Juliana’s Pizza

Juliana’s plays into Dumbo’s historical pizza wars in a way that is by now boring to rehash, but, long story short, the owner is Patsy Grimaldi, who can trace his pizza bona fides back to the original Lombardi’s and has been slinging pies at this location on and off since 1990. Juliana’s beats its famous neighbor Grimaldi’s (the business Patsy sold years ago) not just in quality but in its slightly less touristy nature. The thin-crust pies are exceptional, especially with arugula and pepperoni, and the mystique of the original hand-built, blazingly hot hearth — the first coal-fired oven commissioned in New York in over 50 years — only adds to the wow. Also, they do takeout, which Grimaldi’s does not.