Pizza.
There are so many different types and flavors, from thin crust to deep dish, pizza should
be its own food group.
No matter your preference, the pizzerias on this list are known for making some of the
best pizza in the country.
Be prepared to drool!
Frank Pepe came to America from Italy in 1909
when he was just 16 years old.
He opened a bakery in 1925 in New Haven, Connecticut, and 12 years later, expanded it to a pizzeria.
Today, his grandson Gary Bimonte runs Frank Pepe, widely known as the best pizza joint
in New Haven, and, according to The Daily Meal, the best pizza place in the country.
The family has expanded their pizzeria to eight locations, all in the Northeast.
They still use the same pizza dough recipe after over 90 years, and their sausage recipe
is 45 years old.
But they're best known for their clam pie, made from fresh littleneck clams, garlic,
olive oil, and Parmesan cheese.
"We shuck our clams daily and uh, you know like I said we use only top quality ingredients"
When asked why people still line up to get pizza there, owner Bimonte told Eater:
"...we offer the best product, the best-quality product we can — because that's the way
my grandfather did it.
We don't cut any corners."
To get to Di Fara Pizza, you have to travel
deep into Brooklyn, changing trains at least twice, and then wait, possibly for hours,
while owner Dom DeMarco painstakingly makes each pizza himself.
But it's well worth the wait, and the high price tag of $5 for a plain slice of cheese
and around $30 a pie.
DeMarco opened Di Fara in 1965, and has been making each pie by hand ever since.
He uses only the freshest ingredients, including tomatoes, mozzarella, and Parmesan cheese
shipped in from Italy.
DeMarco told The New York Times: "Nobody taught me to make the pizza.
You gotta pick it up for yourself.
All of these 40 years, I keep experimenting."
Chris Bianco moved from New York to Phoenix
and opened his pizzeria in 1987, to the delight of locals.
Bianco won the regional James Beard Award in 2003 for his Italian inspired pies topped
with smoked cheese and other delectable ingredients.
By 2006, you had to wait over an hour to get a taste of Bianco's legendary pizza.
Bianco has since opened several other locations, all worth visiting and better than pretty
much any other pie you can get your hands on.
Especially in Arizona.
"I'm in love.
I'm having a relationship with my pizza."
In 2006, former pastry chef Nancy Silverton
planned to open a restaurant in LA, and the space she found happened to have a pizzeria
attached to it.
Within months, Pizzeria Mozza had become wildly popular.
Silverton is known for her incredible dough, which is denser than typical Italian pizza
dough.
She lets it sit for 36 hours before baking it in an Italian oven at 700 degrees for four
minutes.
The result is an airy, chewy, and bubbly pizza crust.
"Who ordered the double cheese and sausage?"
Lou Malnati opened his now famous Chicago
pizzeria in Lincolnwood in 1971.
To this day, extra care is taken in picking the perfect ingredients that make this pizza
an award-winning standout.
The hugely popular pizza has a thick, deep crust and you can order it in a number of
varieties, including gluten-free and the much loved butter crust.
The pizza is topped with a mixture of mozzarella, Romano, and cheddar cheese, covered with toppings,
and then finished off with Malnati's chunky, sweet tomato sauce.
There are now over 30 locations throughout the Chicago area, and you can even get a Lou
Malnati pizza delivered to you anywhere in the U.S.
"Pizza time!"
Al Forno is the birthplace of grilled pizza and was opened by Johanne Killeen and her
late husband George Germon, in 1980.
Germon reportedly got the idea to make grilled pizza after hearing someone rave about the
grilled pizza they'd eaten in Florence.
The idea of grilled pizza stuck with Germon (even though the storyteller had actually
meant to say "wood-fired pizza"), and when he and Killeen experimented with putting pizza
on the grill, they loved the results.
The pair won James Beard awards in 1993 for best chefs in the Northeast for their grilled
pizza.
The best part about the pizza?
Germon told Eater in 2014: "When the crust explodes and the inside is
pully and chewy.
There's a real magic."
Mark Iacono opened Lucali in Brooklyn in 2006.
At the time, he'd never made a pizza.
At Lucali, the pizza comes by the pie only.
Iacono makes the pies by hand, spreads tomato sauce on top, and then rhythmically adds two
types of mozzarella — low moisture and buffalo mozzarella.
After sliding the pie out of the oven, he tops it with a liberal serving of basil.
Unlike most pizza restaurants, Lucali offers upscale ambiance.
So upscale, in fact, Jay Z and Beyonce skipped the Grammys to go here in 2012.
Pizza that good should be a crime.
"You make this pizza?"
At Roberta's, you won't find cloth napkins
or comfortable seating.
What you will find is an incredible pizza.
Over the years, it's grown from a mere warehouse that served amazing pizza to an entire block
compound, complete with its own garden and bakery.
The Bee Sting is their most famous pizza.
Its slightly charred Italian-style crust is topped with tomato, mozzarella, sopressata,
chili, and honey.
Pull up a chair next to the hipsters and order one for yourself.
Detroit style pizza is kind of like New York
Style Sicilian — square with a thick crust, but smaller.
Order a couple more so you have more corner pieces to enjoy!
One of the best places to grab a slice is Buddy's Pizza.
The original Buddy's opened as a speakeasy in the 1930s.
They added pizza to their menu in 1946 and have been serving delicious Detroit style
pies ever since.
The toppings are mainly meat, but you can also go healthy with a gluten-free crust and
toppings like kale and artichoke.
Unlike a lot of trendy pizzerias, the pizza here is cheap at just $10 for a small cheese,
and the atmosphere exudes Midwestern warmth.
In the same space in Birmingham where postal
workers once sold stamps, you can now gobble down a delicious Italian style pie.
Post Office Pies was opened by John Hall, an Alabama native who spent time in New York
and was inspired to open a New York style pizzeria in his home state.
They keep their menu simple so they can focus on what they do best — make pizza.
Hall told Pizza Today: "We have a small menu and there's no smoke
and mirrors.
All of the hard work we put into the pizza, we want to showcase that."
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