A Paupered Week in Flatiron Day 5: Real Pizza
_ Check out Day 1 to figure out why Nick is spending so much time on lunch spots in Manhattan . _
Of all the foods I could nosh on in NYC for a quick, cheap lunch, nothing was as obvious as pizza. The capital of that tasty dish, New York should have had interesting pizza places pouring out of its alleyways, with enough springy crusts, milky cheeses, and bright sauces to keep me filled for months. But finding a great slice in the city is almost as hard as getting through most of these slice's crusts.
I'm not here to bash New York pizza as an institution, but I wish to sort of explain intricacies, because the scene deserves more than an up or down vote. There is excellent pizza in nearly every neighborhood, pies as thin and airy as anyone would want for a lunch. But most of these places are sit down restaurants, where the cost of the pie reflects the atmosphere. And that's the case with Flatiron. La Pizza Fresca Ristorante and Ottimo will serve you nice pies, and a bill that goes way over what I budgeted.
That's where slice joints come in. To feed the crowds these places need to cook the pies ahead of time, so they can get things out quickly. If you're lucky, you might be able to get a slice off a recently cooked pie. But most of the time the workers cut off a piece and throw it back in the oven to rewarm. This method may heat up that lonely slice that's been sitting on the counter, but it also hardens the crust until it becomes brittle and crunchy.
Those who bemoan this practice need only look to DiFara's. It's my favorite pizza in the world and they never put slices back in the oven. You get a fresh slice every time, but you pay the price with time. I've never gotten a pizza or a slice in less than 45 minutes. Can you even imagine what chaos would break out in Manhattan if they had to wait that long? I don't blame slice joints for taking short cuts to deal with large crowds. It's rather naive to want a pizza master in front of every slice joint oven unless you're willing to pay more for each slice or wait that long. Sometimes you just need a quick $2 slice to get you by.
Just like cart food , everyone has their favorite pizza place, which they hold close to their hearts, and get offended if anyone bad mouths. I found one early on that i really liked called Mafia's, which was on the same block that I worked, but I decided to look a little harder to see what else I could find. I searched through Menupages and Chowhound for that hidden pizza gem. But what I found was mostly uninspiring, and unlike the burger quest , my search ended with disappointment. Along 5th Avenue between 21st and 18th are a line of buffet places with thick, doughy slices that are topped with gobs of cheese. Frank's Pizza (127 East 23rd Street) has lots of fans on Menupages, but the sauce sickeningly sweet, which is the opposite of the fresh, light sauce I look for. The same is true for the chain Mozzarelli's (38 East 23rd Street), which tastes rather like Dominoes. Pizza Paradise is a little better, at least their crust is thin, but the cheese is gooey and there is too much sweet sauce. I had a fairly decent slice at Rocco's Pizza Joint (162 7th Avenue) once, and a few rock hard ones that turned me off.
But really, I never looked that hard because I didn't have to. As much as I didn't like to admit it, I found a place in the first week that couldn't be beat. And without a doubt, I went here for lunch more than any other place in the area.
Maffei's sits on the corner of 22nd and 6th Avenue in a dilapidated two story building, which probably looks even worse than this picture since it is across the street from one of the most beautiful buildings in Flatiron . Nearly every time I walk by, people spilled out of the little space, all trying to get in so they peak over the counter and order their food. It all looks like complete chaos, but unlike Di Fara's, there actually are rules to this game. The first counter has a line of hot items, things like lasagna, chicken Parmesan, and calamari. It's all tasty stuff, and better than you could find at most other slice joints like this. I've had a few of the items, but they are all over $5, so it was indulgence I usually saved for Indian or Korean .
If you keep moving down the counter, there is a second line for pizza and calzones. The latter are surprisingly good, and pretty cheap. But I was mostly down there to get pizza. The slices are all lined up on shelves like every other slice counter in the city with pies heavily topped with random ingredients like broccoli and barbecue chicken. At first I always went for the regular slice, which was usually fresh out of the oven because they go through so many of them. The slices were thin with a great tangy sauce, though they had way too much cheese. But it was hard to get a better lunch, and with two huge slices, I could be full well into the next day.
As decent as the slices are, what Maffei's is really known for is the Grandma Slice: a square slice with a raw tomato sauce. The crust is much thinner than Sicilian or deep-dish, but not foldable like a regular slice. It's spiced with what looks like an "Italian Herbs" shaker, but it's surprisingly good and it's not nearly as greasy as a regular slice, and not doughy and excessive like a Sicilian. One slice could almost always fill me up, and keep me satisfied at the same time.
Maffei's isn't my little secret. It has been written about before . And I actually don't think it deserves to be placed up in the pantheon. They would need to hold back on the cheese on their regular slices, and get the dough a little lighter for it to even come close. But that's okay. It's a busy slice joint, and it should stay that way. They don't have time to make gourmet pies because they're too busy feeding the hoards who are clamoring for their slices. We need slice joints like this when we only have a few dollars and need a quick bite. Two dollars can't be spent in a better way.
Maffei's Restaurant
688 6th Avenue
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