RESTAURANT REVIEW:

I hadn’t been home a week from New York City, and I was already missing the pizza. It is simply the best, and usually the first stop I make after I check into my hotel room is the original Ray’s Pizza on Sixth Avenue and 11th Street.

I consider it the Tommy’s Burger of pizza places. It is not fancy, and there might be better pizza somewhere else in the city, but it is a great place to get a big, greasy slice at midnight.

When I came home, I had errands to run, and my travels took me to Trader Joe’s at Five Points Plaza. That is when I saw New York’s Upper Crust. I was familiar with them because I used to go to the one in Laguna Niguel and couldn’t believe they had a location close to my house. It opened five months ago and is still awaiting a beer and wine license, but is making deliveries in the area.

What makes this place so much like an East Coast pizzeria is that it is owned by a third-generation New York Italian family since 1991.

The Brooklyn family brought out not only the desirable thin crust pizza from the borough, but also some of the other great foods you find in a neighborhood pizzeria.

A little pizzeria in Queens was where I fell in love with pinwheels, and Upper Crust has them. They are filled with Wisconsin mozzarella and a combination of different items, such as pepperoni, sausage, spinach or four cheeses. The dough is rolled out, the ingredients put in and then spiraled and cooked to look like a fist-sized cinnamon roll.

My favorite non-pizza item is the Stromboli. The Stromboli is similar to a calzone (which the pizzeria also serves) but unlike the calzone, you don’t have to fight with as much bread. There is also not as much cheese. They are almost like turnovers and have ham, salami, pepperoni, provolone and mozzarella rolled in the dough, which is then cooked.

Another item I like is the garlic knots — little twists of dough with garlic and parsley sprinkled on them and drizzled with olive oil. They are cooked so the dough is brown but still chewy, though I wished there was more garlic on them.

The restaurants — there are six others beside the Huntington Beach location — all make the family recipes from scratch every day, including the dough and sauces.

The marinara sauce used for the pasta and to dip the garlic knots, Stromboli and pinwheels in is so good, my girlfriend saved hers and used it for pasta she made later in the week.

The sauce is a nice, smooth tomato-based marinara that has a hint of basil and oregano, though is still clean. It is certainly worthy as both a dipping sauce and to put on pasta.

The family’s commitment to authenticity is no more evident than the New York pizza. The thin-crust, lightly sauced slices have a mound of cheese on them, and are undercooked until you order a slice and then it’s popped into the oven to finish it off.

The thin crust, though, is not the only style of pizza the restaurant does.

There is the Sicilian deep-dish pizza that is baked as a square instead of a circle and has the thicker crust that many prefer.

The gourmet pizzas are thin crust and include pies like the pesto pizza (plum tomatoes, grilled eggplant and pesto) and the Greek pizza, which has olive oil, garlic, feta cheese, red onions, Roma tomatoes and artichoke hearts.

The most unusual pizza that many who have not been back East have experienced is the stuffed pizza. Stuffed pizza looks like two slices that have been put on top of each other and then have the toppings crammed in between the two slices. If you have never been to New York City, or are a frequent visitor, this pizzeria is the most authentic I have found.

NEW YORK’S UPPER CRUST PIZZA

ADDRESS: 18687 Main St., Huntington Beach

PHONE: (714) 843-9222

WEBSITE: www.nysuppercrustpizza.com

CUISINE: Italian

SPECIALTY DISH: pizza by the slice

ALCOHOL SERVED: beer and wine license pending

ENTRÉE PRICE RANGE: $7.95 to $65

FAMILY FRIENDLY: yes

CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED: MasterCard and Visa

RATING: ***

JOHN REGER reviews local restaurants and may be contacted at [email protected] or P.O. Box 2984, Seal Beach, CA 90740.