Square Pizza by the Slice Since 1959: Rizzo's Fine Pizza

Rizzo's Fine Pizza has been cutting thin square pizza by the slice at 3013 Steinway Street in Astoria, Queens, since the spring of 1959. The house specialty is not the triangle most visitors expect but a light, crackly square with big bursts of tomato sauce on top, a sprinkle of grated cheese and creamy mozzarella tucked underneath. If your search for a slice brings you to Queens, this is the pie Astoria families have ordered for three generations, still made by the same family.

According to the shop's own history page, brothers Joseph and Salvatore Rizzo opened the shop with their brother-in-law Hugo Lupi in 1959, in a small storefront in the heart of Astoria. At the start they made only one type of pie and offered no toppings at all. The family still owns and operates the business today, and the original Steinway Street counter remains the flagship even after a Lower East Side branch opened in Manhattan.

That single-pie stubbornness explains the tagline you see across the menu: the original thin crust square, since 1959. Joe Rizzo once told a reporter that everybody who praises the pie really praises the sauce, and that it is made strictly from whole tomatoes. The second generation added more options over the decades, but the square that the founders sold to Steinway Street shoppers in the Eisenhower years is still the reason the line forms.

Forget the thick, bready Sicilian you find at most corner shops. The official menu describes the Rizzo's square as a light, thin crust with big bursts of fresh tomato sauce, generous sprinkles of grated cheese and a delicate topping of creamy mozzarella. The crust shatters at the corners and stays soft in the middle, and the sauce sits on top in bright, slightly sweet streaks rather than hiding under the cheese.

Critics have been trying to pin it down for years. One review quoted on the shop's press page argues that Brooklyn is thin-Sicilian country, but the holy grail of that rare style is here in Queens. Another writer simply said they had never seen a Sicilian quite like it. Business Insider once ran a Yelp ranking that named Rizzo's the best pizza place in New York City, a line the family is not shy about repeating.

Walk in, look at the trays behind the glass, and order your squares and slices at the counter. The second-generation owner, David Rizzo, has said he believes pizza is meant to be eaten at Rizzo's rather than at home out of a box, so eat at least the first square on the spot while the bottom is still crisp. A reheated square loses some of that crackle after a long subway ride.

For groups the shop takes phone orders on its two-pie specials, and online ordering is available for pickup and delivery. Ordering ahead is the smart move on Friday evenings and weekend afternoons, when Steinway Street is at its busiest and families pick up several pies at once. If you are coming from Manhattan just for the square, a weekday mid-afternoon visit, after the lunch crowd and before the dinner orders start, tends to mean a short line at the counter.

Lunch hour fills the counter with people who work along the Steinway Street retail strip, and the two-pie phone specials make Friday nights the busiest stretch for takeout. Mid-afternoon is calmer and good for a square eaten standing at the counter. A full order of squares makes a solid dinner for two, especially with a side of garlic knots on the table, and the thin crust travels well if you are carrying a box back toward the subway.

First-timers should ask for a mix: one or two plain squares, one round cheese slice and something from the named specialty list. That way you taste the 1959 original next to the newer pies the family has added. Grated cheese and red pepper flakes are already on the counter, but the square does not need much help, since the founders built the whole recipe around that tomato sauce.

Steinway Street itself is one of the longest shopping strips in Queens, lined with clothing shops, Middle Eastern cafes and bakeries further north toward Little Egypt. After your square, walk south toward 35th Avenue and the Museum of the Moving Image, which sits beside Kaufman Astoria Studios, where films and television shows have been shot since the silent era. The museum's exhibits on film and video games make an easy add-on.

If you would rather stay outdoors, head west toward Astoria Park on the East River, where the lawns under the Hell Gate and Triborough bridges are a favorite place for locals to sit with takeout. A square or two from Rizzo's travels well enough for that walk, and the view across to Randalls Island and Manhattan gives a slice run in Queens a proper finish.

Address: 3013 Steinway Street, Astoria, NY 11102. Email: rizzosfinepizza@gmail.com. Transit: the M and R trains stop at Steinway Street a few blocks south, and the N and W trains stop at 30th Avenue a short walk west. A second Rizzo's is on Clinton Street on the Lower East Side, but the Astoria counter is the 1959 original.

Prices from the shop's online ordering menu: regular cheese slice $5 and garlic knots $3. Vegan and gluten-free cauliflower crusts are on the menu. Phone orders are taken for the two-pie specials. Ask Karpo in the Karpo APP for a Steinway Street dessert stop or a museum plan after your square.