Queens senators dish on borough’s best pizza
/
Two slices of pizza from Margherita Pizza in Downtown Jamaica, State Senator Leroy Comrie’s favorite slice. Photo by Norman J. via Yelp
By Jacob Kaye
The great Queens pizza debate rages on.
Last month, the Eagle reported on one Brooklyn man’s eight-year journey eating his way through New York City’s pizza landscape – in the end, he decided that Queens, as a whole, has the best slices. Also in January, the Queens Chamber of Commerce launched its first-ever Best Pizza Competition, which will wrap up later this month. Both projects fueled the ever-burning debate over where the best slices in the borough are made.
This week, taking inspiration from the Queens Chamber’s competition, State Senator Jessica Ramos posted a video to social media in which she asked her World’s Borough colleagues: “What’s the best pizza in Queens?”
Some Queens senators answered effusively, naming their favorite pizza restaurant without hesitation. Others hedged their bets, acutely aware of the controversial waters they were being asked to wade into. All of the senators who answered, however, took the most politically expedient route, naming a slice shop inside their district.
First up, State Senator Joe Addabbo, who represents parts of Central and South Queens. Perhaps the senator who was most aware of the competing pizza forces within his district, Addabbo said that the best slice in Queens is the “Italian kind, regular.” He gave the camera a knowing look, fully aware that he had escaped the question unscathed.
Next up, Senator Leroy Comrie, who represents parts of South, Central and Eastern Queens. Comrie’s favorite pizza spot is Margherita Pizza on Jamaica Avenue. That answer might please Liam Quigley, a freelance reporter who recently released the findings of his eight-year pizza project, in which he named Margherita Pizza as one of his favorite pizza shops in the city.
State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, who represents the northernmost sections of Queens and parts of Eastern Queens, did not hesitate when asked about her favorite slice spot.
“Freddy’s [in Whitestone],” she said. “But Gigi’s [in New Hyde Park] is good, too, so is Cascarino's [in Whitestone].”
Senator Michael Gianaris, who represents a portion of Western Queens, picked wood-fired pizza restaurant Milkflower in Astoria as his top spot. He also shouted out Astoria’s Sac’s Place’s – specifically their Sicilian slice – and Philomena's Pizza in Sunnyside.
No senator was as enraged by the question as State Senator John Liu, who represents a portion of Eastern and Central Queens.
“That depends on what your mood is,” he said. “Depends on if you’re super hungry, or you need super good pizza, or if you’re in the mood for anchovies, sometimes mushrooms. You know, different places have different mushrooms, I don’t like canned mushrooms.”
“So, you have to consider what the circumstance is,” he added. “Come on, don’t ask me a silly question like, ‘What is your favorite pizza place.’”
The most confounding answer came from Senator Kristen Gonzalez, who represents a portion of Western Queens and Manhattan. Gonzalez claimed that her favorite pizza comes from a bodega near her home in Long Island City.
“It’s the only bodega I’ve ever seen with pizza, but it’s saved my life more than once,” Gonzalez said.
Ramos, who represents parts of Elmhurst, East Elmhurst, Corona and Jackson Heights, named Pizza Sam in Jackson Heights and Il Forno in Corona as two of her favorite pizza shops in Queens. However, she wisely noted that all the best pizza in Queens comes from shops within her district.
“You can’t go wrong,” she said.
