Honorable Mention

This is the kind of thing I am talking about. While killing time before class one day in Pleasant Hill, I stumbled across a pizza joint in a strip mall on Contra Costa Boulevard called, ambitiously enough, "New York Pizza." Their boastful claim drove me into the parking lot, anxious as I was to rub their faces into their lame ass pizza. However, I was forced to eat crow (and good pizza as it tuned out.) This place serves thin crust pizza, topped with the right kind of cheese and cooked in a super-hot oven for the desired crispy crust effect. Altogether a pleasant surprise.

But several caveats to those willing to put this place to the test. First, don't buy a whole pie. I tried it once and somehow the crust does not get nice and crisp. My theory is that cooking the pizza once, then heating the slice itself later is the secret. Second caveat, don't be afraid to hit the condiments HARD. I'm a bit of a purist and generally don't add much, but this stuff really benefits from garlic powder, grated cheese, oregano and especially, plain old salt. So just trust me on this. It will bring out the flavor.

Another really funny quirk about this place is you can get all kinds of other stuff there like ribs, chicken, all kinds of seafood and other non-traditional things like fries with pizza. Weird.

The other point worth mentioning has to do with the guys that work at New York Pizza. They are nice enough, seem perenially bored, and always have some foreign soccer game on the TV. This is my question. What is their native tongue? Their ethnicity is unclear (not that it matters, but I want to know if they are from New York and if they are Italian).

You will be hard pressed to find a pizza place in New York these days where the staff is Italian. The melting pot continues to melt.

New York Pizza, 1649 Contra Costa Boulevard, Pleasant Hill, CA
925-687-5882