Photo: roboppy 

How did a boy from Kansas become one of New York City's best-known food obsessives? By eating, mapping and meticulously describing the city's best junk food. Adam Kuban founded Slice, "America's favorite pizza weblog", and later branched out into buns with A Hamburger Today. Each of these food blogs takes its single-minded pursuit very seriously. It's no wonder, then, that they were taken under wing by Serious Eats, a fantastic food site where Kuban now serves as Managing Editor. With a resume like this, Kuban is exactly who you want managing your cheap eats itinerary. Lucky for Momondo, he's opened up to share a few favorites.This is his New York.

You've reviewed and mapped hundreds of pizzarias, but is there any one place that you keep going back to?

I keep going back to Di Fara Pizza and Una Pizza Napoletana, which are probably my two favorites in New York City. Di Fara makes an old-school pizza the way they used to make pizza in Brooklyn 40 years ago. It's a family operation, but the proprietor, Dom DeMarco, is such a perfectionist that he's the only one who makes the pizza. He's been making it for decades and hasn't even taught his kids how to duplicate his pizzas. At Una Pizza Napoletana, you'll get some of the best Naples-style pizza in New York. Again, this is a place where the owner-pizzamaker, Anthony Mangieri, is the only one who ever touches the pizza. Both these men are obsessive about their food, and they're involved with every step of its production, so you get a superior pizza.

Photo of Di Fara pizza: Adam Kuban

Some of your favorite pizzerias are way outside of Manhattan. Is there anywhere that a center-bound tourist can go to get a great slice?

Pizza Box and Joe's Pizza, both in Greenwich Village. Sal and Carmine's, on the Upper West Side. New York Pizza Suprema, across from Madison Square Garden. Those are all great slices. There are also places that sell pizza on a "whole pies only" basis, meaning you have to buy an entire pizza. These are usually sit-down, eat-in places. John's of Bleecker is one of my favorites. Arturo's Coal-Oven Pizza is also a great place for a whole-pie-only experience.

Photo of Joe's Pizza: Adam Kuban

Around the world "American food" equals hamburgers. Where would you send a visitor for a bite of this heritage?

Someone visiting New York City has to go to the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park. It's a little building nestled among the trees and bushes, and it makes the most amazing burgers. When it's nice outside, you can't get a table with a better view—parkland to one side, the landmark Flatiron Building to another. The burgers here are also a manageable size, so you can have your "American food" while avoiding the worst excesses of "American portions."

Photo of Shake Shack: Adam Kuban

Europeans are beginning to hear a lot about Brooklyn. What would you recommend for someone who's ready to go beyond Manhattan?

I'd recommend Williamsburg to anyone from Europe who wants to venture outside Manhattan. It's where the hip kids live, and there are good restaurants, lots of live music options, and small and interesting shops and boutiques. It's unlike any other neighborhood you'd find in Brooklyn—and it's a very short subway ride away from Union Square in Manhattan.

 
Photo of Times Square: mynameispaul

And finally - is there any particular place that feels incredibly, over-the-top New York to you?

As cliché as this is, Times Square is the most incredibly over-the-top part of New York to me. I still can't get over the light show there and the crush of people visiting. And if it all gets to be too much, I can hop into Jimmy's Corner for a drink. (140 West 44th Street, just off Broadway) Jimmy's is a throwback to a New York of a different era—its owner, Jimmy Glenn, is a boxing cornerman who has worked with the likes of Muhammad Ali!

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