Arinell: New York Style Pizza for a West Coast Crowd
Why was this little pizza joint voted into the S.F. Bay Guardian’s Best of the Bay list and given an SF Weekly’s Best Of award? Because it’s one of the few go-to spots for a slice of real New York-style pizza, the thin-crust variety you can fold in half while the grease drips over your fingers. The kind that isn’t overwhelmed with a thick layer of cheese; it’s got flavors built into the sauce, complementing just the right amount of dry-aged mozzarella. It’s what New Yorkers find lacking in most every other imitation slice that claims to be the real deal.
Tourists and visitors looking to fill their East Coast craving will be steered to the likes of Amici’s or Gioia, the fancy restaurant affairs with big restaurant-prices. Arinell is a hole-in-the-wall with only a row of stools at the counter. But you can pay by the slice for a few dollars, and just $5 gets you far with a soda to wash down your lunch. Thicker, Sicilian slices are also on the menu.
Pizza lovers in both San Francisco and Berkeley flock to this joint, knowing a good deal when they’ve found one. Of course, a delicious slice of pizza doesn’t hurt either. Arinell owner Ron Demirdjian, originally from Washington Heights, New York, opened the bigger Berkeley location first in the 70’s, following with the Mission District reveal in 1992. Today, his clients go well beyond appreciative Cal students to include an in-the-know, S.F. crowd.
The Shattuck Avenue location in Berkeley has a few tables along with a counter. But one way to swing it is to order your slices to go (boxes now cost $.50 each) and meander over to the big grass lawn on nearby University Ave.
If you’re not up for another gourmet pizza with all the extra frills, Arinell is the place to go. Single-slice orders of the thin-Neapolitan crust pizzas include two side-by-side, generously-sized slices, which may have gotten smaller in recent times. The only word of warning is if you’ve got a big appetite, you may need to order up another round.
HelloSanFrancisco tip: Extra toppings are $.75 extra and include pepperoni, fresh mushrooms, black olives, fresh garlic, sausage, and onions.
Posted by Renee Rutledge
