I have thinking a lot today about moods. Specially how easy it is to be put in a bad mood simply by spending time around someone who is always in one.  If we can allow ourselves to be affected by someone else’s day, and yes it is us that allows it, what is the value in being unhappy?  I have long known that happiness is a choice. But if it is, why aren’t more people wanting to join that club?  Why does "misery love company” so much? I have done some research into other popular expressions of mood: “karma is a bitch” ( https://bit.ly/2HO84SG ), “blessing in disguise” ( https://bit.ly/2TrY7MA ), as well as “silver linings” ( https://bit.ly/2uBjn8p ). But when I think of misery loving company the first thought I have is of a Broadway play I saw many times and loved; “Avenue Q”.  It was a play featuring puppets but with very adult language and concepts. I laughed my ass off.  One of the songs features a German word I hadn’t heard ...

Back in December I paid a visit (on my birthday) to popular Williamsburg pizza spot “Emmy Squared” ( https://bit.ly/2EpYMcK ). That went so well I knew I would have to visit the sister pizzeria to this brand; “Emily”. Matt and Emily Hyland are the pizza power couple behind both of these restaurants and their multiple locations. Emmy Squared opened in Brooklyn in 2016 and Emily AKA the older sister opened first in the West Village in 2014, subsequently coming to Brooklyn as well.  Where Emmy Squared serves pies that are Detroit style (translation squared), Emily serves round personal sized pies that have been compared to those you would find at “Roberta’s" ( https://bit.ly/2RUOGYZ ) and “Paulie Gee’s” ( https://bit.ly/2UVMA9K ). The main thing you will notice about the later three pizzas is that they are Neapolitan style (circular) pies baked in wood burning ovens. For me that is where the similarities end.  Because of my prior familiarity with the bran...

In full disclosure, before I stopped by Joe’s Rotisseria (see previous post) I began my day here; at “Hold My Knots” in nearby Hillsdale, New Jersey. Of all of the appetizers you can get when ordering Italian food, garlic knots is one of my most favorite. I think rice balls come in second and mozzarella sticks comes in third. Just so you know.  Garlic knots are the perfect combination of three simple but delicious ingredients, not unlike pizza itself. If the carbs, butter, and garlic are mixed in just the right amounts the result will be heavenly. The only way I think you can make this better to take the garlic knots and make sandwiches out of them. This is precisely what Hold My Knots has done and why I made a pilgrimage there. Hold My Knots in currently located in a spot that is very sentimental for owner Shayna Minuto. Formerly known as “Big Daddy’s”; a restaurant that her father owned and operated. It was there back in 2011 where this new bus...

While my previous post was about a pizzeria I had never heard of, this post is all about one I couldn’t stop hearing about: “Joe’s Rotisseria”.  This restaurant / pizzeria is located in Roselle Park, New Jersey, about an hour away from my house if I didn’t hit traffic. Needles to say I wasn’t that lucky. But it was worth the trip for that is where I finally got to meet the infamous “Triple Threat”; a Joe’s Rotisseria exclusive.  The Triple Threat is a pizza, calzone, garlic knot combo and can be personalized with any toppings, fillings or sandwiches you can dream up. Better yet if you see one on social media that wets your appetite, all you have to do is show Joe the picture. That is what he told me as soon as we met. I met Chef Joe Brigoni, who opened up his restaurant in 2015 as the young age of twenty-two, much the same way any one who walks into his restaurant will: with a loud and energetic hello as he stands behind the counter tossing dough into the ai...

Recently while doing some background research for my blog post about “Paulie Gee’s” ( https://bit.ly/2UVMA9K ) pizza, I stumbled upon a name of a pizzeria I had never heard before: “New Park Pizza”. Usually when you are as well versed as I am in the names of the pizzerias that frequently appear on the lists of the best places to eat pizza in either Brooklyn or NYC, you are accustomed to seeing the same names. But on one of these lists there was this place, New Park Pizza, with an address all too familiar for me not to recognize.  But it was true.  I had driven past this pizza place maybe hundreds of times, stopping into many of nearby stores and restaurants, without ever really noticing it. That all stopped today. Or since I am posting this after midnight, yesterday to be exact. Now of course it wasn’t just the address that drew my interest in New Park Pizza. It was the author of the list it was included on, as they named their fa...