I went on my first Pizza Crawl on Tuesday night.   To be honest, it was my first “crawl” since infancy.  I’d never even done a Pub Crawl.   

Reputably, Manhattan has the best pizza in the world and on Tuesday I sampled the best of the best under the guidance of my new friend Insurance Doctor Robert Intelisano, renowned Pizza Aficionado (he even writes a newspaper Pizza Column)!

Robert was very well prepared, ie, he mapped out a tasty and informative Little Italy pizza crawl itinerary while steeping us in pizza history.  For example, see the Pizza Family Tree pictured. 

Pizza as we know it originated in Italy and The Pizza Hall of Fame recognizes Lombardi’s as the first American pizzeria which opened in Little Italy in downtown New York in 1905.  

I took my old/“new friend” Paul Napolitano as my guest and boy does Paul love his pizza!

Robert’s tour/pizza crawl started at 5:30 on a beautiful, balmy Summer evening at Famous Ben’s Pizza, located at 177 Spring Street, where we were joined by fellow Gothamites Mike Wiebe, Ben Palancia, Al Fecci, Brett Deutsch and Raj Goel.  As an aside, through the experience we, dubbed the Elite 8 by Robert, got to know each other better, made a few connections and thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company.  Quite a harmonious crawl crew!

Maybe because it was first and I was hungry, but Ben’s provided the best pizza of the crawl in my opinion.  Especially the unique and tasty cheeseless Sfincione which features bread crumbs in place of cheese.  Why?  Ask Robert :)

Next was Prince Street Pizza, located at 27 Prince Street, where we ate standing up and I sampled my second favorite, a delicious slice of spicy Sicilian Pepperoni!

An unexpected highlight of this fulfilling evening was the pleasure of experiencing the vibrant New York City, SoHo, street scene and graffiti as we strolled from place to place. Incomparable!

Next was the above mentioned Lombardi’s at 32 Spring Street where we enjoyed a sit down pizza dinner at the best corner table with adult libations.  Note to readers, bring cash, as like Rao’s they don’t accept credit cards.  

We capped off our night of indulgence, after another eye popping stroll to 195 Grand Street, at world famous Ferrara’s Bakery for cannolis, espresso and Limoncello. 

I got home at 10:00 with a satisfied appetite and my mind racing as to Robert’s next Pizza Crawl experience in Queens. 

Bravo Robert!