The $6 "Dollar Slice" at Penn Station
Plus: New taco reviews for Frijoleros and Dolores; Ligaya Mishan's 100 best NYT restaurants; and a really good hot dog
The Price of Pizza
Penn Station will shake you down.
You know that’s true if you’ve been following the NJ Transit plan to charge World Cup fans $105 to travel to the Meadowlands this summer. Normally, the train would cost $12.90 round trip.
The smarter move is simply watching the matches from a local pub.
Those price hikes, of course, are temporary. What’s more concerning is what everyday commuters are up against. Like higher pizza prices.
Rose Penn Station, a slice shop that has served New Yorkers for decades, reopened the other year with a pricing scheme that felt more in line with a gourmet pizzeria. Cheese slices jumped up to $4.29 when the new location debuted.
Bu this year, those slices shot up even higher, to $4.95.
Add on tax and a credit card service charge, and you’re at $5.65 for a single slice.
And indeed, things go up from there.
Vodka slices, another New York staple, now run $6.45 before tax. Add on a bottle of water and you’ll be out over $10. For a single slice and a drink.
Five dollar slices are common enough among the city’s upscale pizza parlors, but the average price of a slice still hovers around $3.71, according to a Gothamist analysis from late last year.
Rose, to be clear, is not an upscale pizza parlor. It’s where you go for a quick bite before catching a train to Syosset to visit your uncle. It’s where you go for tasty slices — with a curiously sweet sauce — in the style of an old fashioned dollar slice.
This pizza doesn’t want to inspire you, it wants to feed you, and that’s why I still love it. Kind of. But really, spending nearly six bucks on an everyday slice is a tough reality.
On a related note: Tomato prices are up 22.6 percent over the past year, largely due to tariffs on Mexican tomatoes. But keep in mind that canned and processed tomatoes — the kind used in pizza — are “somewhat” insulated from those trade policies, CNBC reports. What canned tomatoes are not insulated from, however, are higher energy prices and tariffs on aluminum. Indeed, consumer prices for canned fruits are up 7.7 over the past year (CNBC).
So, let’s keep an eye on slice prices, shall we?
NYT’s 100 Best Restos, Food Price Inflation, And More Reviews!
It’s Monday, 11 May 2026, and the U.S. will release one of its most widely-watched inflation indicators tomorrow: The Consumer Price Index. Some economists expect the April data to show higher energy prices spilling over into food prices, putting a further strain on consumers smarting from $4.52 gas.
On a much lighter note: Ligaya Mishan will release her top ten New York City restaurants tomorrow in the NYT. The chief critic dropped her longer list of the city’s top 100 places to eat earlier today. Mishan — whom I’m lucky to count as a colleague — has been working super hard on this guide for the past 11 months, and I think you’ll enjoy spending some time with it! She also published this nice piece about five great restaurant neighborhoods, including my beloved South Brooklyn.
Related: I was happy to see some of my own favorites on the longer list, including Eyval, Txikito, Taco Mix, Corima, and Kono.
Finally: The NYT published a set of restaurant reviews by Mahira Rivers and me just the other week! Among the latest batch: Corner Slice (Jersey pizza!), Lucky Charlie (coal-fired pizza in Bushwick), Golden Steer (steak!), and Pangat (Western Indian).
Behind the paywall: Delicious, affordable eats!!!
The hot dog bun at Dominique Ansel’s Papa d’Amour!
The new pancita negra tacos from Frijoleros
The epic flank steak “Manolo” tacos from Dolores
The mochi toasties, also from Papa d’Amour!
One of New York’s priciest prime ribs is now….pricier!