It’s been many a moon since I sat by myself in the window of a pizza shop and ate a slice while standing and I have to say it is one of the joys of New York living. But also at the new Lucia Pizza of SoHo, which opened this summer on Canal and West Broadway, it is an experience that should not be missed. The pizza is so good, I made a friend over it: the gal next to me and I took our first bites at the same time and couldn’t help but chat about it. (She went back for a second slice because she had to try mine, the spinach.)

The crust is chewy but with a final crunch; the cheese was just the right amount of salty, and the spinach puree was swirled across the top. They use a light touch (fine by me) on the cheese — low-moisture mozzarella made by Lioni Latticini in Bensonhurst — but it is bubbling when they hand over the slice.

The place was packed when I was there, but the staff was still good natured. When my new friend’s second slice was lost in the shuffle, they gave her a free soda.

Lucia Pizza is originally “of Avenue X” in Sheepshead Bay, a slice shop that was opened in 2022 by Salvatore Carlino, who has a serious pizza lineage. Carlino’s parents, Greek and Sicilian immigrants, own Papa Leone Pizzeria, which opened four decades ago in Manhattan beach; it closed when his parents retired in 2017.

The name Lucia comes from the word lux, meaning light, in Latin, and Carlino is going for a “more wholesome approach to pizza, producing a lighter and healthier product, making for an elevated New York style pizza.”

He worked abroad for a several years in the music industry, and when he returned to the East Coast, he installed a brick in his Long Island backyard and started selling pies. He opened the storefront once he built some demand on social media; there are intentions to expand past Soho as well.

Pete Wells reviewed Lucia when it opened in Brooklyn and took some issue with the crust (not me) but also had this to say about the pies: “The tomato sauce tastes fresh and bright, not bitter or sugary. Fresh white mushrooms are cooked and cooked until they taste dark and meaty. That whipped ricotta really is good. Then there are the torn basil leaves tossed on the pies when they leave the oven, along with fine threads of grated pecorino. These are the touches that lift up even the simplest items at Lucia, like the classic New York slice and the margherita, with its fresh mozzarella arranged over the sauce in concentric rings.”

Eater has it on its “iconic pizzeria” list and calls it “one of several heavy-hitter, new-school slice shops…joining L’Industrie Pizza and Mama’s Too.” I didn’t get the new-school thing — I just thought it was good Brooklyn pie. With excellent old-school weekend hours:

Lucia Pizza of SoHo
375 Canal at West Broadway
917-965-2900
Monday – Wednesday: 11a to 10p
Thursday: 11a to 3a
Friday – Saturday: noon to 3a
Sunday: noon to 10p