May 8, 2015
The world’s foremost pizza expert offers a tour of New York City’s best pizzerias
by Claire Kelley
Scott Wiener is a pizza lover, pizza expert, and pizza tour leader. He also happens to be the author of a book about pizza box art, which was published by Melville House last year. Viva la Pizza: The Art of the Pizza Box highlights Scott’s favorite pizza boxes from his collection of more than 600 boxes, which earned him a Guinness World Record. I have always wanted to go on one of Scott’s Pizza Tours, which has over 400 excellent reviews on Tripadvisor, and last weekend I got to go with Sal Robinson, former Melville House editor. See photos from our tour below!
Scott does one bus tour a week on Sundays. Here he holds up his book, Viva la Pizza, which was published last year by Melville House.
A crowd gathers to check in with Scott outside Lombardi’s Pizzeria, which is the first stop on the tour.
Each person on the tour receives a pizza journal, which encourages you to measure your crust and identify the CSR (cheese to sauce ratio).
Here Scott explains the history of Lombardi’s. It was founded in 1904, but since they moved locations in the 1970s, the oven on the premises was actually built in 1895.
The second stop was Patsy’s in East Harlem.
Here’s a slice at Zero Otto Nove, a pizza place in the Bronx.
Outside Zero Otto Nove, there was a car show and festival happening on Arthur Ave.
Claire Kelley is the Director of Library and Academic Marketing at Melville House.