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Neighborhood Guide
Best Pizza in the East Village
If the West Village is where the institutions are, the East Village is where the rest of New York comes to open a second location. Joe & Pat's brought its cracker-thin crust over from Staten Island. Paulie Gee's came down from Greenpoint. Ops came in from Bushwick. Three of the ten spots below started somewhere else and moved here — which tells you what this neighborhood is worth to a pizzeria.
The spine of it is 1st Avenue. Iggy's, Joe & Pat's and Paulie Gee's sit within a few blocks of each other, and you can eat at all three in an afternoon without walking more than ten minutes. Head east and the crowds thin out fast: Pop's on Avenue B is serving the block, not the tourists.
It is a different kind of pizza neighborhood to the one across town. Fewer coal ovens and less history, more range — Detroit squares at Emmy Squared, a wood-fired Neapolitan room at Gnocco, and plain, well-made slices at almost every corner. If you want the institutions, walk west. If you want to eat well without a line, stay here.
All East Village Pizzerias (11 spots)
A Lower East Side classic New York pizzeria with a neighborhood following for its slices at a price point that's increasingly hard to find downtown. Consistent and reliably good.
The East Village Emmy Squared — Detroit-style square pies with crispy caramelized edges and creative toppings. The Colony burger is famous, but the pizza is why you go.
An East Village Italian restaurant named after the fried dough snack, with a wood-fired oven turning out Neapolitan pies in a warm, candlelit dining room. One of the neighborhood's most consistently recommended Italian spots.
An East Village slice shop on 1st Avenue just below 11th Street, on a stretch where the pizzerias serve the neighborhood rather than the crowds a few blocks west.
A Manhattan outpost of the beloved Staten Island institution, bringing the same cracker-thin crust and Neapolitan family recipe to the East Village.
A Union Square-area Joe's Pizza location serving the classic thin NY slice near 14th Street.
The East Village outpost of the Bushwick original, on 2nd Avenue in the stretch below St Marks.
The East Village outpost of the Paulie Gee's slice operation — same old-school NY slice philosophy as the Greenpoint original, now in Manhattan.
A Lower East Side walk-up slice spot known for generously sauced pies — the name says it all. Casual, quick, reliably good.
A small pizzeria on St. Marks Place with roots in Tokyo, making Neapolitan-style pies with a Japanese chef's precision.
The East Village Pop's — a straightforward pizzeria on Avenue B serving classic NY-style pies to the neighborhood at a price that still makes sense downtown.