Specialty Pizza in the West Village: Pies With Names

If you came here searching for specialty pizza West Village style, here’s the short version. At Two Boots, 101 7th Ave South at Sheridan Square, a specialty pizza is a pie with a name, a personality and a set topping combination you’d never think to assemble yourself. Sopressata and sweet Italian sausage on a white pie. Spinach and artichoke dip with a dash of cayenne. Crawfish and andouille. Each one sits on our crisp cornmeal crust, and each one has a name you might half-recognize.

Two Boots started in 1987 on Avenue A in the East Village, grew up alongside the punk and arts scene of the CBGB era, and took its name from the two “boots” of Italy and Louisiana. Put those together and you get a lineup that reads less like a pizza menu and more like a cast list. This guide walks you through it.

Key Takeaways

• A specialty pizza at Two Boots is a named pie with a fixed topping combination, as opposed to a plain cheese pie or one you build yourself with Create Your Pizza.
• Start West Village visits with The Newman (sopressata and sweet Italian sausage on a white pie) or Animal Collective (spinach and artichoke dip, cayenne, scallions, mozzarella).
• The lineup runs in lanes: Cajun-Italian, Italian classics, white pies, veggie and a full vegan bench made with Daiya non-dairy cheese.
• Our 7th Ave South shop is one of the Manhattan locations with Bombinis, savory Cajun hand pies, and it stays open late on weekends.

Check Out Our Menu!

What Turns a Pizza Into a “Specialty” Pizza Here

Ask most New Yorkers what a specialty pizza is and you’ll hear about “the works” or “the supreme.” That isn’t really what we do. At Two Boots, a specialty pie comes down to three things:

1. A name. Our pies are named after pop-culture icons. You don’t order “sausage and sopressata, white.” You order The Newman.
2. A fixed combination. The toppings were put together on purpose, not ticked off a checklist.
3. Two boots. Italy brings the sausage, sopressata, ricotta, pesto and San Marzano tomatoes. Louisiana brings the crawfish, andouille, tasso ham and Creole chicken.

Underneath it all is the cornmeal crust: crisp, with a signature texture. If you’d rather freelance, Create Your Pizza starts from a cheese base and lets you add your own toppings. Think of the named pies as a setlist somebody already sequenced, and Create Your Pizza as the open mic.

Specialty Pizza West Village: The Named-Pie Lineup

Every Two Boots location works from the same menu, so you’ll find the full lineup on 7th Ave South. For the Village, though, we’d point a first-timer toward two pies before anything else.

The Newman is a white pie loaded with sopressata and sweet Italian sausage. No tomato sauce getting in the way, just cured meat, sausage and cheese on the cornmeal crust. Seinfeld fans may find the name familiar. It’s a pie for people who know exactly what they want.

Animal Collective is the one that surprises people. Spinach and artichoke dip goes on as the base, then a dash of cayenne, scallions and mozzarella. If the name rings a bell from your indie record collection, you’re in good company on this block. It eats like the party dip everyone hovers near, rebuilt as pizza.

From there, the rest of the lineup is worth a tour. Here’s a West Village starter set:

Pie	What’s on it	Pick it if…
The Newman	Sopressata & sweet Italian sausage on a white pie	You want meat-forward, no red sauce
Animal Collective	Spinach and artichoke dip, a dash of cayenne, scallions & mozzarella	You want something nobody else at the table ordered
The CBGB	Chicken, broccoli, garlic & basil pesto	You like green and garlicky with some protein
Super Newman	Capicola, sopressata, sweet Italian sausage, ricotta & mozzarella	The Newman felt like a warm-up
The Bayou Beast (Spicy)	Spiced shrimp, crawfish, andouille, jalapeños & mozzarella	You want the full Louisiana side
Mel Cooley	Sun-dried tomatoes, roasted peppers & basil pesto on a white pie	You want veggie, bright and pesto-led
Cleopatra Jones	Sweet Italian sausage, roasted peppers, red onions & mozzarella	You like the classic sausage-and-peppers combo
The Dude	Ground beef & andouille, tasso ham, cheddar & mozzarella	You want “our Cajun bacon cheeseburger pie”

A note on The Bayou Beast: the menu describes it as one of the two foundation pies from the original Two Boots restaurant and a favorite of founder Phil Hartman. If you want to taste where the whole idea started, that’s your slice of history.

The CBGB’s name points back to the East Village club of the scene Two Boots grew up in, though chicken, broccoli, garlic and basil pesto is calmer than the name suggests.

White, Red or Top-Sauce: Reading the Board Like a Local

The fastest way to choose is to decide first what’s underneath the toppings.

White pies skip the tomato sauce. The cheese and toppings do the talking, and the cornmeal crust gets more of the spotlight. The Newman is a white pie. So are The Meg (“our very white pie,” with provolone, parmigiano, ricotta, mozzarella, roasted garlic and oregano), Larry Tate, Mel Cooley, Big Maybelle, The Bird and Night Tripper.

Red pies are the familiar New York build: sauce, cheese, toppings. Cleopatra Jones, Mr. Pink, The Divine and Meat the Mets live here.

Top-sauce is the outlier. The Buckminster puts marinara on top, over organic spinach, roasted garlic, parmigiano, provolone and mozzarella. And Grandma Bess runs organic San Marzano tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, basil, Parmigiano and mozzarella on a thin, square Sicilian crust.

