On a recent trip to NYC the boyfriend and I were on the hunt for ah-mazing pizza. After getting confused by so many options, seeing pizzas that looked like they had been sitting in glass cases since the dinosaurs and not wanting to settle for what everyone claims is New York's best, we decided to look up the history of pizza in the city. We learned Gennaro Lombardi started it all in 1905 with the nation's first pizzeria. His protege, John Sasso, learned everything from Gennaro and opened his own place in 1929. So..... we headed to Johns of Bleeker, which has been in it's original location since 1929 in Greenwich Village. It's one of the only coal fired ovens left in the city and apparently what makes their crust so damn famous. Ok, enough backstory, let's talk pizza. 
There was a line. A pretty long line actually and it was freezing. Every tourist in New York it seemed, was on the same quest as us. Lines mean one of two things 1. We are waiting for something really worth waiting for or 2. Hype. I hoped it wasn't the latter. Soooooo we decided to wait it out in hopes of ridiculously good pizza. The line actually moved rather quickly and we were seated in about 15 minutes. The place was divey. Divey in an old school pizzeria way that actually made it homey and warm. Or maybe that was just the coal oven........Anyway, the two rooms were packed with people obviously enjoying their pizzas that smelled and looked amazing. Good sign. Maybe it wasn't all hype. We sat, got menus that said, " No Slices" and "Cash Only" and ordered root beers. We decided to just order a cheese pizza and add fresh basil in order to taste it in its purest form. 10 minutes later a beautiful pie was in front of us.
John's Of Bleeker
278 Bleeker St
NYC
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