The fold is my test for a New York slice. Pick it up from the tip, bend it down the center, and the crust holds. No flop, no crack, one hand clean while the other hand eats.

That single move tells you almost everything.

New York‑style pizza is thin, hand‑tossed dough stretched wide. A bright tomato sauce that doesn’t overwhelm. Whole‑milk mozzarella that pulls without turning rubbery. A bottom crust baked in a deck oven hot enough to color and crisp in exactly the right places.

It sounds straightforward. It isn’t. The number of shops that truly get it right — in New York and in cities across the country — is smaller than you’d expect.

Here are ten of the best, from the counters that defined the style to the places that imported it faithfully to the unlikely shops that nailed a perfect New York slice anyway.

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1. Joe’s Pizza, New York

A giant slice of cheese pizza on a paper plate — golden crust, bubbling cheese, and a touch of tomato sauce, the classic NYC street‑corner bite. Photo Credit: @joespizzanyc

Ask ten serious pizza people to name the definitive New York slice, and most of them will say Joe’s. The Greenwich Village shop has been producing the same straightforward, unfussy pie since 1975, and nothing about it has changed in ways that would need to.

The slice passes the fold test without drama. The crust is thin but not cracker-like, with enough chew to feel substantial. The cheese and sauce are in proportions so precise they seem obvious in retrospect, though countless other shops get the ratio wrong in both directions.

There is no seating to speak of. You stand at the counter, or you eat while walking down Carmine Street, which is exactly how a New York slice is supposed to be consumed. Efficiency and quality in the same transaction.

The simplicity here is a choice, not a limitation. Joe’s could complicate things. It refuses to.

Where: Joe’s Pizza, 7 Carmine St, New York, NY 10014

2. Patsy’s Pizzeria, New York

Thin‑crust pie topped with fresh tomato slices, basil leaves, and mozzarella — rustic, sunlit table setting ready for sharing. Photo Credit: Patsy’s Pizzeria of Brooklyn

Patsy’s Pizzeria in East Harlem opened in 1933, which makes it one of the oldest continuously operating pizzerias in the United States. Patsy Lancieri brought the coal-fired oven tradition from Naples, and the oven he installed has been producing the same char and character ever since.

The crust here blisters at the edges from the coal fire in a way that gas ovens simply don’t replicate. It’s a textural detail that people who grew up on coal-fired pizza describe as the thing they miss most when they’re eating anywhere else.

Patsy’s is cash-only, no slices — only whole pies — which is a policy that requires a commitment most casual visitors find inconvenient until the pizza arrives and makes the case for itself immediately.

The East Harlem location is the original and the one most worth seeking out. The surrounding neighborhood carries enough of its old character to make the trip feel like a genuine excavation of New York pizza history.

Where: Patsy’s Pizzeria, 2287 1st Ave, New York, NY 10035

3. Grimaldi’s Pizzeria, New York

Brick‑oven Margherita pizza pulled straight from the flames — charred edges, molten cheese, and fragrant basil. Photo Credit: Grimaldi’s Pizzeria

For decades, Grimaldi’s occupied a space directly under the Brooklyn Bridge that had become as much a landmark as the bridge itself. The current location on Front Street carries the same coal-fired tradition in a setting that still rewards the walk across the bridge as a way to arrive.

The mozzarella at Grimaldi’s is made fresh and applied to the pie before baking, producing a very different result from shredded low-moisture cheese. It melts into the sauce rather than sitting on top of it, creating an integrated flavor that separates good pizza from great.

The coal oven reaches temperatures that deck ovens can’t match, cooking each pie in a matter of minutes and concentrating the flavors through intensity rather than time.

Lines form early, particularly on weekends, and the policy against slices means every table is there for the full commitment of a whole pie.

