Monday, March 25, 2024
Sunny. High 52 degrees. Rain expected on Thursday.
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Good Friday is this Friday and Easter is on Sunday.
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Upper West Side News
By Gus Saltonstall
An Upper West Side pizzeria was recently named among the best in New York City. Eater NY, a popular restaurant review and news outlet, published a list of “The Essential Pizzerias of New York City,” which the author classified as a collection of “the best.”
The lone Upper West Side pizzeria to earn a spot on the ranking? Mama’s Too! at 2750 Broadway, near the corner of West 106th Street.
Here’s what the Eater NY editor said about the local spot.
“In an impossibly small space, the luscious square slices are on full display, each of them thicker, greasier, and more lushly topped than the one before,” Eater NY wrote. “The crusts are crunchy, too, and the tomato sauce is slightly sweet.”
Along with the classics, Mama’s Too! offers up a pie called the Angry Nonna that comes with hot soppressata, Calabrian chili oil, and hot honey. There is also the always popular Poached Pear pie that comes with pear, sweet gorgonzola cheese, and hot honey.
You can check out the full menu — HERE.
It has not been all good news for Upper West Side pizzerias this month. Marinara Pizza at 483 Amsterdam Avenue, near West 83rd Street, was shut down last Tuesday by the Health Department for violations that included evidence of mice, foods kept at improper temperatures, and the lack of a bathroom, Patch reported.
The pizzeria, which opened in 2019, was reopened as of Friday and said it had been closed for “maintenance.”
Marinara Pizza also has an Upper West Side location that opened more recently at Broadway and West 97th Street, but not without its own hiccups. As the Rag previously reported, soon after the farther uptown location opened in the summer of 2023, it closed with a sign posted on its storefront saying that the gas had been shut off.
After a years-long process that included a powerful real estate developer pitted against a lone hold-out tenant, the Naftali Group has landed a nearly $130-million construction loan from an Israeli bank for two new buildings across from the AMC Theater at Broadway and West 84th Street, according to The Real Deal.
The main property will be a 45-unit, 18-story building at 215 West 84th Street, along with an additional seven-story building extending eastward along the same block. The larger building will have mandatory affordable housing, with the smaller building having no requirements.
You can learn more about the incoming buildings — HERE.
On Feb. 2, West Side Rag wrote about West Prep Academy’s ongoing battle with the Department of Education to remain in its school building on West 105th Street — which it shares with P.S. 145, The Bloomingdale School.
On March 18, The New York Times also turned its pen to the situation unfolding between the two UWS schools.
“It is a battle that reflects events that have caused two of the biggest demographic shifts in New York City’s recent history: the Covid-19 pandemic and the surge of migrants from the southern border,” Times’ reporter Troy Closson wrote. More than 120 new students have joined P.S. 145 as a result of the influx of migrants.
You can read the full story — HERE.
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“The West 97th Street location has reopened since.” – Is this the case? It was closed as of Friday 3/22. I hope you are right.
If possible would appreciate if WSR would interview Borough President Mark Levine and discuss all the housing lost from units kept vacant, building tear -down for luxury replacement (like this one).
Levine constantly messages about the need for affordable housing (yes) and plans to build – but he is silent on all that is lost….
A relative of mine who lived in a rent-controlled apartment recently died, and I inquired with the owner about taking over the apartment, and there was no response, nor has anyone moved in. It is likely being warehoused until rules change in the owner’s favor. Is there any way to force him to rent it to me?
Legacy requires the continuing tenants to have lived in the apartment for at least two years. My advice for relatives on the Upper West Side is to start getting the utilities of your aging family members put into your name and to move in and get your name on the lease when it’s renewed.
Not unless you lived there with the relative.
Affordable housing is the “fig leaf” used to cover up the City‘s and the state’s incentivizing developers at the cost of neighborhoods and communities. It’s cynical and wrong.
The building on 84th has been under construction for months. They did all the demo, dug out the ground and have already done a lot of building. I feel bad for the residents of the very expensive new senior living building next to it as they start construction before 8 am. The Real Deal is way behind in reporting this, unless they started doing this without full financing in place.
It looks like a new pizza place is replacing the one on the west side of Broadway between 85 and 86. I think the sign said wheat pizza, gluten free. I liked the old place and was sorry to see it go.
Does anyone know what is happening with Village Square Pizza on Broadway in between 92 and 93? It was open for a week or two, and has been closed since for more than a month.
Mama’s Too pizza is good but the people who work there are impolite and often rude . They should shape up.
It’s New York.
Honestly, they’re worse than New York.
As a native New Yorker, I say that is not an excuse.
And they’re rushed. Always!
Have never had a problem with the folks, but I agree the pizza is fantastic.
Any native knows that Sal And Carmines is the UWS pizza mecca. Leave Mamas and Absolute Bagels to the rookies.
Facts
Loved Sal’s when it was on 95th next to the Symphony back in the 60s.
