Aaron Landry

Plain Slice at Ray’s Pizza, originally uploaded by Aaron Landry.

There’s a joke in New York that there’s a Ray’s Pizza every couple blocks. Some are “Ray’s Original” or “Famous Original Ray’s” or “The Famous Ray’s” and almost all of them are unaffiliated with each other. Humorously the actual famous and original Ray’s Pizza doesn’t have “famous” or “original” in the name.

Ray’s Pizza isn’t just a slice shop either: next door but under the same awning is Ray’s Restaurant serving mostly Italian food, but no pizza.

My pal Tony has lived in New York for about four years and claimed he’d never been to Ray’s before so we decided to check it out together. It’s what you’d expect at a typical slice shop: a few places to sit and large pies behind glass. Very casual and napkin dispensers on every table, which were quite handy. Sitting down with our slices the first order of business was taking a couple napkins to soak up the excess grease.

Biting in, I said to myself, “wow, this is really a traditional New York plain slice.” Because it is: the cheese is loaded on pretty thick but it’s flavorful. I barely noticed any sauce but the crust was crispy and chewy. When you hold it with one hand while folding it, a bit of grease drips down on the plate. It overall fits all the positive stereotypes of a slice shop and leaves out the bad ones.

I can’t speak on the other Ray’s around the city, but I’d pass the ones with “famous” and “original” in the name and go to the real famous and original Ray’s Pizza on Prince Street.

Ray’s Pizza
27 Prince St
New York, NY 10012
212-966-1960