Style	Pies to try	What it’s like
White	The Newman, The Meg, Big Maybelle, Mel Cooley	Cheese-forward, no tomato sauce, crust takes center stage
White with a kick	Night Tripper (Spicy), The Bird (Spicy)	Jalapeño pesto or Buffalo chicken with blue cheese dressing
Red	Cleopatra Jones, Mr. Pink, The Divine (Spicy)	The classic sauce-cheese-topping order
Top-sauce	The Buckminster	Marinara on top of spinach, garlic and three cheeses
Square	Grandma Bess	Thin, square Sicilian crust with San Marzano tomatoes and basil

Several pies are marked Spicy on the menu: The Bayou Beast, The Bird, The Divine, Meat the Mets and Night Tripper among them. Those are flagged so you can steer toward or away from them. The menu doesn’t rank them, so neither will we.

The Vegan Bench: Daiya-Topped Specialty Pies

The Village has long been a good neighborhood to be vegan in, and our menu makes room for that with a full set of named vegan pies. Most use Daiya non-dairy cheese.

• V for Vegan: artichokes, red onions and wild mushrooms with a criss-cross of sweet red pepper pesto and basil pesto, plus Daiya.
• Super Vegan: broccoli, artichokes, red onions, shiitake mushrooms, basil pesto, sweet red pepper pesto, Daiya and vegan ricotta.
• The VCBGB: the vegan version of The CBGB, with vegan chicken, broccoli, garlic, basil pesto and Daiya.
• Earth Mother: organic fresh spinach, roasted garlic, roasted peppers, wild mushrooms, red onion and marinara, with no cheese at all.
• Vegan Cleo, Vegan Mr. Pink, Vegan Tony Clifton and Vegan Larry Tate: plant-based takes on their namesakes.

For a fully dairy-free meal, add the Vegan Calzone (Daiya, vegan ricotta, marinara) or the vegan House Salad.

Pizza for the Village: Christopher Street, Bleecker and Beyond

Our West Village shop sits at 101 7th Ave South, right at Sheridan Square, which might be the most storied intersection in a neighborhood full of them. Christopher Street runs through it. Across the way is Christopher Park, home of the Stonewall National Monument, which marks the 1969 uprising that helped launch the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. It’s a fitting neighbor for a pizza shop that grew out of East Village counterculture and community activism.

Head one way and you hit Bleecker Street, with its record-shop and coffee-cup energy. Head the other and you’re on your way to Washington Square Park, where the chess players, buskers and NYU students keep the arch busy all afternoon. And when the sun goes down, the comedy rooms and jazz clubs around 7th Ave South start filling up.

People here already pick things by personality: a record for its cover, a show for the name on the marquee. A pie called Animal Collective fits right in. Here’s how we’d match specialty pies to a Village day:

Occasion	Specialty pick	Add-on
Slice break between Bleecker Street shops	Animal Collective	Garlic Knots (3)
Picnic plan for Washington Square Park	Grandma Bess (square slices travel well)	Caesar Salad
Before a comedy set or jazz show	The Newman	A couple of Bombinis
Weekend night out on Christopher Street	The Bayou Beast (Spicy)	Hot Knots (3, Spicy)
Vegan friend joining the group	V for Vegan	Sweet Red Pepper Pesto dipper
Sunday catch-up with the whole crew	Super Newman	Meatball Parm sliders

About those Bombinis: they’re savory Cajun hand pies, found only at our Manhattan locations, this one included.

Our West Village shop also stays open late on weekends, which matters in a neighborhood where the night tends to keep going. Check the West Village location page for current hours before you head over.

For a wider look at what to expect from our 7th Ave South shop beyond the specialty pies, our earlier guide to the pizza restaurant in the West Village covers the basics.

Mixing Specialty Pies for a Group

A spread of named pies gives a group something to talk about. Here’s a simple formula for a West Village order:

1. One anchor pie. Pick something most people will happily eat. The Newman or Cleopatra Jones are solid anchors for meat eaters; The Meg or Grandma Bess work for a veggie-leaning group.
2. One curveball. This is the pie people will ask about. Animal Collective, The Dude or The Bayou Beast all qualify.
3. One plant-based pie. V for Vegan, Super Vegan or The VCBGB, so nobody is stuck picking toppings off.
4. Something green. Larry Tate (organic spinach, plum tomatoes and fresh garlic on a white pie) or The Buckminster.
5. The supporting cast. Garlic Knots, Hot Knots for the heat fans, sliders on house-made garlic knots (Chicken Parm, Meatball Parm with andouille meatballs, or Eggplant Parm), a Caesar or House Salad, and a few dippers. The menu offers Blue Cheese, Cajun Ranch, Marinara, Jalapeño Pesto, Sweet Red Pepper Pesto and Basil Pesto.

Finish with house-baked chocolate chip cookies or a Gluten-Free Brownie. Planning an office lunch or a birthday near Sheridan Square? Our West Village catering page is the place to start a larger order, and it’s where you can mix specialty pies across the lineup.

Conclusion

A specialty pizza at Two Boots is a pie with a name, a set combination and a foot in two boots: Italy and Louisiana. In the West Village, we’d start you on The Newman or Animal Collective, steer you through the white pies and the vegan bench, and suggest a Bombini on the side. Then you can work your way through the rest of the cast one visit at a time.

Find directions, current hours and the Order Online button on our West Village location page, then come see us at 101 7th Ave South at Sheridan Square.

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