Thanks for the background @TheCookie, good to know! We’ll probably wait a bit and hear more reports before taking the plunge unless we happen to be nearby and craving pizza.
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While I defer to your pizza expertise, all the pics speak to this pizza cretin.
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Yeah, Shake Shack is not a bad fallback. The two places speak to different parts of the palate but “settling” for either receives no objection.
I’m a little bitch when it comes to traffic and crowds, so we try to pair our primary and secondary choices as close as possible as early as possible. I wish there were more one-twos like this.
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yep, if the crust aint right, it’s not worth eating
yeah, gotta be Sicilian…that aint deep dish…or casserole as I call it! ha, ha
@Chowseeker1999
I personally do not think Apollonia’s is destination worthy. The Sicilian was unusual in that they topped it with that chunky sauce. The contrasting textures were good. The Sicilian had a nice crunchy bottom and side, and a nice crusty chewy interior. If I was in the area, I’d have this regularly as a change of pace as it is not your usual Sicilian style.
@lapizzamaven, I do not think you would care for the regular pies here at all. We seem pretty aligned on our choices for NY style. That photo of Prince Street… now THAT looks like the real deal.
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yeah Chowseeker, you’re right. from the look of the regular pie, I wouldn’t be thrilled…the Sicilian will be tried, though…looks reallll goodddd! you can bet that Prince St is the real deal!
Wait what’s wrong with the round pizza? It looks fine to me in the pics. Nice char on the cornice and undercarriage.
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Yeah @Bigmouth, I go by what I like and don’t like and don’t really know what makes a superior crust - thin, neapolitan, sicilian or otherwise. I’m more of a topping & sauce kind of gal. I just had a feeling @lapizzamaven was talking about the crust when s/he didn’t like the way the pizza looked. Maybe s/he or @Chowseeker1999 could expound on the subject. I’d like to learn what makes a really great pizza. I will say, Apollonia’s was way better than the pizza we had from Blackbird Pizza. Even I could tell the crust was not good and the toppings for that matter.
Stylistic preferences aside, what makes a good pizza is the everything, but first and foremost it’s the crust since it’s a baked good first. Crust types vary though, so they have to be good within their style (flavor+texture). So much pizza in italy is just crust, tomato, olive oil and it tastes crazy good. Of course toppings matter (spare toppings)
just for fun, here’s my last sicilian. 3 day cold ferment. i need to keep practicing… crust aint right yet.
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Okay, obviously. But I was wondering what makes that “flavor+texture” good to you and what you look for. Since you’re starting to bake your own (looks good btw) you know how it should be done and when it’s not right.
oh i’ve been doing regular pizza for a long time, just learning sicilian since i finally have a pan. i guess what tastes good to me can be different than you but the dough should give some notes of the fermentation, should be a bit seasoned, when flour is high quality and fresh it’ll taste better (you can taste the grain more). Texture of good standard pizza (ny/boston style) should be somewhere in the middle of the crunchy to chewy range, it should have both. Crust must rize for me on the edges, there’s magic in the crust bubble (that i love filling with parm later)… Sicilian should have a crisp bottom, soft middle and silky wet top before the toppings. The olive oil matters.
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Okay, got it.
I like those qualities too. 
I also like a little bit of yeast-y flavor. Is that part of the fermentation?
yes totally, usually more so on neopolitan… wetter dough, longer ferment etc
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Well, thank you. You just helped me figure out why I like certain pizza crusts. 
VPN does not allow long ferments. Which is one of the things that makes Neapolitan-style not my favorite.
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I see. They dont want that flavor to distract from the rest huh.
yes my long ferments are for they hybrid/ east coast pies.
I’m not sure there’s any reason except tradition.
Anyway there’s no such thing as Neapolitan by the slice.
I pretty much use the A16 dough recipe/technique.
What the book mentions about Neapolitan pizza is that, in Naples, the dough is usually fermented using some of the previous batch as a starter (or something like that). So native Neapolitan pizza may have a little bit of the flavor of fermentation that many places that use yeast as leavening lack.
The A16 uses a long, cold ferment to mimic the use of a starter, according to them.
I definitely prefer that long fermented flavor over the quick rise, traditional or not.
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I can’t speak to the high hydration napolitan doughs but at least with standard ny style, the texture of the crust is tremendously improved with the long ferment .