Hunting the best pizza in America

Jan 19, 2012 5:08:11 AM

Robert Reid
Lonely Planet Author

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There are two types of food in the world: Italian food and the rest. And pizza? It’s so prevalent here in the US, and with so many local versions, that many of us make the mistake of thinking it’s a local invention, along with the car (Germany), badminton (made by bored Brits in India), and turtle races (wait, that apparently is American).

But figuring out who makes the best pizza in the USA is a heated question, one that gets nerdy quick. Here are our favorites:

New York City

Thin-crusted pizza pies, sold as slices at greasier takeaway stands or in sit-down pizzerias with brick ovens, is a legendary part of the New York experience. A lot of Manhattanites tout Joe’s in the West Village, John’s in the West Village or Midtown, Patsy’s uptown. Great, but not the best. You’ll find that in Brooklyn.

Grimaldi’s, under Brooklyn Bridge, is a hit with tourists − and it’s good − as are the hole-in-the-wall Di Fara (1424 Ave J), Franny’s gourmet offering in Prospect Heights, and Totonno’s by Coney Island.

But the best, for the moment, has to be Lucali’s in Carroll Gardens. Owner/chef Mark Iacono opened it up after testing pizzas for fun and neighbors starting asking about the mouth-watering smells. It’s a pocket-sized, candle-lit place with a handful of tables that are open for dinner only (lines form quick — you can wait hours, though you can call ahead to get on the list, as do Beyonce and Jay-Z often enough). There’s no alcohol license (bring in your own wine or beer) and nothing but a couple rotating pizzas and calzones. Very very good ones.

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Chicago

The Chicago/New York pizza war is like a John Lennon/Paul McCartney debate − it depends on your taste, you’ll never resolve it, and the bickering will never end. According to Lonely Planet’s Chicago food author Nate Cavalieri, the best place to get Chicago’s heavy dose of deep-pan pizza is at the local institution Giordano’s in the Near North, north of the Loop. The founders swear the recipe comes from their mom’s recipe back in Italy (that’s sweet), and the special stuffed pizza with sausage, mushroom, green pepper and onions is an instant last-meal-of-the-day dessert-destroyer.

(By the way, Lennon is easily the choice over McCartney.)

California

‘The thing about California pizza’, says California pizza fan (and Lonely Planet staffer) Andy Murdock, ‘is that there’s no such thing as California pizza’. Sounds like a club that doesn’t want us as a member.

One could say that ‘California pizza’ is a modern concept and can be boiled down as something of a fussier, more ‘gourmet’ version of a New York-style pie, with non-traditional toppings like artichokes or Mexican carne asada or Thai spices. That’s pretty California. (Now, listen out for the collective smacking noise of palms hitting foreheads of beefy pizza chefs in Chicago and New York.)

The place for a rewarding snobby-yet-casual slice is Oakland’s Pizzaiolo, run by Chez Panisse grad Charlie Hallowell, who burst onto the pizza scene a few years ago with scene-stealing pies, then tried to deflect it by downplaying pizza and promoting other slow-cooking dishes (kinda like REM refusing to play their early hit ‘Radio Free Europe’ live). Simply put, it’s real pizza and it’s good eating.

New Haven

That’s right, New Haven, home of Yale University. Apparently when Frank Sinatra was back in New York, New York from Vegas, he’d have his pies delivered from Connecticut!

The best three in town are easily the top three in New England, all offering the local ‘clam pizza’ (a white pie — tomato-free, with mozzarella or ricotta cheese — plus local clams). As local pizza expert John Spelman puts it, New Haven makes the best pizza, period. ‘Some days you can get a sublime pizza here. Other times merely excellent’.

The most famous is Frank Pepe’s. There are a few locations, but best is in Wooster Square, a compact Italian-American neighborhood hemmed in by interstates and train tracks. Spelman says, ‘It looks most like an old-time pizza place’, and serves ‘red’ (tomato sauce) and ‘white’ pies with lightly charred crusts.

Relatively flashy and modern is Bar, a huge industrial space with a bar and stage for bands, plus more topping options.

