New York has more famous pizzerias than any one trip can cover, and every “best slice” list disagrees with the last. This guide takes a different route. It sets out what the landmark pizzerias say about themselves, what Modernist Pizza’s researchers found when they worked through the city, and what the historical record shows, so you can plan a tour around the styles and stories that interest you. It isn’t a ranking, and none of it is a personal tasting report.
What New York pizza is
Modernist Pizza argues that “New York-style” isn’t defined by any rulebook. It’s a social construct, made by New Yorkers and their pizzerias, so the authors defined it by looking at the pizzerias generally held up as examples. On their research trip they visited 36 New York pizzerias and found New York-style and New York square to be the most popular styles, and pepperoni, sausage and mushrooms the most popular toppings.
Two of their observations are useful when you plan a tour:
- New York pizza is street food. Slice shops bake whole pizzas, keep them in a case, and reheat slices for each customer. The authors point out that a slice is best fresh from the oven, and that a shop can serve fresh slices only during its busiest hours.
- Squares are named loosely. New York pizzerias use “Sicilian”, “square” and “grandma” for overlapping pan pizzas, and Modernist Pizza found that most New York “Sicilian” is the shop’s regular dough, rolled a little thicker and baked in a pan. The Sicilian vs. grandma pizza guide sorts out the terms.
The Style Atlas maps New York-style, Sicilian and grandma pizza alongside the other American styles.
Which pizzeria came first?
Lombardi’s calls itself America’s first pizzeria and gives 1905 as its founding date. That story has been repeated for decades, but Modernist Pizza’s archival research doesn’t support it:
- The building at 53½ Spring Street was already a pizzeria by 1904. That August, ads for Giovanni Santillo’s Antica Pizzeria Napoletana at the address ran in an Italian-language newspaper.
- In 1899 a delicatessen there was run by Filippo Milone, who applied for an oven permit that year and went on to open several pizzerias. The authors call him the strongest contender for the first pizza maker at the address.
- Gennaro Lombardi arrived in New York in November 1904, aged 17. The earliest definitive record linking him to 53½ Spring Street is his 1918 draft card.
- The authors also found newspaper reports of more than one New York pizzeria in 1903, and pizzerias dating back to 1894.
None of that takes away from the pizzeria’s long history, which Lombardi’s 1905 covers in detail. It’s a reason to visit for the story and the coal oven, not for a verified “first.”
The landmarks at a glance
| Pizzeria | Where | Dates from | Known for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lombardi’s | Little Italy, Manhattan | 1905, by its own account | Coal-oven pizza and the “first pizzeria” story |
| Totonno’s | Coney Island, Brooklyn | 1924 | A family pizzeria, by its own history, with roots at Lombardi’s |
| Joe’s Pizza | Greenwich Village, Manhattan | 1975 | The classic New York slice |
| Di Fara | Midwood, Brooklyn | 1965 | Domenico DeMarco’s pizzeria |
| L&B Spumoni Gardens | Bensonhurst, Brooklyn | 1939, by its own account | Sicilian square pizza and spumoni |
| Lucali | Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn | Not stated on its site | A sit-down pizzeria built around one pizza maker |
| Prince Street Pizza | SoHo, Manhattan | 2012 | Sicilian “SoHo Squares” |
Dates and addresses come from each pizzeria’s site or from Modernist Pizza, as given below, and were checked on October 14, 2026.
The landmarks, one by one
Lombardi’s. Its website calls it “America’s First Pizzeria,” dates it to 1905, describes its pizza as coal-oven baked, and lists its address as 30 Spring Street. Modernist Pizza’s timeline has the original pizzeria closing in the 1970s, a fine-dining restaurant without pizza at the old address until 1984, and Lombardi’s reopening in 1994 just down Spring Street.
Totonno’s. The Coney Island pizzeria says it has made pizza in the same spot since 1924. Its founder, Antonio “Totonno” Pero (Anthony, on the restaurant’s site), had made pizza for Lombardi’s on Spring Street first, and the restaurant’s history describes continued family ownership. Plan around its service: its contact page lists 1524 Neptune Avenue, open Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5:30 p.m. for takeout and delivery only, with no indoor seating (checked October 14, 2026). Modernist Pizza includes Totonno’s Pizzeria Napolitana, established 1924, in its map of New York pizzerias linked to Filippo Milone’s early businesses.
