Joe & Pat's

When we heard that Joe & Pat’s - one of our top 20 pizza places - had opened their first-ever Manhattan spot, we had two immediate thoughts, in this order: 1) We want vodka pizza and 2) Will it live up to the original? Good news: the pies here are as delicious and crackery-thin as they are at the original, and now, if you’re not a Staten Island resident, you won’t have to take a ferry to try some of the best pizza in the city. We especially like the vodka pie with cheese that mixes into the sauce like a tie-dye shirt, but you could conceivably eat non-pizza dishes here too, like chicken parm and baked clams. The space itself also feels a lot like the original, with walls covered in family photos and Italian Renaissance murals. Our only issue is that the prices are noticeably higher here than on Staten Island - although Manhattan tends to have that effect on things.