Play You, Play Me: Pre-Theater Pizza at 44 & X

February 13, 2006 | By Adam Roberts | 4 Comments

Sometimes you eat gourmet pizza because you’re in the mood for gourmet pizza. Other times you eat gourmet pizza because you’ve gotten student tickets for Horton Foote’s “The Trip to Bountiful,” it’s 6:30 PM and freezing outside, and the restaurant closest to the theater is too expensive for you and your companions. That restaurant would be 44 & X which is on the corner of (duh!) 44 & 10th Ave. I’ve eaten there before and written about it here. The food is good but a bit pricey. My companions on this chilly theatrical eve were not having it. So where did we wind up? Why…44 & X. Huh?

Ok, I’m confused myself. The one on the corner of 44th and 10th is called 44 & X, right? Well how come we walked a few doors down and found ANOTHER 44 & X that served more reasonably priced food.? Clearly they had the same owners because the waiters were wearing similar t-shirts. I’ve done some Googling to determine an answer and an answer I have not found. [Incidentally, when I worked at Atlanta Legal Aid my boss wrote an evaluation that said my research skills were "abysmal."] So you’ll just have to accept that the 44 & X I review in this post is not the same 44 & X I reviewed a few months ago. This 44 & X has pizza.

Gourmet pizza. And somewhat reasonably priced at $12 for an individual pie. Now that may not sound reasonable, but perhaps you should consider that one of the pies featured lobster:

[Oooooooooooh.]

Diana’s pie featured mushrooms:

[Ahhhhhhhhh.]

And Patty’s pie featured Provencal ingredients like olives, tomatoes and mustard:

[Hmmmmm.]

Oh don’t “hmmm.” That mustard one was delicious: in fact, it was my favorite. We all shared each others. We agreed that the lobster and the Provencal were the best and that Diana’s was the suckiest.

“Awww,” said Diana. We did not pity her.

In conclusion, should you see “The Trip to Bountiful” before it closes in two weeks (and I recommend that you do, it’s a warming show to see on a cold winter’s night–like a long hug from your grandmother) I recommend that you go to 44 & X if you have the money, but if you don’t why not try 44 & X? It’ll hit the spot.

Categories: Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, New York, Restaurant Reviews