Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

How does it work with your reviews if you have all these behind the scenes photos? Do you come in first unannounced and eat the burger and then call after to come in and do an interview? This burger looks awesome and I'm not taking anything away from the chef and the restaurant or your review, but unless that's the way you do things, there's almost no way we can be guaranteed we're getting our $17 worth the way you did. Did you even have to pay for the burger?

Weakest part about this place is that there's no fries. Best part are the Australian beers. I liked the burger with the Sweet Chili Sauce better than the classic with egg and beets. But if I'm going for Australian food in Nolita I'm going to Eight Mile Creek for some serious grub.

Trainwreck Cheese Fries at Virgil's Real BBQ may be my favorite. Bacon and jalapeno cheese fries, order the Ranch dressing on the side and you're in the money. Here's a great round up of some of my other favorite fries:

http://nycfoodguy.com/2008/03/28/nyc-food-guy-recommends-french-fries/

I'm confused.

How do you define the list that we're reading today? As an avid reader of the Serious Eats family of sites for at least six years, and as someone who has seen consistent love for the majority of the places on this list, I would call this list "Serious Eats NYC Pizza Bucket List: NYC Pizza You Must Try Before You Die."

When you say "best pizza" to a serious NYC pizza lover, it's a pretty open ended statement.

You could be talking about:

- best pie (DiFara, Totonno's)
- best classic NYC style slice (Sal & Carmine's)
- best specialty slice (Patsy's Harlem, Artichoke, Best Pizza)
- best specialty pie (Paulie G's, LB, Motorino, Pier 76)

With the amount of edit you guys pump out everyday (and the level of detail you typically achieve), it would absolutely be worth breaking things down to these categories because it will allow you to give a lot more places their due and also allow you to have more fun, which in the end, is what this is all about.

Ed, Kenji, Kuban, thoughts?

Lawrence
NYCFoodGuy.com

The burger is fine. Not bad, not great. I was honestly expecting more.

It looks a lot better than it tastes in my opinion.

The special sauce and the onions doesn't really add much flavor and the tall construction coupled with the slightly rigid bun induces a lot of sliding around and forced re-arranging of ingredients.

Personally, I think a bun that's a little more squish-able and crave-worthy, as well as the addition of bacon, would really add a lot to this burger.

The fries, mind you, are delicious. Crisp, thin and melt-in-your mouth wafery.

Honestly, the best thing I had last time was ordered off-menu, it was a side of honey biscuits which usually comes with the fried chicken.

Does the best slice have to be only a Neapolitan? I think we can all agree that NY Pizza Suprema is the best slice on this corner but the best slice AT NY Pizza Suprema is definitely the upside down Sicilian. Seems like you may be missing out on the real "best corner slices" by only evaluating Neapolitans. It also seems like you'll just be making a lot more work for yourselves if you limit yourself to the plain isosceles because then you'll have to do a "Best Sicilian Corner Slice" column and a "Best Specialty Corner Slice" column. Then again, all we really have is time...

That being said, I would love to see a round-up of the best, classic Sicilian slices in New York City. This doesn't mean places like Adrienne's Pizza Bar or slices like Maffei's Grandma, which is more airy than most Grandma slices I've encountered.

There aren't many places left where pizzaiola seem to be taking the time to make dough specifically for Sicilian pies, giving them the proper time to rise and become the light, airy, buttery pieces of pizza perfection we truly desire. Most are just doughy bricks which can only be enjoyed when fresh out of the oven before the sauce and cheese become a little hat that all comes off in one re-heated bite.

Right now, my top three CLASSIC Sicilian slices are (not just 5 boroughs):
1) Umberto's Pizza - New Hyde Park, Long Island
2) Gino's VillaMonte (Richmond Avenue Location) - Staten Island
3) Vinny Vincenz - East Village, Manhattan (especially when fresh. If you order a Sicilian pie for delivery, make sure to ask for well done)

Any other thoughts?

Best thing to do is go with a friend and get:

Two Chalah Egg & Cheese Sandwiches and one order of crispy potato pancakes (two per order). Proceed to place the potato pancake inside the sandwich and enjoy. Heaven.

Tip to all reading this review:

Don't go expecting everything you see in this round up to be on the menu. When I went last night, there was no butter chicken, no French fries, no porterhouse of pork, no party mix cheesecake, or jerky salad.

I spoke to someone there on the phone today and they stated that all of the things I listed above are generally in stock. They rarely have specials. But the menu will change daily and if you're intending to go for one item in particular, you should really call ahead to double check whether they're offering it that night.

Overall, our meal was a undoubtedly a unique experience. My favorite item was the grilled cheese and tomato soup. It was greasy, decadent, crispy, cheesey, meaty, and spicy (horseradish in the grilled cheese). Everything you could hope for from good diner food.

I truly didn't LOVE anything else - I wouldn't return for the marrow, Caesar, Bibimwells (served cold, with raw seafood), brains, blood sausage, or the burger - but considering I missed out on so many of the dishes listed above, I would definitely give dinner another whirl and absolutely try out brunch - as much as it pains me to pay $12 for bacon and eggs - considering all the positive reviews.

Sara,
Great post. Cholados haven't received enough attention over the years. This is the most comprehensive post I've seen. Chowhound is severely lacking. Unfortunately, I found that most of these places shut down the cholado making fairly early in the evening (around 8pm latest) so that if you go out for dinner at 7 and you want some after, you're up sh*ts creek. Any idea if any of these places are open late?
Thanks,
Lawrence

Carnegie John's Street Cart also uses a griddle to grill method, but he takes it one step further - griddle to charcoal grill then back to griddle to seal in the juices...

http://nycfoodguy.com/2008/04/23/carnegie-johns-4-cheeseburger-grilled-griddled-its-the-best-of-both-worlds/

kcijones said it best. it's bar food, nothing more, nothing less.

The key at Naomi's is to get two half falafels ($2.50 each) because you end up getting more of the delicious balls (that will never get old) for a cheaper price than a large falafel. I also recommend you get an order of well done fries. They're diner style but if you salt and pepper them up and dip in some Heinz, it goes great with the falafel.