New Orleans is famously Not A Pizza Town. People who move here from places like New York and Chicago go into withdrawal, then mourning. However, there has been some recent buzz about two new places that might be serving pizza that's sorta-kinda-possibly-vaguely comparable to New York pizza. One is Sugar Park Tavern, a Lower Ninth Ward bar that recently started serving food. We had one of their pies not too long ago and it was pretty good, though not greasy enough. The other is Slice, which just opened on St. Charles. I went by to check it out today.

Slice offers thin-crust Neapolitan and deep-dish Sicilian pizza by the slice and by the pie, as well as a variety of salads. They have a decent selection of toppings, including seldom-seen-locally ones such as roasted garlic, prosciutto, artichoke hearts, gorgonzola, and quite a few fresh vegetables, as well as all the usual suspects. When I can order pizza by the slice, being the disgusting person that I am, I frequently get anchovies and fresh garlic. (And then I breathe on people.) I got two Neapolitan slices, which were big enough that I ended up taking one home. The crust was good, tender but resilient, with a nice cornmeal-dusted crunch but (like Sugar Park's) not enough yeast flavor. The cheese topping was way too thick, so that I could barely taste the sauce at all. I don't like a lot of gloppy cheese on my pizza, but I understand that I am in the minority on this and other diners may enjoy it for precisely this reason. I'd also have preferred the anchovies to be broken up a little rather than just laid on top of the cheese in great salty strips, but only the very best places know this secret.

Service was friendly and fast. The gorgeously tattooed waitress and I discussed the nomenclature of carbonated beverages -- she was from Chicago and called them "pop," and had had a hard time getting used to our "cold drink." Overall, not a transcendent pizza experience, but decent and convenient. If you live near Sugar Park Tavern, I'd give them a slight edge over Slice, but both beat the hell out of Papa John's or (ugh) Domino's.

Sorry, just realized I had a minor brainfart in that post: Sugar Park Tavern is in the Ninth Ward, but not the Lower Ninth Ward. It is located at the corner of France and Dauphine.