I have long threatened -- practically since the inception of this blog in 2005 -- to write up an authoritative list of the best pizza parlors for individual slices around Manhattan. I never got around to doing it, however, because (a) there never seemed to be enough hours in the day and (b) before I knew it, yet another storied pizza place would close. This week marks the departure of one such establishment. As widely reported yesterday, the Ray's on 6th Avenue and 11th street (just across from P.S.41) has closed up shop, and I am crestfallen (or should that be crustfallen?) I'm not interested in getting into a debate about whether this one was the original "Original Ray's" (I once believed it was -- as I wrote back here --- but I've long since stopped caring). This Ray's has long sold wonderfully gooey slices of over-cheesed pizza in a nice, bright, airy venue ripe for people-watching. Well before I moved into the neighborhood in 1996, I was an avid fan of this Ray's. It was everything a proper NYC pizzeria was supposed to be -- nothing fancy, but it always hit the spot. It should also be remembered that the exterior facades of Ray's also acted as a makeshift shrine to the fallen in the days immediately following September 11th, 2001.
Click here for Jeremiah Moss' investigative take on it. Regardless, I'm bummed to see it go.
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