{"id":855,"date":"2012-03-04T23:25:45","date_gmt":"2012-03-05T04:25:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/2012\/03\/04\/a-trip-down-bleeker-street\/"},"modified":"2012-03-04T23:25:45","modified_gmt":"2012-03-05T04:25:45","slug":"a-trip-down-bleeker-street","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/a-trip-down-bleeker-street\/","title":{"rendered":"Pizzeria Crawl on Bleecker Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

John’s Pizzeria on Bleeker since 1929 with carvings to prove it.<\/p><\/div>John Arena recently wrote a Guest Column here on Pizza Quest about one of the best areas in the country to go on a pizza tasting tour, or to engage in a personal pizza quest in one single neighborhood.\u00a0 He doesn’t claim that this is the “best” place to go, lest he start a pizza turf war.\u00a0 Rather, he defines Greenwich Village, NY as a special place that will deliver some of the best and certainly some of the most diverse and interesting pizzerias in one neighborhood that you will find.\u00a0 I happened to have been headed back to New York the very same week that we published John’s article.\u00a0 I knew I wouldn’t have much free time, but then again, I don’t need much of a window to seek out a good slice of pizza while in New York.\u00a0 I always try my best to find something new, as well as to stop in at some of my other favorite places.\u00a0 In a city this large the list is always growing – especially, when you only get to come in for a visit a couple times a year.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

You can see the blood red walls and ceiling through the window. The place oozes old time New York – since 1929!<\/p><\/div>John had connected me with Scott Weiner of Scott’s Pizza Tours.\u00a0 We tried to figure out a time to get together, but our schedule’s weren’t lining up.\u00a0 When my first moment to escape for some “me time” came I targeted Bleecker Street in the Village, where I could practically crawl to hit some of the top pizzerias in the city in short order.\u00a0 My hotel had a subway stop only steps from the lobby door.\u00a0 The #1 train took me to within a block or two of John’s of Bleecker where I decided to start.\u00a0 I had always wanted to go there, but my visits to Bleecker had thus far always taken me straight to Keste (if you’ve been to Keste, you’ll know why I kept returning!).\u00a0 But, tonight I was following John Arena’s lead and was going to try a couple new places that he spoke about.\u00a0 For a winter’s night in New York, it was quite pleasant.\u00a0 There was a light rain just starting that felt like a little mist as the tiny drops began to hit my face while I walked down the street.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

No slices! Sit down and have a-pizz!<\/p><\/div>I got to John’s and took a few pictures outside and could see through the windows that the place had a simple charm to it that had been worn in over time.\u00a0 You quickly see just how worn in it is as you notice the carved wooden booths that so many customers, over so many years, have chosen to “decorate.”\u00a0 I looked over the menu and the long list of pizzas.\u00a0 These are just starting points, or suggestions.\u00a0 The menu encourages that you build your pie from scratch.\u00a0 Each suggestion starts with Cheese, then Tomato Sauce and it goes from there.\u00a0 A few things popped out at me right away: Anchovies, Sausage and Mushrooms.\u00a0 It was as if these ingredients came off the page at me from different lines.\u00a0 I didn’t find that exact combination, but stopped looking much beyond my realization that this was the pizza I wanted. <\/p>\n

My anchovies were calling me. This is a beautiful looking pie.<\/p><\/div>I ordered a beer, a simple salad, my pizza and waited.\u00a0 As a pizza quester this place, on this night, was perfect.\u00a0 The pizzeria is old, worn, comfortable in a cozy sort of way and just oozes what a New York Pizzeria is meant to be.\u00a0 It was raining outside, which always makes being inside just a little better.\u00a0 It’s like that difference between reading a book on your couch, or watching a movie when it’s raining outside.\u00a0 The room was busy.\u00a0 There were a few larger groups, some smaller ones and some couples gathered around the tables in various configurations just talking, eating pizza and enjoying their night out.\u00a0 I forgot it was Valentine’s day here. It felt like any night in what would otherwise be a small neighborhood pizzeria in any city or small town across the world.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n

What I notice here is a simple balance of ingredients.<\/p><\/div>My pizza came and looked terrific.\u00a0 It said New York to me.\u00a0 It was the classic New York style pizza that called back to my childhood memories of what defined what pizza was and should be.\u00a0 This isn’t what I would call street slice pizza that I also loved so much.\u00a0 The coal fired crust separates it there.\u00a0 But, it was that simple New York Pizza that so many west coast pizzerias just couldn’t seem to reproduce for so many years.\u00a0 You find a decent one, or a good one once in a while, but it’s not the same.\u00a0 Maybe it is the water?\u00a0 Or, maybe it’s an East Coast\/West Coast thing?\u00a0 This could be an interesting Quest series to tackle some day.<\/p>\n

My Pizza…<\/p>\n

The coal fired crust which is the beginning of this pizza, is also the end note that you really appreciate.<\/p><\/div>I rarely get to have anchovies on a pizza at home because my family isn’t “down” with the concept.\u00a0 I’ll hide a little in here and there, and sometimes get away with it if I chop them up really fine and sneak them into the sauce below the melted cheese, but that’s not really a good idea. When they figure it out, it’s bad news!\u00a0 So, these anchovies were that much better!\u00a0 This pizza had a perfect balance of ingredients: cheese, tomato sauce, anchovies, sausage and mushrooms.\u00a0 I can’t fail to mention the delicious coal fired crust again!\u00a0 My pizza was a great example of how the simplest ingredients, combined in balance, can create a truly satisfying meal.<\/p>\n

I am not here to review Johns.\u00a0 I didn’t speak to anyone about their ovens, or find anything else out about the place.\u00a0 I was here to experience it.\u00a0 I grew up in New Jersey and my pizza benchmark is based on this kind of pizza.\u00a0 This is the city and the style of pizza that laid the foundation of what would later become this more formal quest.\u00a0 At some point I remembered I was on a little Greenwich Village pizza crawl here and stopped short of eating the whole pie to save room for then next stop.\u00a0 Let me tell you, that was tough! Johns on Bleeker St. lived up to it’s reputation.\u00a0 I would love to come back and explore the full range of this place some more in the future.<\/p>\n

Next stop — Pizza Roma….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Arena recently wrote a Guest Column here on Pizza Quest about one of the best areas in the country to go on a pizza tasting tour, or to engage in a personal pizza quest in one single neighborhood.\u00a0 He doesn’t claim that this is the “best” place to go, lest he start a pizza turf war.\u00a0 Rather, he defines Greenwich Village, NY as a special place that will deliver…Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":351,"featured_media":849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c45-guest-bloggers"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPizzeria Crawl on Bleecker Part 1 - Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/a-trip-down-bleeker-street\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pizzeria Crawl on Bleecker Part 1 - Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"John Arena recently wrote a Guest Column here on Pizza Quest about one of the best areas in the country to go on a pizza tasting tour, or to engage in a personal pizza quest in one single neighborhood.\u00a0 He doesn’t claim that this is the “best” place to go, lest he start a pizza turf war.\u00a0 Rather, he defines Greenwich Village, NY as a special place that will deliver...Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/a-trip-down-bleeker-street\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PizzaQuestFornoBravo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-03-05T04:25:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/03\/p1000992.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brad English\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brad English\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/a-trip-down-bleeker-street\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/a-trip-down-bleeker-street\/\",\"name\":\"Pizzeria Crawl on Bleecker Part 1 - 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