I invited my man Harry Kirsch over from the UK to show him how we do things in NYC.

We're visiting five of the best pizza places in the city all in one day to see if we can find New York's best pizza.

This is Food Tours.

First stop of the day, Bleecker Street Pizza.

So we're at Bleecker Street Pizza.

Yes.

Why are we here?

Okay, so TripAdvisor said this is one of the best slices of pizza in New York City.

Food Network said this is the best slice for the past three years.

I mean, come on.

The place is normally just packed.

We're here early.

Thank God to get our slice of pizza.

So I thought I had to take you here.

I'm liking Bleecker Street so far.

It's a friendly vibe in here.

Very cold.

I can see.

You need to get this on camera.

Can you see my breath?

It's freezing in here.

So how are we categorizing the pizza places that we're hitting today?

Glad you asked.

Now obviously there's a bunch of different variations of what New Yorkers would consider pizza.

All fantastic.

For this, I want to make sure we're getting the authentic New York cheese thin slice, right?

Not doing the square cut, not doing the grandma cut or whatever it's called, the Sicilian grandma cut or whatever that it is.

We're not going to Domino's.

We might do some variations depending where we go.

Yay.

Thank you.

There we go.

New York slice.

Talk me through some like key components, key elements here that I should be looking out for and judging.

All right.

So first of all, the crust, it's going to have this thin yet crackery, but not too brittle texture to it.

Now the mozzarella they use here in New York, like this low moisture cheese, the way they do that is even though it has like a greasy top on it, it kind of makes it so it melts a lot more evenly and doesn't burn as quick.

Because it's like good cheese coverage.

It's like full, full coverage when it comes to the cheese.

You know, okay, so it's floppy, but it's not breaking.

It's not like, it's not white.

Yeah.

It's still like crispy on the bottom.

Yeah.

But I mean, the thing that makes it great is its taste.

So you want to take a bite?

Yeah, I really, really do.

Can we?

Give it a try.

All right, get in there.

It alludes to the rest of the world of how to make pizza that's good.

It really does, right?

It's distinct.

This is like, unlike most of the pizzas that I've had in London, there isn't really anywhere doing pizza like this in London.

I really like the crispy crust.

Again, like not something you find in the UK a lot.

And the texture contrast you get with that is lovely.

It's not very greasy.

Like if you make a pizza at home and you go to some places that aren't so great, it's just grease.

There's nothing wrong with a little bit of grease.

It's fat, it's flavor.

I'm liking it.

And also, as you notice, it's also like portable, right?

You just like take this on the train, take this down the street, take this to work.

Which again, in the UK, not something we do.

I don't know if you can catch that, but Dax Shepard said this was the greatest slice of pizza he's ever had.

It's a weird way he said it.

That was the greatest slice of pizza I've ever put in my mouth.

What's he done with the other good slices of pizza?

I just recently found out you eat pizza with your mouth.

Really, Dax.

Game changer.

Thanks for saying goodbye.

Real game changer.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Look at the steam coming off of this.

Okay, that's steamy.

Yeah, I don't know if the pizza is exceptionally hot or if it's just extra cold in here.

Both.

Maybe.

Let's go.

Can I bite?

Your cake's stuck.

You got the shots, guys.

Patience, Joe.

Patience.

No.

It's New York, damn it.

I don't got time.

This thing looks like scaldingly hot.

I'm going to wait for you to bite and see if you scald your mouth or not.

Okay, got the thumbs up.

Right?

I'm going to tell you.

I'm going to tell you.

The first casualty.

This is delicious.

I'm going to say something that sounds kind of weird, but the sauce on this is the star of the show.

Yeah.

It is so flavorful.

You can see they've even got the tomatoes in there.

Because it isn't a, the distribution is a bit differently, like they put the cheese in the first and then ladle the sauce on there.

Yeah.

Oh, it's so good, though.

I want the sauce to almost be the star of the show.

I think, obviously, in the ideal world, everything is good, everything works together, but a really flavorful sauce where you actually taste the tomato is, yeah, crucial.

I love the basil in here as well, but yeah, this is a really good slice, Dan.

Is this the same cheese?

Because this feels, like, way stringier.

We're getting, like, cheese pulls here.

So they're doing two different types of cheese.

The sauce is different, but they use the regular cheese and then a second cheese.

You can kind of see, because it's, like, bubbled up a lot more, you get those, like, caramelized bits.

They really cheesed it up on this one.

That's the...

Not as easy to eat on the go, this slice, is it?

No.

That's the best.

Yeah, this one you've got to take a seat for.

Yeah.

This one you take the deck, shepherd booth.

