I spent several summers living in Guadalajara, Mexico with a host family learning Spanish in the 1990s. It’s a great place by the way for foodies with terrific eateries and very inexpensive. However hunting for a good slice of pizza represented one of the first things I did when I returned to Croton from Guadalajara.
Let’s talk small town New York pizza for moment. In Croton, like other Hudson Valley villages, one could fine good pizza. You had King’s Pizza located in the village of Croton, Honey’s, a bar and grill on riverside avenue, which served Pizza I believe only on Fridays through Sundays, and what later became Capriccios located in lower Harmon. Those who commute to New York City via Metro North Railway will recognize Croton Harmon Station. I attended a Labor Day barbecue in Croton last week. I found a friendly debate about who made the best pizza in town and why very interesting. I wondered what Croton folks thought about this. Who had the best pizza parlor food during the 1960s to the 1980s and why? Also like the delis in town, how many different pizza parlor names and locations do you remember in Croton or Harmon? Whatever the opinions, Croton-on-Hudson remains a place where Pizza Hut, Dominoes Pizza, and out chains have not made in roads.
For a brief while, the town had a local chain called Pizza and Brew but that recently went under. The traditional pizza parlors where employees in days gone by talked to each other in Italian were just too good for locals to consider chain pizza. By the way, most of the great pizza we enjoy in the Hudson Valley and NYC today are made by employees talking to each in Spanish and receiving cash for their labor from Italian American parlor owners.