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When a counterperson asks if you’re “a true celiac” you know you’re not in an ordinary pizza joint. Slice’s servers seem schooled in a range of dietary restrictions, and will cheerily custom-build slices and pies with organic components like spelt crust or vegan cheese. They also take pleasure in recommending mostly successful mad-scientist experiments like the Taste of India (chana masala and mozzarella) or the Radha (hummus, olives, onions). While each piece is made to order, the payoff isn’t always worth the long wait. Toppings can quickly reduce crusts to mush, and pizza often emerges lukewarm from the black-tiled kitchen. Slice’s name matches its bright space, a narrow, blond-wood-and-brick strip on a restaurant-rich Upper East Side block. Most neighborhood customers order delivery or take-out rather than squeeze into one of five tiny white tables. If you stay, there’s plenty to distract, from a pile of board games to funny, faux-scientific posters praising “the perfect food” – pizza, of course. — Michael Kaminer

Taste of India, $4.50/slice; expert chicken, $5/slice; master sausage, $5/slice