Day 28, 2004: Lombardi's Pizzeria (NoLIta, NYC)

DAY 28: October 28th LOCATION: Lombardi's Pizzeria (32 Spring St., NYC) GUEST(S): Matt Evans, Dave Thunder, Carl Arnheiter, Tony Carnevale ORDER: 2 slices of cheese, 2 slices of pepperoni PIZZA REPORT: Viva Lombardi's! The oldest pizzeria in America got bigger since pizza month '03, but the pizza they could is from the same sweet coal-fired oven. The pepperoni at Lombardi's is about a half an inch in diameter but packs a taste equal to any other twice its size. After enduring the extensive heat of the coal-fired oven mentioned above, the pepperonis begin to warp upward. I think it has something to do with the moisture around the edges of the pepperoni drying out faster than the center. Whatever the reason the net result is a crispy yet chewy pepperonis. I really like it. The plain cheese slices I had were especially good. I think this was due to the parmesan cheese sprinkled in just the right amount atop the pizza. The crispy crust, fresh tomato sauce, and perfect distribution of toppings established the a utopian society right in my mouth. MISC.: Dave Thunder has a list of 53 characters he can embody ranging from the Lonely Robot to HemoTep. Somewhere in there is "Jimmy Deluca". Fortunately for everyone attending Variety Underground, Jimmy Deluca made a surprise appearance and proceeded to co-host the entire show then even accompany us to pizza. Tony Carnevale got a hold of Dave Thunder's list and picked at random, the top 53 characters he wanted Dave Thunder to present. Carl Arnheiter, Matt Evans, and I realized that this maybe wasn't the right thing to put Dave through, but were way too entertained to stop it. Carl Arnheiter can travel endlessly on the subway without ever touching a pole, seat or door! Two women sitting near us started giggling then burst into a somewhat obscure song but instead of segueing back into giggling, they just kept singing turning the whole spectacle from entertaining to distracting. Matt Evans and I are going to play ping pong one of these days.