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Dining critics in New York, Chicago, Philly, and beyond recommend the best pizzas across the United States
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THE BEST PIZZA IN NEW YORK: TOTONNO`S PIZZERIA NAPOLITANO
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"New York City is the world`s pizza capital, more so than Naples, Italy. It was over a century ago that immigrant bakers on the Lower East Side, inspired by the Neapolitan original, took what was basically a pita bread marked with a dab of tomato sauce and transformed it into American pizza. They made our pies bigger and lusher, heaping on ingredients that were available in abundance in the New World. And what was once a meager meal for one became a pie fit for a rollicking party, a real communal culinary experience.
"The place where American pizza was first invented around 1905 still exists: Lombardi`s. There, over a century ago, a crew of bakers turned out pies using a hotter, coal-burning oven rather than the wood-burning ovens their Italian predecessors had used. This meant that New York pies had to have a thinner crust so that they baked quickly and more evenly at the higher temperatures. Several of the bakers who worked for Lombardi`s opened pizzerias of their own in the 1920s. The one founded by Antonio `Totonno` Pero in remote Coney Island, Totonno`s Pizzeria Napolitano, is currently New York City`s best pizzeria.
"The pies there still reflect their roots in Naples, with a thin but pliant crust, simple tomato sauce, and unspeakably rich mozzarella that tastes like it was made just hours ago—which it actually was. The crust is lightly charred in spots, and slightly smoky-tasting as a result. Yes, there are other contenders for best pizza in town, including Di Fara`s, John`s of Bleecker Street, Denino`s in Staten Island, and upstart Roberta`s of Bushwick, but Totonno`s remains the city`s best."
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10 TOP PIZZAS IN THE USA
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THE BEST PIZZA IN SEATTLE: THE INDEPENDENT PIZZERIA
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"Seattle is blessed with extraordinary pizza. Chalk it up to the local baking culture: If baking is a science and cooking is an art, it`s no wonder the former thrives in the birthplace of Microsoft and Modernist Cuisine. So I have no quarrel with folks who cite Delancey, Serious Pie, or Via Tribunali as the source of their favorite pies. But I`m especially fond of the Independent Pizzeria, which pulls gorgeous crusts from its wood-fired brick oven. A tad thicker than the Neapolitan standard, the crust—speckled with char on its underbelly—has enough chew to sop up the Independent`s robust tomato sauce, but doesn`t wilt under the weight of spectacularly fresh toppings. I like the Brussels sprouts."
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10 TOP PIZZAS IN THE USA
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THE BEST PIZZA IN LOS ANGELES: MILO & OLIVE
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"Though I`m a Pizzeria Mozza fan through and through, living on the West Side means that Nancy Silverton`s polished pies out in Hollywood aren`t always an easy reach. Another top-notch L.A. pizza haunt, which also happens to sit just down the block from me, is Milo & Olive, a Santa Monica staple from the team behind the Rustic Canyon family of restaurants. This welcoming shoe box–size bakery and café plates up a veggie-forward menu of the farmers` market`s best, but its oversize garlic knots and exceptional wood-fired pies are the reason diners spill out to Wilshire Boulevard waiting to claim one of the restaurant`s 24 seats. While pies change based on local ingredient availability, I am especially keen on the straight-up Margherita and the mixed-mushroom, which involves a bed of melted Fontina, lemon zest, Parmesan, and thyme. Expect a thinnish yeasty crust that bubbles up around the edges, crisp to the bite, but as you eat your way outward, the crust takes on a wonderful chew."
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10 TOP PIZZAS IN THE USA
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THE BEST PIZZA IN CHICAGO: RENO
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"Regional pizza options—everything from Neapolitan to Quad Cities` to New Haven coal-fired—have abounded in Chicago in the last decade, eclipsing the influence of the native Chicagoan deep-dish and tavern-style thin crusts. My current favorite is the vaguely Neapolitan-style pies found at Logan Square`s Reno, where a 900-degree wood-burning oven spits out delicate, crispy-lipped, char-stippled crusts, topped with both traditional and unorthodox house-made toppings like tasso ham, pickled peppers, giardiniera, smoked onion, roasted garlic, carnitas, salsa verde, or butternut squash. In the mornings, the same oven produces the best bagel in town."
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10 TOP PIZZAS IN THE USA
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THE BEST PIZZA IN ATLANTA: ANTICO PIZZA NAPOLETANA
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"Two restaurants opened in 2009 that transformed Atlanta`s pizza scene: Antico Pizza Napoletana (serving puffy-lipped, gorgeously charred pies baked in wood-fired ovens imported from Naples) and Varasano`s (doling out Neapolitan–New York hybrids with sheer, crisp crusts and some winningly unorthodox toppings, like caramelized onions and Emmenthaler). I happily gorge at either place, but Antico ultimately wins my vote. Try the San Gennaro, and you`ll understand why. The pizza`s rippling, chewy edges give way to a thinner center generously strewn with primo ingredients: buffalo mozzarella, spicy-sweet peppers, cipollini onions, a few wispy basil leaves, and hunks of sausage. The place is constantly packed, but don`t sweat the line nearly out the door: It moves quickly."
