Overall Ranking 4) Totally optional
What is The Book About?
New York City is a relentless, greasy blur of pizza. It’s everywhere. A neon hum on every corner, the city’s visual white noise screaming for your attention while you’re just trying to survive the sidewalk. It is the ultimate fuel: cheap, portable, and the only thing standing between you and a 2:00 AM collapse when you’ve got zero time to slow down and even less money to spend.
Any local with a pulse will tell you that "famous" pizza doesn't mean "good" pizza. Finding the truly memorable stuff usually takes a lifetime of trial, error, and indigestion in your own backyard. But who is masochistic enough to map out the entire city? Who would actually try to review every single slice in the pizza capital of the world? You’d have to be a total headcase or just plain obsessed.
Enter Cookie Hagendorf. While the book was published under her previous name (Colin), the voice inside is pure Cookie: raw, hilarious, and unapologetically honest. She set out on a mission that would break a lesser person’s spirit (and stomach), documenting a journey that is as much about finding a decent plain slice as it is about finding herself.
It all begins with the creation of the Slice Harvester Blog (which is still up, though dated). A digital zine if you may. A grimy, public ledger of a years-long obsession where she shouted her unfiltered, grease-stained takes into the internet void one slice at a time. This book is the story of her two year-long pizza march down Manhattan.
Would I Recommend Reading It?
Reading Slice Harvester feels like showing up to a house party two hours late. You’re worried the keg is kicked and the energy has fizzled out into a few stragglers nodding off on the couch, but then you swing the door open. The music is still blasting bangers, the air is thick with electricity, and the vibe is peaking.
Even though this pizza crusade went down over a decade ago, it doesn't feel like a dusty time capsule. Hagendorf’s writing has this frantic, immediate pulse that makes it feel like she’s chowing down on a folded plain slice right now, staring you in the eye while grease drips onto the sidewalk.
I do want something to be absolutely crystal clear. Yes, this is about reviewing pizzas, but it this isn't a sterile collection of Yelp-style reviews, nor is it just a "look at me" punk-rock memoir. It’s a beautifully tangled web of both. Cookie weaves the search for the "perfect slice" into the search for herself, and the result is a journey that’s as much about sobriety and survival as it is about tomato sauce and crust-to-cheese ratios.
She balances the two with the grace of a stage diver who somehow never hits the floor. It’s entertaining as hell, informative in that "I’m letting you in on a secret" kind of way, and deeply human. And don't let the age of the book scare you off either. Think of it as you’re reading about the ghosts of a city that's constantly being paved over by gentrification, told by someone who refused to look away (little high five to myself as this may be the best sentence I've ever written).
In the spirit of the book’s own quest, I’m giving Slice Harvester a ranking of Totally Optional. When I finish a book, I always ask: How far out of my way am I willing to go to read this? This book is like that legendary hole-in-the-wall pizza joint three neighborhoods over. You don't have to go there to survive, but if you’re the kind of person who appreciates grit, honesty, and heart, you’ll find yourself making the trip anyway.
It’s populated with memorable, sharp-edged personalities that will make you wonder if you’re actually punk-rock enough to hang in their circle. By the final page, you’ll be left with two things: a profound respect for Cookie’s journey and an inescapable, gnawing craving for a perfect slice of NYC gold.
The Pizza Shops and Where to Find Them
Now listen. This book is a decade old at this point and some of the reviews are almost old enough to drive a car. In New York years it may as well be 100. Restaurant owners pass away, move out, sell the business to someone new who compromises on quality for a quick buck, landlords squeeze their tenants till they have no chose but to close or find a new location. Stuff just happens.
So sadly, many of the pizzerias and shops that were reviewed are gone. But sometimes, despite all the odds, the greats hold on. Here are some of the restaurants that Hagendorf declared had "The Best Slices" that are still open and serving their customers pizza in the same locations as they were 15 years ago. This is not a complete list, but hopefully it gives you a general idea where to find a slice good enough to withstand the tests of time.
