• Best Restaurant Pie

  Giorgione

  307 Spring Street, 212-352-2269

  The pizza station is manned by a pro, and the proof is in the superb, sparingly topped Neapolitan specimens.

• Best Bar Pie

  Beacon

  25 West 56th Street, 212-332-0500

  This thin-crust, wood-oven-fired ovoid beauty is slicked with a tangy quattro-formaggi mix and wild mushrooms, and rustically served on a wooden plank.

• Best Pie In Transit

  Figs

  Central Terminal Building, La Guardia Airport, 718-446-7600

  The signature prosciutto, fig, and Gorgonzola pie is the silver lining in a La Guardia layover.

• Best Worth-the-Trip Pie

  Di Fara Pizza

  1424 Avenue J, Midwood, Brooklyn, 718-258-1367

  You could fly to Palermo in the time it takes to get here on the Q, but you wouldn’t find such an artful artichoke slice or as succulent a Sicilian.

• Best Myth-Shattering Pie

  Nick's

  1814 Second Avenue, 212-987-5700; 108-26 Ascan Avenue, Forest Hills, 718-263-1126

  Heavenly mozzarella, a subtly sweet sauce, and a charred, slightly puffy, flavorful crust. Nick’s pie triumphs without the benefit of a fancy oven: no wood, no Vesuvian-lava stone, not even a single brick.

• Best Old-School Pie

  Totonno's

  1524 Neptune Avenue, Coney Island, Brooklyn, 718-372-8606

  The blistered crust, the sweet mozzarella ooze, the dabs of sauce all coalesce into a work of art; the occasional pizzaiolo outburst and no-frills, airline-wine-bottle selection only add to the charm.

From the 2004 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine