Scarr’s Does Pizza Their Way – And It’s Incredible!

Scarr’s Pizza in Chinatown makes fantastic pizza. I tried the NY slice and the Sicilian.

Reviewing Scarr’s New York Slice and Sicilian Pizza

Taking a trip to New York City to try some of the legendary pizza spots is a daunting task with so many incredible spots to pick from.  I have a huge list and even a google map of all the pizzerias in the city that I’d like to try, but Scarr’s was one that really caught my attention.  Some trusted pizza snobs and readers continually recommended the place and photos of their pizza on social media really just spoke to me.  So on this trip to the city, I made sure to make my way to Chinatown to try Scarr’s NY and Sicilian slices.

The restaurant is pretty small and unassuming from the street.  If you were just an average tourist and not a pizza enthusiast, you could walk right by it and assume it’s just another one of hundreds of other basic pizza shops.  We got there a little bit before the place opened for lunch and were first in line for slices, so I was excited to get the freshest pies of the day!

Scarr’s basically offers 3 types of pizza: New York, Sicilian, and Grandma with a number of specialty pizzas on the menu including vegan options.  They also have a food menu including appetizers, heroes, and salad.  I was interested in pizza only, and specifically a NY Slice and a Sicilian slice with pepperoni like I had seen on social media so many times.

This photo just doesn’t do Scarr’s Sicilian Pizza justice. The green roof on the outdoor dining hut cast a green hue on the pizza and plate!

One cool thing about Scarr’s setup is that the pizza counter is facing the sidewalk so I got to watch the pizza guy expertly do his thing while he crafted our pizzas (see youtube video above).  When they officially opened for the day, we asked what individual slices were available (they keep an inventory), and lucky enough the two pizza slices I was looking for were ready, fresh and available.  They reheated them and were ready in no time. 

Beautiful NY cheese slice from Scarr’s Pizza in Chinatown.

I knew immediately that these slices were exactly what I was looking for.  The New York slice was huge, razor thin, and cooked and prepared absolutely perfectly.  The crust was light, crisp, beautifully browned, tender, and quite flavorful.  The sauce was vibrant, fresh, lightly seasoned, and provided a lovely contrast to the slightly salty, wonderfully stringy, and high quality cheese.  I did see that they add some parmesan-(type) cheese underneath the mozzarella for some added richness and depth of flavor which really paid dividends.  For me, this is EXACTLY everything a New York Style Pizza should be.  I wouldn’t change a thing about Scarr’s NY slice, it was perfect and I enjoyed each bite more than the last.

The Sicilian slice was adorned with a blend of mozzarella and fresh mozzarella cheeses which made it a gooey and supremely delicious medley of flavors and textures.  The pepperoni had incredible flavor, with a hint of heat, a kiss of char, and just enough oil cooking out of the meat to let that tastiness run all over the surface of the pizza.  The crust was thick, pillowy, and tender.  It was light to eat and just as absolute masterpiece.

Crumb shot of the incredible NY style pizza from Scarr’s Pizza in NYC.

Overall, I would have to say both the NY Slice and the Sicilian Slice were among the best I’ve ever had in each style of pizza.  As you can see below, they both rated very high on my scoring system, but the euphoria the NY slice created for me made that my clear favorite.  This is a world class pizza from an amazing pizzeria.  If you’re traveling in NYC, add this to your list of MUST TRY PIZZAS!

NOTE: After eating the pizza and posting photos on social media, I quickly learned from my readers that Scarr’s incredibly mills their own flour on-site.  For more on that, see this really interesting and well written article.  I hope to visit again and perhaps get a look at this flour milling operation!