"In case you live under a rock (Manhattan) and only know about the East Village location of Joe & Pat’s, here’s a little history lesson. Long before the 1st Avenue Joe & Pat’s came the Staten Island original. The year was 1960, which means they spent over half a century perfecting their thin crust pies in Castleton Corners before hopping across the water. So for a crash course in Staten Island pizza—some of the best in any borough—you should go straight to the source. photo credit: Emily Schindler photo credit: Willa Moore photo credit: Emily Schindler Joe-Pat’s (that’s how they answer the phone) is on a busy avenue, but it’s usually pretty quiet inside. There’s a counter at the entrance where you can grab a slice to go, and two large dining rooms that are perfect for lunch with a few pizza enthusiasts, or a three-year-old’s birthday party. It’s all pretty simple, with some chandeliers and red tablecloths under protective layers of butcher paper, and everything else fades away once the pizza arrives. Every pie here has sauce and cheese that creeps towards the very edges of its cracker-like crust, leaving you with just a centimeter or two to crunch on—like a palate cleanser before your next piece. The slices here are so light that you can easily eat half a pie without noticing. The plain pizza is a fantastic place to start, but the vodka is the one you’ll keep coming back for. And—if you can wrap your head around it—the caesar salad-topped pizza is pretty great too. Food Rundown photo credit: Emily Schindler Plain Pie For an introduction to Staten Island-style pizza, start here. The mozzarella doesn’t cover every square inch, so the exposed red sauce gets sweet and caramelized in the oven, and the globs of cheese grow bubbly and browned. photo credit: Emily Schindler Vodka Pie We love the plain, but when we think about Joe & Pat’s, we think of the vodka pie. The sauce is rich, and thick with some chunky tomato texture, and the mozzarella adds some crucial stretchy bites in between all that velvety orange. photo credit: Emily Schindler Caesar Salad Pie Caesar salad on pizza is a relatively newer phenomenon, but Joe & Pat’s version tastes like a classic. A white pie topped with an inch-thick layer of simple, classic caesar—just romaine, shards of parmesan cheese, and creamy dressing that tastes smooth and even, like it came out of a well-shaken bottle." - Willa Moore
