Morningstar's New York Pizza — Restaurant in Lawrence

Lots of people claim to be "New York" pizza places but this is one of the few that delivers! If you limit yourself to pizza here though you are missing half the fun.

A certain degree of mysticism surrounds what is a New York pizza. Is it the water? The cheese? The size? the oven? The sauce? Yes, it's all of that and none of that. You just know it when you taste it and you roll your eyes at imitators, just like when a midwesterner asks "Why is it called an egg cream when it has no egg and no cream?" and pronounce "Houston" like the city in Texas.

When Morningstar first opened, I thought it was named after the stock report in what I thought was a clever tribute to Wall Street. Alas, even though I live in Lawrence, I'm not a basketball fan and apparently this place is owned by a famous KU basketball family. I was disappointed in what I thought would be quite the nod to New Yorkers!

That is until I walked by and saw Drake's cake in the window. Like a moth to a flame I was instantly drawn to the place. I haven't had a Yodel since grade school. Dad used to always keep them in the freezer and if I was really good I could have one. For those midwesterners out there, Drake's is kinda like Dolly Madison or Hostess. Except it's better because it's from the East Coast. This was a smart move by the owners because unless you put a sign in Times Square, this was the best way to say "Hey, we love New Yorkers"

When I walked in to decide what I'd eat before I ate my coffee cake and Yodel, I saw Wise potato chips. Awwww. That aqua green and yellow bag was part of my lunch box for so many years were about as valuable for trading during school lunches as cigarettes are at Riker's Island. To top off that New York state of mind, they had Yoo-Hoo drink. They didn't try to be a Jewish deli and have Doctor Browns or egg creams (again, use wiki to look it up and stop asking us New Yorkers about it. Get some Fox's Ubet and experiment). This place has all the trappings of a New York pizza parlour.

Another authentic aspect of this place was a full Italian menu with calzones, lasagna, heroes (subs, grinders depending on where you are from). Everything tasted as I remembered and nothing gourmet. This is all about the basics and doing it right, though they do have gluten-free and dairy free cheeses. I'd try some of these modern options, but I'd be afraid my New York taxi cab driving father would rise from the grave and tear up my birth certificate.

Although I haven't tried it yet, I hear the handmade cannoli is awesome. I promise I'll try it but when they have Darke's Yodels and Coffee Cakes, I simply can't make it that far down on the menu. No Italian ices though, which is a shame but makes sense since Marinos would melt coming all the way from Jamaica (and if you think the country not the borough you've got some more learning to do). Maybe they can serve ice cream with a wooden spoon here and yellow cups and at least try and emulate that feel.

What's missing here is the NY attitude, and that's a good thing. The fact they accommodate a variety of dietary needs is a good sign. No "soup nazi" here. Everyone was friendly and helpful and generally interested in our enjoyment. No paper plates and wax paper. Real live silverware!

Service was a bit slow, but that's ok because the murals and New York paraphernalia helps pass the time. It's important to note there is all Yankees memorabilia in this place. The reason is simple: the Mets suck. All true New Yorkers know this fact. Ok, I might be exaggerating since not everyone from the Big Apple has realized it yet. The Mets/Yankees rivalry makes Mizzou/KU rivalry look like a playground shouting match and I'm glad this place takes sides.

For us, in Lawrence Kansas, Morningstar's NY pizza is the only true choice for those that can quote and remember the I "heart" New York commercials and had the goofy T-shirt. Native Lawrencians will really get a piece of the...

This place was a "NO" for my family and I. There were some positives, but there were far too many negatives. I'll start with the pros:

You seat yourself so you don't have to wait for a hostess to acknowledge you and seat you near people you'd rather not share space with.

The restaurant and bathroom was clean.

The Pibb and garlic knots were good.

The food came out pretty quick.

Refills on the drinks were more or less kept up with.

They support one charity each month and have pamphlets on the table allowing the customer to read about that month's chosen charity.

The Cons:

The "breadsticks" were not breadsticks. They were over seasoned shriveled up tiny slices of bread, but they were not breadsticks.

We ordered a large pepperoni pizza which was delivered with 95% of the pepperoni stacked on one half of the pizza and then had the other 5% sparingly tossed on the other half, so we essentially were given a 1/2 pepperoni 1/2 cheese pizza.

The pizza was flavorless. I felt like I was eating greasy water on soggy bread. It was bad.

Our waitress, Emma, had essentially no personality until the check was dropped off. We tipped her for the work she did, but I hate a server who only brightens up and gets friendly when they're ready for their tip.

The canoli's were gritty and flavorless.

And last, but certainly not least, they sold us an EXPIRED box of Drake Cakes for $2 more than the $2.99 price printed on the box.

This is not a place I'd ever recommend...

So, not the worst food out there. We ordered the manicotti, two calzones, and the spaghetti allong with a side of garlic bread. The manicotti was not greasy so much as wet, cooked from frozen possibly? I'm no chef, but there was a LARGE amount of water in the tin resting atop the marinara. The calzones where generous in size, and I expected them to be greasy. Looking at other reviews this seemed likely. Again, not just grease. There was grease sure, but the calzone I got contained a large amount of water, as if the ingredients where thawed via wapping them in a thick layer of dough and browning it in the oven until it's thickest portion had thawed. Leaving its contents a dribbling mess. The spaghetti was not bad, nor was it much beyond what appeared to be an offbrand sauce someone chucked two fist fulls of oregano in to supply any other flavor than that of a cheap, sweet, dissapointment. This being the same marinara on the manocotti, no one was impressed to say the least. But a more accurate statement would be no one was satisfied. The calzones are large, there is bang for your buck there. However, it comes at the price of enjoying your meal. Also the garlic bread made me sad (it had...