Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

YES! The De Sica reference lives to see another day, thanks. Your 'zone pics really do it proper justice...covet that hot pocket at any time of day, and yes, beats the pizza by a nose. Not only good, but really "old country" authentic -- my Neapolitan stepmother presses hers similarly down, as though she's fixing to slide them under some attic door.

Agree with the generally negative review. You want to like it. It should be good. It's orange. They pump out WPLJ standards circa 1985. But the coffee and derivative drinks are nothing special, oftentimes thin and not robust tasting. You don't control the dairy aspect, either, which while not a unique failing is a failing anyway. And their prices are no big bargain -- over the summer I would sometimes get the large iced coffee (black) from the Wall St./William St. truck, for $4! I doubt their large holds more than 16 fl. oz., so minus the ice you're not talking about much product.

I'm not really here for any review of pizza from Madison, WI. I will say that the photo at the top, depicting the bucolic, dusky building setting at Ingersoll and Williamson, is quite lovely.

I commend the reviewer for managing to keep such a keen focus on the pizza product alone. I was in Austin in December and took note of the crowd (forget about "line") outside Home Slice. It was a sunny, brisk late afternoon and their side of South Congress (east side) was catching some terrific sunlight. That's a great part of town. Magnolia's just down the road, and you could throw a rock and hit Zilker Park. It's not like you're stuck eating by some bus stop outside the Port Authority.

Nick's calzone is the best I've had in the city. It passes the ultimate test: its best version is the "plain," or ricotta and mozzarella only version, with marinara on the side (as depicted in the photo). The crispychewy shell, smell, flavor, and mouthfeel evoke the fabled mozzarella-in-carozza-envy scene in De Sica's "Bicycle Thief." Another big plus is the shape -- it's pressed virtually flat, in the classic, homey Neapolitan style. Cannot say enough good things about this dish.

Signed, Nick's calzone fan from 1994

We need to get to an harmonious place where we can conclude that this stuff is not in Motorino's or Co.'s class - not by a very long shot - and yet would still be fun to eat on its own terms. If I'm at this place watching a game with the MGD set to "heavy pour," this pizza would more than do the trick. Context, people...context.

My 4-year-old leaves the crust. He's too into the bread-and-sauce synergy of the rest of the slice. From Sal & Carmine's, though, it's probably more a lack of jaw strength issue. I love crust and will go to lengths. He recently threw down a week-old slice from S & C's, leaving the crust, which I then enjoyed. Even after a week, the crust had wonderful taste, crispness, and chewiness. It was like a fresh bialy minus the onion.

What train can I take from Manhattan?

FINALLY a place that knows how to "ball" sausage chunks for pizza. Pizza looks terrific, beautiful shots, will go. As much as I love Sal & Carmine's (for ex.), and S & C does use a very fine tasting fennely sausage product, their 1/4 inch thick salami style slicing technique often leaves me with too much of an inadvertently swiney big-bite.

L&B for Sicilian - Sal & Carmine's (B'way @ W.101 St.) for a classic "triangolo."

Sorry to hear you had a mediocre dining experience. I dropped a note to Adam about the place coming from the perspective of someone who, if looking for a nearby "little more than a slice joint" (agreed that Sal & Carmine's is superb), we'd have to truck down to Dean's on West 85th - Angelina's was just a couple blocks north and that proximity for me is worth some points. Yes, it's soulness and opportunistic, but I can walk there. (There's a Woody Allen line in there somewhere.) Anyway, last weekend we discovered the M116 bus which gets us from West 106th to East 116th and 1st Ave. - 20 minutes later, hello, original Patsy's!!!!

Looks terrible. Is all that lettuce meant to suggest "plentiful bounty?" That slick of cheese looks like it was ladled on. Adam, you're soo right that something - anything - should have been done with the napkin settings to reference the restaurant's name - how do you put down just one napkin here, like every other place?

At least they've gotten rid of Nice Matin's once-topping for this, bitter and toothsome grilled radicchio. Uh, no.

Livetotravel, have to compliment your use of the terms "young gut" and "salt lick" - that could have been ripped from William Goldman's superb "Harper" screenplay, but wasn't. Are you Larry McMurtry?