On my last night in the Silicon Valley area, I decided to head up the east side of San Francisco Bay to visit Vito’s Pizzeria located in Newark, California.  I have to say it was excellent!  I met the owner (Vito!) and after eating a couple slices I introduced myself.  I was happy to know he was familiar with the New York Pizza Blog and the New York Pizza Finder directory.   Once we got to talking he decided I NEEDED to try some bread sticks and home-made marinara sauce and they were muy delicioso.  I finished off my late night snack with a meatball dipped in the same marinara.

 All in all, Vito says his pizza is best in the bay area and I cannot disagree.  Next time in that area , I will be back! 

I was at a conference at the convention center in San Jose, and took out for a walk at lunch time.  The prior morning while getting exercise I had seen two places that sold pizza by the slice and I was anxious to give them a try.    The first stop was at Tony Soprano’s Pizzeria on San Fernando Street, which was pretty good pizza and scored an 80 on the Sliker Scale. 

Next was Pizza My Heart, which is a chain in this area.  It scored 70 on the Sliker Scale.  I was glad to see I could get a slice there, but I was less than optimistic about what I would get.  It’s a place for college kids with a surfing theme.  Not pictures of New York or Italy, no checkered table clothes.  In my opinion, the cheese slice was a little bland compared to Tony Soprano’s, but it was definitely New York Style. 

I arrived here in the Bay Area Saturday and had a few hours to kill, so I went to Palo Alto and drove around the campus of Stanford University– very nice and MUCH bigger than I expected.  I then made my way down El Camino Real until I found Frankie, Johnny, & Luigi, Too located at 939 W. El Camino Real in Mountain View.   It was a very nice restaurant– there were lots of people eating some very good looking italian food– but I was here for the pizza.  I ordered a large cheese pie.

The pizza was very good– I definitely don’t want to “dis” the pizza– but it wasn’t what I was looking for.  There were no slices available.  The pizza itself wasn’t as “flat” as I had hoped, and it was cut into 10 slices!  It was really good– but again, not what I was looking for.    Here’s the Sliker rating (70) for F, J, & L’s:

Thin Crust Pizza (40/40)
Pizza by the Slice Availability (0/10)
Large Slices (0/10)
Traditional Pizza Ovens (10/10)
Sicilian Pizza Availability (0/10)
Run by Italians (10/10)
Red & Green or Italy Theme or Name (5/5)
Pizza or Pizzeria in Title (spelled correctly!) (5/5) 

I’m heading to out to Silicon Valley this weekend– No, not to get venture funding for NewYorkPizzaFinder.net :-)   I found myself in Atlanta (ATL) airport needing some breakfast and wandered into the food court in B Concourse.   Sbarro’s was doing a booming business so I wandered over there.  They had three breakfast pizzas available in additional to their normal slices.   I had a slice with egg, cheese, bacon, peppers, & onions and it wasn’t bad.   My biggest complaint about Sbarro’s generally is that they try to keep the pizzas warm and when they serve them the crust tends to be kind of rubbery.  I prefer the traditional approach of putting a slice back in the oven for a minute to get the crust nice and crispy.   But anyway, crispy crust or not, Sbarro’s breakfast pizza was a nice change of pace for this traveller. 

I sent out an email last night to hundreds of people who have posted comments on this blog, directing them to the new New York Pizza Finder wiki site.   I am pleased to see that several people have already started adding New York Style Pizza places to the directory. 

I’ve added several new features over the last couple days.  First, and most importantly, is Google Maps integration.  The Map is Back!  Secondly, I’ve added a “boilerplate” page so that when someone creates a new page, it will automatically be formatted properly. 

Thanks to Andrew A. for these suggestions.  If you’ve been to the site and have some comments that can make the site more usable, please let me know what you think.

Thanks,

Tom

I had an interesting post this week suggesting that we should check out Vito’s Ristorante & Pizzeria in Newark, California, between Oakland and San Jose.   Well, it just so happens that I’m heading to San Jose this weekend.  I was planning to stop by Frankie, Johnny, & Luigi, Too which has a place in San Jose and another in Mountain View. 

So much pizza but so little time!   How ’bout you?  Know of any good New York Style Pizza in the Silicon Valley area?

Besides commenting on this blog, please join the Pizza Loving Army of volunteers in developing the New York Pizza Finder Wiki Site– open to all to contribute.  Thanks!

As some of you are already aware, I recently converted the New York Pizza Finder Web site to a wiki.   Up until recently, I’ve been trying to keep up a database of New York Style Pizza places as well as comments and links to more information.  This has been quite a challenge and I continually let the database get out of date.

So now I’ve turned to the “wisdom of crowds.”

Thousands of people view this blog every month, and hundreds have commented on specific Pizza Places in particular cities throughout the U.S.    Now what I’m asking you to do is go to the New York Pizza Finder site and leave your comments and reviews there.  Also, if you have a new place that’s not listed, please add it to the list. 

I just converted the site last week, and yesterday I received my first post from an anonymous visitor.  The visitor made two posts:  the first saying that Pizza in Florida Sucks, and the second saying that The Pizza Place in Parkersburg, WV is the best pizza anywhere. 

Please let your thoughts be known, and help us make the New York Pizza Finder the best and most comprehensive resource for New York Style Pizza Lovers anywhere on the planet. 

A little over a year ago, I visited the Grand Hotel, just outside Mobile, Alabama.  While there, I found Papa’s Pizza in Daphney, and I blogged about the experience.   I recently visited Papa’s Web Site and it appears to be “down.”  Does Papa’s still exist? 

By the way, the New York Pizza Finder web site has an entire page devoted to New York Style Pizza in Alabama, and there’s not much there!  So where is the New York Pizza in Alabama?  The New York Pizza Finder site is now a wiki, so you can go there and update the site yourself.  Surely there are some Yankees in Alabama who have found a great Slice, right? 

Please tell us all about it…

Oh the joys of wireless Internet Access.  My wife and I were driving to SouthWest Florida via Hwy 301 again.  Last time we did this, we stopped for pizza at Leonardo’s in Gainesville.    This time, we were too early for lunch in Gainesville, so I used my “pocket computer” (ie, SmartPhone)  and Google Maps to search for New York Style Pizza near Ocala, FL  and was surpised to find two options:  Rocco’s and Angelina’s. 

Rocco’s was a little less out of our way, so we went there.  I’ve been trying to diet so I got a big salad and just one slice.  The pizza was pretty good, even if a bit too garlicy for my liking.  The slices were not as big as I would hope for.  There was no Sicilian pies available.  The owner was not Rocco and not Italian, though he learned his trade from a New York Italian.   Sliker Rating:  80 of 100.  Yummy Scale:  3.5 stars. 

I received a note recently from  salamitango  via the New York Pizza Finder Web Site.   Here’s what he had to say about New York Style Pizza in Charlotte:

DaVinci’s Pizza in Charlotte gets at least a 90%.  They ace every category, but I don’t know if they have Sicilian.  I’m a thin crust girl anyway.  Owner originally from the City and relocated to Charlotte.  Trust me, I bring all my New York and New Jersey friends here and they LOVE it.

After a little bit of research I found that DaVinci’s is on Harris Blvd just west of Sugar Creek. Check out the reviews on Yahoo Locals.

Davinci’s Pizza
8511 Davis Lake Pkwy
Charlotte, NC 28269
(704) 596-2035