It's More Than Just a Slice to End the Night
Cheap, hot and open late: the New York dollar slice is street food, a social equalizer and the city's unofficial nightcap.
Two a.m. on the Lower East Side. The bars are letting out and the subway is a gamble, and there's one bright window still open: the cheap-slice joint. A thin, foldable, slightly greasy slice of cheese pizza handed over on a paper plate is one of New York's great equalizers. Students, bartenders, line cooks, bankers and tourists all eat the same thing standing at the same counter.
A brief history of the dollar slice
The dollar slice took off in New York in the 2000s, when a handful of shops, with 2 Bros. Pizza the best known, made a business of selling cheese slices for a single dollar. The model ran on volume, a simple menu and fast ovens. Competitors such as 99 Cent Fresh Pizza followed, and the cheap slice became a fixture near transit hubs, campuses and nightlife strips like the Lower East Side.
Why it isn't always a dollar anymore
Rising rent, wages, flour and cheese prices have pushed many shops to $1.50 or more, and the true one-dollar slice is getting harder to find. The spirit hasn't changed, though. The cheap slice is still the city's most affordable hot meal, and it's still the default way to end a night out.
How to eat it like a New Yorker
- Fold it. The lengthwise fold keeps the tip from flopping and the oil off your shirt.
- Add the shakers. Garlic powder, red pepper flakes, oregano and Parmesan are free and essential.
- Eat it standing up, ideally on the sidewalk.
- Don't expect artisanal. That isn't the point.
The Lower East Side late-night circuit
The LES is one of the best neighborhoods in the city for after-hours food. Cheap slice shops sit a few blocks from Katz's Delicatessen, where pastrami is a different kind of late-night indulgence, and the sweets at Economy Candy on Rivington Street. Check current hours, since late-night schedules change often.
More than a slice
Pizza snobs can argue about coal ovens and sourdough crusts. The cheap slice keeps going because it does one thing perfectly: it feeds anyone, at any hour, for almost nothing. That's a very New York kind of hospitality.
