Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman Toss Pizza, Talk Romance in Midtown Studio

On a rainy Wednesday afternoon, the scent of bubbling mozzarella and charred crust drifted out of the New York Times kitchen studio in Midtown, where actors Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman stood elbow-to-elbow, dusted with flour. The duo, in town for the premiere of their autumn romance film ‘The Love Hypothesis,’ swapped their scripts for aprons as they tackled the New York pizza canon with a blend of competitive spirit and genuine curiosity.

Reinhart, best known for her sharp-witted turns on the small screen, confessed she’d never stretched dough in a professional kitchen before. Bateman, London-born but an honorary New Yorker for the week, gamely debated the merits of thin crust versus the city’s infamous dollar slice. Their banter—equal parts lighthearted and revealing—played out as they took directions from chef-instructor Kim Severson, who reminded both that “New Yorkers judge a pie by its fold.”

For those walking past the glass-walled studio on Eighth Avenue, the scene offered a slice of New York’s unique blend of celebrity and everyday ritual. Reinhart recounted grabbing late-night slices in the East Village after film shoots, while Bateman marveled at the city’s devotion to pizza as both comfort food and civic icon. “You can’t fake your way through a New York pizza,” Reinhart said, grinning as her first attempt emerged from the oven lopsided but golden.

The actors’ hands-on approach resonated with the city’s autumn mood—back-to-school energy, cooler nights, and the renewed craving for something hot, cheesy, and communal. As election posters fluttered outside and commuters hustled by, Reinhart and Bateman’s pizza session felt like a small, dough-flecked love letter to New York’s ever-hungry soul.

By the end of the afternoon, the kitchen was scattered with basil leaves and laughter. The pair left with more than just full stomachs: a crash course in New York’s culinary rites and a reminder that, in this city, every good story starts—or ends—with a slice.