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I had it about 13 years ago and loved it. The only specific thing I remember from it though, was garlic ice cream for dessert, which at the time I found surprisingly delicious!

Just to add to my comment above: Ray's was not the best pizza I've ever had nor my favorite all-time, but it was great for what it was - a cheese bomb filled with lots of gooey, soft, hot and satisfying cheese.

Yeah, but their plain pizza didn't impress me, either. Like I said, as far as I was concerned, it was acceptable. Period. ← I think this speaks to the wide variability in preference for various pizza characteristics. Some hold the crust in highest esteem, others the sauce and yet for others, the topping is the most important item. Obviously, some balance must be achieved in order to have an outstanding pizza. Ray's was all about the cheese topping with a decent sauce, but little crispness to the crust by my recollection, which one would expect given all the moisture loaded on top. Nevertheless, I don't recall the crust being soggy. It was sufficiently supportive of all the weight resting on top of it.

My advice would be to ask for a preferred range of dates, but if you are that flexible that you would accept any time, indicate so. As for numbers, unless you have a specific group, I would suggest 2-6 people. Most of all indicate your flexibility. Of course, given the number of reservation requests they receive that is still no guarantee, but I imagine would increase the odds in your favor. If a specific date has particularly special significance, indicate that as well. Luis Garcia has a very difficult job, but I don't think that there is anyone in the world who can handle it with as much aplomb and grace as he does.

Toppings at Rays? No wonder you didn't like it! Seriously, they were known for their cheese pizza at least to my circle. I don't think I ever had it with toppings other than perhaps extra cheese! It is/was a unique style that like for everything else is not to everyone's preference. I loved it.

Try the weekend of October 12th.

Jennifer, this looks to be an extraordinary trip if your photos so far are any indication. I have not yet been to Japan, but have wanted to go very badly for a loooong time. I want to even more now secondary to your photos, but also to a demonstration that I saw earlier this week at the Starchefs International Chefs Congress in NYC. That was Seiji Yamamoto of Ryugin in Tokyo. If you can, I suspect that it would be very much worth your while to visit and dine at that restaurant. It appeared to be quite, quite extraordinary and has vaulted itself into the top two or three restaurants that I would like to visit in the world. In any case, have a great trip. I will follow with great anticipation!

Same here, Harlan. I am looking forward to your photos as well. Briefly, the show was incredible. I will have a lot of photos and commentary to come, though due to the sheer volume it will take some time to put together. Some highlights include the energetic and inspiring presence throughout the congress of Chef Grant Achatz, who said the "he regretted canceling his presentation, but is looking forward to doing it next year"; the ingenuity and creative brilliance and soul of chefs come from afar like Seiji Yamamoto of Ryugin in Tokyo, Alex Atala of D.O.M. in Sao Paolo, Brazil and Shannon Bennett of Vue de Monde in Melbourne, Australia; European heavyweights like Joel Robuchon, Andoni Aduriz, Elena Arzak, Dani Garcia, Oriol Balaguer and Gualtiero Marchesi; and many of America's top chefs. I will do my best to do justice to this event that was fabulous for the sheer concentration of culinary greatness in one venue as well as the comradery and exchange of ideas and techniques that permeated the Congress.

BTW, I don't think that Italians have any particular genetic superiority for making pizze. I just think that the old Italians and Italian Americans had a knowledge of, ability to source excellent and respect for quality ingredients that may not be the case today for whatever reason. I write this now as I am about to go pick up a dozen or so mediocre pizze to help feed my son's H.S. varsity football team! BTW, I am in the outer NY diaspora

It is a style different than the one you prefer, but back in the day with the cheese they used it had its own charm. Sam, did you ever have it in their glory days?

Amen.

