Best Pizza

How One Facebook Group is Shaking up Westchester’s Pizza Scene

As a lifelong New Yorker and Queens native, New Rochelle’s Darin Feldman was always a big pizza fan. But until a few years ago, his family’s mindset was that “pizza is pizza,” and the slice shop around the corner would generally do.

“We always liked pizza a lot,” Feldman says. “But we never really differentiated between places.”

Then a few years back, Feldman and his son decided to take a ride to acclaimed Eastchester pizzeria Polpettina. He was impressed by the pie’s quality and unique style and began wondering what other noteworthy slices he was missing out on a short drive away.

Last summer, Feldman started Westchester Pizza Lovers, a Facebook group where members debate that very question. As of press time the group has nearly 7,600 members, who each day share pictures and rate their slices from across the county.

Westchester Pizza Lovers was not the first food group launched by Feldman. Two years prior he started NY EATS & TREATS, “a group for eaters, boozers, fine diners and late-night munchers.” That group has some 1,600 members. But he found that his posts about pizza were the ones with the most discussion and engagement.

“For better or worse, everyone in the food group was referencing me as the pizza guy,” he recalls.

Feldman then reached out to his friend Scott Fiore, a North Castle resident whom he met through another food group and proposed launching a page dedicated just to pizza in Westchester. “I said, ‘Yea, that sounds like a good idea,’” Fiore recalls.
“I didn’t expect it to be this big.”

Unlike Feldman, Fiore never questioned the difference between noteworthy and run-of-the-mill pizza.

“My father was very particular about his pizza,” the Bronx native says. “You couldn’t just bring him home any pizza. If it was too thick, he’d look at it and be like, ‘Oh that’s a wagon wheel. What are you bringing this stuff home for?’” he recalls. “It always had to be thin, well-done but not burnt.” So, Fiore always found himself searching for worthy pizza, including when he and his wife moved to Westchester.

“That’s how we started, just looking for good pizza and going to different restaurants and different pizza places,” he says. “It was just about a love of pizza and finding really good pizza. Not just finding pizza, but really good pizza.”

Feldman and Fiore weren’t the only ones. Once launched, Westchester Pizza Lovers took off, at times adding some 1,000 members in a month.

Some of the best

Westchester Pizza Lovers features a constant stream of posts of people sharing their pizza orders of the day, from pizzerias across the county. Posters sometimes rate their pies, often on a 1-10 scale, describing what they liked about the pizza and where it could be improved. Rules for the group are simple – be respectful and stick only to Westchester pizzas (Feldman has launched a separate page for pies across the Hudson Valley).

“Marios Pizza & Pasta, Mt. Kisco NY, great pizza!!” reads one typical post, along with photos. “Thin crust nice and crisp. 10/10!”

“Went for a grandma slice,” says another post, along with a picture of a sad-looking square corner slice from a local pizzeria. “There was no love put into this creation, lol!”

Members also often seek advice on where to get pizza in a given town, or with a certain dietary restriction.

“Are there any vegan pizza options in lower Westchester?” one commenter asked, in a post that received several responses. “Also, any places that have vegan cheese, not just sauce and toppings?”

While a wide range of pizzerias are shared on the page, several favorites have emerged. Johnny’s in Mount Vernon, an 82-year-old establishment which Feldman calls the best in the county “by leaps and bounds,” earns plenty of acclaim. But the most popular in terms of posts and enthusiasm is Pizza Fenice in Pelham, a relative newcomer to the pizza scene.

“Everything he puts out is just exceptional,” Feldman said of owner John Gristina.

There are plenty of places in Chappaqua, Briarcliff, Armonk, and Pleasantville – Inside Press’s coverage area – that are frequently touted in the group. One is Arthur Avenue Wood Fired Pizza in Pleasantville, a favorite of Feldman, whose owner, Brian Peroni, is a group member.

Peroni said he found the page and realized it could be a useful way to keep up on the Westchester pizza scene and promote his own business (restaurant owners are allowed to post promotional items only on Fridays).

“It was nice to see,” Peroni says. “It’s nice to see other places and hope that other businesses are doing well.”

Peroni says that posts in the group have occasionally brought in new customers.

“People come in and say they were on Westchester Pizza Lovers, and they saw it,” he recounts. “So, it’s been a positive. It’s been a plus.”

Another popular local spot is Donato’s Trattoria in Briarcliff, which Fiore says ranks in his personal top 15 or so pizzerias in the county. Amore in Armonk, a personal favorite of Feldman and Fiore, is also frequently shared. In Chappaqua, Feldman mentions Old Stone Trattoria as one of his favorites and says Pizza Station gets significant attention from group members.

And another relative newcomer – Margherita Pizza in Thornwood – has gained popularity.

Burbs or the boroughs?

So how does Westchester’s pizza scene stack up against pizza in New York City? On aggregate, Feldman says, it does not compare. “However, I do think there are quite a few individual pizzas throughout Westchester, and more than a handful, that can absolutely compete with any of the ones in New York City,” he notes.

He points to Johnnys and some of the slice shops in Yonkers – Dunwoodie Pizzeria, John’s Pizza on Devoe Street, Sophia’s on McLean – as just about as good as the best places in the boroughs.

“A lot of people ignorantly say, ‘Westchester pizza, there’s nothing here,’” he continues. “That’s really not true. You just have to do a little bit of homework and be willing to branch out of the comfort zone of your own backyard and maybe travel 15 to 20 minutes.”

For now, Westchester Pizza Lovers is a labor of love for Feldman, who co-owns A-Game Sports in New Rochelle. “At this point in time, I get zero income,” he says of his pizza group. “For now, this is just a fun hobby for me.”

But Feldman has thought about finding ways to turn the group into something bigger and hopes to do meetups, pizza crawls, and events in the future. And both Feldman and Fiore hope their group can help people discover their new favorite pizzeria in their own neighborhood or just beyond.

“Life is too short to eat [lackluster] pizza,” Feldman said in a May 30 post on the group, using a more colorful term. “Drive the extra 20 minutes to get a pie you are truly going to enjoy.”