has time and time again been pepperoni.

We visited three top-rated restaurants,

Prince's, Rubirosa, and Emily,

to find which pepperoni slice is best in town.

Erin Kommor: OK, so, what are we looking for?

Herrine: So, at each spot, we're going to be

looking at three qualities.

One, thick-cut pepperoni.

Each cup should be thick enough to cup up

and have that nice crispy exterior.

Two, distribution.

Since the ronis are the star of the show,

there should be a generous amount of cups on each slice.

And three, overall flavor.

The three pizzas are all different,

so whether the pepperoni is the only topping or not,

we're thinking big picture.

No singular topping or sauce

should overwhelm the palate.

Erin: Let's go. Herrine: Let's do it.

So, our first stop is Prince Street Pizza,

and this place inspired me

to make this whole entire video.

Erin: It is?

Herrine: The reason why is because

the Spicy Spring here

is unlike anything that I've tried.

Erin: What is "Spicy Spring"?

Herrine: It is a pepperoni pizza

that is just covered in pepperoni.

You haven't seen anything like it.

Erin: I believe you.

I am pumped.

Wait, is that the line?

It is fully wrapped around the entire block!

Employee: There you go. Customer: Thank you!

Dominic Morano: Prince Street Pizza started

January 2013, and our most famous slice

is our Spicy Spring pepperoni pizza.

Customer: You can't find this pizza anywhere else.

Dominic: With a lot of the slices that we have in the store,

they're named after streets in the neighborhood

to pay homage to the neighborhood

because I have a lot of roots in here.

Herrine: Why Spring Street specifically?

Dominic: It just rhymed. [laughs]

Honestly, it just rhymed.

The Spicy Spring is a Sicilian.

It's a special cut of Italian pepperoni,

and it has a low-moisture fresh mozzarella

and has fra diavolo sauce,

which is my grandfather's recipe.

For the people at home that don't know what fra diavolo is,

it's a spicy marinara sauce.

With our pepperoni,

it's different from the original types

of pepperonis that are really flat

and they're kinda, like, bologna-ish.

These ones are the sticks,

and we cut them to where

it's not too thin and not too thick.

We cut them right in the middle.

Herrine: Why do you decide to put so much

pepperoni on here?

Dominic: This goes back to what we originally talked about

in the video from a couple years ago.

It'll upset people if you don't give

an even amount of pepperoni on every slice,

like Robert De Niro said.

Herrine: We waited, like, 40-ish minutes?

Erin: 43, to be exact.

It is around the block.

Herrine: Thank you.

OK, there is truly no place to sit.

Dominic: You guys got it?

Herrine: Yeah, we got it.

There's no place to sit.

Erin: Wait, where is he taking us?

Oh...

Herrine: She's stunning.

my

goodness!

Herrine: Is it anything like you've ever seen before?

Erin: No. I've literally never seen

that many peps before.

Herrine: Honestly, this whole experience

is a very new thing for me.

Sitting in a basement of a pizza shop.

Erin: I've never sat in a basement of a pizza shop.

Herrine: Do you have a preference of what slice you want?

Erin: Yeah.

Herrine: Which one do you want?

Erin: They're all honestly perfectly beautiful,

but, let's see, this one's, like, calling to me.

Herrine: OK.

Even distribution, thick cups.

Erin: Even, thick.

It looks spicy. Let's see if it's spicy.

I'm a little worried. Like,

what if it's too salty? There's so many peps.

Herrine: That's a good point. Erin: But let's see.

Let's see, let's see, let's see.

OK.

So I don't know if it's 'cause I don't get out much,

[laughs]

but I've never had a pepperoni that's cooked like this.

Like, do you see the coloring?

It's like a beautiful work of art.

It's perfectly crispy on the outside,

and it's thick,

and the grease, like, pools in the middle,

like a little, like, hot tub

that you wanna go swim in and never leave.

Herrine: No. Erin: OK, cool.

How's the crust?

Herrine: So many things going on.

You get the caramelization from the pepperoni,

but also from the crust.

The sauce is spicy and, like, not wet.

Erin: Yeah.

Herrine: It's just overwhelming,

but in the best way possible.

Like, overwhelming in the sense that, like,

you're struggling to eat it,

but you can't wait to get that next bite

because it's just that good.

The one thing is that, just because it's so greasy,

like, if another place is less greasy

but it has the same exact everything.

Erin: But I don't think the flavors can be

this good without the grease.

But I do, I know what you're saying.

Maybe, like, drawing the grease back a tiny bit.

Herrine: A smidge. Erin: A smidge.

Herrine: So this is already setting the bar

so, so high. Erin: Oh, so high.