The best though, many locals including Spelman swears, is Sally’s Apizza, around since 1938. As he puts it, ‘It’s the biggest pain in the ass — you can wait two hours to sit and the staff is hands-down the meanest — but it’s most frequently giving you the perfect pizza.’

St Louis

Welcome to the runt of American pizzas. Chicagoans, in particular, delight in making fun of the notion of ‘St Louis pizza’, but it exists and, dang it, it’s pretty good.

‘St Louis pizza’ is a round thin-crusted pie cut into square slices, of all things, and with a heavy dose of ‘Provel’ cheese. Depending on whom you talk to, Provel is a local source of pride or contention; the creamy blend of Swiss, provolone and American cheeses aren’t really available anywhere else (perhaps for a reason). A pizza expert over on the website Slice swears povel is evil: ‘It’s as if the cheese knows to wait to scald the roof of someone’s mouth before it decides to let go of the heat’.

Imo’s is a huge St Louis institution and likes to claim making the square-shaped slices first (borrowing a founder’s job as a tiler).

This article was updated in Jan 2012.

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Comments

17 April 2010 12:11AM ashleypaige Report this comment
French Quarter Pizzeria in New Orleans is the best pizza I have ever consumed! We found it our first day, and ended up eating there three times in five days. Everything about it was delicious: toppings, cheese, sauce, crust... Amazing!
17 April 2010 7:17PM bendigo Report this comment
I had a wonderFULL meal on the pizza at Giordanos (Chicago)when I was in the States in Feb, and it was very handy to get the subway directly back to my accom - would have been terrible to spoil such a heavy meal by walking it off afterwards!
BUT,
I really enjoyed the enormous slices of New York pizza when I was there - either eaten standing at a counter (a place on a corner on 8th Av - somewhere around 34 - 35 Sts), or even better - on a quick run around from my hostel to pick up a couple of slices and a beer from the takeaway at the corner of 30th St & 8th Ave - I don't even know if it was good pizza, but hell it tasted good after a big day, and it was only $1 per slice!
Rob
19 April 2010 2:32AM carlysues Report this comment
Yumm..the best pizza is from Conans Pizza in Austin, TX. Big thick slices filled with fresh toppings and lots of sauce and cheese! I crave it daily.
19 April 2010 10:09PM bertateo Report this comment
Without a doubt, the best pizza can be found in Sir Pizza (Key Biscayne,Miami)!
20 April 2010 4:08AM lifetraveler85 Report this comment
"Slice of New York" in San Jose, California. Best pizza in CA. My NY boyfriend introduced me to it and I haven't been able to eat "California" style pizza since!
22 April 2010 2:14AM kmmiami Report this comment
Frankies Pizza Bird Road,Miami Fl.Hands down
23 April 2010 1:32AM anglocelt Report this comment
I never understand why Grimaldi's gets a mention in these reviews. It is a hit with tourists - because it always gets mentioned. It's not good and it's not cheap. It has to be Lombardi's, I can't eat Pizza anywhere else.
23 April 2010 5:08AM hungry_dingo Report this comment
Old Forge, Pennsylvania is affectionately known, by people in NE Pennsylvania anyway, as the pizza capital of the world. Tons of Italian restaurants and as many wonderful Italian style pizzas to match.
23 April 2010 6:09AM lamautomatic Report this comment
the best pizza slice in the USA is in Philadelphia "Lorenzo & Son Pizza " on 3rd and south... if you ever want a late night bite, it hits the spot!
23 April 2010 7:09AM thecorporal Report this comment
Ginos East in Chicago always gets voted as one of the best pizza places in the city if not the country. We waited an hour for an inch crust pizza topped by 3 inches of cheese. Big disappointment.
23 April 2010 10:45AM blaberbee Report this comment
Cheese Board Pizza in Berkeley is the best thin slice pizza in the San Francisco Bay area. I am gluten intolerant, but will cheat for a slice of Cheese Board. They only make one type of pizza a day and the crowds go out the door and fill the surrounding area at lunch. I would argue that they are the best pizza in the area, but deep-dish fans are equally passionate about Zachary's Pizza in the Rockridge area of Oakland.
23 April 2010 1:37PM vbird Report this comment
