12th Street and First Avenue

Motorino has long lines, really loud music, service so fast you have no time for conversation, and fantastic, chewy, charred pizza. (Also very low light, as you can see from this photograph. The first rule of photographing food, as I discovered in this post in the Diner’s Journal blog, is “shoot in natural light”—but that doesn’t help me in restaurants.) I knew before I went that Motorino was supposed to have the best pizza on the East Coast (although not the country), and I was prepared to see for myself. At first bite, I thought, this is good, not great. But the more I ate, the more I fell in love with it. It’s the outside ring of crust that’s really the best. And all the toppings were subtle but perfect and just enough. (I can vouch for brussels sprouts with smoked pancetta and for white anchovies with mozzarella and cherry tomatoes, though the server said her favorite was the soppressata.) I’m pretty sure you can order whatever.