*The views expressed in Foodie Friday are those of the author and do not represent Austinist (and quite often our readership) as a whole. Ahh, the subjective nature of tastebuds.* -The Editors

(Playing the part of Foodie Column-IST this week is one of our newest food writers, Veronica Meewes, freshly returned from the greater Tri-state Metropolitan whatsit.)

When I return to the Tri-state Area I called home for so many years, there are several things I make a point of doing: pillaging hip hop from all my friends, immersing myself with whatever the NY art world has to offer, checking out which fresh kicks all the cool kids are wearing downtown, and—most importantly—eating as many bagels and as much pizza as the human body can survive.

Ahhh the mere smell of pizza -- real pizza, none of this Mr. Gatti’s or Papa John’s biznass-- brings me back to my childhood, when on any given lazy night, I would accompany my parents down to our favorite local pizza joint in Jersey and watch in awe as slick-haired dough artists would bustle around behind the counter in flour-dusted T-shirts, calling out to each other in some sort of secret pizza code. They’d sling pies left and right, slop sauce in a near-perfect circle, fling toppings on just as fast, and slide the masterpiece in the oven (for what seemed like ages) while the place filled up with other eager pizza connoisseurs who opted for a show and a bit of a wait rather than delivery. Then I would balance the steaming box on my knees for the car ride home, salivating at the thought of biting into a slice of mushroom, even if it meant burning the top of my mouth a little.

Call it comfort food or call it homesickness, but that’s what pizza does for me. And I just hadn’t been able to experience it like that anywhere else. In my mind, pizza- for whatever reason- was a New York thing, an enigma not meant to be replicated anywhere else (especially not in Put-in-Bay, Ohio, where exists probably the worst pizza known to man at a miserable place called Frosty’s). But when I moved to Austin and settled in Clarksville, I found myself driving down West 6th every day and passing a place called Rounders. New York-style pizza in Texas? I scoffed at the thought and couldn’t wait to try it. And, to my amazement, it was the best I’d had anywhere but the Big Apple itself. So wait, pizza is possible outside of New York? During a recent return home, I decided to do some detective work and see if I could get to the bottom of this. My quest was somewhat unsuccessful, as I was met with a lot of apathy (“I don’t know…it’s just delicious?” said a manager at Abitino’s Pizzeria on Bleecker, whose awning claimed it to be “the only pizza worth eating!”), vague NY pride (“because New York is the best!” said a pizzacrafter at Pizza Booth in the West Village), or busy indifference (after looking for parking for an hour, getting stuck between two tour buses and a class trip, and waiting on the roped-off line outside, I was unable to speak to a single soul at the world-famous Grimaldi’s and left with a whole fragrant pie to myself). The closest I got to an answer was during a latenight pizza run to one of the numerous Ray’s in town—this one on East Houston. It took some prodding before Sal let me know, “It’s the water—the water is special.” Like a good gumshoe, I decided to take this knowledge back with me to Austin and see what our best local pizzamakers had to say about it…

Pie: Eastside Pies
Address: 1401 B Rosewood Ave.
Phone Number: 524-093
Delivery? during all hours- north of the river, south of Airport, west of 183, east of 35, and downtown.
Specials? “Our pizza is special enough.”
Slices? during all hours
Recommended: the best-sellers are the Smors and the Guiche…also, try one of the specialty sauces (pesto, curry, or hummus) in favor of ho-hum marinara.

The secret behind Michael Freid and Noah Polk’s cracker-thin crust is a sourdough starter which began from grapes 15 years ago. It is this yeast-free concoction, fed a bit of flour and water each day, that makes for the delightfully rustic, wafer-like base of their eastside pies. Having hailed from Chicago, the land of deep dish pizza, Michael can’t say his creation is a product of his upbringing. “Austin pizza” is all he can call it. “Having a culinary [CIA] background, Michael makes sure he gets the best products. He spends a little extra money to make it taste right. If he had his own way, we’d have more room and our own bakery,” says Troy Nelson, pizzamaker extraordinaire. They also buy as much locally as possible, such as Longhorn Meats sausage which they specially season and scatter on their pies, like the bestselling Smors (sausage, mushroom, roasted onions, red pepper, and spinach). Eastside Pies boasts what must be one of the must extensive specialty pie menus in town, with tons of veggie options and Austintatious names like Moon Tower, Mundi, and Epoch. How does it all fit onto such a paper-thin crust? Don’t ask, just eat!