PITFIRE PIZZA in Culver City, LA has the best Pizza in town! The restaurant is new and hip and comfortable, the crowd is cool and fun and funky, it's very family friendly, they have great DJs spin records Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. And besides amazing and deliciously fresh Pizza, they have Pasta, Salads and Vegetables to die for.
23 April 2010 4:41PM blu_belle Report this comment
OK, so it just FRIES me that such predictable places as NYC & Chicago always make it on these lists! You'd think Lonely Planet would be FAR more adventurous than that. Take a walk on the Wild Side and come out to Portlan, OR for the best Pizza I have personally had outside of Italy. See what Apizza Scholls has to offer. Such as most popular places, many people dread going there because the service is just OK, and the wait is often >1 hour, but the pizza is absolutely WONDERFUL, melt-in-your-mouth crust, tasty toppings including fresh herbs, and just the right amount of cheese (I prefer not to choke to death on a hot, goopy mess of melted cheese). The only people I know who don't think as highly of this place prefer their pizza from Papa Murphy's. Enough said.
23 April 2010 10:57PM pskwiot Report this comment
As far as St. Louis pizza, you have to head to Pi pizza (President Obama asked them to cater a meal at the White House). Their deep dish pizza is changing the way St. Louisian eat their pizza.
24 April 2010 4:39PM plainpeople Report this comment
As someone that spend half their life in New Haven, most of the rest in NYC and few years in northern AND southern CA, I confirm much of what was discussed and add to it.
Basically, Pepe's, in New Haven, would be my favorite in the northeast. However, Anthony's, in Weston, Florida, is easily a match for Pepe's and Sally's, in New Haven, as well as for Lombardi's or Grimaldi's in NYC. Anthony's is astonishing. I've never had pizza like it, anywhere in the world. And they use a coal oven... At any rate, I would also say that the North End, in Boston, has some excellent pizza, and that California style pizza DOES exist. I think it's actually pretty good. I also happen to love French style pizza, especially in Cannes; It’s similar to what you get in the North End, in Boston. Lastly, there is one pizza place, in Burbank, CA, that is just as good as the best on the east, the problem is I can't remember the name... but I think it was on Magnolia Street.
24 April 2010 6:36PM wli888 Report this comment
I think there is great pizza in a lot of places we would never expect. As a native Chicagoan, I loved deep dish pizza and still do. Several years ago, I moved to Boulder, CO and wasn't sure if I would survive without Chicago style pizza. Lo and behold, we found great New York style pizza at Abo's and Proto's. I've since moved to Houston and have had Grimaldi's (franchised), Russo's (NYC) and a few others that are very, very good. However, I've never quite been able to find anyone outside of Chicago who can make a true deep dish pizza. I finally decided to learn to make my own deep dish pizzas at home. My kids swear it is as good as Uno's or Lou Malnati's. Bottom line: Anyone who truly loves pizza doesn't pick between Chicago and New York styles. They're both awesome when made by craftsmen who love love what they do.
24 April 2010 7:12PM pmd326 Report this comment
Hmm ... it would seem that the pizza tasters missed a few areas here, notably Modern Apizza on State Street in New Haven (a bit away from the Wooster Square area where Pepe's and Sally's are) and the Boston area, home to lots of delicious pizza, especially Santarpio's, on Chelsea Street in East Boston, and the original Pizzeria Regina on Thacher Street in the North End. These omissions make me wonder how feasible it is to write an accurate article about the best pizza in a country as huge as the USA. That said, I am anxious to try the other suggestions put forth by the author!
25 April 2010 8:57AM warren11 Report this comment
Whoa. Hnds down the best is at Brozzetti Pizza in Johnson City NY. Everyone who visits is a convert.
25 April 2010 9:03PM bkkbob Report this comment
