There goes Tokyo...

F irst some clown brings a hatchet to New Orleans -- not to chop his way out of the attic of his flooded house, but to write a piece for Esquire to the effect that dining there was vastly overrated. And now the Hungry Cabbie is lamenting the state of New York pizza. THC writes a much smarter rebuke than the guy from Esquire, who takes a dimwitted contrarian posture -- think Joe Queenan with a lobotomy.  Instead,  in the span of a few paragraphs,  THC writes the first food blog post I can recall that takes the form of a jeremiad -- we have a covenant, we have not kept up our end, we need to get our act together, or we will be visited by a terrible wrath. Two pieces does not make a trend, but the Godzilla approach is obviously tempting:  stomp on a city's cherished institutions, sit back and watch the buzz grow.

Comments

[Rose's Lime]

"John’s of Bleeker Street seems to have stopped trying. Joe’s of Carmine Street is mediocre at best now."

How old is this Cabbie supposed to be and how often does he go out to eat? John's was a tourist trap in 1991. Everybody knows If you want a great slice, you gotta go to Brooklyn... oh... wait... Cabbie won't take you to Brooklyn.

Meanwhile... look for my piece on the sorry state of chowder in Boston, and who took the Humos, Avacado, Sprout wrap out of Cambridge.

[dubarry]

this precipitous decline in pizza quality means the goals of the many mezzogiorno emigres of the early part of this century have been met -- their grandchildren and great-grandchildren have a better life. i bet if anyone cares to do a study, there has been a decline in other italian-american small businesses -- shoe repair comes to mind.

another immigrant community may step into the breach -- korean fruit stands and mexican bricklayers eg -- however, the production of good pizza, i suspect, requires specific historical cultural/social knowledge. plus, there are retarded idiots who are willing to spend 20 bucks for . . . o you know, una pizza napolitana comes to mind.

another reason for the decline of ubiquitous decent slice is people like adam kuban who sort of deify the piazzaolo-superstars and the product itself. also, i would disagree that there is a pizza covenant. italian-americans are no more responsible for producing a product for non-ethnic americans,* than jews are for failing to continue to provide adequate kishka for the populace.

my recommendation is instead of sending 18 year olds to iraq, send to naples and enforce a2 year margherita service (or maybe job corps).

[punisher]

Dubarry makes a good point, though it is poorly illustrated by the less then apt Italian/pizza-Jewish/kishka comparison.

The very best kishka ever made is still beef intestine stuffed with schmaltz and matzo meal. That is, it's crap.

[max]

You mean Joe Queenan doesn't have a lobotomy?

[dubarry]

chacun a son kishka.

[punisher]

"chacun a son kishka."

True, anyway, I was just being cheeky... mostly.

(I had to google "chacun a son," to understand. Thanks for teaching me a useful phrase!)