Where: Grimaldi’s Pizzeria, 1 Front St, Brooklyn, NY 11201

4. NY Pizza Suprema, New York

A slice of cheese pizza held up against neon city lights — gooey, browned cheese and crisp crust in a lively night backdrop. Photo Credit: @nypizzasuprema

NY Pizza Suprema sits directly across from Madison Square Garden on Eighth Avenue, drawing an extraordinary cross-section of New York — concert-goers, Penn Station commuters, and locals who know this counter has been producing some of the city’s best slices since 1964.

The plain slice here is the one that draws the most consistent praise, which in pizza terms is the highest possible compliment. A shop that can’t make the basics transcendent has no business adding toppings.

The cheese stretches without becoming stringy. The sauce has a brightness that suggests genuine tomatoes and restraint rather than sugar. The crust achieves the fold test without thinking about it.

It occupies no romantic setting, has no story designed for tourists, and makes no attempt to market itself beyond a simple sign and steady output. That indifference to performance is exactly why it works.

Where: NY Pizza Suprema, 413 8th Ave, New York, NY 10001

5. Di Fara Pizza, New York

White pizza inside a box — creamy ricotta, melted cheese, and fresh basil scattered over a golden crust. Photo Credit: @difaranyc

Dom DeMarco made every pizza at Di Fara by hand for over fifty years, at a pace that had nothing to do with efficiency and everything to do with the result. People waited ninety minutes and thanked him. That relationship is almost unheard of at a pizza counter.

The toppings — imported Italian tomatoes, fresh-cut basil, a drizzle of olive oil applied with practiced deliberateness — elevated what was technically a neighborhood Midwood pizza shop into something closer to a pilgrimage destination for people who cared about the form.

Dom DeMarco passed away in 2022, but his family continues the operation, maintaining the approach he built and the quality he defended for decades.

The square pie in particular draws its own devoted following, the thick focaccia-like base and generous oil producing something different from the round pie but equally considered.

Where: Di Fara Pizza, 1424 Ave J, Brooklyn, NY 11230

6. Lucali, New York

A half‑and‑half pie with a charred crust — one side classic Margherita with basil, the other loaded with artichokes, mushrooms, and scallions — perfect for sharing. Photo Credit: @millennium_falco

Lucali on Carroll Street in Brooklyn takes no reservations, which means the line forms hours before dinner service begins.

Regulars bring lawn chairs and bottles of wine to drink while waiting — an arrangement that says something specific about how much people will reorganize an evening around very good pizza.

The pies at Lucali are made by owner Mark Iacono in a small kitchen visible from the dining room, stretched thin and baked in a coal- and wood-burning oven to a degree of char and crispness that photographers have been documenting obsessively since the shop opened in 2006.

Toppings are minimal and high-quality — fresh basil, whole-milk mozzarella, a light, sweet tomato sauce. The approach is closer to the Neapolitan tradition than classic New York, but the character of the finished pie is unmistakably Brooklyn.

The candlelit room, the handmade quality of every pie, and the complete absence of anything processed or hurried give Lucali a quality that justifies the line every time.

Where: Lucali, 575 Henry St, Brooklyn, NY 11231

7. Apollonia’s Pizzeria, California

A gourmet slice with pepperoni, fresh basil, and mozzarella — thin crust, vibrant toppings, and that unmistakable New York attitude in LA. Photo Credit: @unemployedeater

The expectation that a New York-style slice in Los Angeles will disappoint has been enough to keep many transplants from trying.

Apollonia’s on South La Brea has been quietly dismantling that assumption since it opened, producing a large-format thin-crust slice that folds correctly and tastes like the real thing.

The pepperoni cup here has developed its own particular reputation — the sausage curls into crispy, grease-collecting vessels during the bake in a way that has converted people who didn’t previously consider themselves pepperoni enthusiasts.

The California sourcing shows up in the quality of the ingredients — better tomatoes, fresher herbs — without pushing the pizza toward the kind of California spin that would compromise its New York identity.

The counter-service setup, the unpretentious room, and the lunch crowds of regulars who treat it like their neighborhood slice shop all signal that this is not a novelty. It’s a pizza place that happens to be in Los Angeles.

