Slice Out Hunger

Fabulous (2015 is the sixth) annual event to raise awareness and funding for the homeless and the hungry, specifically for Food Bank for New York City. Pies are donated from the top pizzerias in the city in the name of charity and sold at a $ 1 per slice, the proceeds of which go toward the Food Bank. For 2015, 1100 pizzas from 52 pizzerias went into the benefit.
This was my first time, and I had no expectations. I lined up early enough to get in within 1:30. I heard others were not so lucky, as the lines this year snaked around the block by all four sides. Amazing! Once inside, volunteers were busy doling out slices, drinks, desserts and at the entrance the pizza boxes, and swapping dollars for tickets.
I had my pick of most of the slices that were available, and there were many but the notables that many have come to expect to disappear first were exhausted, like the Di Fara’s, Lucali’s, Lombardi’s, Artichoke, as can be expected.
Once through the gauntlet of amazing pizzas that I picked, I also picked up a Bruce Ginger Ale and a cookie. The ginger ale was the perhaps the biggest upside surprise for the event. Obviously the pizza is the main draw, but with room temperature pizza, it’s questionable whether they can really be enjoyed on the spot. I brought them hope to be consumed the next day by reheating them via oven. (They still tasted amazing)
One word of caution. If you do not like lines, nice, the spectacle, long wait times, and putting in the time and money for a good cause, this is not for you.

Great way to spend a Wednesday evening. Giving back, ending poverty, and eating all the pizza I’m willing to pay for! When all of your favorite pizzas get together at one location for a great cause.

I honestly didn’t expect this many people to show up. I got there an hour early thinking I’d at least be in the first 50 or so people to get in. That wasn’t the case at all. The line went on forever.
After waiting and hour just for the event to start and for the organizers to start letting people in I had to wait at least another hour and half before we even made it in. I spent over 2.5 hours waiting on line. That should have been my sign to just throw in the towel.
If you got here super early (and I’m sure people had to have gotten here at 3−4pm for an event that started at 6) you probably had a blast. Got to try tons of different pizzas and they were hot. By the time I got in that wasn’t the case. The pizzas were cold and there weren’t many options. It was all for a good cause so I’m glad for the turnout. I just wish I didn’t wait on that line. The amount of time I spent waiting just wast worth the payoff.
When I left there was still a line of a few hundred people behind me so i’m sure they faired worse. Nevertheless, it was for a great cause and I would gladly donate to the cause but I won’t be waiting in line to do that again.

Sad and disappointing!
I don’t blame them for running out of stuff by the time I got inside because I got on line at 5:45 and it was already around the corner and halfway down the avenue. So I was late and it was my fault. BUT I DO blame them for lying and saying there will be plenty of stuff by the time we get there. «Don’t worry! There are hundreds of pizza traveling over as we speak and your pizza will still be hot.» Um… nope. If they told people the truth, we could’ve definitely skipped the line and went out to a restaurant instead. I’m all for the food bank events, but that’s messed up.
I actually waited like 2 hours before my friends and I got through the doors. The line moves unbelievably slowly and the vendors give out REALLY tiny slices. I’ve seen pictures from other people that came earlier and they were regular sized slices, so I think the later folks definitely missed out. So my advice, go early or not at all.
Props for the green pizzeria boxes. I’ve seen them before and it was really nice of them to give the boxes out for free. Every pizzeria should adopt this.
When I left, I got a few slices of tiny pizza that were cold and mediocre. The vendors were already cleaning up and the tables were being taken away. But there were still people outside waiting for some reason. I really hope they didn’t fall for the same lie that we did.
Not looking forward to this next year.

I was a newbie at this pizza event and was bowled over by the number of vendors represented here. Unfortunately for sis and me, we bought and couldn’t remember who sold what. We had a super tasty square slice that was coated with roasted mushrooms, probably the best of the bunch. They also sold a butternut squash and artichoke one and a few more that we regretted missing. We missed out on DiFara’s (Poor Albert W. I heard his heard crack a little) but got an amazing slice from Lucali’s, which was my second fave slice. We had a meh vegan slice from Two Boots. The veggies had a great taste but the soy cheese did not do it for us. Some vendors like NY Pizza Suprema (my fave spot in NYC for a plain and upside down slice) were generous and gave you their regular size slice (or close to it) for the $ 1 ticket price. Their upside down slice is really good and personal favorite. So many slices and so little stomach space. By the time we got to eating, which was quite bohemian… camping down with friends in the center of the church hall and chomping away, our slices were cold and some crusts were hard to chew and the cheese too rubbery. Ahh… but when we brought the slices home, well… we heated them up, the crusts became crispy, the cheese melted and there was some more pizza heaven. Even staying up late to move furniture around did not keep me from heating up pizza slices and eating it.
The event itself was well organized and so reasonable at $ 1 a slice. Some vendors were cheap and gave you tiny pieces and some regular sized slices. Drinks, desserts were $ 1, and so were raffle tickets. Unfortunately, vendors like DiFara’s ran out of slices early… boohoo. and due to the size of the venue the line wrapped around the block. Hey, did anyone think of renting Javits??? I am not even sure if the people showing up at 7 pm had anything to eat. Albert W was waiting at about 5:30 with two fellow Unilocalers and got our group in earlier, bless him, and we still missed out on DiFara’s. All in all, a fun night in nice company, and it gave me energy to move a mountain for furniture that night. Next time I’ll bring a movie camera to record who sold what so I can find them again. If anyone knows who sold the square slices with the mushrooms (they were on the left side of the room towards the back) please respond to this Unilocal SOS! Oh and get some pieces to nosh with friends but take most of it home to reheat. You’ll enjoy it more when it’s hot and crispy.

