Upside Pizza

Noam Grossman bakes in a Montague brick oven, lined top, bottom and sides. He says few New York pizzerias use one.2 This is the Chelsea shop, at 555 Sixth Avenue.3

Why go

Grossman opened the first Upside in the Garment District in January 2019. The shop was 330 square feet, on the corner of 39th Street.2 He came out of operations at B.GOOD and Dig Inn. He built the place with Eli and Oren Halali, who run the 2 Bros dollar-slice shops.2 Anthony Falco made his name at Roberta's and came in as the pizza consultant. They messaged him on Instagram, and the full natural fermentation is what got him.2

Grossman's cooks stretch the mozzarella every morning. They make the spice blends, the breadcrumbs, the sausage and the sauteed mushrooms in house.2 The brick on every face gives an even, gentle heat, which is his reason for choosing it.2

Order this / avoid

Order: the cheese slice. The dough is the same across all eight shops, and Spring Street is where Carlo Mantuano tasted it.1 2
Order: a square. The cheeseless Sicilian goes out under thin sliced garlic and crisped basil leaves.1
Avoid: treating the eight shops as one. This one shuts earlier on a weeknight than Greenpoint, Nolita or Morningside Heights. All three run to the small hours at the weekend.3

What locals & experts say

Carlo Mantuano, in The Infatuation, on the Spring Street cheese slice (11 June 2021): After trying Upside's cheese slice from their new Soho location that's made with sourdough, we might be ready to say goodbye to Joe's as our de facto NYC slice recommendation. The dough from Upside is noticeably tangy, the cheese stays put, and there are patches of bubbly caramelized cheese that make us thankful for fire.1
Noam Grossman, the founder, to Devin Gannon at 6sqft on 3 April 2019: It's 100% naturally leavened, made using a sourdough starter and unbleached, unbromated flour, and takes a full 72 hours to rise. There isn't another slice shop in the city using dough like ours.2

Good to know

The door: eight shops trade under the name, from Greenpoint to Wall Street. This is the Chelsea one.3
What the house says it is doing: Elevating the New York slice experience, Upside Pizza honors the traditional with a meticulous approach to create the perfect pie.4

Verdict

could-visit — Pay by the slice; a whole pie is not the point of this shop. I would take the square before the round.