Except that it doesn’t! Sal and Carmine’s is just okay.
The original mamas when it was on Broadway blew Sal and Carmines away. Also after Columbia Bagel on 110th closed, Absolute is still the best bagel around.
Mama’s Too is burnt. I had a slice there before the Times review and the crust was like a hard burnt cracker. You couldn’t even fold the crust, it just kind of broke when you bent it. Never again.
More for the rest of us.
I lived right by there when it opened, and I felt the same! Why was everyone making such a big deal over decent pizza with a crust so burnt it ruined the otherwise great sauce and cheese ratios?
That said, after the original NYT write up, I tried it again. Then and every time since I’ve been blown away. It’s worth giving it another go.
Too salty in my Brooklyn born opinion
Mama Too’s is really good but a slice is 6 bucks!
I’m sorry but Made In NY on Amsterdam b/w 72nd and 73rd has the best pizza.
Bravo to the NYC Health Department Shutting down Marinara Pizza at 483 Amsterdam Avenue, near West 83rd Street. Now they should check out the rest of the restaurant/bar establishments on Amsterdam Avenue, I can name a few…
“shut down last Tuesday by the Health Department for violations that included ….the lack of a bathroom,”
is it mandatory for a NYC establishment to have a bathroom?
“If a food service establishment has 20 or more seats and opened after 1977, it must provide a toilet for its customers. All other food service establishments are exempt from this requirement.
Food establishments are not required to allow public access to their employee toilets. Customers are not permitted to walk through the kitchen or any food storage or preparation area to get to the bathroom.”
This law is often followed to the letter – if there is a little eatery with a few tables and even a couple outside, count the seats or stools: 19 is a common number (= no bathroom required)!
The less than 20 seat rule is why Starbucks on 81 and Broadway reduced its seating post-renovation and closed its bathroom. I have to say, I feel the location seems much cleaner since the removal of the bathroom and has ceased to be an annoying tourist hangout (for the bathroom only). BTW, the best managed and friendliest Starbucks in Manhattan…
Marinara Pizza at 483 Amsterdam Avenue, near West 83rd Street, was shut down last Tuesday by the Health Department for violations that included evidence of mice, foods kept at improper temperatures, and the lack of a bathroom.
NYC can shut down a restaurant immediately for mice, but yet stores that sell weed illegally get to flourish and prosper without a care in the world. Go figure. Forget to feed the meter – get a $65 ticket in minutes. Open a store and sell drugs illegally, no ticket. No repercussions. Double park. Get a $65 ticket in minutes. Everyone complains of ways NYC can raise money ie charge locals for parking stickers. Well a better way would be to seize the illegal stores, product and levy hefty fines. NYC is sitting on a gold mine, but opts to look the other way. Now if only the meter maids would look the other way.
Marijuana should be sold legally in all stores who have a permit to sell, like “beer and wine”…. Who cares, it doesn’t matter anymore, it’s legal in marijuana states and soon it will be legal in all states.
They should’ve never made it illegal in the beginning.
No, they should never have made smoking pot in the vicinity of non-smokers legal. No one should have second-hand drug smoke forced on them. Every place you go now stinks of it. NYC smells like a vinegar-laced cesspool now.
Summer is going to be dreadful.
Edibles? Fine. But no smoke!
It is absurd that buildings with many apartments across Manhattan are being knocked down and replaced by buildings like this with barely any apartments. Our elected officials must stop this.
Especially on the East Side, many blocks with multiple consecutive buildings held vacant for years – then torn down and replaced by luxury buildings.
Bosino’s on W103 and Amsterdam is better…IMHO
I paid for two slices of pizza at Mama Too’s, but when I got home, there was only one slice in the box. They did agree to refund the money, but I had to go out again to get it back. And I agree that the employees there are rude. Regarding the building on west 84th, yes, the demolition has been going on for over a year, but, when one asked in the Assisted Living space, they had no idea what was going into the space next door to them. I hope they have since figured it out.
Pete’s Pizza is the best pizza in the Upper West Side.
Marinara on Amsterdam and 83rd was open when I walked by today. Only time I ever got food poisoning from Pizza was at Marinara.
The saga of that building on 84th street is *obscene* – that was an excellent, contextual building with great retail space in the bottom floor and it’s now going to be a glass and steel monstrosity benefiting foreign investors.
For. Shame.
the best pizza on the Upper West Side IS and has always been
and those in the know know
SAL AND CARMINES
101st and Bway
Seems like you haven’t try Jets Pizza yet.
Wow, Naftale Group dug up a lot of money for those probably very unattractive buildings. Maybe we could appeal to them to provide humanitarian supplies to the Israeli/Palestine region??
V & T Pizza, Amsterdam bet W. 110th and 111th, has been has thickness-inconsistent recently (depends upon who’s cooking and whether or not they’re in a hurry), but usually the crust is breadlike and nicely baked, not burnt nor too oily. It’s been our flavorful favorite for a couple decades.