“The first step of researching New York City pizza is preparing yourself for a piping hot debate. No matter who you talk to in the pie and slice game, you’re signing up for an opinionated serving of family feuds, insider trading, and drama worthy of a daytime soap. But beyond the he-said, she-said and questions of who deserves credit for what, one incontestable fact remains: there’s just something about the NYC slice.

The “Freddy Prince” square pie at Paulie Gee’s Slice Shop | Talking pizza with Paulie Gee.

From lunch on-the-go to drunken late-night eats, slice pizza is intimately woven into the city’s fabric. Every few blocks in Manhattan—and only a bit further in Brooklyn or Queens—you’re bound to run into a grab-n-go shop. The most celebrated names in the old guard—Joe’s or DiFara, for example—ring with the time-worn familiarity of local heroes. But in the past decade, an increasing number of noteworthy upstarts have thrown their hat in the ring—Prince Street, Best Pizza and Scarr’s, to name a few.”