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…