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10 TOP PIZZAS IN THE USA
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THE BEST PIZZA IN BOSTON: PICCO
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"The pizza I probably crave most often comes from Picco in the South End. The pies come out of a Wood Stone gas-fired oven, and they`re left in until they blister and char just the right amount. (The menu warns: `Our pizzas are cooked well done. Please tell your server if you would like your pizza lightly cooked.`) I`m a bit of a pizza purist, so I gravitate toward the Margherita. It`s really simple but done right. That said, the Alsatian is fabulous, topped with sautéed onions, shallots, garlic, crème fraîche, bacon, and Gruyère."
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10 TOP PIZZAS IN THE USA
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THE BEST PIZZA IN PHILADELPHIA: OSTERIA
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"Forget the cheesesteak—locals know the thin-crust pizza at Osteria is Philly`s real deal. Cooked in a Wood Stone oven with white and red oak at about 700 degrees, the barely risen dough gets just the touch of lift it needs to give it that distinctive Roman-style character. Chef-owner Marc Vetri and executive chef Jeff Michaud keep things interesting by creating seasonal pies, like this summer`s Pannocchia (truffled corn chowder with scallions). But the signature pie that`s on for the duration is the Parma. A mix of mozzarella and Fontina gives this staple a wonderfully compelling funk. Lightly dressed arugula is piled on after. As is the 24-month-aged prosciutto di Parma, which—thanks to a Berkel slicer—is shaved so thin that the heat piping through the arugula warms it just enough for it to melt on your tongue."
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THE BEST PIZZA IN THE TWIN CITIES: PIG ATE MY PIZZA
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"Where`s the best pizza in the Twin Cities? Right now that`s a tough question, because a number of impressive practitioners have debuted in 2013, including Burch Pizza Bar and Hello Pizza. The leader of the pack is probably the pork-obsessed Pig Ate My Pizza, where, following in the footsteps of its sibling establishment, Travail Kitchen and Amusements, the slogan is `more is more.` There can`t be many—if any—other pizzerias where staffers rush from the kitchen to the table, and just before serving, retrieve a spritzer from their apron pockets and release a gentle honey-vinegar mist over a piping-hot pie. That`s the finishing touch of the signature Cider Ham Rules pizza, which stretches the boundaries of the genre and yet remains recognizably pizza. A rich mushroom purée is spread across a thin, chewy crust, and then the oddly harmonious toppings fly, fast and furious: apple cider–braised ham, garlicky pan-seared oyster mushrooms, a molten Asiago-Fontina-mozzarella blend, tiny nasturtium leaves, dribbles of a black garlic purée, crispy latticed potato chips, splashes of pretty rosemary-garlic oil, a parchment-thin dried-apple slice, and, of course, that gentle bitter-sweet dew. It`s genius, and it might be my favorite way—at the moment, anyway—to part with $14."
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10 TOP PIZZAS IN THE USA
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THE BEST PIZZA IN DALLAS: NONNA
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"I love Julian Barsotti`s Roman-style pizzas at Nonna, which isn`t a pizzeria, but an upscale trattoria. Barsotti uses a Mugnaini wood-fired oven to achieve thinnish crust with crisp, well-blistered edges. The toppings change frequently, with three or four combinations usually on offer. The one constant is a terrific pie dotted with littleneck clams, caramelized onions, oregano, and thyme. Lately I swooned over one with house-cured pancetta, bright-flavored tomato, fresh peppers, smoked cow-milk caciocavallo from Calabria, and ricotta salata. The balance of Barsotti`s toppings is always spot-on; the quality of his ingredients is outstanding."
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10 TOP PIZZAS IN THE USA
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THE BEST PIZZA IN MIAMI: HARRY`S PIZZERIA
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"I cannot get enough of Michael Schwartz`s phenomenal pizzas at Harry`s. The dough has that springy, chewy, salty, crunchy, blackened bite that is essential. Of course, the wood-burning oven helps, as does a fantastic wine and beer list. Well, that, and then the toppings. Schwartz`s bacon pizza also includes just the right ratio of all my favorite things in life: bacon—house-cured, of course—as well as caramelized onions, slices of fingerling potatoes, cave-aged Gruyère, and a big dose of teeny-tiny peppery arugula leaves.
"You should also know that though it has generated more controversy than Kim and Kanye`s baby name, newcomer Lucali is a great addition to my nabe. This Brooklyn import opened in South Beach in 2013 and is serving what I consider one of the superior pies on our little sandbar. Some complain about the price ($26 for a plain), but I say, don`t quibble about a few bucks. The thing is huge, like 20 inches, instead of what some places call large at 16. Plus, the ingredients are awesome. The cracker-crisp crust is puffed and gently scorched. There could be a bit less char and a few more inches of topping closer to the edge, but I would be remiss not to let you know it is a wonder."
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10 TOP PIZZAS IN THE USA
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