Best Upscale Pizza In NYC

The city's ubiquitous dollar slice is proof that pizza doesn't have to be extravagant in New York. The no-frills necessary pie is luxuriously cheap and still beloved—that's NYC-style amore. But New York also has plenty of big pizza pies that are no stranger to a little bling. We're talking pizzas worth eating with actual silverware—because a sprinkle of red pepper flakes is nothing compared to a dusting of edible gold.

Dan Kluger, the former executive chef at Jean-­Georges Vongerichten's ABC Kitchen, opened Loring Place in a vein reminiscent of the ABC empire: a veggie-rich menu, plus whole-wheat pizzas. The pies are where the money is, with dough made from a custom mix of flours (from house-milled to organic white) and enriched with farm-fresh, seasonal flavors. The fanciest, a White Truffle Grandma-Style Pizza, is sprinkled with pawlett—a buttery Italian cheese—and Parmesan cheese before it gets a heavy hand of delicately shaved white truffle. Fancy that.

It's unclear whether anyone actually orders the 24K from Industry Kitchen, but if you're keen on the Donald Trump of pizza pie, this $2,000 version is topped with Stilton cheese, foie gras, platinum Ossetra caviar, truffle, and 24-karat gold leaves. And if all those accoutrements aren't enough, consider throwing down another $700 to add Almas caviar.

At $38, Sofia Pizza Shoppe's pricey pie is as expensive as it is elusive. Called the DoughDici, the six-slice creation debuted over the summer, originally available a few nights per week for a limited number of guests who purchased an online ticket in advance. Now off the menu, it's even more exclusive, but equally as expensive. The pizzeria only releases a handful of tickets which it sporadically announces through Instagram. The high price accounts for precise timing: Precious dough cold-ferments for three days before it's allowed to rise over 12 hours. Once baked, it's a two-inch-high pie—the very height of luxury pizza.