Pie: Home Slice
Address: 444-PIES
Phone Number: 1415 South Congress Avenue
Delivery? no
Specials? Homey Hour just started this week: from 3-6pm, pair a slice with your choice of a glass of wine or tallboys in bags for $5 and up…”beats watchin’ Opera.”
Slices? served daily until 6:30pm and from 9:30pm till close (10pm Sunday, 11pm Mon, Wed, & Thurs, 3am Fri & Sat)
Recommended: eggplant pie

Jen and Joseph Strickland and Terri Hammifin have definitely done their pizza homework. Jen and Terri had four years to study in their time at NYU, eating their way through school at favorites like Rosario’s on the Lower East Side, Ben’s in Soho, and Ray’s on 6th and 11th. Terri confirms that the glorified NY water “is a myth…it’s just like when I went up to NY for college, I was shocked to see the salsa in restaurants was like marinara sauce. When you come to Texas, people just don’t understand Italian.” Jen adds, “Before five years ago, it was a bastardization so far removed from the real thing pizza is…Italians came to the port of New York and worked on the railroad up north and down in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and Delaware but there are no Italian immigrants in Texas…in order for there to be good NY pizza, there need to be Italian immigrants. They did it because they had to. They brought something with them that was shaped in that city “ In order to replicate the authentic pizza found in NY for so many years, the trio puts an emphasis on the importance of hand-tossed dough and gas-fired stoves. “There’s an art to the dough—you have to pay attention to the humidity and all the subtle details,” explains Jen, who doesn’t call herself the queen of pies for nothin’. Home Slice also gives street cred to the significance of the very basic ingredients: quality cheese, fresh tomatoes, basil, and spinach, and real Italian sausage. “The simpler the better!” says Terri. “There’s nothing convoluted about it.” In September, they’ll be taking their staff of over 60 to New York for four days. “We want [them] to see what an essential role the corner pizzeria plays in NY,” explains Terri. “I think they’ll have a bigger appreciation for it.” Jen adds, “It’s just a different culture. Once you’re a pizza guy, you’re a pizza guy for life. Up there, people are pizzamakers as a career and we really want to inspire pride in that career.”

Pie: Rounders
Address: 1203 West 6th Street
Phone Number: 477-0404
Delivery? yes, till 10pm on weekdays and 11pm on weekends
Specials? movies Monday through Thursday at 8pm! Check the website for schedule: www.rounderspizzeria.com
Slices? no
Recommended: try adding homemade meatballs, fresh basil, and ricotta to your pie!

“Making good pizza takes putting a lot of time, care, and heart into it,” says owner Adam Garber. “Anyone can do it, but it’s hard work. I know it sounds corny, but that’s what it takes-- to get the right chew, the right crispiness.” There’s no reason to doubt him, since I’ve never had an imperfect piece of pizza at this self-proclaimed West Austin “hidden gem”: “I think we’re one of the only pizza places in town that’s always consistent,” says Adam, “but other, newer places have been getting most of the press because of their location. It’s also been a battle of giving the people good pizza and giving them what they want…it’s a compromise, but I sleep well every night because I know I’m putting out a quality product.” Perhaps the only thing that makes Rounders less “New York-authentic” is their lack of slices. To that, Adam responds, “I don’t think I can produce as high quality pizza with slices, due to our lack of foot traffic.” He originally moved to Austin to work on films but soon went down a different path, opening Rounders four solid years ago after taking notes from his cousin Neal who owns a pizzeria on Fire Island (in New York). “I’m the guy who brought pies to Austin,” Adam assures us. “I’d like to challenge Home Slice to a pizza throwdown. Cheese to cheese, pepperoni to pepperoni.” Kinda brings a new meaning to the phrase “you got served”…

