chad Robertson. Lately, F&F has expanded its menu to include Sicilian slices and pies, and tantalizing specials including this summer’s hit, zucchini and ricotta.
Vegetarian pizza at Razza in Jersey City.
We reported recently on the forthcoming mega-pizza-book Modernist Pizza, and its teaser about Portland being America’s best pizza city. When the authors tasted their way around the U.S.A., they found surprising disappointment in New York City, but they noted the exceptions, including La Cucina Italiana favorites Kesté in Manhattan, L’Industrie in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, and Jersey City’s Razza. Lucali also gets a shout-out.
These are hardly best-kept secrets, however, so you’re likely to encounter queues at these pizza hot spots as well.
Everything Pizza, a riff on a classic New York bagel, by Wylie Dufresne at his Stretch Pizza. Photo: Ashley Solter
While Brooklyn pizzerias continue to garner significant attention, Manhattan features the hard-to-get Stretch Pizza pop-up collaboration with Wylie Dufresne and Breads Bakery, the expanded new location of Scarr’s Pizza on Orchard Street, and the Insta-famous Unregular Pizza—famed for its single bartered pizza per day and it’s whole burrata-topped slices.
In other words, there’s some very fine pizza to be had in New York City right now, but you will probably have to wait in line for it.