Live From New York, It's Flat Soggy Pizza!!!!! (In a Good Way)

This was originally written as a Blogger post back in 2015 and it ended up on Yelp.  Apparently I never bothered to post it here too.   Anyway, here it is in all it's dated glory.  I wrote some updates at the end. 

Paul's Live From NY is a New York style pizza restaurant.  Apparently there is a Paul and he's from Humboldt. That's all I know about that but I do know pizza. I've eaten a lot of it.

If you don't know what NY style pizza is it's giant, thin crust pizza.  I've always kind of disliked the thin crust pizza.  It's floppy, its greasy and there was always some other kind of more satisfying pizza that was readily available.  While in New York I made these sentiments known to a New York native I was traveling with. He assured me that I "just didn't have the real, good, authentic NY pizza"  Now, I should also point out that I had just recently spent some time in Chicago.  Where all pizza bows before the almighty deep dish. I was still smitten, in post honeymoon mode from the 2 inch thick meal-in-a-slice windy city pie.  Convincing me that a soggy slice of thin crust was going to be tough.  He took us to one of his old neighborhood pizza spots assuring us that this was the real deal.  But it was just more pre-made pies sold by the slice.  This place went a step further in that if you wanted pepperoni with olives, they put olives and a little more cheese on a pre-made slice and reheated it in the pizza oven.

For reference: This is what Deep-Dish Chicago style pizza looks like.

The foldable slice. 

This is when I realized what real NYC pizza was.  Thin, soggy, reheated slices of pizza that you fold in half.  I really wasn't impressed. Please, take me back to Chi-Town.  When we moved to Eureka I saw Paul's Live From New York.  I scoffed because I pretty much decided way-back-when that I'd never eat New York pizza on purpose again. But then-- One night after the F Street Beerfest we ended up there with a group of people we'd just met who would eventually become our good friends.



They seemed excited, and we were stoked to meet new people in town so we went for it.  The pizza was large, flat, greasy, reheated... and delicious. Pretty much every experience I've had at Paul's has been like this. Late night, good friends and just a really good time with a good variety of different pre-made pizzas that will satisfy just about everyone in the group.

Pizza with friends!

And then there's the garlic knots. Little morsels of curled up dough soaked in garlic oil and garlic. My mouth waters thinking about them as I type this. The knots are better later in the evening when they've had a chance to get fully saturated with garlic oily goodness. They have salads and a good selection of beers on tap.  They also have wings.  They come in Buffalo or Australian BBQ.  Aussie BBQ is like a sweeter type sauce.  I've never liked Buffalo wings but this place has completely converted me into a wing guy.  I even critique wings from other places now.

Sometimes the service can be slow.  I don't know why it takes so long sometimes to reheat a slice of pizza but they lag sometimes. Usually when I go it's a big social gathering with friends and we really don't mind.  But it happens.  (Side Note:  They forget Becky's order every time. She won't go back.  When we're hanging out with Becky, Paul's is not an option)  Bonus; they also deliver!  But depending on the time of day and your locale the delivery times can be a while and for some reason the woman who answers the phone seems like you're ruining her whole day by calling and ordering pizza. This might not be a usual thing but it's rubbed me the wrong way a few times.

So despite slow, sometimes rude service, along with my disdain for New York style pizza I give Paul's Live From New York Pizza  four and a half out of five stars.  It's just a place that I always end up and leave very, very satisfied.  After a night at Live From NY my belly is full and it's the end of an awesome day with good people. I highly recommend going with friends. Maybe after some beers at The Local Humboldt Cider Company or after a movie at the Eureka Theater. Be loud, buy lots of pizza. Don't forget the garlic knots and even tho the slices are really big,  I recommend two because you'll want it.

Extra bonus...............Guy ate there. Guy Fieri that is.

Live From New York is now a neighborhood in FLAVORTOWN!! 

UPDATE: 
Live From New York, for whatever reason is now exclusively a "CASH ONLY" business.  This really upsets me.  Cash is for drug dealers and children.  I have a bank account like a normal responsible adult person. I don't carry cash because I'm not a criminal hiding from the system.  In 2017 there is literally no logical reason to not accept debit or credit cards.  As I mentioned in my previous review, I often visit with groups of friends.  The likelihood of everyone in the group having cash is very minimal and a reason we will chose to eat elsewhere.  I still like the food here but the frequency at which I will be visiting has been greatly diminished because of this decision.  I am very sorry.

UPDATE, UPDATE: 
They now accept credit and debit cards again but they cancelled their cable TV so now you can't watch sports on the several big screen TV's hanging throughout the dining area. Last time I went on a weekday evening they were out of all of the pizzas for slices. We didn't want to wait so we went somewhere else. This place somehow thrives despite everything they screw up. I'm still a fan and go there as often as I can. 

Pro Tip LFNY: 6th & E is usually super busy on Tuesday nights because its half price night. Often people with parties of 4 or more give up because its a long wait. Be ready to take advantage of this.

 I hate that I love you Paul's. 

12 Pack of Cinnabons?

There is only one Taco Bell. For three cities that are full of pot smokers, the drive thru line can be quite long. Especially on Friday and Saturday nights. Although there was one exception. The Wendy's I've blogged about before was being rebuilt from the rubble a few summers ago and it's Grand Opening was to be the night we got back from a weekend trip. We roll into town around 9:00 in the evening and pass the Taco Bell. We couldnt believe it, the place was a ghost town. We wondered "are they closed for repairs or something?" "did they get shut down by the health inspector?" Then we got a little bit further down the road and by the long lines of cars and crowded parking lot we were reminded of the new Wendy's unveiling. For one special night the deprived citizens of Eureka had Wendy's, instead of Taco Bell to satisfy their late evening munchies.

One Friday night after going out I was driving my drunk friends home someone had the novel idea to go to Taco Bell. We wait in line, order and finally get to the pick up window. Since there's two groups in my car we had placed two different orders separately from the same car. I ordered some burritos, quesadilla, tacos, gorditas, standard Taco Bell fare. My friends ordered something similar. These highly trained Taco Bell employees can handle that right? Well, the window slides open and a pimply faced teen with the headset awkwardly dangling from his small head unenthusiastically confirms our order. "12 pack'a cinnabons?" I was caught off guard. 12 pack of what? I told him that wasn't our order and he asked "Well, what did you order?"


I couldnt remember my full exact order so I replied "uuuuhhhhhh, not that"  

Again he asked me "Not 12 cinnabons?"

"No we didnt order any cinnabons"

"then what did you get?"

"A quesadilla, gorditas and stuff"
"Hold on let me get my manager"

After a few minutes of him and his boss looking at screens and walking to the kitchen, an older Samoan woman comes to the window and reads off my exact order. apologizes and hands me a bag with my stuff. She leaves and zit boy comes back. I tell him we have a second order for this car. He, adjusts his headset glances at the screen a couple times then back at me as serious as a heart attack says "12 pack'a cinnabons?"

MOTHERFUCKER.  

"NO! NO ONE IN THIS CAR ORDERED ANY CINNABONS!" He disappears and the Samoan lady comes back and helps us again. When she handed us our second order I kind of hoped they'd throw in the cinnabons for our troubles. But they didnt.
Another drunken night, similar to this one a friend was visiting from out-of-town and wanted the Caramel Apple Empanada they have on their dessert menu. Alas, they were all out of them so we ended up getting a 12 pack of cinnabons after all. They were pretty fucking delicious.