Totale Pizza and a Salty Pimp

The other day I came across a post on We Heart New York about Totale Pizza, and I was floored. Totale is on St. Mark’s Place, just a few doors down from 2 Bros. Pizza, home of the $1 slice, but it has a wood burning oven. It was apparently opened by the owner of 2 Bros. and someone who worked at Una Pizza Napoletana, which you may remember as my favorite pizza place in NYC, sadly now closed. I decided that I needed to grab lunch at Totale, and then I remembered that the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck is often at Union Square, just a short walk away from St. Mark’s.

Totale’s margherita (at $9 less than half the price of UPN’s) was good, but I have to say that it was nowhere near the level of UPN. I did get the first pie of the day, so maybe that had something to do with it, but the crust was a little too tough and crunchy (though it had a great char on it). The sauce was well seasoned, and the cheese tasted fresh, though there was a little too much oil drizzled on the top. Of course UPN set the bar so high, and looking back at it inevitably leads to exaggerated memories, but even so I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed in Totale’s pie. I am intrigued by the seemingly strange combination of toppings on Totale’s namesake pie, which Jess & Garrett (of the above-mentioned We Heart NY) loved it, so I think I’ll go back to try that one.

I’ve had some great creations from the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck before, including the Thanksgiving inspired Gobbler, but I’d heard a lot of good things about the Salty Pimp. As I waited in line I was surprised by how many people were ordering ordinary cones; I guess not everyone wants wasabi peas or olive oil on their ice cream. The Salty Pimp, if you’re wondering, is a vanilla cone drizzled with dulce de leche, then sprinkled with sea salt, and then chocolate dipped. Also, if you’re wondering, it’s AMAZING. The salty-sweet combination of the chocolate, salt, and caramel is just fantastic.

All in all it was a great food day. New York City really is the greatest place to live; where else can you get two such uniquely crafted foods within walking distance of each other?

As a side note, I’ll be out of town next week, so this will be the last post you see from me for a while. I leave you in Donny’s capable hands…

Totale Pizza — 36 St. Marks Pl
Big Gay Ice Cream — Mobile, check website or Twitter for location

• ice cream
• manhattan
• pizza