Tag: 101 best pizzas in america

#92 Timber Pizza Co.

October 10, 2020

Washington, D.C.

We continued our pizza trip after Pizza di Joey and drove down to Washington, D.C. for a second stop. Timber Pizza Co. was ranked at #92 on the 2018 and the 2019 101 Best Pizzas list, and #95 on the new 2020 list. It’s not open for lunch – but it’s open for “breakfast” until 1 pm on the weekends, and then opens again at 4 for dinner. We made sure to get there before 1 pm on Saturday because we had other dinner plans.

We ordered two pizzas here, and brought them over across the street to a small park that was right next to a farmer’s market. We tried the regular margherita (Cheese Please), and then one with bacon, mozz, mushrooms, and smoked paprika (The Penelope). They usually have a variety of salads and empanadas also, but the menu is currently limited due to COVID and they are only doing take-out. You can order wine or beer to go.

Like Pizza di Joey, Timber Pizza Co got it’s start as a pizza truck. More specifically, as a wood-fired oven attached to a pickup truck. Their restaurant is small, order-at-the-counter, and is known as the best casual pizza place in town.

Somehow, James’s pizza shirt managed to stay clean even while eating this pizza. We weren’t able to finish these pies, but brought home a few slices to eat the next day. They were good pizzas, so we think they deserve their spot near the end of the list. The crust was decent, although nothing really special. The toppings and flavor combinations were unique, though, and many combinations we hadn’t seen before. We really liked the smoked paprika!

We were aiming to hit Inferno Pizzeria in Maryland on the drive back home, which has also been on the list a few years. When we called to order we heard that they were out of dough, which was disappointing. Apparently you need to call around 2 pm, and they are only open Wednesday through Saturday for dinner. Noted for next time.

Instead, we stopped back in Baltimore to Underground Pizza Company for some Detroit-style pizza. It was a good last-minute decision.

To visit:

Timber Pizza Co
809 Upshur Street Northwest 
Washington, DC 20011

BarbaraLeave a comment

#64 Pizza Den

September 12th, 2020

Princeton, NJ

When the new 101 best pizza places 2020 list came out, we immediately looked to see if any were within driving distance. We have been doing Saturday pizza drives to local NJ pizzerias for most of the summer, and we were happy to see Pizza Den was on the list at #64, and located nearby in Princeton, NJ.

Pizza Den opened in 2018, right on Nassau Street. It has small tables inside for dine-in, but it’s mostly take-out. That worked out just fine for us, as we’ve been doing take-out for all of our pizzas these days. It’s one of the new additions to the list that is partly woman-owned, as well as a family business, as it’s a wife-husband team.

We ordered two pizzas here, and took them down the street to a small park. Pizza Den said in an interview that their most popular pie is the Brooklyn-style margherita, so we ordered one of those (below). We also ordered one with ricotta and arugula (above). They have a red tomato pie and a white pie base also, and plenty of toppings for customization. The pizzas also come in three sizes, which we appreciate these days with a toddler who likes things “by his-self”.

Our thoughts on these pies were pretty mixed. We liked both pies, but neither of us was sure that they deserve to be on the 101 Best Pizzas list. There just wasn’t too much that was special about them. The crust wasn’t a stand-out, nor were the toppings. We’d expect a bit more at this point.

The motto of Pizza Den is “A good pie is personal”, which is why they don’t have any “specialty” pies on their menu and just have the basics, with optional toppings that you select yourself. That’s probably great for many people, but we like to try specialty pies more these days because they are what makes a pizzeria unique. Otherwise, we tend to forget them, especially after eating so many pizzas the last few years. If a pizzeria is going to stick to the basics, they have to be really good, and we don’t think this pizza is up to that standard.

We’ll never complain about having another option for pizza in NJ though, and it was a perfect Saturday for a picnic. James managed to eat most of the ricotta, although picked off most of the “leaves”.

To visit:

Pizza Den 
242 1/2 Nassau St.
Princeton, NJ 08542

BarbaraLeave a comment

#39 Mama’s TOO!

