The Verdicts

Pizza spots, concerts, albums, music festivals, snack products, and anything else worth an opinion. Rated in slices. No sponsors. No mercy.

Featured

LEGENDARY

Pizza Spot📍 Brooklyn, NYSeptember 18, 2026

Sal's Coal-Fired Pizza

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The char on this crust is doing things I didn't know crust could do. Criminally underrated. The coal-fired oven gives it this smoky depth that gas ovens just can't replicate — and Sal knows it. He's been doing this for 30 years and it shows in every single bite. The sauce is bright, the mozzarella is fresh, and the crust has this perfect crunch-to-chew ratio that I think about at 2am. I went back three times in one week. I regret nothing.

Coal-FiredBrooklynMust Visit

LEGENDARY

Pizza Spot📍 New York, NYSeptember 3, 2026

The NYC Bodega Slice Tour

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I reviewed 11 bodega slices in one afternoon. This is not a flex — this is journalism. The mission: find the best $3 slice in Manhattan. The winner was a place on 9th Ave with no name on the door, a guy named Tony behind the counter, and a slice that had the perfect grease-to-cheese ratio. The fold was structural. The crust had integrity. Tony didn't smile once and I respect that. This is what pizza is supposed to be.

NYCBodega SliceStreet Food

LEGENDARY

Concert📍 NRG Stadium, Houston, TXApril 22, 2023

Taylor Swift — The Eras Tour

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April 22, 2023. NRG Stadium. I have been to a lot of concerts. I have never been to anything like this. Three and a half hours. Forty-four songs. Ten costume changes. Every era of her career laid out like a museum exhibit you could scream along to. The production was so massive it stopped making sense as a concert and started making sense as something else — an event, a shared memory, a thing people will describe to their kids. The crowd knew every word to songs from 2006. The crowd knew every word to songs from last month. She played 'All Too Well (Ten Minute Version)' and the entire stadium went completely still. I don't give 8 slices lightly. This one was never in question.

Taylor SwiftStadiumHistoric

LEGENDARY

Album📍 EverywhereSeptember 22, 2026

ABBA — The Visitors (Album)

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I know what you're thinking. You're thinking: ABBA? Really? And I need you to sit down and listen. The Visitors, released in 1981, is not the ABBA of 'Dancing Queen' and glittery jumpsuits. This is a breakup album made by two couples who had both just divorced each other — and it sounds exactly like that. It's dark, it's synthesizer-drenched, it's emotionally devastating, and it is one of the most underrated pop records ever made. 'The Day Before You Came' is a song about the complete emptiness of a life before love arrives, sung with such flat, clinical precision that it becomes genuinely haunting. 'Slipping Through My Fingers' will make you call your mom. 'When All Is Said and Done' is two people agreeing to end a marriage over a melody so beautiful it should be illegal. The production is ahead of its time — cold and electronic in a way that feels more 2024 than 1981. ABBA made their best album when they had nothing left to lose and everything to process. Eight slices. This one deserved better from history and I'm correcting the record.

ABBAPop1981Classic

LEGENDARY

Pizza SpotSeptember 18, 2026

Sal's Coal-Fired Pizza

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📍 Brooklyn, NY

Coal-FiredBrooklyn

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Pizza SpotSeptember 20, 2026

Napoli Pizza

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Houston doesn't always get credit for its pizza scene, which is exactly why Napoli Pizza feels like a secret worth keeping — except I'm a critic and keeping secrets is not my job. The Neapolitan pies here are the real thing: 90-second wood-fired bake, leopard-spotted crust, San Marzano sauce that tastes like it was made by someone who cares deeply about tomatoes. The margherita is the move. Don't overthink it. The crust has that perfect char-to-chew balance and the fresh basil on top isn't an afterthought — it's the whole point. Seven slices. The missing one is because I had to share and I didn't want to.

📍 Houston, TX

NeapolitanHouston

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Food FestivalSeptember 10, 2026

Chicago Deep Dish Championship

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Look, I'm a New York pizza person at heart. Deep dish is basically a casserole and I will die on that hill. But the Championship had 12 vendors all doing their best interpretation and some of them genuinely changed my mind. Giordano's had a line 45 minutes long and it was worth every second. The Pequod's caramelized crust booth was the sleeper hit of the whole event. One star docked because someone was serving deep dish with ranch dressing and I had to witness that.

📍 Chicago, IL

Deep DishChicago

LEGENDARY

Pizza SpotSeptember 3, 2026

The NYC Bodega Slice Tour

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📍 New York, NY

NYCBodega Slice

SEND IT

Snack ProductAugust 28, 2026

Spicy Ranch Doritos Loaded

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Bold claim on the bag. Bolder flavor in the bag. I respect the audacity. The ranch hits first, then the heat sneaks up on you about 4 chips in and doesn't leave. It's not trying to be subtle and I appreciate that in a snack. My only complaint is that the bag was 40% air and I finished it in 8 minutes. Frito-Lay knows what they're doing and they're doing it on purpose.

