Sal & Carmine’s in the Upper West Side

AJ and I happened to find ourselves in the area for one reason or other, and I turned to my trusty Yelp to point us in the direction of a great slice (or four). With two names that sounded as authentically Italian-American as Sal and Carmine, and a number of rave reviews - particularly one mentioning a “cheese and sauce orgasm” - we were hooked.

There was a nice elderly man working behind the counter, who was having trouble with hearing us as well as moving faster than snail’s pace. But in his defense, business was not booming at that hour (we were the only ones there) so why rush?

We each got two slices: I got one pepperoni and one spinach, AJ got one sausage and one cheese. The crust was perfectly crunchy, and the spinach was surprisingly tasty, despite looking like it had been sitting out for a while. I wouldn’t exactly call it a pizzagasm, but it was clear that I was getting something I couldn’t get in California. Legitimately New York … as far as my inexperienced New York taste buds could discern.