The definitive guide to the pizza capital of the world is here.
"Pizza City: The Ultimate Guide to New York's Favorite Food,'' by veteran food writer/reporter Peter Genovese, is now available in bookstores and on Amazon.
The book, richly illustrated with archival, black-and-white and color photos, provides an overall look at the city's pizza scene, with profiles of such landmarks as Totonno's, Roberta's, Lombardi's, Denino's and Joe's on Carmine.
Add honest, detailed reviews of 250 pizzerias in all five boroughs - from high-end pizzerias such as Motorino, Lucali's and Keste to out-of-the-way neighborhood joints - and you have a book designed to satisfy the most fanatical pizza lover.
"'Pizza City tells the tale of New York City’s favorite dish by deftly kneading together the stories of the people who make it, who eat it, who chronicle it, who obsess over it,'' says Adam Kuban, founder of Slice. "It's a fine addition to the growing trove of NYC pizza intel.”
The oversize paperback, published by Rutgers University Press ($22.95), is the tenth book by Genovese, a feature writer for The (Newark, NJ) Star-Ledger who has written extensively about food, the Shore, roadside kitsch and other subjects.
He has probably eaten at more pizzerias in the past three years than anyone alive; in a previous book, "A Slice of Jersey,'' Genovese led a team that sampled/rated pizza at 350-plus pizzerias around Jersey in just six months. Add that the 250 pizzerias sampled during "Pizza City,'' and another 50 or so visited on his own, and you have a lot of pizza.
"Pizza City'' tells behind-the-scenes stories about John's on Bleecker Street, Paulie Gee's in Greenpoint, Pugsley's in the Bronx, John's in Elmhurst and other pizzerias, plus revealing portraits of Miki Agrawal, owner of SLICE The Perfect Food; Scott Wiener, operator of Scott's Pizza Tours; and Agatha Mangano, who runs the Ray's Pizza chain, and Adam Kuban, founder of the country's most influential pizza blog, among others.
Fun, fascinating pizza facts and figures are sprinkled throughout the copy. Did you know Americans put 250 million pounds of pepperoni on their pizza every year? That Domino's has more outlets per capita in Iceland than any other country? Or that the fifth most popular topping is' green peppers?
"Pizza City,'' according to Jason Feirman, of the I Dream of Pizza blog, "is the definitive guide to pizza in the most pizza-centric city on the planet. For a complete understanding of how the current pizza landscape in NYC came to be, Pizza City is a must-read.”
