The Taste Test: The Square Versus L&B Spumoni Gardens

After the mob war over the alleged recipe leak of L&B’s secret sauce came to light, foodie New Yorkers wanted to pit the heavyweight against the contender.

Adam Kuban of Serious Eats visited both pizzerias to get to the bottom of it. Here’s what he said:

The crust at The Square is noticeably sweet, whereas L&B’s is not. The Square is not off-the-charts sweet, but you can pick it out even among the flavors of the sauce and cheese. If you’ve had Portuguese sweet bread or Hawaiian bread, it’s similar to that. The Square’s sauce balances out the sweetness of the crust in a way, though, it is a bit more acidic than L&B’s. L&B’s sauce has a more-pronounced dried-herb flavor.

L&B seems to use more sauce as well. At The Square, there’s a nice balance among crust, sauce, and cheese. Everything is in harmony. But if you like a saucier slice, L&B might do it for you. With a thicker crust, that extra sauce is sometimes a welcome addition.

It’s great that someone was willing to go all the way to Staten Island and gather this useful research. Maybe he had a friend with an EZ Pass.