Joe’s Pizza. Joe’s says it was established in 1975 by Joe Pozzuoli, who came from Naples, at the corner of Bleecker and Carmine Streets, and now sits three doors down at 7 Carmine Street. Modernist Pizza, which gives his name as Pino “Joe” Pozzuoli, describes a family-run shop that sells mostly by the slice. When the book was written, its researchers found that Joe’s made its square slices from the same dough as its round pies, par-baked in a sheet pan, and used Grande low-moisture mozzarella; that’s their observation for the 2021 book, not a description of every Joe’s location today.
Di Fara. Domenico DeMarco, an immigrant from Caserta, Italy, opened Di Fara in Midwood in 1965 with no prior pizza-making experience, according to Modernist Pizza, and for decades made nearly every pizza himself. Di Fara’s own story page also dates its first pizza to 1965. DeMarco died in March 2022 at 85, NY1 reported, citing his daughter; it also gives 1965 and the corner of East 15th Street and Avenue J for the founding. Di Fara’s website places it at East 15th Street and Avenue J and says it uses “the same family recipe.”
L&B Spumoni Gardens. L&B’s site says it has served Italian-American food since 1939, is “famous for our Sicilian square pizza” and spumoni, and has its original location on 86th Street in Bensonhurst, with a second in DUMBO. Its history page explains the date: Ludovico Barbati sold pizza from a horse and wagon first, bought the 86th Street property in 1939 for his spumoni business, and built up the pizzeria there through the 1940s and 1950s. Modernist Pizza dates the horse and wagon to around 1938. The site says the fourth generation of the Barbati family runs it today.
Lucali. Lucali’s website says Mark Iacono, an “accidental pizzaiolo,” opened it to keep the Carroll Gardens candy store of his youth from an uncertain future. Modernist Pizza describes Iacono as a former stonemason who opened the pizzeria with no pizza-making experience, shaping pizzas at a marble table in the dining room, with a gas oven that has a compartment for wood because customers like to see flames. Its Brooklyn location page lists 575 Henry Street, open 5 to 11 p.m. and closed Tuesdays, with no reservations: names for the waitlist are taken from 4 p.m. It also says Lucali is cash only and BYOB (checked October 14, 2026).
Prince Street Pizza. Its site says it opened in New York in 2012 and is known for its Sicilian “SoHo Squares.” Its locations page lists the original shop at 27 Prince Street, with a second New York shop on Smith Street in Brooklyn.
Modernist Pizza’s own verdicts on the historic names were often critical: its authors write that the historic pizzerias get a lot of press, but that most of the pizza they ate at them was lackluster, and that they found better pizza at newer shops. That’s their judgment, not ours, and it’s one more reason to taste with your own notes rather than a list.
Planning the route
The landmarks cluster in two areas:
- Lower Manhattan: Lombardi’s in Little Italy, Prince Street Pizza in SoHo and Joe’s Pizza in Greenwich Village are in the same part of the city.
- Brooklyn: Lucali is in Carroll Gardens, while Di Fara (Midwood), L&B Spumoni Gardens (Bensonhurst) and Totonno’s (Coney Island) are in the south of the borough, a long way from Manhattan.
A few practical points follow from the sources:
- Slices or whole pies. Joe’s sells mostly by the slice. Lucali is a sit-down restaurant with a waitlist that opens at 4 p.m., so allow time and bring cash. Totonno’s lists weekend hours only, for takeout and delivery.
- Fresh beats reheated. Since slice shops reheat slices from whole pizzas, a slice straight from a fresh pie is a fairer comparison than one that has sat in the case.
- Compare like with like. Order the same thing at each stop, such as a plain cheese slice or a plain square, so the differences you notice come from the pizzeria rather than the toppings.
- Check before you go. Hours, locations and payment policies change. Everything here was checked on October 14, 2026.
