Israel can be pretty iffy when it comes to pizza. Although pizza is as firmly entrenched in the Jewish state as it is everywhere else, Israelis have failed to inherit the appropriate sensitivity to the fine art of pizza-making, meaning a lot of Israeli pizza joints specialize in semi-fossilized slices that have been sitting out for a few hours and weren't much of anything special before rigor mortis set in. Israeli taste in international chains is even worse; a country whose biggest international pizza chain is Dominos is not a pizza mecca.

But fortunately for pie-starved American residents and tourists, there's Big Apple Pizza, which is as close as you'll come to pizza in the style of its namesake in Jerusalem. Somewhat inexplicably divided into two essentially identical locations only two or three minutes apart by foot, Big Apple dishes out kosher pizza by the pie and by the slice (10-12 NIS) with toppings both familiar (mushrooms, olives) and slightly untraditional (corn).

For a true Israeli pizza experience, get a corn slice, skip the garlic powder and garnish it with za'atar from the handy shaker.