When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie...

Let's start with a fact: I love pizza. I adore pizza. It is easily one of my favorite foods. So, when Bonnie casually mentioned that she hadn't had much pizza in the city I almost flipped out. However, she did also say this in the context of suggesting that we try out a pizza joint or two. An excuse to eat more pizza? Do you really have to ask?

I have a few favorite places close by. Il Porto is not very close but the location is interesting: past the BQE, close to docks. While not an inviting walk, it does guarantee a seat and extra attentive service in a nearly empty restaurant. They also deliver to my house, which is the option I usually take. However, if I'm going to have pizza delivered it is both faster and cheaper to order from Not Ray's. They make a damn good pizza, too, but they close entirely too early, even on weekends.

Nowhere close but yummy is South Brooklyn Pizza. Their crust is crisp and flaky unlike any I've found in the city so far. However, I have to say what truly draws me here are their cookies. If you order dessert, they warm the chocolate chip cookies in their brick oven. Two words: gooey deliciousness.

There are still other pizzas on my own little island that warrant an exploratory meal. Oddly, they all seem to be named after people: Franny's, Graziella's, Ignazio's.

On Bonnie's island, most of my pizza experiences have been limited to the random corner shop, usually with a name that includes "Ray's" and "famous" in a combination more interesting than any of their slices. One notable exception is Koronet, not for the quality but for the size. One slice, which costs only a dollar or two more than any other slice, is as long as my arm. An entire pizza could probably feed me for a month.

But in the interest of quality, I need to try more Manhattan pizzas. Luckily, it seems that quality pizza is the current food fad in the city. A number of new places keep cropping up in daily email announcements, including Keste, Luzzo's, Farinella, and Co.

So we have a few places to add to our list. In the meantime, I continue to buy my favorite cornmeal pizza crusts from Whole Foods and make my own.

Dinner pizzas include:

• Stir fried broccoli and red onion, mozzarella, tomato sauce
• Diced red and yellow pepper, asparagus ribbons, goat cheese
• Roasted brussel sprouts, pepper bacon, mozzarella, tomato sauce

Breakfast pizzas include:

• Scrambled eggs, onion, sausage, gruyere
• Scrambled eggs, pepper bacon, heirloom tomato, mozzarella, minced garlic