Ed Levine, P.I.
Johnny's Pizzeria | Mount Vernon, New York
A few months ago Serious Eats managing editor and fellow pizza lover Adam Kuban linked to that insane kazillion page post about trying to replicate the pizza at Patsy's, one of New York's oldest and finest pizzerias. I marveled at the guy's obsessiveness, and I loved the post, but what really intrigued me was his list of favorite pizzerias. There were all the usual suspects (Lombardi's, Totonno's, John's), but there was one that I never heard of, Johnny's Pizzeria in Mount Vernon, New York, a suburb just north of New York City.
A couple of weeks ago, I organized a Serious Eats road trip with Adam; SE general manager Alaina Browne; our phenomenal intern, Robyn (AKA The Girl Who Ate Everything); and one of my oldest and dearest friends, Bob.
Bob grew up in Mount Vernon, and he had never been to or heard of Johnny's, either. The five of us piled into a Zipcar and with the help of Google maps found our way to Johnny's, located in the back of a strip mall in what can only be described as a forgotten part of town.
As you can tell from Robyn's photo at right, Johnny's looks like the real deal. The pizzaiolo statue in the window is the giveaway, along with the No Slices sign found inside. We ordered two pizzas along with veal-parmesan and chicken-parmesan heroes. Note to my wife: It really wasn't too much food—there were five of us to feed!
The pizza, made in a conventional gas-fired pizza oven, was pretty great. The crust was just thick enough to give each bite a nice balance of crunch and tenderness. Likewise, the sauce-to-cheese ratio was, to my way of thinking, perfect. That is, there were discrete areas of sauce and cheese. The cheese was slightly aged mozzarella, sliced in-house. In short, it was pizza I would be happy to eat every day.
I started playing pizza reporter and asking questions about when Johnny's opened and who was behind it. Our waitress directed me to a yellowed piece of paper framed on the wall that explained the pizzeria's history. Not surprisingly, Johnny's was started by a bread baker who plied his trade on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx and in Manhattan's East Harlem, two neighborhoods that poor southern Italian immigrants flocked to in New York City around the turn of the twentieth century. The founding family's third generation now mans the ovens.
I took out my camera and was about to snap a picture of the framed piece of paper when one of the waitresses came over. "You can't take a picture of that," she said pointing to the photo before she delivered the coup de grace: "We don't know who you are. You could be some kind of investigator."
That's me, Ed Levine, your pizza investigator. Have any of you embarked on a pizza investigation recently?
Johnny's Pizzeria
Address: 30 West Lincoln Avenue, Mount Vernon NY 10550
Phone: 914-668-1957
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13 Comments:
Thanks for this! I live about 10 minutes from this and am really excited to find something new to try in the culinary wasteland that is Southern Westchester.
QueenCeleste at 5:39PM on 03/26/07
QueenCeleste: Glad you found it useful. Hope you have as much fun there as we did!
Adam Kuban at 5:51PM on 03/26/07
Tell them the "Pizza Investigator" sent you!
Adam Kuban at 5:52PM on 03/26/07
I embarked on an accidental pizza investigation recently. We were headed to go-karts in burlingame (just south of san francisco) and had to wait a couple hours before track time. To kill time we drove around and stumbled across toto's (scroll down to see the picture). An oldschool joint with damn fine pizza at a really good price to boot. At the counter you can view the pizza perfectionists assemble the pies and toss the dough. It's out of the way, else I'd have been back a bunch of times by now. I'd definitely add it to your list of places to investigate!
yumsugar at 6:03PM on 03/26/07
I think someone needs to make a P.I. badge.
roboppy at 7:32PM on 03/26/07
Roboppy: Are you volunteering? ;)
Adam Kuban at 11:10PM on 03/26/07
Yumsugar: Pizza and go-karts. Classic combination. So 1970s California.
Adam Kuban at 11:11PM on 03/26/07
Perhaps with the proper payment...in the form of pizza...
roboppy at 1:48AM on 03/27/07
If you're talking Westchester pizza, Capriccio (I & II) are a block away from each other in the town of Croton-on-Hudson on Maple St, deserves much accolade and attention.
Michael Harlan Turkell at 10:08AM on 03/27/07
MHT: Capriccio (I & II) -- added to the "to try" list. Next time we Zipcar it up to Westchester, we'll hit them up.
Adam Kuban at 10:10AM on 03/27/07
Another little unassuming place nearby is 4 Corners Pizzeria in Pelham Manor, at the intersection of Boston Post Road and Pelhamdale Avenue. They aren't fancy...no display of different pies, but I personally drive the 3/4 mile from home instead of walking to the place next door when I can. I know people who come from the Bronx and Ct. on a regular basis for this pizza. Please tell them the only woman who orders the "house pie" for the last 14 years sent you!
arichards at 2:26PM on 03/27/07
Awesome, guys--I've been wanting to check out Johnny's for some time. It's been written up quite a bit on the Chowhound boards.. can't wait to try..
Of course CT is a hop, skip and a jump..
dbdtron
dbdtron at 2:35PM on 03/27/07
Hey guys. I'm glad I could turn you on to Johnny's. Guess what, I know this place 4 Corners in Pelham Manor that ARichards mentions. From birth until I was 4 I lived 2 blocks from there. Then we moved a few miles to Co-op City where I lived until college. I used to eat at 4 Corners all the time. In fact, I went there last summer for the first time in 15 years and it was like stepping into a time warp. The same guy was working the oven and he remembered my mom. I love the sicilian slice there. I don't know if it's really great or just good because it's what I had as a kid. I suspect a little of both.
Jeff Varasano at 8:32AM on 04/07/07