I think the old mafia has been replaced by the new organized crime of Wisconsin pizza cheese. If I had to suggest the single most important cause of the decline of the average New York slice, it would be the spread of cheap cheese. Wisconsin pizza cheese was cheaper and easier to use -- albeit flavorless -- than the mozzarella products pizzerias were working with before. It was hard to resist, especially since everybody else was adopting it. Even if the Mafia controlled the distribution, the Mafia was composed of a number of fiefdoms. I doubt that there would ever have been just one city-wide supplier of ingredients or other supplies. this is more likely to be the case today as Fat Guy alludes to.

I remember it always being that way. Even at the best pizza places in my neighborhood, you had to pick your time of day carefully, and there was plenty of variation day to day. I wouldn't argue with this. The best by the slice places like Ray's were great because the high turnover always led to a fresh pie rather than one sitting under the glass all day. A re-heated slice can still be great if it is re-heated enough.

When I was a kid in the 1970s there were already plenty of pizzerias owned by non-Italians, but the pizza was still good. I don't believe the ethnicity of a restaurant owner or cook means very much. Anyway, it's not like the pizza at the average New York slice shop has much to do with Italy. Although not necessarily due to the decline of the Mafia, I think the decline in ownership, management and cooking of Italians and Italian-Americans has an awful lot to do with the change in the quality of NY pizza just as it has with the decline of Italian food in NYC outside of the fine restaurants. What we largely came to know as "New York style" pizza was largely due to the recipes, skills, techniques and ingredients brought over from Italy, especially by those from Campania. While the end result is similar to Neapolitan style pizze, it was obviously different, the result of a number of social and demographic factors. My late father, a general practice physician, had his office in our Park Slope, Brooklyn home. One of my favorite patients of his, if not my favorite, was an Italian pizzaiolo from Campania with a nearby pizzeria. Whenever he would would come by to see my father he would always bring several of the absolute best pizze and calzones that one could ever want hot out of the oven. In addition, we used to love going to the pizzeria where we were treated like royalty. The neighborhood changed, he got old and handed the business to his son-in-law (also from Italy), but the pizze still remained delicious with the same quality ingredients and care. It has been some time since I have been back, so I don't know if it has changed or not, but it was the one pizza growing up that I liked even more than Ray's. Ironically, the name of the pizzeria was one that also was confusing secondary to its independent ubiquity - Lenny's. Better or worse, the pizze in NYC now are different. One of the main changes in my mind was a change in focus on ingredient quality that went away with the loss of the Italian run pizzerie. Nevertheless, a few of the old style pizzerie live on and these are the ones that are still celebrated - the diFara's, Totonno's, Grimaldi's and Patsy's of the city.

This hasn't been my casual observation. In the neighborhood where I grew up, the Upper West Side, there seem to me to be just as many or more single-establishment pizzerias as there were when I was a kid. Indeed, several of the same ones are around -- they're just not as good. I agree with Steven here. Outside of the tourist areas I don't see too much of a presence of the national chains.

Again, chronologically, New York has always been heavily populated by young out-of-towners. They have been pouring in for centuries. In addition, the selling proposition of the chains isn't -- at least in the NYC context -- the quality of the pies. It's the consumer experience. Domino's is consistent and delivery is quick and efficient, performed by uniformed employees carrying "heatwave" bags. You can order online. The stores keep your information in a computer so you only have to give your phone number when you order. Order-fulfillment accuracy is extremely high. There are coupons available. Whereas, when you order from most single-establishment pizzerias, the ordering and delivery experience is unpredictable and often unpleasant. The population flux may be a contributing factor. In past times, outside of ethnic Italians and a more Bohemian influx looking for an inexpensive good meal, I'm not sure pizza was a particularly popular item amongst those coming to the city striving to be or in upper income brackets such as those working in the financial industry. Because of the reputation and legend of NY pizza and the general acceptance of pizza throughout the US (mostly mediocre or awful), I think that pizza is now a food eaten at least occasionally by almost everyone. Ironic, if true that at what may be its height of popularity as a food item, it is largely at it's most dismal state ever.

