There's too much pizza in New York City
Summary
A straphanger with strong opinions drops a controversial claim: there's too much pizza in New York City. Kareem pushes back immediately. The stranger, who eats around 16 slices a week and holds the Guinness World Record for the largest collection of pizza boxes with 2,000 of them, clarifies his real beef. It's not the quantity. It's the quality. Out of 1,500 pizzerias listed on the Department of Health website, only 80 to 100 are worth visiting, and tourists keep wandering into mediocre Midtown spots that are designed for 2:00 in the morning sustenance, not first impressions. They discuss ranch as a red flag for bad pizza, Chicago deep dish as categorically not pizza, and Detroit style as easy to photograph but hard to perfect. The verdict: if you need ranch, the pizza wasn't good to begin with.
Full Transcript
So, what's your take? There's too much pizza in New York City. Wow, 100% disagree. On the DOH website, 1,500 pizzerias.
Department of Health? Yeah, but then if you look at the list of pizzerias, self-proclaimed pizzerias, it doesn't include Italian restaurants that also include pizza, and it doesn't include places that are not Italian restaurants that have something on their menu that's called a pizza.
Place that's like chicken gyros pizza. Yeah, or they've got like a tortilla with some sauce and cheese on it they call it a pizza. There's too much that's called pizza, and too much pizza in New York that unfortunately I have to say is not great. And you're an expert.
I mean like this is all I do every day in my life. How many slices do you eat a week? I limit myself to 15. I'm almost always at 16 now.
You look pretty good for a guy who eats pizza every day. Of you to say that. But but it's because I'm also I'm eating like good pizza.
Right. And of all the pizzerias that are out there, I think about 80 to 100 are worth going to. Wow.
Yeah. But there needs to be pizza though that is not good.
Yeah, yeah, well I get that. Like some pizza is good at like 2:00 in the morning. Got to grab a slice. It's not that it's never good, it's that it's only good in certain times. But what I'm saying is there's too much bad pizza out there. So when somebody comes to New York for the first time and they all want to have a slice
They go to the wrong place. Yeah, well they go to the place that's easy to get to. It's open at midnight next to their hotel in Midtown in Times Square, not realizing that that's like the point of the dollar slice.
Yeah. It's to not be good. Sustenance.
Yeah, exactly. Maybe we should put a little sign up that says not for tourists. Or a sign that says like best when enjoyed after the sun is down. What do you think about ranch? I'm fine with it, but I think if you need ranch on a pizza, the pizza was not good to begin with.
What do you think about Chicago deep dish? Chicago deep dish is fine if that's what you want, but if what you want to eat is pizza, that does not scratch any itch.
What do you think about Detroit style? It's the easiest to make it look good, and the hardest to make it taste good.
New York style is my absolute favorite. Let him cook.
And it's the irony of my life that I never eat pizza out of a box, but I do have the Guinness World Record for the largest collection of pizza boxes. How many pizza boxes do you have? 2,000.
I heard about something called the Museum of Pizza. He was there. I was a a victim of your ad roll addiction.