Slice Wars

Unsurprisingly, given the neighborhood's Italian heritage, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens each boast several slice joints. But which is worth your $2.50? To find out, we sampled plain slices from seven pizzerias (we know: rough job) and evaluated them within five categories. The results just might surprise you.

363 Smith Street (at 2nd Place)
Size: Long and lean
Crust: Giardini had the best end crust of any slice we tried: airy, yet dense, with the perfect amount of toothsome chew. Unfortunately, the rest of the crust was a bit insubstantial: the lack of integrity caused the slice to be sloppier than necessary.
Sauce: Giardini's slice is sauce-heavy: the only one we sampled with more sauce than cheese. Fortunately, the sauce is excellent: redolent of oregano and full of concentrated tomato flavor, with just a hint of sweetness.
Cheese: First, a word to the wise: Giardini serves their slices piping hot, causing serious risk of a cheese-related roof-of-mouth burn. Those who wait for the slice to cool to a reasonable temperature, however, will be rewarded with a flavorful, slightly tangy cheese. The cheese is spread heavily enough to stave off any feelings of deprivation, but not so heavily as to cause unpleasant all-cheese mouthfuls. The pizza is slicked with just a touch of oil, because what good is a pizza that's not greasy at all?
Atmosphere: In a neighborhood filled with tiny seating areas, Giardini's is one of the largest. In the warmer months, there's even an outdoor patio and, in the winter, big windows let in an abundance of natural light.
Price:  $2.50
Ranking: 1

305 Court Street (at Degraw Street)
Size: Fairly small: if you have a substantial appetite, you'll likely want to order two.
Crust: Sal's crust represents an odd dichotomy. The part under the toppings is an excellent example of the thin-crust style: crisp, but not shatteringly so. The end crust, however, is unpleasantly flavorless.
Sauce: Sal's sauce is great: incredibly smooth with the slightest kick of heat.
Cheese: Unlike other rubbery cheeses we sampled, Sal's cheese was pliable and, thanks to a heavy dose of oregano, intensely flavorful.
Atmosphere: Sal's is old school: several pies constantly on display in glass cases in the front and Formica booths in the back. The seating area here is tiny, so realize that a visit during peak hours might necessitate takeout.
Price: $2.75
Ranking: 2

House of Pizza and Calzones

132 Union Street (between Hicks and Columbia Streets)
Size: Small
Crust: House of Pizza's crust is crisp, but not overwhelmingly so. The end crust is pleasantly chewy.
Sauce: The sauce is definitely the star of this slice: it's tangy, assertive, and just sparsely enough applied that you keep wanting more. There's a distinct taste of fruity, good quality extra virgin olive oil.
Cheese: House of Pizza's cheese isn't overwhelmingly flavorful, but it's well applied and melted, without being molten.
Atmosphere: House of Pizza occupies what is far and away the most spacious, airy location of any pizzeria in the neighborhood. The large back room features massive windows and plenty of light.
Price: $2.25
Ranking: 3

531 Henry Street (at Union Street)
Size: A single slice from Francesco should be enough for all but the most massive appetites.
Crust: Good news: Francesco's crust is crisp. Bad news: it's almost too crisp, thin to the point of lacking flavor.
Sauce: The sauce here manages the unlikely feat of being about 50% sweet, 50% tangy.
Cheese: Francesco's slices are some of the most cheese-heavy in the neighborhood. This would be excellent if the cheese was flavorful, but it's bland and a trifle rubbery.
Atmosphere: Francesco's is cozy and well lit. It's a popular hangout for the cops from the just up Union Street. Unlike most of the other slice joints in the neighborhood, Francesco's does just as brisk a trade in pasta and other Italian dishes as they do in pizza, so there's a lovely smell of garlic and meat in the air.
Price: $2.50
Ranking: 4

LaylaJones

214 Court Street (between Warren and Baltic Streets)
Size: Large and square. Sure, every neighborhood pizzeria offers a square pie, but LaylaJones is the only one where every slice is square.
Crust: If you liked school lunch pizzas, you'll love the crust at LaylaJones. If you didn't, you're likely to find it awful. It's crisp, bland and tastes overwhelmingly like frozen pizza.
Sauce: LaylaJones' sauce is overwhelmingly salty. Perhaps there are other flavors at work, but they're all masked by the salt.
Cheese: The cheese at LaylaJones is sparsely applied, but nicely melting. The pizza here was far and away the least greasy we sampled.
Atmosphere: Of all the slice joints in the neighborhood, LaylaJones is far and away the newest. It's snug, but the fixtures and furnishings are new and clean.
Price: $2.50
Ranking: 5

150 Smith Street (at Bergen Street)
Size: Medium-sized
Crust: Caruso sprinkles the end of their crusts with sesame seeds. This adds some flavor interest: both the expected near-bitterness of the sesame, as well as a more surprising hint of anise.
Sauce: The sauce at Caruso is a bit of a non-starter. It just doesn't really taste like anything, perhaps because it's so sparsely spread on the pie.
Cheese: Like the sauce, the cheese here is a non-event. It's not rubbery, it's just bland. The pizza is noticeably greasy. It's not unpleasant, it's just not interesting.
Atmosphere: There are no windows in the seating area of Caruso. The walls are painted a shade of beige not seen since movie theater lobbies in the 1980s. The overall effect is a touch depressing. The seating area also smells strongly of disinfectant.
Price: $2.50
Ranking: 6

445 Court Street (between 3rd and 4th Places)
Size: Huge! Even the hungriest will likely be satisfied by just one slice here.
Crust: Vinny's crust is excellent: pliable yet crisp, with just enough snap.
Sauce: Vinny's was the only slice we didn't finish, a fact that was almost entirely attributable to the sauce. Watery and unpleasant, with a strangely metallic taste, it was close to inedible.
Cheese: Vinny's excellent crust veritably groans under the heaping pile of rubbery cheese on top. This would potentially be okay on an extra cheese slice, but on a regular pie, it's disconcerting at best.
Atmosphere: Vinny's seating area is windowless and, even in midday, dark.
Price: $2.50
Ranking: 7