I'm, like, a little worried.

Herrine: The other two places that we're going to

are, like, unique spins.

The pepperoni is still star of the show.

It's gonna be really hard to beat this.

Erin: All right, our second stop,

not far from Prince Street,

is Rubirosa.

Herrine: And this place is an absolute neighborhood gem.

Today we will be trying their Tie-Dye Roni Pie.

Bari Musacchio: So, I think the tie-dye roni pie

is, like, just for people who cannot

decide what they wanna eat.

Because the tie-dye pie alone, you have

tomato sauce, vodka sauce, pesto, all on one pie.

Then, our other most popular pizza

is a classic pepperoni pie.

So one day, people just started saying,

"Well I kinda want a pepperoni pie,

and I kinda want a tie-dye pie."

Decided to put it together, and it ended up

being the best combination on Earth.

Customer: It's the perfect texture of pepperoni.

Just because of how it's cooked.

It's got a little bit of everything.

If you want that little bit of crisp with a bite,

if you want that chewiness, it's got it all.

Bari: I think it's the thinness that's really,

like, the signature family technique,

is that we get the pizzas paper, paper thin.

For the tie-dye pizza, we use fresh mozzarella cheese.

If you go to a classic slice joint,

you're gonna use a low-moisture cheese.

This is actually, it's a little bit more similar

to the pies that you would find Neapolitan-style.

It's a signature spiral move.

So, we do tomato on the outside,

then a circle of vodka,

and then at the end we add the pesto,

also in a spiral formation.

What makes our pepperoni different

is just the thickness that we slice it,

and then that allows it to form that pepperoni cup.

Erin: I'm, like, a little hesitant,

because pesto, vodka, and marinara

is a little overwhelming,

but I'm interested to see how it tastes.

Herrine: OK, let's go. Let's do it.

Erin: Let's just do it.

Cheers. Herrine: Cheers.

Erin: Oh, my God.

I'm a big fan.

I've never had pesto on pizza.

Herrine: Really? Erin: Ever.

It's very, like, herbaceous, and it, like,

[clicks]

makes the sauce pop.

[Herrine laughs]

You know what I mean?

Herrine: How do we feel about the thinness of it?

'Cause it's a lot thinner than Prince Street, right?

Erin: It's so much thinner than Prince Street.

But I kinda like a thin crust,

'cause for some reason my brain feels less bad

about eating the pizza.

It's, like, less bread.

Herrine: I actually do enjoy

how the pepperoni cups here are a little bit

thinner, 'cause they crisp up,

and they're a little crunchier

than the ones back at Prince Street.

Erin: I want, like, them to make me,

like, a plate of pepperonis.

Herrine: They're crispier because they're thinner,

but I feel like because Prince Street is thicker,

those cups have a lot more, like, texture to them.

My question for you is, though,

would you take this over,

like, a classic pepperoni pizza?

Erin: I feel like it depends on, like, the day.

If I'm craving something, like,

special and wild, I would go for this.

But if I'm just craving, like, a classic pepperoni,

I would maybe not.

But today I'm feeling wild, and I like it.

OK, Herrine. We are going

to Emily in Clinton Hill.

We are trying the Colony pizza.

It is a trifecta of flavors:

salty, sweet, and spicy.

Herrine: That sounds delicious.

Erin: Yes.

Herrine: So, depending on which Emily you go to,

you can get a round pie or a square pie.

Today we're gonna be trying both.

Erin: Amazing. Let's go.

Emily Hyland: In Clinton Hill, at our original location,

we serve pizzas from our wood-fired oven

that are New York, New Haven style.

So, round, superthin crust,

really fun topping combinations.

In addition to Pizza Loves Emily,

we also have Emmy Squared pizza,

and we serve Detroit-inspired pizza.

Customer: I love the Colony most for

the honey drizzle

and probably the juicy little pepperonis on the top.

Matthew Hyland: I think a perfect pepperoni pizza

has balance on it.

It should have a good amount of pepperoni,

but it shouldn't be overwhelming.

So, we stretch our dough out.

We stretch it out very thin.

We don't like to have a lot of crust on our dough.

So you'll see the tomato sauce goes out

all the way to the edge.

We add pecorino, mozzarella, homemade mozzarella on it,

pickled jalapeños, then we'll put our pepperoni.

We use Ezzo pepperoni.

We like Ezzo because it's thick-cut and it cups up.

It works nice with our flavor profile.

There's a little bit of spice to it, but it's not too spicy.

We're using a wood-fired oven, and our pizza

is definitely cooked a little bit more well done

than New York-style pizza.

It'll come out, get cut,

honey on it, and then served.