Pie: Salvation Pizza
Address: 624 West 34th Street
Phone Number: 535-0076
Delivery? no
Specials? half-price Live Oak on tap from 4-6pm Tuesday through Saturday
Slices? during lunch: Tue-Sat 11:30-2
Recommended: try the #5 (white pie with chicken, fresh garlic, proscuitto, and dried sage) or #7 (fresh basil, feta, artichoke hearts, black olives, and red onions)…also, the #9, a clam pie which is a New Haven specialty.

“I’ve tried really hard not to [open a pizzeria],” Liz Mahoney promises. “It was inescapable, really.” She finally threw in the towel last August and opened Salvation Pizza with her husband Michael Dinsmore. “I’ve grown up doing this,” she explains. “My parents own a place outside of Hartford…I’ve gone through periods of time where I didn’t eat pizza because I was so tired of it. I literally grew up eating pizza!” While Home Slice prides themselves in the foldable slice, Salvation’s is a crispier slice, sturdy enough to hold an array of gourmet toppings- New Haven, CT style! “If you can fold it, you didn’t make it right,” says Liz. As for the secret behind northeastern pizza, she seems to stand behind the water theory: “Some people have said the pollutants are different down here, so we import our yeast from New Haven and use a reverse osmosis process to filter our dough water.” Even the interior of Salvation seems true to her Connecticut roots—airy, rustic, and sunlit. The wood floors and staircase of the old Starlite house compliment the minimal black, red, & grey stencilwork in the dining room while doo-wop wafts out the front door with the wind. Fresh and simple, just like the pizza, with it’s just-enough crust and garden-ripe tomato sauce.

Pie: Southside Flying Pizza
Address: 2206 Congress Avenue
Phone Number: 442-4246
Delivery? yes- call for new extended delivery area
Specials? On Monday, buy one large 2-topping pizza and get one free!
Slices? no
Recommended: Try their made-from-scratch sausage on your pie and don’t forget to try their hoagies and meatball subs!

“I really wanted to create a neighborhood pizzeria in Austin,,, and I guess I wasn’t the only guy thinking of it!” says Bill Graham, co-owner of Southside Flying Pizza. Bill and partner Brad Yerkes are purveyors of the Pittsburgh-style pie, a slightly thicker version than NY-style pizza and offered in small, medium, and large pie sizes rather than slices. “Before we opened the restaurant, Brad and I drove all over eating pizza but we always stayed right on course with what we had intended to make. The better ones were in New York and New Jersey but we didn’t want to do it exactly like that.” The brick counter, checkered floor and tables offering essential silver-topped cheese and pepper shakers are also pure Pittsburgh, a city with “almost no chains but thousands of mom and pop joints even smaller than this,” says Bill. “We really wanted to create a fun, casual atmosphere while maintaining the authenticity of a neighborhood pizzeria.” As for the greater metropolitan water myth, Bill recalls a guy from Naples who he worked with on 6th Street. “He used to laugh when he heard things like that. If the water was really that different, you’d figure it out real fast and make adjustments, just like anything else.” Instead, Southside’s melt-in-your-mouth pies owe their perfection to a heat-radiating ceramic oven, high-quality imported cheeses, and handmade food from the heart. “Anything that can be made, we do,” says Bill. And that includes all the salad dressings and sauces, as well as popular daily soups and sausage from scratch. Their menu also offers traditional hoagies and meatball subs, which really make Southside more of a traditional pizza joint than a trendy hangout or novelty Italian restaurant. As for the competition, he sums it up, “They have their ways and we have ours and that’s the way it should be! If anyone should get served, it should be the chains! I hate to be that way, but it’s true: people need to eat better pizza!” These pizza peacemakers are getting ready to open a second location—watch out for Lakeside Flying Pizza in the near future!