That’s courtesy Berkeley style !
And as long as you’re in Berkeley, check out Gioia on Hopkins. They use more cheese in the plain slice than Arinell, but it’s still pretty good.
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Will check it out. I may have had it before. A bit less fold in half and fancier toppings ? I tried the cheese board spot a few trips ago and my conclusion is that it was ok but not pizza.
Golden Boy brings back so many memories for me when I was little in the park there, older later at night after drinking at Mister Bings and the Saloon and other spots and now it’s fun to take my kids there and to the park and then get that brownie we crave at Stella. It always tastes great and hits the spot but that nostalgia maybe makes it even more special for me.
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Agree when Arinell gets it right, it is a glorious NY slice with just the right crust-sauce-cheese meld matrix.
The problem was at some point they had about a 1:3 or so hit:miss rate … which brought the effective price of a slice to $10-$12. So I stopped ordering cheese or pep slices from there. Does anybody suggest they are now doing better than that hit/miss ratio? I can only imagine the rate would be higher on 4/20 … in fact I sort of assumed “everyday was 4/20” at Arinell – which largely explained this phenomena.
24th St Pizza Shop had a pretty credible NY Slice – I believe the proprietor was from NJ – but at some point when he became established enough to hire people – and didnt personally touch every pie (late) Dom DeMarco/DiFara style – they also experienced a drop in Quality Control. Not quite enough to Perma Boycott, but I did eat there less. And then I moved to a different Zone so the question was mostly moot.
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I will third Arinell as their cheese slice was very NY style, though I’ve only had a few slices in NYC proper. Thin but foldable. The last time I had a slice from the Valencia St. location (a few weeks ago) it was good.
I also like the 24th St. Pizza Shop for NY style too but I haven’t been for awhile. From what I remember the crust there was a little more crispy/chewy than from Arinell.
I’m a fan of both Golden Boy (especially a slice from a fresh rectangle out of the oven) and Zachary’s as well. That spinach and mushroom from Zachary’s hits the spot. Now I’m hungry for some pizza 
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I love that spinach and mushroom too. Our family and family in Berkeley has vegetarians so that’s a must order along with a sausage and pepperoni. Nothing like an entire layer of sausage on a pie! That’s not light !
I’ve had some clunkers at Arinell, but maybe 1 out of 20 times.
For a long time after I moved to Berkeley, I kept my old dentist in Noe Valley, and I’d stop at The Pizza Shop on the way. Then I had to ask the receptionist for a toothbrush so I clean out the pizza bits.
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Looks good, Hawaiian pizza with jalapeños? I know some folks have strong opinions against pineapple on their pizza but I love it 
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Yes and I grew up in NY, I’ve gone to the dark side! The key is it has to be fresh pineapple, the canned stuff in sweet syrup will ruin it.
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I still get pizza at the Pizza Shop regularly and, unpredictably, about once a year it reaches another level better even than it’s level when it opened. Generally, I think Pi Bar’s crust is better, but you have to get a whole pie.
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I was a little shocked when Arinell started offering pineapple on their pizza. The owner was there one day, and I teased him, “what’s next, ranch?” He bellowed, “Never ranch!”
In fact, they used to have a sign by the cash register, No Ranch!
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We all have our own lines we won’t cross when it comes to pizza. I’ll eat pineapple but am in the no Ranch camp, and cannot stand chicken in any form on pizza for some reason.
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You’ll have to visit SoCal for this orange grease…i don’t think a napkin would make a dent in this badboy
(it’s Prime Pizza, a number of locations)
Welcome your nocal orange grease photography
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Hmm, dunno how to reconcile your 5% miss rate with my ~70% miss rate for Arinell … I guess I can spend $10 to “update my priors”.
My Mom wanted to go to Monterey Mkt to look for … hmm I dont know what it is in english … maybe Jute Leaf? … anyway, we stopped in at Gioia for lunch, since Nabolom was closed by then and Cheeseboard not yet open. I had not been there for quite a few yrs and thought it was great (I had a favorable memory of them but this was better than I remember).
Initially, I got the Mushroom Slice and tried a bite of the Asparagus-Ricotta and thought both were quite good.
I “rejected” the Pep slice because it looked dried out. But then on the cusp of driving to Berkeley Bowl (neither mkt had the leaves being sought) I went back and got a Pep slice … was actually very good, but I did take them up on their offer to heat it up. The “Cheese-Crust-Orange Grease meld” was good. There was a little bit too few Pep slices, which kept it from GOAT/S-tier status. The Spicy Spring Slice at Prince St Racist Pizza is better. I cant recall if Tony Pep Slice is better. I think this beats Raymond, although Raymond is decent with maybe a 20% miss rate [low number of samples].
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Prince St Racist Pizza??
Er I forgot to add, the “pizza-adjacent” Tomato Sauce Focaccia from Nabolom is worth trying.
It is generally very good and occasionally [30%?] extraordinary.
The “problem” is with Nabolom’s currently very limited hours … focaccia schedule is “technically” Wed-Sun @10am, Fri @2pm [not sure if there is morning focaccia on Fri]. They do sell out. Slightly less dire is only being left with crappy “Corner Slice” options. The other varieties of the focaccia cover the same quality levels, but I think the Spicy Tomato is best on average, and has the most consistent Quality Control.
There is a little bit of a Probability Optimization Timing Problem if you are trying to get both a slice of pizza and focaccia … or want to get one with the other as backup [optimal timing is Fri ~2pm].
Yes, there are (were?) heavily involved in Racism. At least the Nolita Branch.