This topic has gone beyond nostalgia for a favorite old place no longer in its glory to something truly interesting! I think both LP Shanet's and Fat Guy's ruminations have been largely on target, but I'll add my $0.02 anyway. To keep the size of the post box from getting out of hand I will post my response to individual points individually. I think the decline of NYC pizza well predates the arrival of Domino's. If anything I think the causation is the other way around: the chains got a toehold when pizza got bad enough for the chains not to seem so bad. The chains may have a presence here and may have influenced the decline if for no other reason than price pressure, but ultimately I don't think they are the cause for the decline

This topic is a walk down memory lane. I practically lived at the Ray's on 11th St. back when I was in H.S. and home from college. I would love nothing more than grab a slice or two before heading to a jazz concert at the Village Gate. Of course it has been quite some time since that heyday and quite some time since I have been back. It will also probably be quite some time before I return in the future if ever. Some pizze are known for their crust. Others are known for their sauce and still others for the quality and variety of their toppings. Rays (on 11th St) was known for the quantity of cheese on each slice. It was massive and full of delicious ooze. I can't pinpoint the decline, but when it happened it was rapid. The place went from having long but fast moving lines out the door to no wait seemingly overnight. At that time it deserved to be considered the face of NY pizza and certainly was my favorite. While it may not have been the original, it was certainly the one that all the others took the name from to try to ride on their coat-tails. I suspect that may have been one of the things that ultimately led to their demise as a great pizza place. One they probably figured that people would not know the difference and cut back on the quality of their product and two, people did notice their and at the others and simply stopped going the way they had. The name is probably still enough to generate sufficient cash flow even if it is no longer backed up.

For my taste, there's a bit too much navel-gazing here. I don't care about "the endless stream of restaurants" the poor professional critic "must endure." Yes, we all have unpleasant duties to perform at times, but if it feels like an endurance test to poor Mr. Platt, perhaps he's in the wrong job. I don't think Platt's readers really care how put out he is by the rigors of his profession. ← Spelling aside, I find this bit of self-deprecating, tongue-in-cheek writing amusing. In addition, I think he makes his point pretty well that though it is not necessarily a great restaurant, Bar Stuzzichini is a pretty darned good one within its particular context. I haven't been, so I can't offer an opinion on the restaurant itself, but , if anything, that paragraph encourages me to go.

There is nothing quite like the smell and taste of fresh roasted green chiles. This must be a fabulous time to be living there and enjoying that aroma!

I have enjoyed the varied aspects of this blog as I finally have had a few minutes to catch up with it. Though I live in NY State, I live on the other side near a city that can be spotted on the weather map Melissa posted above. That being said I am embarrassed to say that I have never really spent any time int he region of the blog. Cornell is the one Ivy School I have never visited. I did interview and was accepted at U of Rochester School of Medicine, but had the unfortunate experience of arriving to an empty campus in bleak December and so ultimately matriculated elsewhere. The closest that I have been to that region for any length of time has been Cooperstown, a marvelous town in its own right and home of the Baseball Hall of Fame and a fantastic farm museum amongst other delights. Nevertheless, it is apparent that these two regions of NY State share a lot in common, especially when it comes to food and agriculture with both areas seemingly experiencing a renaissance of agricultural quality.

The only place in Europe at which I have been asked not to take photos was Pierre Gagnaire. My understanding is that policy may have changed since then. As for Europeans not taking photos of their food in restaurants - that is patently untrue. In addition to those mentioned above, I have seen and been with a number of Europeans doing the same. I have also had my share of wonderful experiences and introductions secondary to my camera and my interest in the food.

What would a black ceiling do to the temperature of the space considering that it is a bakery with ovens and such?

I think I have an idea, but what exactly do you mean by "American Cuisine?" Also for the sake of clarity, what cost would you be anticipating from EMP or the Water Club?

For Achatz, it's still 'business as usual' =R= ← Great article. There is no question that he has a very serious illness. There are two approaches that he could take: beat it or surrender to it. It should be no surprise to anyone who knows him at all that he chose the former. May he be as successful with this endeavor as he has been with Alinea, one of the greatest restaurants in the world!