Adrienne's Pizza Bar - Stone Street

If you have time to sit down and order, Adrienne's pizza is shockingly good. My standards are lower than normal in the Wall Street area, but Adrienne's would be good anywhere. The rectangular crust is thin, with perfectly browned, thick and crispy edges. The "old fashioned," topped with a sweet and substantial tomato sauce, a thin layer of mozzarella and a sprinkling of parmeggiano, is

perfectly balanced - just the right sauce/topping ratio - and tangy, gooey and delicious. Toppings like eggplant, mushrooms and olives are of good quality, not the common canned and/or mushy versions. This pizza even impressed my pizza-obsessed husband, who is willing to come all the way down here to meet me for lunch only if he's promised Adrienne's.

I love Franny's...

And not just for those perfectly blistered crusts. Franny's attention to sourcing their ingredients locally and organically really pays off in the taste department. Appetizers of farm fresh vegetables have such bold, explosive flavors - usually enhanced by crunchy sea salt, generous pours of delicious olive oil and dashes of artisanal vinegars. The vegetables really sing and are the highlight of meals there. On one recent trip with a couple of friends, we had a beautiful salad of dandelion greens, nectarines and huge strips of guanciale; the tastiest squash dish I've had all summer - just thin, wide strips of yellow squash and zucchini, dressed with lots of lemon juice, olive oil, pine nuts and parmesan cheese; a salad of heirloom tomatoes, all perfectly ripened and gorgeous shades of rose, red, yellow and green, with thinly sliced marinated cucumbers; and a slice of the pork and beef terrine with toasted buttered bread. (Yes, the four of us managed to put all that away and still eat four perfect pizzas - everything is just so incredibly tasty that it's hard to stop. I actually hoped that someone would order the blackberry gelato for dessert, but I didn't want to admit it. I went home satisfied and happy anyway.)