Just Dax's usual spot, please.

Yeah, Dax, which is just this one, the chair facing the wall.

All right.

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, we're going to, like, seven other places.

Calm your ass down.

True, but also I'm really hungry.

All right.

We'll still be hungry at the next place.

All right.

This was really good.

As far as starting points go, pretty, pretty excellent benchmark. Literally just across the street, our next stop, John's of Bleecker Street.

Now, I want to talk about something very interesting.

Please do.

Pizza ovens.

I love pizza ovens.

Let's go.

When pizza first started popping off in New York City, they were using, almost primarily, coal ovens.

Then the gas ovens got introduced sometimes, I think, in the 40s or 50s.

A coal oven cooks way hotter.

Now, this is important for pizza.

Pay attention now.

As you're aware, Italians really upped their butt about how pizza should be and, more importantly, should not be made.

It's all nonsense.

But they cook it at 850 degrees Fahrenheit, way hotter than a standard gas oven can get.

So imagine it like this is a New York-style slice cooked like the traditional Neapolitan Italian way.

So it's like the best of both pizza worlds.

Fusion cuisine.

It's like when the Cheesecake Factory has Southwest Egg Rolls.

This is the Southwest Egg Roll of pizza.

Yeah, thank you.

Coal-fired ovens aren't much of a thing in the UK.

If you're going to a pizza place, it's generally wood-fired ovens.

Which is weird, because you guys are the land of chimney sweeps.

You guys know soot real well, it seems like.

Tiny Tim just clearing it up for us.

Dick Van Dyke's going to come out here in a top hat and a face full of soot to bring to our pizza.

What also sets this place apart is they don't do pizza by the slice.

Can't get pizza by the slice here, so we're getting a full pie.

Nice, yeah.

Traditional definitely seems like the vibe of this place.

Sit down, these tables and chairs have been here basically since they opened as well.

Oh, I forgot.

No, this place wasn't vandalized.

Apparently the thing to do here is to take out a really sharp knife and carve your initials, your name, something you want to do, somewhere in the wood.

Recognize this right here?

Yeah, I think pepper flakes?

No.

Red chili pepper flakes.

You know the Chili Peppers, the band.

This is them in flake form.

Ah, got it.

I have seen it occasionally, whereas it's pretty much everywhere here.

So much so when you get pizza delivered, they'll have little packets of this and little packets of Parmesan as well.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Yeah, they suck.

You just love them.

Really?

Yeah, they suck.

The guitar, like everyone else in the band is like legit an amazing musician and can play, and they write like these really well intricate songs.

And this dumbass comes in, he's like California.

Someone has to step in and stop this band.

This has to stop.

There we go.

Oh, wow.

That's not the way you want to put it in the bag.

No, I think this is good.

I want you to call your attention to how much harder cooked the crust is.

Yeah, man.

Old school inside the cheese pull.

Why don't you get your plate ready?

There we go.

All right, already just by looks, what are you thinking?

Not like maybe as homogenous in terms of the classic New York slices where the mozzarella and the sauce kind of blend together.

I like the fact that the mozzarella here as well has got like a bit of that caramelization on top.

It's kind of like bubbling.

I quite like this because generally speaking, when you get the patches, you get like a bit more flavor contrast.

You get like a nice sort of like crispy burn bit.

You're learning.

I'm getting that.

It's like this guy's hosting it.

The sauce isn't as flavorful as the other places, but the cheese, the gooeyness is incredible.

I agree.

The cheese like sets us apart.

There you go.

Yeah, let's spice it up, huh?

Hit me up.

Maybe not quite that many.

For my weak British palate.

A little Anthony Kiedis for you.

Let's go.

The other pepper.

And you know what?

A little salt.

This is why British food tastes bland to you guys because you put about 8 different seasonings on every mouthful.

Yeah, that's why.

I think it's your wimpy palate or the tea you're drinking.

The slices, obviously we've got a full pie, so the slices are smaller.

So even though we're eating a whole pie, I feel like this is equivalent of like 3 New York City slices.

Yeah, I'd say so.

Even though it's a full pizza, this is our medium.

Yep.

We go at least one bigger over here.

That in the UK is comfortably a large.

This is a big pizza.

I think you could happily feed two people off of this on its own.

Like do you notice the effect of the coal oven when you eat this?

Like how does this differ from what we're eating? My theory on that is this.

What?

Because it was cooked so much faster, the cheese is gooier, it hasn't mixed so much with the sauce, and I feel that the dough, and you can only see, I mean, and the crust, you can see where it's a little burnt here.

It's a lot crispier.