September 27th, 2018

Manhattan, NYC

Every year, there’s a new slice shop (or two) in NYC that make it on the list. We could have guessed that Mama’s TOO would have been the new addition this year, which is why we went to it LAST year to try it out.

Mama’s TOO serves squares and regular slices. It’s maybe most famous for it’s pepperoni square, which is a mix between a Sicilian slice and a Roman al taglio slice, with a crunch Detroit-style-like cheesy edge. It’s also probably most famous for it’s crust, which is much thinner than a Sicilian or Detroit style slice. The owner, Frank Tuttolomondo, took his favorite parts of other styles of pizza and combined them to make his own take on a slice.

We tried a few slices, including the vodka slice, the bruschetta, a sausage and pepper, and a slice of the four cheese. Most of their toppings are made in house. All were excellent, and lived up to the hype.

The slice we had may have been a little charred, but we don’t usually mind a little burnt edge on our pizza.

Pete Wells at the NYT gave Mama’s TOO one star, ranking it up with other sit-down pizzerias in NYC. We think it’s worth a trip to the Upper West Side, and it’s a trip that we need to do again soon.

To visit:

Mama's TOO
2750 Broadway
New York, NY 10025

BarbaraLeave a comment

#101 Arcaro and Genells

November 23rd, 2019

Old Forge, PA

Old Forge is known to some as the “Pizza Capital of the World”. You’ve probably never heard of it. We hadn’t, before we started our first year of traveling to the places on the list. That first year, Ghigiarelli’s eked on to the list at #101. It was missing the following year, and actually has since closed after the owner went missing (and is still missing). This year, another Old Forge pizzeria barely made it on the list at #101.

We made the drive back out to Old Forge last Saturday. We started out with a hike in the Delaware Water Gap area that was only sort of successful, but we were hungry for lunch by the time we got into Old Forge. We were seated right away and ordered a plain red pizza, with mushrooms on half.

As you can see, Old Forge pizza is unique. It has its roots back in the coal mining industry, when the cold miners would come home and their wives would make pizza on square pans with their bread dough, topping the pies with homegrown tomatoes. You certainly get a family feel at Arcaro and Genell’s – it’s your traditional old-school Italian restaurant and bar.

The taste of these pizzas is also unique. The crust isn’t like a traditional pizza crust. It’s more like a bread dough. It’s thicker than a Sicilian, but still tastes light. The sauce is full of chunks of onion, which we loved. There’s a lot of cheese, but it isn’t as much as some of the Sicilian places we’ve tried around NYC, and definitely not as much cheese as any of the pizzas we tried in Buffalo.

You may not like me saying so, but it’s similar to Elio’s frozen pizza. Fresher, but a similar mouth feel. Maybe like Elio’s if it had never been frozen, with better sauce. Eric said it was like a cross between Elio’s, Detroit style (without the crispy cheese edge), and a Sicilian slice.

It has been a few years since our last Old Forge pizza, but we think that we like this place better than Ghigiarelli’s. It was more flavorful. We’ve gotten a few other messages about other Old Forge pizzas we should try, so maybe we’ll be back, or maybe one of those will end up on one of the lists in the future. James liked this pizza as well, but he’s not so picky these days.

If you want to try it, I think they are one of the only Old Forge pizza places that will ship to you through goldbely.

To visit:

Arcaro and Genell
443 South Main Street
OLD FORGE PA, 18518

BarbaraLeave a comment

#15 Pizzeria Beddia (new location)

May 11th, 2019

Philadelphia, PA

Pizzeria Beddia is back! The last time we went there, we had to wait in line 3 hours before opening time to grab the first pizza out of their oven. If you read my last post, a new pizzeria is now open in that space, and making really good slices. We had heard rumors that Joe Beddia was opening a new pizza place at a larger location in Philly, so we were looking out for news.

It opened in March 2019, but we didn’t make it there until May. It’s much different from the original, mostly in the vibe. There’s a nice outdoor seating area, and you can sit and have drinks beforehand if there’s a wait (there was). We brought James here, too, and it wasn’t an issue at all.

We almost ordered the regular cheese pie here, just to see how it compared to the old Beddia. But, we ended up switching it up and ordering the tomato pie-like anchovy pizza. You may not like anchovies, or you may not think that you do, but they are worth trying on a pizza if you’re at a place that knows how to make them work. Also, our baby tried them, so you probably should too.

