NYC Pizza. Delicious and Original.

The first pizza parlor in America! The very first! That's on par with America's first baseball stadium, or America's first Apple Pie bakery. It's about as American as you can get.
Lombardi's is on the corner of Spring St and Mott. Right across from Rice to Riches, Pinkberry, Little Italy and Chinatown. As you can see, the trendiest of the trendy flocked to this original NYC hotspot. Not that they use the over-rated, over-hyped marketing slogan of "Famous NYC Pizza", or "Famous Lombardi's Pizza", but if they did, they could be confident that they really were the first of their kind.

We arrived on their doorsteps at 11am sharp, only to be greeted by a dead bolted front door. Panic ensued, as we quickly wondered if the troubled economy had finally dipped too low and taken out America's first pizza parlor. That, my fellow Americans, would have been a tragedy. Thankfully, a quick peek through through a side window revealed busy servers setting lunch tables for an 11:30am showtime. We drooled happily.

This was the prelude to the Rice to Riches story. We decided quickly that a closed pizza shop was a sign from the heavens that rice pudding should be eaten as an appetizer to our upcoming Italian feast. Good thing we're spiritual people, and in tune with this sort of revelation.

Anyways....back to our pizza. I arrived there with Jon, one of our pilots. We were patiently waiting for Paul, our other pilot. Paul was subsequently stuck in a cab with an incompetent cab driver, who was driving Paul everywhere but Lombardi's. Trouble is, Lombardi's doesn't seat incomplete parties. So Jon and I waited at the bar, watching the restaurant become almost completely full within the first 10 minutes of opening. Thankfully, Paul arrived just in time, and we snagged a prime spot towards the front of the restaurant. The host had mercy on our poor hungry souls. The tables are adorned in the traditional pizza parlor red checker tablecloths, and the obligatory Sinatra music fills the rare gaps in the traditional Italian shouting...I mean....conversation.

We decided to share a pizza between the three of us. Thankfully, all 3 of us share the same philosophy when it comes to food. The more the better. We're all normally healthy eaters, but when it's time to splurge, watch out baby. We ordered the large pizza with ricotta cheese, home made Italian meatballs, Italian sausage, mushrooms and sweet basil. HOLY MOTHER OF ITALIANO MOTHERS. I would serve this pizza to Presidents, Dignitaries and World Leaders. It was decadent. And also, so heavy that it was almost impossible to pick up a slice without it breaking in half. I attempted to avoid the topping slip n slide, but it just wasn't happening. Good thing I'm smart and wore a white coat to a pizza parlor... I amaze myself sometimes.
We left feeling fat and happy, and did what any logically thinking fat and happy people do. They go to Pinkberry! Thankfully, it is just across the street. Someone above is looking out for us. Haaaleluliah. My soul was definitely healed that day.