Lucille's Serves the Best Slice Near Yankee Stadium.
"Hi, Alex. I'll take 'Best Pizza by Yankee Stadium' for $2.75, please?"
About 10 years ago, I spent days walking around the new Yankee Stadium in disbelief that the best pizza in the area was Famous Famiglia inside. Block by block... there really was no pizza.
That's changed with Pizza By Lucille's, which landed on my radar two months ago on Instagram. It's a relatively new venture by (courtesy @thecuriousuptowner) Matthew Trebek (son of Jeopardy host Alex Trebek) and Nodar Mosiashvili—behind Hamilton Heights’ Oso—and partner, Alexander Perilla, who mans the pizzeria.
Lucille's is about a 20-minute walk from the stadium. You cross Macomb's Dam Bridge and walk down Macombs Place to W 150th Street. It's just a few steps from Frederick Douglass Blvd. (It's just two blocks from the 148th Station where you can catch the 3 train back downtown.)
Some of us like to talk about that quintessential New York slice. To me, this plain slice is close to what I wish more slice shops would be. It's thin, no gum line. A little cheesy. A little saucy. Just out of balance in the way that I prefer.
There were some kinks they were working out on the grandma I had while I was there. It was more like a Detroit bar pie. But this is the kind of new place that I'll be returning to with some frequency to check in on. It's got promise.
If you're a Yankees fan, it's worth the walk if you're up there already. If you're a pizza fan, it's worth the train ride to Upper Manhattan too.