Where: Apollonia’s Pizzeria, 1414 S La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90019

8. Wiseguy NY Pizza, Washington, D.C.

Three pies stacked with peppers, onions, mushrooms, olives, and spinach — each tray showing off bold toppings and fresh ingredients. Photo Credit: @wiseguypizza

Washington, D.C. has a complicated food identity — it draws from everywhere and belongs firmly to nowhere — which makes it a surprisingly good city to find an excellent New York-style pizza.

Wiseguy NY Pizza in NoMa has built one of the most credible NYC-style operations outside the tristate area.

The menu focuses on the slice in formats any New Yorker would recognize: plain, pepperoni, Sicilian, and whatever the shop decides to run as a specialty on a given day.

The Sicilian in particular has drawn attention for its properly thick base, oily underside, and heavy cheese application.

The dough ferments over multiple days, which gives the crust a flavor complexity that quick-rise doughs can never achieve, regardless of how the toppings are applied.

Wiseguy’s reputation among D.C.’s substantial population of New York transplants — who are, as a group, among the most demanding pizza judges imaginable — is one of the strongest endorsements any pizza shop can earn.

Where: Wiseguy NY Pizza, 300 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20001

9. Emmett’s on Grove, Illinois

A pepperoni pizza held high on a tray — thin crust, charred edges, and evenly spaced slices, Chicago’s homage to the New York slice. Photo Credit: @emmettsongrove

Chicago is famous for deep dish, which makes a New York-style shop there either very confident or very wrong. Emmett’s on Grove, which opened in 2015, turns out to be the former — producing thin-crust, foldable slices in a city that built its pizza identity on the opposite style.

The slice here is large and wide in the New York tradition, with a crust that holds its fold without effort. The cheese application is generous but not excessive, with the tomato sauce cutting through in a way that keeps the overall bite from becoming too rich.

Chicagoans have embraced Emmett’s with enough enthusiasm to justify the expansion of the concept, which says something about the universal appeal of a good slice regardless of which city’s tradition produced it.

The Grove Street location remains the original, and the contrast of ordering New York pizza on the north side of Chicago carries a particular, pleasantly contradictory energy.

Where: Emmett’s on Grove, 496 N Halsted St, Chicago, IL 60642

10. Big Mario’s New York Style Pizza, Washington

Two slices side by side — one classic cheese, one pepperoni, both thin, foldable, and served on paper plates, the definition of grab‑and‑go comfort. Photo Credit: @bigmariospizza

Seattle’s food culture tends toward the Pacific Rim, farm-to-table, and the artisan. A New York-style slice shop on Capitol Hill is not the obvious fit, which is part of what makes Big Mario’s surprising to anyone who hasn’t tried it.

The slices are large, the crust is properly thin, and the fold test produces the right result. The plain cheese slice has served as the baseline test for anyone skeptical that the style could travel this far and survive the journey.

The late-night hours have built a particular following among Seattle residents who need something substantial after an evening out, which gives Big Mario’s the kind of neighborhood credibility that tourist-focused pizza shops never develop.

The menu stays close to the New York tradition without unnecessary additions, which is exactly the right instinct for a shop that’s making a specific argument about what a New York slice can be when taken seriously in a city with no particular obligation to care.

Where: Big Mario’s New York Style Pizza, 1009 E Pike St, Seattle, WA 98122

The Fold Is the Whole Argument

New York-style pizza is simple in theory and difficult in practice. The fold is the test, but it’s also a metaphor — for the dough’s engineering, the oven’s calibration, and the accumulated judgment of a maker who has done this enough times to understand what’s actually going on.

Whether you’re in Brooklyn within walking distance of multiple legendary shops or in Seattle, where finding a proper New York slice requires a specific destination, the search for the fold that holds is worth the effort.

Some of these ten places have been making the same argument since before most of their current customers were born. Others are newer, proving that the tradition is still being carried somewhere new every year.

Order the plain slice first. That’s the real test. Everything else follows from there.