Seeing that picture of a bagel and lox(salmon), I'm like Homer Simpson, saying mmm, bagels and lox.
We have refined taste in pizza and bagelry.
Neither is this up for debate.
Rather, the world should simply place child-like trust in us.
We were just talking about this in the Texas recruits NYPD thread
It’s the water, the atmosphere and the flour per many restaurant owners in Texas and Arizona
Bagels and pizza are great so New Yorkers think it is better
But you can’t get a good tortilla in New York.
New Yorkers do have a better appreciation for good food so there’s that.
NYC tap water isn’t even Kosher.
it’s the heavy metals and VOCs
There’s a pizza place in Tampa that brings NYC water to make the best pizza in Tampa, according to the local scandal sheet (aka Creative Loafing).
I’ve always heard that New York’s water source is superior to most municipalities, coming from the Adirondack snow melt. It seems counterintuitive to everything I’ve thought about NYC.
When I was a kid raising guppies, the understood gold standard for fish tank water was from upstate New York.
It’s the PCB’s in Hudson River water gifted by GE all those years ago. Adds flavor.
After working in Midtwon for 11yrs, back in the 70s/80s, I can attest that the food is some of the best in the world. And the water won several taste tests/ cleanliness lab tests in tech nical mags/ NY Slimes.
You will never convince the people who believe this about New York water otherwise.
However it’s definitely true that pizzerias run originally by Italians from Southern Italy and Sicily have always produced incredible pizzas.
It’s absolutely true that New Jersey and Connecticut also have fantastic pizzerias.
It’s also true that some sections of the country can’t make a good pizza to save their lives.
I’m thinking New York has the best pizza and bagels because New York city had the first Italian pizzerias and had a huge jewish population.
NYC pizza was great, but the best bagles were from a shop on Rt 17 in Fairlawn, NJ.
I was always amazed people paid so much for bottled water. Then I saw a bottle of Evian in a mirror and figured it out.
However, there are so many ingredients even in the simplest pizza that saying that NY pizza is the best is just chauvinism.
I've had delicious thin, medium and thick crust pizzas. I've had delicious pizzas with just mozzarella or with a combination of cheeses. I've had delicious pizzas with just a bit of sauce or dripping with sauce. And I've had pizzas with a wide variety of toppings and not just plain slices favored by the Barstool Sports guys.
Obviously they have never visited Chicago. UNO’s, Lou Malnatti’s,Giordano’s,Aurelio’s. Chicago deep dish. New York water can’t make up the difference
Ex Long Islander here. Entenmann’s had produced wonderful baked products from their NY based operations. When they moved it to Florida the quality went down in large part due to the water. Entenmann’s products are now additionally worse since they sold out operations to an inferior company so it’s not just only the water. Sux that most of the time we often here stories of products getting produced worse than their earlier years.
Can something actually be "more minimal?" It's either "more" or it's "minimal," but it can't be "more minimal."
-PJ
I have a friend who has had water shipped to her from NYC just to make bread and pasta with. I can’t say I’ve experienced a difference. The bagels up there are something else indeed.
mark
One key to that is the variety of tomatoes used, as well as the seasonings, including oregano.
You could put the sauce on toasted rolls (they do, with pizza sandwiches) and they taste good.
Granted it’s not New York City (or even the state), but the last time I was in Hoboken I could distinctly smell the odor of filtered sewage in the tap water. Maybe that’s what makes the bagel and pizza dough better.