Tuesday, February 23, 2010

East Side Brick Oven Pizza: "Do you like comedy?"

Literally a minute before I was supposed to leave to meet my friend Wes to eat pizza I got a text from him, in response to the two I had sent earlier, that said, "I'm up! Ok. Pizza. Yes." I politely suggested we meet a little later, since he had just awakened, and then I still managed to be late in meeting him. Wes and I know each other because he dates my best friend and sister from another mister, Marcia. She is a really important lady who many people hold dear and as such, Wes has been threatened a number of times by drunk, practical strangers, most famously my Whiskey Teacher from Chattanooga, who, as he shook Wes' hand said under his breath, "listen, if I catch wind that you hurt this girl I'll drive up the 15 hours from Tennessee and whoop your ass, by God."

What separates the Wes from the Chads is that rather than reading the situation as, "gosh, this girl I'm seeing sure is friends with a bunch of erratic alcoholics," he realized it meant, "oh boy, people sure do love this lady! She must be something special." Or something. Do you follow? I haven't quite had enough coffee yet today to write coherent English. What I am trying to say is this: Wesley Davis is a man of unquestionably good character, the Osmium of Men, which in layperson speak translates to The Solidest of Dudes.


After keeping him waiting by the Zapatista hot dog salesman outside Hunter College, we trooped Eastward to have a casual encounter with a couple of slices over at East Side Brick Oven Pizza. When we got there, we each ordered our own slice because we are HUNGRY GUYS. The pizzaman put them in the oven as one massively wide slice, threw two plates like frisbees onto the counter, where they landed perfectly, flopped the double slice out of the oven onto the plates and then bisected it perfectly with the pizza slicer. All of this happened so quickly and fluidly that I thought this guy might be a ninja!


After the rad display of awesomeness, I was ready to love this place. The slice was not INCREDIBLE, but it was SOLIDLY GOOD. The crust was cooked impeccably, the cheese was decent, the ratios were great. The sauce was a tiny bit sweet, but such is life, right? Because this slice totally satisfied me, which is hard. I would totally come back here. In fact, I have to be in this neighborhood later tonight for a damn job and maybe on the way in I'll get a slice.

East Side Brick Oven Pizza - $2.75
1159 3rd Avenue
New York, NY 10065

1 comment:

  1. Just found your blog through the Man. Times. Love it. My husband is a pizza snob, and our weekends sound like this. I think our record was 6 pizza shops in one afternoon - that was in Middle Village. How do you remember all the details? Do you take notes?

    We live in Washington Heights, so I hope you can feel our pain. Not a good slice in sight. You were generous about the Grandpa's pizza review. Closest decent slice for me is Sal and Carmines. I think both Sal and Carmine are grumpy assholes, though. Do they hate making pizza, or do they just hate having to share it with people?

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