Large Selection and a Typical NYC Slice
La Vera Pizzeria is everything you want in a neighborhood slice joint
Welcome to Pizza Tasting Chronicles, my take on the pizza review. I eat a lot of pizza. I have a lot of opinions about pizza. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
The Upper West Side is a minefield of very mid pizzerias, but sometimes your 4-year-old is hangry whining and the only way to solve that problem is a slice. I was pleasantly surprised that the literal nearest pizzeria to the main exit at 96th Street on the 1/2/3 turned out to be a solid slice.
The modern pizzeria — its clean, new, and still shiny — opened in 2019. This isn’t some heritage slice joint handed down from generation to generation, and in this case that’s a good thing.
There was a wide selected of flavors represented in the prepared pies including Hawaiian, ziti, eggplant, Buffalo, bbq chicken and vegetable combinations. But notably the was traditional NYC style Sicilian, the big puffy crust topped with sauce and cheese, but also grandma style. Most the pizza combinations were traditional 18 inch pies. The menu includes the typical calzones and hero sandwiches, too.
The regular slice was straight forward with a crispy crust, melted cheese and a acidic sauce. The cheese coverage overall was a bit thin, noticeably uneven but not unpleasant.
The dough had decent structure. It didn’t over puff, and it mostly held up to the fold. My white slice proved too heavy though and snapped off at the midway point. That’s forgivable though because of the formidable quantity of ricotta.
Overall, I’d be really happy if La Vera was my neighborhood pizzeria. The pizza was good enough to come back for more, and the wide selection of toppings would keep things interesting.
La Vera Pizzeria and Resetaurant
2547 Broadway
Manhattan, NY