A surefire way to get a roomful of people riled up? Tell ’em: “I know where to find this city’s best pizza.”
Say it out loud and the dissenters start shouting. Everyone has an opinion.
So when a new pizza place opens, the stakes are high.
Joey’s New York Pizza bowed less than a month ago at a prime location on East Colfax Avenue, a block east of the state Capitol building. Run by real-life New Yorkers, transplanted-but-still-accented brothers Fred and Dave, it’s the reincarnation of a Littleton restaurant that closed a few years ago.
So where does Joey’s fit on the scale of area pizza?
Our friend Tom swears by Nicolo’s on East 13th Avenue, the place he once ran with his dad, the Sausage King of Chicago. LoDo club kids jones for Two-Fisted Mario’s on Market Street. Ditto the Capitol Hill neighborhood with Benny Blanco’s on East 13th Avenue near Wax Trax.
But for me, the best slice to be found in Denver has always been at Famous, the three-decade-old spot on South Broadway. What better way to put Joey’s to the test than to compare it to them?
So I grabbed Angie, a former Brooklynite. I knew that Angie could give a succinct summation of the similarities and differences of Denver outposts selling New York-style pizza.
We stuck with cheese slices only – still the best way to eat pizza – because it made for optimal crisp crust and the right melting of cheese and was not hindered by dumb toppings.
Angie, whose favorite Brooklyn pizza spots include Vinny’s and DiFara’s, set some ground rules.
“It can’t be too cheesy, or too cheese-less,” she said. “It can’t be too doughy, or greasy, or saucy or sauce-less. The sauce can’t be too sweet or too acidic. And the crust should be crispy, but not burnt.”
Joey’s met most of the criteria. The flavor was right, and the crust was perfect. Fresh-tasting mozzarella topped a sauce that didn’t scream with sugar.
In comparison, Famous slices are bigger, foldable, with more cheese and sauce. But the proportions are right – there’s not too much mozzarella or sauce that the cheese slips and slides. Angie disagreed; she thought too much oregano punctured Famous’ sauce. She preferred Joey’s. And our argument began. But she earned the last word:
“New York pizza is different than in Denver. But it’s like the cities themselves. Denver pizza is cleaner, less complicated. In a good way.”
Nick Groke can be reached at 303-954-1015 or ngroke@denverpost.com
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Joey’s New York Pizza
Pizza|329 E. Colfax, 303-832-3007|$2 slices|Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m.|Credit cards accepted.
Front burner: Also serve good canolis and a homemade cheesecake.
Back burner: An early 8 p.m. closing time is a bummer.
Famous Pizza
Pizza|98 S. Broadway, 303-778-7998|$2 slices|Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Friday till 2 a.m.; Saturday till midnight|Credit cards accepted.
Front burner: 30 years on, still among the best slices in town.
Back burner: Forget the chicken wings, stick to the pizza.
