King Umberto's of Elmont

Grandma is not my top style, but this might as well be a slice from an upside down round pie cut square, it's so thin. When I've had a grandma slice I almost always get a margherita and it had a thicker, pan type crust. This plain grandma slice with sauce on top was so good, it defies the category. The sauce is abundant and one of the best balanced in terms of acidity, natural background sweetness, and consistence. This is one of those slices that's so good on its own it doesn't need the extras, like basil, olive oil, multiple cheeses or added hard finishing cheese to make it great. The crust is really thin, well done, light, and airy and not dense to chew—my favorite. If you're looking for dry, crunchy this is not that. I think there's fresh mozzarella under the sauce, which balances better with a saucy pizza against a saltier dry mozzarella. That's a hard balance to get right because the crust is thin and fresh mozzarella is wetter than dry mozzarella. I think the square shap helps out with the slice holding up crispy. This was the sleeper hit of the fest for me. I can't really fault the slice outside of it being a thin square, while being a round slice with a cornicione is what I like best.