It never ceases to amaze me how developed eastern Long Island has become.  The further my sister drives me out on the island, the more and more new strip malls and houses pop up.  We were heading out to the Hamptons, when my sister told me about a pizza place my father and her like to frequent when out those ways.  She thinks they have some really good garlic knots, as well as some quality pizza.  The name of the place is Gio’s of Miller place.

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From Wall Street, Main Street and the various Side Streets of New York, our streets have been occupied by pizzerias since the turn of the twentieth century.  And while the current financial crisis has been debilitating to our economy and consequently consumers, pizza has remained an inexpensive staple of our modern time.  That is why I have recently started eating pizza more frequently.  Pizza has been a part of my life since early childhood in the living, breathing Smörgåsbord that is Brooklyn.  That is precisely why I find it more intriguing to discuss Little Joe’s III of East Setauket… Long Island!
Yes, Long Island.  Located on 30 Route 25A in East Setauket 631.689.8800, I recently found myself upon recommendation enjoying several of their slices, including their regular, white slice, and now my favorite, Grandma.  Do not get me wrong, I mean no disrespect to the pizzerias I have frequented during my time in Brooklyn and New York City – Grimaldi’s, L&B Spumoni Gardens, Nino’s Pizzeria, DiFara’s, and Totonno’s.  But I am convinced that the only thing separating Little Joe’s III from the above mentioned is proximity.  If Little Joe’s III were located in Brooklyn, or Manhattan, it would be a household name to many pizza lovers.
This comes as no surprise to me.  The owners are originally from Brooklyn and pay fair respect to details, using the finest and freshest ingredients regardless of cost.
As I alluded to before, the Grandma slice is my favorite, and I dare to say it rivals any competitor’s.  The owner informed me that the tomato sauce, which makes the slice, is his own recipe.  And unlike other pizzerias whom have failed to find the right balance of dough to make the perfect Grandma, Little Joe’s slice holds up – Literally.
I recommend anyone try this slice.

Little Joe’s III in E. Setauket gets 7 out of 8 slice!

editors notes:  I also recently tried this pizza upon a recommendation.  Although the Sicilian slice was average, I found the regular slice to be delicious!

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Ever have one of those “ooops, I shouldn’t have said anything moments?”  Well that is what happened to me when I went to Branchinelli’s Pizza in Hauppauge.

Branchinelli’s Pizza is located on 555 Route 111 in Hauppauge 631.724.6663.  My sister mentioned that this place must be good since it is always jammed.  When I first stepped inside I was amazed to see how jammed it was.  This place was super busy compared to all the other places I had gone before it this day.  There must have been like 7-9 people behind the counter helping people and 3-4 behind them making pizzas.  Plenty of oven space here.

We were greeted pretty quickly by an exceptionally nice guy.  I ordered one Sicilian slice and started waiting.  The kid behind the counter noticed my iPhone and we got into a conversation about stuff.  I mentioned to him I was from worstpizza.com and handed him a card telling him to check the site out.  Another guy behind the counter asked if I was the guy who was behind the site and I confirmed it.  He then asked what I thought of Colosseo in Port Jefferson Station.  As I am sure you all know, I went to Colosseo Pizza during a previous visit to Long Island and could not imagine for the life of me why people speak so highly of the pizza there.  It wasn’t anything near the Best Pizza in Long Island.    So, I responded with a “I think Colosseo stinks and is highly overrated and must pay the papers to rank it so high.”  That is when he informed me that they also owned Colosseo Pizza!  YIKES!

It was at this point I started to feel uncomfortable since the kid was about to call the owner over to introduce me, and I am sure he has been waiting to have some words with me!  Thank goodness the owner could care less to speak to a customer and walked away to do something else.  Remember how I always say, that the owners should interact with their customers?  Well I want to change this, and now say that Owners should always interact with their customers except for me at places I didn’t give great reviews too!

When the pizza came out I took a bite and noticed how crispy it was.  The pizza guy told me it is because they take pride in every pie they put out and make sure they all receive the proper rotations in the oven.  They have a system at Branchinelli’s, whereby the pizza hits all four corners of the oven during baking to ensure no cold spots.  I appreciate the care and pride they put into their pizza.  The cheese was nice and hot and the sauce was ok, the crust was crispy but didn’t have much taste to it.  I would definitely pick this place over Colosseo and say with absolute certainty that this place is better then Colosseo.

Branchinelli’s Pizza gets 5 out of 8 slices.

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