The menu here is still small – they serve only three pizzas and a tomato pie, and a few small plates. So the quality of the ingredients and the pizzas is still the same as the original Beddia. The difference is that Joe Beddia isn’t making the pizzas by himself anymore. He’s got a staff for that. I’m just glad that Joe Beddia is still making pizzas at all and that we get to eat them.

The Daily Meal realized this too, and Beddia is back on the list this year, at #15! I think this article summed it up pretty well: even though Pizzeria Beddia isn’t the same as it was, it’s still a fantastic restaurant in Fishtown. Go there, and be glad that you don’t have to wait hours for your pizza.

To visit:
Pizzeria Beddia
1313 North Lee Street
Philadelphia, PA 19122

BarbaraLeave a comment

#55 Bread and Salt

October 27th, 2019

Jersey City, NJ

If you hear “Jersey City” and “pizza” in the same sentence, you probably think immediately of Razza. Razza broke on to the Daily Meal list in 2017, and then bumped up immediately to #2 last year. There was a pretty famous NYT article about it being the “best pizza in NY”. We’ve never quite agreed. The pizza is fine, but it’s not better than many places in NYC, and we don’t think that it belongs in the top 10 of the Daily Meal list. We’ve gone back to try it subsequent times and are still not impressed. The point is, we won’t go back out to Jersey City for their pizza, specifically.

However, there is a new addition to the 2019 list from Jersey City, and this is one that we’d go back for. Bread and Salt opened in June of this year. It’s not in the main strip downtown Jersey City, which makes parking a lot easier, although it would be harder to get to from the PATH.

Bread and Salt is the third iteration of this restaurant from pizzaiolo Rick Easton. Previously, he opened in Crown Heights and then later in Pittsburgh, before coming to Jersey City. These aren’t traditional NY slices – they are Roman style, al taglio. If you’ve read my post on our trip to Italy, we got really into this style of pizza. Here, there are a variety of slices that rotate depending on the day. Constants are the rosso (back slices in the pic above), and the margherita (in the middle).

We came here on a Sunday, around 3 pm, for a late lunch. Our friends were visiting from London, and since they always bring me to try new pizza when I visit the UK, we figured that we should do the same. There were 4 of us, so we got to try a large variety of slices. Aside from the tomato pie and margherita, we also tried the mushroom slice, a calzone-like slice with ham and cheese, and the front right seasonal slice, which is a butternut squash sauce with sausage. They kindly cut the slices in half for us so that we could all share.

Our favorites were probably the margherita and the mushroom, but James was really into the pumpkin slice. I think we all would have liked a little more sauce on the rosso. The slices are small and light, so you can definitely try a selection of slices. Even better, they are reasonably priced (unlike Razza). And don’t forget about dessert! We tried a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of fig leaf and quince ice cream (on the house), and they were delicious. We actually had to keep James from eating it all.

The space itself is really open and friendly – the tables are almost family-style, and the whole front is open to the street. So even though it was raining outside, James still felt like he was running around in the fresh air. We’d definitely come back for these slices. They’re open on the weekends for lunch, but only for dinner on the weekdays. 

To visit:

Bread and Salt
435 Palisade Ave
Jersey City, NJ 07307

BarbaraLeave a comment

101 Best pizza places 2019

It’s that time of year again. We look forward to the list coming out every year, and now even more so since we get to vote on it! This year, over 1000 pizza places in were considered, narrowed down to the top 101, located in 30 states. We were two of the “pizza experts” who were asked to vote again this year.

Now, our discussion of the results.

