By Scott Belding

Scott loves pizza, and he lives in New York. There is no better excuse to explore all of the pizza haunts this great city has to offer. If you didn’t see his piece last week, you can find that here. Buon appetito!

Champion 5th Ave Union Square

>$2 slices, 2AM

Purveyors of both square Sicilian and traditional circular pies. The bottom of the crust is nice and crispy, but then you notice that every bit of the crust texture is great – a wonderful dynamism between crispy and soft. The cheese is delicious, but the tomato in the sauce is a little overly sweet.

8

Koronet Morningside Heights

>$3 slices, 4AM

Famously enormous slices for 5 to 8(!) dollars. Bigger in this case means neither better nor worse quality, but everything about these cheese boats is designed to trigger your memory at those witching hours when pizza weighs on one’s mind most heavily. Satisfying enough, but being at least two beers deep is recommended.

5.5

Sottocasa Harlem

whole pizzas, table service only

Comfortable brick-lined “underhouse” space with substantive drink and dessert menus as well. The crust is an all-star here, warm and thin and chewy. The cheese is everything you want it to be, and the tomato flavor, bright and fresh and complementary, answers the question of what Champion’s was lacking.

9.5