A couple years ago my wife and I honeymooned in Italy and went on a massive pizza binge. We ate dozens of pies from all over the country, some from famous joints and award winners, and some from train stations and corner stores, but all of them superb. For me the pizza to beat was from a random street vendor on a Sicilian mountaintop, and frankly formed one of the happiest moments of my life (my beautiful bride at my side and an Aperol spritz in hand). I took a lot of lessons on pizza from that trip and it’s helped me form a pretty decent Margherita/Napoli style recipe I can make pretty consistently in my pizza oven that I’m still constantly evolving and try to make once or twice a month.

So when we went to New York this past weekend, we made sure to try and cram in as many slices as we could. We hit some heavy hitters like Joe’s and Nona’s, and similarly some hole in the wall joints, but the best pizza BY FAR was this unconventional Margherita slice we got from Ben’s in Greenwich village while waiting for a show at the Comedy Cellar. This slice blew my fucking SOCKS off, and was so good we doubled back at 2am for another slice after the show.

So my question is - what the FUCK is going on under the hood of this pizza? From what I can tell it’s a low fat mozz base (no sauce to start), then topped with a hearty marinara style red sauce, and I think Ricotta (not fresh mozz) with basil, but I could be off. I am inclined to believe it’s baked with just the mozz base and the red, ricotta (possible fresh mozz) and basil are added after the bake, then melt when the slice is reheated to serve, kind of like a Forno style slice you’d get in Rome.

I am absolutely determined to make my own version of this slice, but don’t want to go down the wrong path! Any locals know the secret mojo? If I didn’t live 500 miles away I’d go every damn weekend until I figured it out.