Eat Pray Love: Slice Out Hunger

In order to alleviate congestion inside, event staffers, some of whom donned pizza-themed hats and costumes, sold tickets ($1 apiece) to those on the massive line that formed around the perimeter of the church.  Fortunately, I had a friend who got on line at 4:45PM, thus securing my spot towards the very front of the queue despite my arrival nearly an hour later.  Last year, by the time I got inside, a few key pizza vendors had already sold out.  This year, I was determined and excited to finally taste Di Fara’s pie–only to be disappointed that yet again, they were already gone!  Nonetheless, I surged on.  As a self-proclaimed pizza connoisseur, I had already encountered the majority of vendors either at previous festivals or at their actual restaurant locations.  I continue to wonder why my NYC favorite, Roberta’s, was absent from this event yet again.  Their station would be cleared out in minutes!

A handful of pizzerias listed on the event program were no-shows (or perhaps very unfashionably late), which totally threw off how I planned to allocate my twenty-five tickets.  I came ultra-prepared, with a printed copy of the floor plan and a color-coordinated list of places to prioritize.  For instance, any pizzerias outside of Manhattan (hence, far from my office and apartment) with favorable internet ratings were marked crucial.  There certainly was no shortage of diversity or creativity in the slices I encountered, as styles ranged from traditional New York Style to Sicilian, Neapolitan, Roman, Grandma, thin crust–everything imaginable.  The only exception was deep dish–maybe next year?  Motorino, one of my favorite NYC places for Neapolitan pizza, served up a delectable vegetarian variation of their acclaimed brussels sprouts and pancetta pie.  Several places offered pizzas featuring butternut squash or other seasonally-appropriate ingredients, with some vendors far more memorable than others (Lucali, Joe’s, Don Antonio’s, etc).  Despite the fact that most slices were lukewarm by the time I finally plopped down to eat, I can’t say I tasted anything I didn’t like.