A-​OK. I have attended SOH each year. Current venue perhaps my favorite church. Room for improvement aplenty. Have the volunteer army distribute maps, an obvious requirement. The line is always the biggest drawback. The News 12 camera crew shining harsh light into our eyes on corner was quite insensitive. VIP Pizza Passport is too pricey at $ 100. Perhaps $ 50 and scrapping the $ 5 ticket benefit would open more wallets. A near 2 hour wait is required no matter when arriving. I had six slices and a Fizzy Lizzy. The folding boxes were cool. I will splurge and do take home next year. Room temp pizza makes thin slices chewy. My favorite places ran out. And, alas, L&B Spumoni is just too distant to participate. DJ kept it festive. A frat atmosphere prevails. The girl in slice costume was cute, though it did her figure no favors. Great drink and dessert table. But there was no promotion of it and was easily overshadowed in the dogged pursuit of pie. I staggered out mumbling «pizza coma» and ran into a string of guys holding take home on Broadway.

Some people (like myself) are generally okay with room temperature pizza — in fact word to the wise, true flavor of food and their ingredients can only be tasted at room temperature. So where else can you try pizzas from over 40 restaurants? Slice Out Hunger.
A highly anticipated event for me since I fall into one-​of-​those-​people who generally avoid the carby goodness, I pregamed with two friends in deciding what to get and how many (since friends were arriving later, I had thought you can pick up slices for them). So we highlighted which stands to hit and thought about how many tickets to buy. After an hour and a half wait (protip: have a friend wait in line an hour early), we made our way through the conveyor belt. Sure it was sad to see so many skip ahead and ninja Difara slices (I didn’t get any), but many others on my list were still available. For $ 1 a slice, some were daintier than others, some had meat, some had veggies each venue even had some variety. I bought 4 (my fave was Luzzo’s) and got 2 raffle tickets.
It was a great event and I love them pizza boxes. The best part was sharing a slice with the company of friends — new and old. Literally since I’m a dork and brought my own pizza slicer. =D

I’ve never balled so hard for $ 20! Slice Out Hunger is a great event with 100% of the proceeds going to Food Bank for NYC. 100%!!! That’s awesome. Scott Wiener of Scotts Pizza Tours started this event 5 years ago, and I have to say he did a great job with this year’s event. I love that you decide how much to donate and tickets were not a set amount; $ 1 buys you a drink or slice. You can buy 5 tickets or 50 tickets, it’s entirely up to you! 43 different pizza restaurants were there, as well as Fizzy Lizzy to provide drinks. There was a map posted online before the event, so you could strategize before hand, and a lot of the vendors handed out coupons for free pizzas or other stuff for your next visit to their restaurants. I just rolled up and got what looked good, because I don’t like to over think pizza.
Understandably so, the pizza is not hot, but if that’s a deal breaker for you I suggest taking it home and heating it in your oven. I had so much great pizza at the event, and now have a ton of pizza frozen in my freezer. I also loved that they give you pizza boxes which are full size, but can be folded the half size which is much easier for transportation. Once you get your pizza you can plop down and eat it on the floor in the «Hang Out Zone’ or take it home. Looking around me to see what others had in their box was entertaining to no end. I was joking about getting one of each slice before the event, but the guy next to me wasn’t because he had a box filled with 43 slices! There was a wicked line to get into the event, but I was balling because I won the right to skip the line in a Twitter contest, so thanks again for that Slice Out Hunger!

It amazes me how many events Unilocal has an official presence at yet I’m the one who created the listing, but I digress…
I will start by saying this us a great cause that is run well by the folks who collaborate on it. Unfortunately the philosophy that pizza gets cold and we’ll accept it seems contrary to this execution. They either need to change venues or offer reheating optopns to the pizzerias, because by the time the slices make it to even the beginning of the line, they are COLD. I like pizza as much as the next person, but they deserve better regardless of the direction of the proceeds. Personally I would strongly consider opposing my pizzeria joining the event if they didn’t at least offer toaster ovens for VIPs. There were 43 pizzerias that rotated, which wasn’t clear to me until seeing the layout on their site. so there’s a chance the spot you came for will not be there at all, or they’ll have already run out. Not blaming the design, but getting on line @5 and eating my six slices @7 makes me expect a bit more in the not-​as-​cold-​as-​the-​autumn-​air department. I fully endorse dollar slices from non-​dollar slice joints no matter the occasion, but it reflects very poorly upon the business when outer borough spots I stopped at did not even remotely live up to even mediocre expectations. I skipped the Brewla bars because I was that hungry by the time I paid on line (just random Staples tickets is asking for folks to cheat the system AND cut, a combo two people tried just in our area, albeit unsuccessfully) with cash since I was going nowhere the roaming WiFi they were using to accept amazon payments. I wouldn’t be able to justify this without springing for the VIP next year and living nearby to heat up the slices properly, as this yar was 2 hours of waiting for 5 minutes of eating like a real sucker (dude behind us who ‘didn’t care for pizza’, props for being a true friend) to be ushered through too-​narrow lines being slammed with unwieldy green boxes. Ultimately the cost and cause outweigh these many downsides, but for me pizza is always that quick and easy and satisfying bite and the logistics here prevent that.