Clinton Hill’s Luigi Pizzeria Is Among Makers Featured In NY Pizza Project

After five years in the metaphorical oven, The New York Pizza Project was taken out and served to the world two months ago, bringing its glossy photos and interviews with the proprietors and makers at New York City’s “last authentic pizzerias” to the masses.

Concocted by five 30-year-old New York natives and funded with over $25,000 from 334 friends and strangers through Kickstarter, the coffee table book chronicles not the pizza, but “the people who make the slices, the people who eat the slices, the shops, and the blocks that they rest on.”

“We grew up in a New York City that was always moving, always changing,” said authors/tasters Gabe Zimmer, Nick Johnson, Ian Manheimer, Corey Mintz, and Tim Reitzes. “Yet today, the change feels different. As the rise of chain stores, condos, and banks threaten to dominate the urban landscape of New York City, pizza shops serve as guardians of authenticity in the face of homogenization. This project is an homage to them and to the other small businesses that keep New York real.”

Brooklyn is well-represented in the book, with Di Fara (Midwood), Antony’s and Rocco’s (Brighton Beach), and Artichoke Basile (Park Slope) among those included. Also present is Clinton Hill’s own Luigi Pizzeria, located at 326 DeKalb Avenue, and one of their fans, Doris.

Also included is Not Ray’s Pizza at 694 Fulton Street, although through one of their customers, Marsha.

Asked what it is she enjoys about their pizza, Marsha answered that “To me, pizza is filling. I’d rather have a slice than Chinese food because Chinese food is not filling—to me, it ain’t. If you get a slice, you can get full off that one slice. With Chinese food, you’ve got to practically eat that whole order before you gonna feel that, and then once you walk home, you want more.”

Where is your favorite pizza in Fort Greene-Clinton Hill? Comment below and we’ll compile the results!