101 Best Pizza Places (2019) : places in bold are new to the list in 2019!

#101 Acaro and Genell, Old Forge, PA
#100 Settebello, Salt Lake City, UT
#99 Mother Bear’s Pizza, Bloomington, IN
#98 Pizza Domenica, New Orleans, LA
#97 Scuola Vecchia, Delray Beach, FL
#96 DeLuca’s Pizza Napoletana, Hot Springs, AR
#95 Moose’s Tooth Pub and Pizzeria, Anchorage, AK
#94 Mission Pizza Napoletana, Winston-Salem, NC
#93 TriBeCa Allie’s Cafe, Sardis, MS
#92 Timber Pizza Company, Washington, D.C.
#91 Cloverleaf Pizza, Eastpointe MI
#90 Pizzeria Lola, Minneapolis, MN
#89 Jay’s Artisan Pizza, Buffalo, NY
#88 Monza, Charleston, SC
#87 Micucci’s Grocery, Portland, ME
#86 Frank and Helen’s, University City, MO
#85 Pizza Hacker, San Francisco, CA
#84 Slab, Portland, ME
#83 Zoli’s NY Pizza, Addison, TX
#82 Inferno Pizzeria, Darnestown, MD
#81 Il Forno, San Antonio, TX
#80 Young Joni, Minneapolis, MN
#79 Bonci, Chicago, IL
#78 Emmy Squared, NYC and Nashville, TN
#77 King Umberto’s, Elmont, NY
#76 Scarr’s, New York, NY
#75 EVO, Charleston, SC
#74 Pizza Delicious, New Orleans, LA
#73 Del Popolo, San Francisco, CA
#72 O4W Pizza, Deluth, GA
#71 Ken’s Artisan Pizza, Portland, OR
#70 Zaffiro’s Pizza, Milwaukee, WI
#69 L&B Spumoni Gardens, New York, NY
#68 Pizzeria Bebu, Chicago, IL
#67 Pizano’s, Chicago, IL
#66 Umberto’s Pizzeria and Restaurant, New Hyde Park, NY
#65 Bocce Club Pizza, Buffalo, NY
#64 Al Forno, Providence, RI
#63 La Nova, Buffalo, NY
#62 Pizzeria Vetri, Philadelphia, PA
#61 Pizza Shackamaxon, Philadelphia, PA
#60 Pizzeria Locale, Boulder, CO
#59 Pizza Rock, Las Vegas, NV
#58 Serious Pie, Seattle, WA
#57 The Cheese Board, Berkeley, CA
#56 Loui’s Pizza, Hazel Park, MI
#55 Bread and Salt, Jersey City, NJ
#54 Flour + Water, San Francisco
#53 The Original Tacconelli’s Pizza, Philadelphia, PA
#52 Papa’s Tomato Pies, Robbinsville, NJ
#51 Roseland Apizza, Derby, CT
#50 Metro Pizza, Las Vegas, NV
#49 Pizzeria Mozza, Los Angeles, CA
#48 Vito & Nicks, Chicago, IL
#47 Santillo’s Brick Oven Pizza, Elizabeth, NJ
#46 Zuppardi’s Apizza, West Haven, CT
#45 Juliana’s Pizza, Brooklyn, NY
#44 Colony Grill, Stamford, CT
#43 Rubirosa, NYC, NY
#42 Cane Rosso, Dallas, TX
#41 Joe & Pat’s Pizzeria, Staten Island, NY
#40 CoalFire Pizza, Chicago, IL
#39 Mama’s TOO, NYC, NY
#38 Louie and Ernie’s, Bronx, NY
#37 DeLorenzo’s Tomato Pies, Robbinsville, NJ
#36 Paulie Gee’s Slice Shop, Brooklyn, NY
#35 Pizza Brain, Philadelphia, PA
#34 Paulie Gee’s, Brooklyn, NY
#33 L’industrie Pizzeria, Brooklyn, NY
#32 Star Tavern Pizza, Orange, NJ
#31 Regina Pizzeria, Boston, MA
#30 Tony’s Pizza Napoletana, San Francisco, CA
#29 Antico Pizza, Atlanta, GA
#28 Apizza Scholls, Portland, OR
#27 Burt’s Place, Chicago, IL
#26 Galleria Umberto, Boston, MA
#25 Roberta’s, Brooklyn, NY
#24 Motorino, New York, NY
#23 Lovely’s Fifty Fifty, Portland, OR
#22 Pizzeria Delfina, San Francisco, CA
#21 Piece, Chicago, IL
#20 Modern Apizza, New Haven, CT
#19 Lombardi’s, New York, NY
#18 Grimaldi’s, Brooklyn, NY
#17 Pizzeria Bianco, Phoenix, AZ
#16 Di Fara, Brooklyn, NY
#15 Pizzeria Beddia, Philadelphia, PA
#14 Prince Street Pizza, New York, NY
#13 Una Pizza Napoletana, NYC
#12 Santarpio’s, Boston, MA
#11 Joe’s, New York, NY
#10 John’s of Bleecker, New York, NY
#9 Lou Malnati’s, Chicago, IL
#8 Patsy’s, New York, NY
#7 Sally’s Apizza, New Haven, CT
#6 Totonno’s, Brooklyn
#5 Buddy’s Pizza, Detroit, MI
#4 Pequod’s, Chicago, IL
#3 Razza Pizza, Jersey City, NJ
#2 Lucali, Brooklyn, NY
#1 Frank Pepe Pizza Napoletana, New Haven

