Paulie's, E1

The slice is right

I’ve written a few times this year about London’s recent obsessions with New York pizza and slice shops, but until now I haven’t actually written about an explicitly New York-style slice shop.

I don’t think anything in London comes closer to that description than Paulie’s, a pretty overt throwback to New York pizza, from the name down to the menu.

Paulie’s comes with a certain amount of pedigree. It’s the second London venture from chef Ryan O'Flynn, after making plenty of fans (myself included) with his two Detroit Pizza locations. O’Flynn is actually Canadian, despite the apparent obsession with Americana, but is open about his ambition to recreate a certain stripe of ‘80s NYC slice shop — not necessarily that the ‘80s were considered a particular golden era for New York pizza, but there was certainly a lot of it around.

The conceit is simple: pizzas are available whole in 14-inch and 18-inch sizes, but almost everything on the menu is available by the slice. Dollar slices these ain’t, starting at £4.50 for the tomato pie — be warned, this isn’t vegan thanks to a pecorino dusting, though there is a vegan variant available in a whole pizza — rising to £5 for a classic tomato and cheese and capping at £6 for the fully loaded stuff. If that sounds steep, bear in mind that you’d pay about the same at any modern revivalist slice shop in New York itself, and that two or three slices make for a pretty hefty meal.

I start with the classic, in the name of science, and out comes a picture-perfect slice that could have been lifted directly from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The dough is thin and chewy, sturdy enough for the tip to hold firm, soft enough to fold one-handed. It comes carpeted in mozzarella, blanketing a softly sweet marinara with just a hint of oregano. The crust is crisp and dry, browned from its slow bake and softly dusted in semolina, adding just enough interest to eat on its own, though there’s a range of dips for £2.99 each too — this is London, after all. I've said before that this isn’t my pizza style, but this is one of the best attempts at it I’ve had in the city, and quite a bit better than plenty I’ve eaten in New York.

Better still is a vodka and sausage slice, the booze drawing out the sweeter side of the tomato sauce to contrast with savoury sausage and pancetta. There’s a pepperoni option too — how couldn’t there be? — and a red slice that comes topped with a blob of mozzarella. The house special pairs pepperoni with jalapeños, then drizzles the lot with hot honey, which is apparently a thing we’re still doing. Can we move on yet?

The dud is the Sicilian square, which is only available by the slice. This felt like a guaranteed hit, since these thick slabs aren’t a million miles away from the cheese-crusted variant that O’Flynn has built his business on over at Detroit, but here it falls flat. The cheese lies heavy, verging on the congealed, ready to lift entirely off its tomato-soaked foundation. The doughy base is bubbly, but bland, which doesn’t cut it when it has to do so much of the heavy lifting here. If you fancy a square slice, do yourself a favour and walk down the road to the original Detroit, just a few minutes away, or hop on the 242 to the excellent Bing Bong Pizza, which makes the similar grandma slices its speciality. At Paulie’s, stick to the regular slices.

If that sounds boring, they do offer a Caesar salad and some buffalo wings, but I didn’t try either, and I probably trust David Ellis at The Standard’s advice to steer clear of the latter. We certainly agree that you should give the cookie a miss — it’s the overly soft, cakey sort that’s great for Instagram but not much else — and that there should be a law against the £3.99 option to order a pint of milk alongside. Soft serve looks like the better bet if you do need something sweet.

I don’t want to sound down on Paulie’s, because I’m really not. I paid a visit in the midst of research for a ranking of the best places in the city serving pizza by the slice, and (spoiler!) Paulie’s is making the cut. This is as good as the New York slice gets in London, crispy and chewy and cartoonish to the core; you just shouldn’t stray far from it.