📍 Nationwide

SnackDoritos

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Food FestivalAugust 15, 2026

NYC Pizza Week — Early Access

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Got early access to three of the participating spots before the official week kicks off in October. The lineup this year is stacked — 40+ pizzerias doing $3 slices all week. I tried the new Detroit-style entry from a spot in Williamsburg and it's going to be the dark horse of the whole event. Thick, crispy edges, pepperoni cups that hold little pools of grease. It's not for everyone. It's for me.

📍 New York, NY

NYCFestival

LEGENDARY

ConcertApril 22, 2023

Taylor Swift — The Eras Tour

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📍 NRG Stadium, Houston, TX

Taylor SwiftStadium

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Music FestivalAugust 5, 2026

Lollapalooza 2026

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Four days. Eight stages. One pair of shoes that did not survive. Lolla is a logistical nightmare wrapped in a very good lineup and I respect the chaos. The headliners delivered. The food vendors were mid at best — someone was charging $22 for a quesadilla and I need that person to think about what they've done. The real highlight was a 2pm set on the smallest stage from a band I'd never heard of who played like they were headlining. That's what festivals are for. Six slices. Would go back.

📍 Grant Park, Chicago

LollapaloozaChicago

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ConcertJuly 22, 2026

Chappell Roan — Midwest Princess Tour

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She came out in a gown. The crowd lost their minds. I lost my mind. The Aragon is a perfect room for this kind of show — close enough that you feel every note, big enough that the energy builds into something physical. She talked to the audience like she knew everyone personally and somehow it didn't feel like a bit. The setlist was tight. The staging was theatrical without being try-hard. One slice off because the opener ran 20 minutes over and I was standing the whole time. My feet have opinions.

📍 Aragon Ballroom, Chicago

Chappell RoanIndie Pop

Sabrina Carpenter — Short n' Sweet (Album)

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AlbumJuly 10, 2026

Sabrina Carpenter — Short n' Sweet (Album)

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I didn't expect to have this album on repeat for three weeks straight. Here we are. The production is sharp, the writing is sharper, and she has a sense of humor about herself that most pop stars are too scared to lean into. 'Espresso' is the obvious hit but 'Please Please Please' is the one that actually got me. The album is short — 12 tracks, no filler, no 4-minute interludes where she breathes into a microphone. I respect the restraint. Seven slices. The missing one is because I needed more.

📍 Everywhere

PopAlbum

LEGENDARY

AlbumSeptember 22, 2026

ABBA — The Visitors (Album)

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📍 Everywhere

ABBAPop

LEGENDARY

ConcertSeptember 5, 2026

Kacey Musgraves — Houston, TX

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Kacey Musgraves in her hometown crowd is a different animal entirely. The Toyota Center was electric in a way that felt personal — like everyone in that building had a specific memory attached to a specific song and she knew it. She opened with 'Slow Burn' and I nearly cried before the first chorus. The staging was minimal and it didn't matter at all. Her voice is the production. The crowd sang every word back to her and she let them. Eight slices. No notes. Houston showed up.

📍 Toyota Center, Houston

Kacey MusgravesCountry Pop

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ConcertSeptember 7, 2026

Kacey Musgraves — Austin, TX

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I drove from Houston to Austin two days later because I needed to see if the magic was repeatable. It was, mostly. The Moody Center is a bigger room and you feel the distance more — the intimacy that made Houston so special gets diluted a little when you're further from the stage. But she added two songs to the setlist that weren't in Houston, including 'Happy & Sad,' which is the one I'd been waiting for. Seven slices. The missing slice is the drive back on I-10 at midnight.

📍 Moody Center, Austin

Kacey MusgravesCountry Pop

LEGENDARY

ConcertAugust 22, 2026

Laufey — Bewitched: The Goddess Tour

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I was not prepared. I thought I was prepared. I was not. Laufey filling the Toyota Center felt like a cultural event — this is a jazz-pop artist who writes about heartbreak and longing and somehow she's selling out arenas. The show was gorgeous. She played cello. She sang with an orchestra. The whole thing had this dreamy, cinematic quality that made the arena feel like a concert hall. 'From the Start' had 20,000 people harmonizing back at her. I stood there with my mouth open for most of it. Eight slices. Genuinely one of the best shows I've seen.

📍 Toyota Center, Houston

LaufeyJazz Pop

COMPLICATED

ConcertOctober 31, 2025

Morrissey — Halloween Night, Houston

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Halloween night. Morrissey. Houston. This is either the most on-brand thing I've ever done or a cry for help. Probably both. The show was exactly what you'd expect from a man who has been performing the same emotional devastation for 40 years — theatrical, self-serious, and somehow still compelling. He played 'There Is a Light That Never Goes Out' and I felt 17 again in the worst and best possible way. Six slices because the man canceled two songs mid-set to make a speech about something I still don't fully understand. The drama is part of the experience. I knew what I was signing up for.

📍 713 Music Hall, Houston

MorrisseyIndie Rock

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