What to look for on a slice
Modernist Pizza found little variety in sauce or cheese at traditional New York pizzerias: mostly different brands of tomatoes and a choice of fresh or low-moisture mozzarella. So many of the differences you’ll notice are in the crust and the bake. A short checklist helps:
- Underneath. Lift the slice and look at the base: how brown it is, and whether it’s even or spotted.
- The fold. Fold a New York slice lengthwise and see whether the tip holds or droops. The New York style pizza dough guide explains what flour, hydration and baking do to it.
- The rim. Note how tall and airy the edge is; the puffy crust edge explains what builds it.
- Sauce and cheese. Note whether the sauce tastes bright or sweet, and whether the cheese is fresh or low-moisture mozzarella. Low-moisture vs. fresh mozzarella covers the difference.
- Squares. On a square or Sicilian slice, look at the crumb. Modernist Pizza went looking for a fluffy, open crumb and often found a thick, gluey layer of undercooked dough instead.
A few words per slice in a notebook or a phone note, written before the next stop, make it much easier to compare pizzerias afterward.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Which NYC pizzerias should be on a pizza tour?
- Mix styles rather than repeating one. The landmarks in this guide are Lombardi's and Totonno's for coal-oven history, Joe's Pizza for the classic slice, L&B Spumoni Gardens and Prince Street Pizza for squares, Di Fara for its founder's long run at the oven, and Lucali for a newer, personal pizzeria. This is a researched list, not a ranking; check each pizzeria's site for current hours.
- Was Lombardi's really America's first pizzeria?
- Lombardi's says so and dates itself to 1905, but Modernist Pizza's archival research found that 53½ Spring Street was already a pizzeria by 1904 under Giovanni Santillo, that Filippo Milone may have baked pizza there from 1899, and that Gennaro Lombardi isn't definitively linked to the address until 1918. The authors also found New York pizzerias dating back to 1894.
- What is New York-style pizza?
- Modernist Pizza calls it a social construct defined by New Yorkers and their pizzerias rather than by a rulebook. In practice it's the round pie sold whole or by the slice in the city's slice shops, which bake whole pizzas and reheat slices to order. New York square pizza is the other most common style in the city.
- Is Di Fara still open after Dom DeMarco died?
- Di Fara's website still lists its pizzeria at East 15th Street and Avenue J in Midwood and says it uses the same family recipe (checked October 14, 2026). Domenico DeMarco, who opened Di Fara in 1965, died in March 2022 at 85.
Sources
- Nathan Myhrvold and Francisco Migoya, Modernist Pizza (2021), volume 1, printed pages 31–32 (the history of 53½ Spring Street and Lombardi’s), 36 (Filippo Milone and Totonno’s), 101–102 (New York-style as a social construct; the search for New York Sicilian), 119 (Di Fara’s founding), 120 (slices are best fresh), and 214–227 (the New York research trip: street food and reheated slices, the 36 pizzerias, styles and toppings, squares, Joe’s Pizza, Lucali, L&B Spumoni Gardens and Lombardi’s).
- Lombardi’s, official website (1905 claim, coal oven, address). Checked October 14, 2026.
- Totonno’s, “About Us” (1924, Totonno Pero, family ownership) and contact page (address, days and hours, takeout and delivery only). Checked October 14, 2026.
- Joe’s Pizza, official website (1975, Joe Pozzuoli, 7 Carmine Street). Checked October 14, 2026.
- Di Fara, story page (first pizza in 1965) and restaurants page (location). Checked October 14, 2026.
- NY1, “‘All our hearts will be broken’: Di Fara Pizza founder dies at age 85” (March 17, 2022).
- L&B Spumoni Gardens, official website (1939, Sicilian square, locations) and history page (horse and wagon, the 1939 property, the pizzeria in the 1940s–1950s, family operation). Checked October 14, 2026.
- Lucali, official website (Mark Iacono and the candy store) and Brooklyn location page (address, hours, waitlist, cash only, BYOB). Checked October 14, 2026.
- Prince Street Pizza, official website and locations page (2012, SoHo Squares, 27 Prince Street). Checked October 14, 2026.