Park Slope Pizza Throwdown: Round 1

By Written by Lauren Downing on November 15th, 2010

Their parents entrust me to make sure they don't die 2-3 afternoons per week.

These here are the children I babysit. We laugh, we play and we eat after-school snacks. A. (on the left) and D. (on the right) are native Brooklynites, born and raised, and have spent the entirety of their brief lives here in my humble borough. As such, they’ve procured quite the discerning palate when it comes to all things carb-y, gooey and cheesy.

Typically, we make the short trek across the street, ushered by the school crossing guard, to Pino’s La Forchetta Pizzeria at least once a week when A. has karate and is in need of some ninja fuel. They like it well enough and I appreciate it because it means I don’t have to drag an easily-distracted 5-year-old several blocks to the next-nearest pizza joint.

However, after several visits, I couldn’t help but notice that this place was always packed–and not just in the after school hours when scary groups of teenagers congregate near the front of the shop. Although I’ve had a few slices myself during the late night, post-bar hours, I thought I’d let the kids take the reigns on this one and tell me, as bona-fide pizza experts, why Pino’s is just so popular here in the Slope.

D., as the budding novelist-actress-teacher that she is, had some eloquent words for me. With her hand gesturing as if to grasp at the indescribable aura of the pizza from thin air, she thoughtfully remarked that Pino’s plain slice has got a “nice crispy crust and thick cheese.” She also appreciates the fact that it’s “convenient to school” and that “they have tons of choices if you aren’t in the mood for pizza.”

With a long string of semi-liquid cheese hanging out of the corner of his sauce-stained mouth, A. commented, “It’s yummy and they have a lot of decorations on it.”

I believe the decorations he was referring to hang on the walls…not on the pizza.

While A. gave Pino’s a rave 10 star rating, D. (like any good Russian judge) knocked them down a few notches with a respectable 7.5.

In my own experience, Pino’s is simply exactly what a slice of pizza should be. Without too many bells and whistles, this famous shop delivers a solid New York slice every time: it’s always hot, the cheese-to-sauce ratio is on-point and the crust–like a good bagel–is crunchy on the outside and perfectly chewy on the inside. And perhaps most importantly, it’s one of the few places open past the vital 11pm mark in this wholesome ‘hood.