NY Pizza Suprema
413 8th Ave
New York, NY 10001
Iggy's
173 1st Ave (12th & 13th)
New York, NY 10003
Gino's Pizza
345 East 83rd Street
New York, NY 10028
Sal and Carmine's
2671 Broadway
New York NY 10025
S & D Giovannis
1011 Columbus Ave
New York, NY 10025
Closed But Not Forgotten
Now if you've ever been on a roller coaster, you know that its only fun because with those high highs comes the drops. To truly appreciate an immaculate slice, you have to have an understanding that there are bites more akin to chalk than its succulent counterpart. So, I scoured the slice harvesters blog for restaurants that had received 2/8 slices or less in order for you to see how far a pizzeria can fall to where the food actually makes your stomach drop with no extra g-force required.
Unfortunately, but not unsurprisingly and maybe not unfortunately, none of the establishments that got the lowest reviews from the Pizza Harvester still exist. So, you will have to get your bad pizza kick vicariously through the blog. But, if you ever need to reset your pizza baseline just go to a touristy area and find the nearest $1 slice. Chances are it'll be fine, but you may get lucky and discover a personalized portal to pizza hell.
Hell's Kitchen Pizza
691 10th Avenue (47th & 48th)
New York, NY 10036
Georgio's Pizzeria - $2.50
20 Beaver St (Broadway and Something Else)
New York, NY 10004
Slice, the perfect food
535 Hudson St (Perry & Charles)
New York, NY 10014
The Pizza Slices Books to Bowls Will Vouch For
I make regular visits to NYC, so while I am far from a local, I have a couple pizza places that I will recommend to friends and family who visit the city. One to grab on the go. One to sit down and eat.
2 Bros Pizza
32 St Marks Pl
New York, NY 10003
My favorite shop for a slice of dollar pizza is 2 Bros Pizza. They have six locations across the city that you'll most likely bump into if you're near the Port Authority or Flat Iron building, but the St Marks location is special. I can't quite put my finger on what makes it different, but I like to think they add a touch more sauce here and as a sauce fiend I am very into it. Don't go into this thinking it is the best slice of pizza you will ever have. But I think it is the best you can get for $1. I will admit I was extremely giddy to see that
Hagendorf enjoyed this particular location's slice as well. I will update this once I have gone out and tried a slice at NY Pizza Suprema, Hagendorf's favorite slice.
Another non-pizza related reason for loving this particular location on St Marks is that if you want it to be a full quasi-Italian meal you can walk around the corner to
Gnocchi on 9th for a bowl of, you guessed it, gnocchi for just $10. Its honestly just a great area to get food in general. There is a Ukrainian restaurant called Veselka right next door but I'm always too full from my gnocchi splurge to justify going in. Pray for me that I might have the strength to avoid those perfect nubs of potato one day.
Juliana’s
19 Old Fulton St
Brooklyn, NY 11201
There is something special about pizza that's been cooked in a coal-fired oven. Its crispier, perfectly chewy, and the meat tastes like it's been sweating caramel. Now pair that special oven's abilities with Patsy Grimaldi (rest in peace), NYC’s most celebrated pizza proprietor, and you get pizza that is so good Frank Sinatra proclaimed it as "the greatest pizza in the world" in 1976. It is devilishly good, and they take great pride in it. They are so serious about pizza that they will not send it home with you in a box. They believe that the box could potentially contaminate their perfect pizza with its cardboard flavors. Instead, each slice that doesn't make it into your tummy is sent home delicately wrapped in foil and stacked in a bag. Pair any pizza with a chocolate egg cream. Definitely worth the trip over to DUMBO.
Additional Information on the Author
If you thought that Cookie was a one-trick-pony you would be wrong. Since completing her pizza quest Hagendorf has completed several other projects including publishing a newsletter and hosting a podcast called "Life Harvester Radio". Currently Cookie owns two restaurants in Brooklyn with her best friend Sal—an Italian place called Macosa Trattoria and a diner called Sal & Cookie’s Ultra Fine Diner.
Macosa Trattoria
310 Tompkins Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11216
Sal & Cookie’s Ultra Fine Diner
198 Lewis Ave,
Brooklyn, NY 11221
If you can't make the trip out to Cookie's restaurants you can always drop by digitally by checking out her website at
https://cookiehagendorf.com/Books to Bowls OUT!
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