I grew up on the south side of Chicago, and for us there was no better pizza than Home Run Inn pizza. It's a family-run pizza business that started in the southwest part of the city on 31st and Kildare back in the 1920s and has grown into a great pizza business with many branch locations and frozen pizzas serving several states. From 1991-1996 they won the award for best pizza at Chicago's summer food festival, "Taste of Chicago". Any pizza-loving visitor to Chicago simply has to check out Home Run Inn!
26 April 2010 4:24AM atimblo Report this comment
Lots of places missed. I travel the world eating Pizza (and taking photos of them). The pizza place almost all "pizzis" swear is the best in the United States is Phoenix's Pizzeria Bianco.
I have eaten at most of the NYC locations mentioned in this article and they are definitely in the top percentile, but Pizzeria Bianco should have been mentioned even if Arizona wasn't (for good reason).
Just like carlysues Conans makes a great pie. My college life in Austin could not have been the same without them.
But for serious pizza eaters who will travel half way around the world for a good pie, try these two:
Biga Pizza - Missoula, MT Savoy - Tokyo, Japan
For some Americans, getting to Tokyo is quicker than Missoula!
26 April 2010 12:39PM tjjp Report this comment
There is only one type of pizza. Go to Italy. I have been there many times. Had pizza from one end to the other. In the North they have white pizza, because they do not use tomatoes there. There is only two types of pizza in U.S.A.. Chicago and New York. The California pizza is not pizza iit is just I do not know what. With all that stuff they put on it you can not taste the the goos cheese and sause and spices.
26 April 2010 3:52PM hldb00 Report this comment
The Pizza King in Schenectady. Undoubtedly the best.
26 April 2010 5:53PM cuba09 Report this comment
The very best pizza is in Bethany, Oklahoma, USA--Papa Angelos is run by a family of transplanted New Yorkers. It is nothing fancy, but is clean, roomy and you can see them making the pizzas right there. With thin crust, delicious sauce and lots of cheese and any toppings you can imagine, you will become spoiled and other pizzas will not measure up to Papa Angelos!
27 April 2010 1:01AM thumby001 Report this comment
By far - I have traveled the US & beyond, the VERY Best Pizza Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza. Serving their wonder goodness in FL, NV & PA to name a few. This guy does it right, super fresh and always consistent.
25 May 2010 4:31PM blueyed_trvlr Report this comment
Grimaldi's is amazing! Lombardi's is also very good. Head north to Boston and Pizzeria Regina is oh so yummy! Marco's Coal Fired Pizza in Denver is definitely representing as well--true Neapolitan Pizza! Real native Italians have given their thumbs up to all of the above mentioned!
19 July 2010 1:16PM iwearaviators Report this comment
Our of left field, but it's my favorite--Little Italy pizza in Auburn, AL. With Feta cheese, sausage, and pesto. YUMMMM.
4 August 2010 12:47AM shayna0386 Report this comment
Hands down...Fralo's outside of San Antonio TX. It is a little Italian family owned heaven. Better yet you can BYOB...ice chests, mixed drinks, wine for a $4 cork fee. Live music in the hill country with the freshest ingredients and most fantastic pizza combos
31 August 2010 3:24PM ampie Report this comment
Missing from the list: In NYC: Roma's Pizza on the Upper East Side, and arguably the best in the country is actually in Philadelphia - LORENZOES on south street. The pies are so big they have to put them in TWO full sized boxes!! mmmmmm
12 January 2011 10:04AM maevonnie Report this comment
Oh my gosh. I love pizza. I will eat all types of pizza because it is all so good. Personally I love The Pie in Salt Lake and there is this really great <a href="http://alphadeltapizza.com/">pizza in New Haven</a>, but I can't remember the name of it, but it is delicious.
12 February 2012 10:07PM internationalallison Report this comment
Most non-tourist Chicagoan's head to Lou Malnati's for deep-dish pizza.
If you're in the Twin Cities, there is no better pizza than Punch Pizza, made in their wood-burning stove.
21 March 2012 4:29AM jonathanporter77 Report this comment
You put Chicago in the mix and Giordano's is what you came up with? ?? More than 2000 pizzerias and really, Giordano's? When you are in town, get a chance to visit Navy Pier as well for an Imax movie! You picking up my sarcasm haha!