12 new places this year, as well as many that were on previous years but not last year’s. There’s a bigger representation of places in the midwest, which of course are more difficult for us to get to and try, but we’ll be giving it our best shot (maybe another road trip is in the future?)

Overall, we’re really happy with how this list looks. Glad to see our favorite, Pepe’s, at the top. We went back to Razza again this year and still we were not excited by it! We have a hard time figuring out why it keeps making the top of the list. The rest of the top 10 is pretty solid. We maybe wouldn’t have put Lou Malnati’s in there, given how chain-like the restaurant is these days.

Una Pizza Napoletana’s new location in NYC makes some of the best neapolitan-style pies in the city, so we’re very glad that it’s holding strong in the top 20. We understand about Di Fara’s slide this year, although we’ll still say that it’s a better slice than Joe’s. Pizzeria Beddia is back near the top with it’s new location in Philly, where it makes more than 40 pies a night. We’ve been there, and it’s earned it place on this list (that post, and a few others, to come).

We miss Keste on this list this year, and Emily (which is definitely better than Emmy Squared). BUT we are SO GLAD to see CoalFire pizza back at a solid spot on this list.

For the new additions – we’ve already been to a few of these. There are always a few newcomers to the NYC pizza scene, and it must be really hard for these places to gain attention, given the overwhelming number of slice shops in NY. Last year, it was Scarr’s and L’industrie, which we agreed were solid additions. This year, it’s Mama’s TOO and Paulie Gee’s Slice Shop, and having been to both, we agree with these being added. Pizza Shackamaxon in Philly took the old location of Beddia, and it also makes a really, really good slice.

So what are our pizza plans for the upcoming months? Well, going back to Chicago is near the top! We’ve got a few to hit down in Washington D.C., and we’ll of course still be making our way around NYC. And if anyone is really interested in going to Alaska, please let us know, because Moose’s Tooth is back on the list again, and we still haven’t been…

BarbaraLeave a comment

#89 Dino’s Tomato Pie

February 3rd, 2019

Seattle, Washington

There were two new additions to the 2018 Daily Meal list in Seattle. We only had one night (Sunday) in town before our morning flight on Monday. That meant that we had to eat two dinners. We hit Delancey for an early-ish dinner and then made our way over to Dino’s Tomato Pie.

Dino’s website lists it as “the second best pizza in Seattle”. This would be after Delancey, of course, as the two are owned by the same couple. Dino’s makes a completely different style of pizza than Delancey does and has a very different restaurant-feel as well. Where Delancey is your traditional sit-down, artisan pizzeria, Dino’s is a bar. A bar that also serves round and square pizzas that are more like New Jersey-style pies than Neapolitans.

Please excuse the horrible lighting of this photo. We ended up getting this pizza to go for two reasons. First, it was getting late and we wanted to check into our hotel because our baby was getting a little sleepy. Second, Dino’s is actually only open to people 21 and older, so we couldn’t bring baby James in to eat, even if we had wanted to.

So, we took this picture right outside of the restaurant, under the neon sign. We think it’s actually a pretty fitting photo to represent the feeling of the place – bar first, pizza second. While we didn’t get to spend any time at the bar, we didn’t waste any time having a slice of this pizza before we packed it up to bring back to the hotel.

