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Restaurant Ratings

The ratings are based mostly on the degree to which the food excites us, and a little on environment, service, and other considerations. I rate restaurants relative to all other restaurants in the New Orleans area. Here's what the stars mean to me:

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Among the best locally.

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Excellent and ambitious.

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Worth crossing town for.

starstar
Recommended.

*
Acceptable.

No star
Unacceptable.

Cost Ratings
Each dollar sign indicates a ten-dollar range, including a normal meal for the restaurant (dinner, if they serve other meals), not including drinks, or tips. So, for example. . .

1$--$5-15
2$--$15-25
3$--$25-35

. . . and so on, with no upper limit. While this scheme may suggest mathematical precision, know that perception of price varies from diner to diner as much as the star ratings do. So consider this an estimate.

All reviews are based entirely on meals I have personally taken at the restaurant and paid for from my own pocket. I don't take free review meals, nor am I reimbursed by anybody for my restaurant expenditures.

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New York Pizza

Pizza. Italian.
Uptown: 4418 Magazine. 504-891-2376. Map.
Lunch and dinner continuously seven days
Very Casual.
AE DS MC V
Website

WHY IT'S NOTEWORTHY
This is a great name for a fairly good, consistent pizza shop, except for one thing: it's a misnomer. It's thin-crust pizza, crisp on the bottom, and restrained in its application of ingredients--all hallmarks of the New York style. But it's not quite that, and people acquainted with the best pizza in New York might be disappointed. After thirty years in a cramped location, it moved in 2009 to a much more pleasant space down the street. The move also allowed a major expansion of the menu, turning it into a more important resource.

WHY IT'S GOOD
The quality of the raw materials has always been well above typical. Fresh vegetables, whole-milk mozzarella, dough made in house--all these were rarely encountered in other pizzerias when this place opened. In the new premises, they're making more out their dough and offering pasta and sandwiches.

BACKSTORY
Wayne Del Corral opened New York Pizza in 1980 on a Magazine Street corner. It quickly became the hip place to get pizza--particularly among Tulane students, many of whom are from the Northeast and hungered for the pizza they remembered from home. In 1992 a second location opened on Carrollton just off Canal, but it didn't reopen after the hurricane.

DINING ROOM
Bright, spacious, and a bit stark, the new dining room is much more amenable to having a full meal than the old one. There are a few tables on the sidewalk. The service staff varies widely in its hospitality. A rather cool metal Statue of Liberty stands at the front door.

ESSENTIAL DISHES
Cappellini pasta with marinara.
Baked feta cheese.
Buffalo wings.
Snooie bread (like bruschetta with cheese and tomatoes).
Salads (wide range of them).
Meatballs or sausage with pasta.
Lasagna.
Calzones.
Muffuletta.
Pizza by the slice or pie (with red sauce, olive oil, or garlic butter).

FOR BEST RESULTS
Don't come in here thinking you're eating at Ray's in Manhattan. And know that the most common complaint voiced about the pizza--that it seems oily--is what happens when the richer whole-milk mozzarella is used. The pizzas that come closest the the ideal of the name are the plain cheese pizza. My favoprite: cheese with fresh garlic. one with

OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
They're still getting the service act together.

FACTORS OTHER THAN FOOD
Up to three points, positive or negative, for these characteristics. Absence of points denotes average performance in the matter.

SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES

This review was updated with new information on 5/5/2010.

A list of over 325 full, current reviews is here.