Over the years, the Snob has accumulated a list of recommended pizza places so long, that I rarely can recall the source of any one of them. Case in point was my recent selection of Vinnie’s Pizza in Brooklyn. This lack of background also fails to include whether the tip differentiated between their Williamsburg and Greenpoint locations.

Vinnie’s in Greenpoint made for a perfect destination on my Monday afternoon jaunt to LaGuardia Airport. Close to the BQE, or Brooklyn-Queens Expressway to you non-New Yawkers, after my midday slices it was cool to get back on the highway right at the ramp for the new modern-art styled Kosciuszko Bridge.

After finding Vinnie’s Italian-flag colored store front on the corner of a commercial district, my rental car found a free parking spot on the side street. With an interesting home-grown mural on its side wall, the surroundings gave me a feel that there was some history to the neighborhood. To that end, I was soon quite surprised to find that Greenpoint was Vinnie’s newer (only about six-years-old) location, and that the OG was the one down in the hipster-haven of Williamsburg.

Mid-afternoon, I had Vinnie’s all to myself, and after ordering a pair of PC (“plain cheese”) slices for $2.50 each at the counter, I took a spot in the small seating area in front. They also have some counter space at the front window. It was just me and the two guys working the oven, and they were quite fun to chat up with about pizza, Brooklyn and the New York Mets.

Like I have seen before, there were specialty slices visible on the counter, but those PCs were kept in hiding. But, alas, they were reheated and ready after about a four-minute session in the oven. My new friend behind the counter then cried out “Come on—they’re good and hot!”

He wasn’t kidding, and in a way, that wasn’t such a good thing as the slices got droopy and some cheese slipped off. The Snob takes the blame for not letting them cool down a bit first. It took flipping back the front tip of the slice to get something manageable into my mouth. I must have looked like a pizza newbie!

Vinnie’s slice was cheesier than most (about one and a quarter times what I’d expect on an NY slice), but from the moment I got around to tasting things, I knew that this would be a flavorful piece of pizza, and it sure was. Man, that cheese came from good stock! Tasty indeed. My seasoning sensors also detected some good oregano utilization in the lightly applied tomato sauce underneath the cheese. The slices were also neither dry nor too oily.

Some of the slice management difficulties I had, came from the fact that the crust was not considerably charred and therefore not so crisp—that is until I got to those awesome end pizza bones which were chewy and crunchy. I think I could have eaten a bag of them! (Now there’s an interesting idea!)

Putting aside about my fumbling around and the fact that I had to scoop some cheese off my plate, Vinnie’s slice was a flavor extravaganza that sent all my pizza senses to Heaven.

I’m sending you to Vinnies—it was fantastic.

PIZZA SNOB RATING ****1/2 Nearer Perfection
Vinnie’s Pizza
253 Nassau Avenue
Brooklyn, NY  111222
718-389-2600
www.vinniesbrooklyn.com