We ended up ordering a regular square Sicilian-style pie because that is what they are known for here. We found it to be more similar to Buffalo-style pies (like Bocce Club) than to the NJ pizza that we’ve had. It has a thick crust and LOTS of cheese. The sauce was good, but like with most Sicilian-style thick crust pizzas, you really have to be hungry and in the mood for this. We wouldn’t rank it as high as other Sicilian slices that we’ve had, but perhaps if we had been able to sit at the bar and experience it with a drink it would have made a better impression.

Also, we aren’t quite sure why they call it Dino’s Tomato Pie, if they are famous for a cheesy Sicilian, or even a Sicilian with toppings. NJ tomato pies have cheese, yes, but generally the focus is still on the sauce, which is found on top of the cheese. We do understand that we may be a bit biased as we love a good (Philly- or New Haven-style) tomato pie, but we just don’t see where the “tomato pie” comes into play here.

To visit:

Dino’s Tomato Pie
1524 E Olive Way
Seattle, WA 98122

BarbaraLeave a comment

#76 Delancey

February 3rd, 2019

Seattle, Washington

After our weekend in Portland, we decided to rent a car and drive to Seattle to visit two new pizza places that made the list in 2018. First on the list was Delancey. Delancey is only open for dinner, and we were a little worried about getting a table without having to wait because we’ve heard that the wait here can be hours. Especially because James was getting a bit hungry after sitting the car during the drive.

We shouldn’t have worried. Since it was Superbowl Sunday, the restaurant was pretty empty. We walked right in and were seated. We split the Brussels sprouts appetizer, which was delicious, and the Brooklyn pie. There were so many good looking pizzas on their menu! The pizzas are all wood-fired, so the crust had a nice char. The crust was on the thin side, and it had a nice cheese:sauce ratio. We can see how it made the 2018 list, but we honestly preferred the pizza at Lovely’s Fifty Fifty the night before.

We don’t doubt that this pizza is the best in Seattle. The owner, Brian Pettit, apparently spent a very long time perfecting his crust recipe so that it is similar to a Neapolitan crust, but still holds up stiffly to the unique toppings and sauces.

If you’re interested in reading more about the start and history of this restaurant, which has been operating for the last 10 years, Pettit’s wife, Molly Wizenberg, published a memoir about it back in 2014. Wizenberg has made her own contributions to Delancey, but also has a history as a writer for Bon Appétit and several other foodie outlets. The book also includes recipes – so we’ve now added it to our reading list!

To visit:

Delancey 
1415 NW 70th St.
Seattle, WA 98117

BarbaraLeave a comment

#94 Lovely’s Fifty fifty

February 2nd, 2019

Portland, Oregon

For our second night in Portland, we stopped for dinner at Lovely’s Fifty Fifty, which was another pizza place that made the 2016 list. We were supposed to come here with our friends, but they ended up deciding that they didn’t feel like pizza again (we made them get Apizza Scholls the night before). This ended out working beautifully because Lovely’s is a small restaurant and we snagged one of the last tables for two (or three, if you count James).

We ordered two pies here. One was just a plain with mozzarella, and this one had sundried tomatoes, kale, and calabrian chilis. These pizzas are wood-fired, the dough is naturally levened using Oregon-grown whole grains, and most of their ingredients come straight from local farms.

It’s not your traditional Neapolitan pizza, and it isn’t like a NYC sourdough either. This is a Portland pizza, entirely it’s own. We loved them. The crust is amazing, and we would have ranked it higher than Nostrana, and also made sure that it had a spot on the more recent lists. We even let James nibble on the crust.

Just see how he is eyeing these pizzas! We’re going to have a hard time keeping him away from our pies for much longer.

If you make your way here, you should probably just focus on the specialty seasonal pies, and skip the traditional cheese. And make sure to save room for ice cream, which we didn’t (because we had birthday cake back at our AirBnb). Looking back on it and reading reviews of the ice cream makes us regret our decision to skip dessert.

To visit:
Lovely's Fifty Fifty
4039 N Mississippi Ave
Portland, OR 97217

BarbaraLeave a comment