I’ve lived in Chicago for 7 years now and love the variety of good pizza we have here. I’ve been on quite a few pizza tours, so I’ve experienced just about everything. It’s a great pizza town.
I’ve spent a lot of time in DC the past few months. While I’m not sure DC is known for pizza, I can strongly recommend Allpurposeshaw.
It’s New York. It’s laughable that other cities even have pretensions of topping the Big Apple. I’ve been to that place in New Haven and it’s very good, though.
No what’s laughable is that there can be no other opinions. So you can fold NY pizza, so what? If I wanted folded pizza I’d have a calzone.
It’s one thing to say that New York is the place where it’s easiest to get excellent pizza.
It’s quite a different thing to say that a particular style of New York pizza (foldable?) is the only kind of pizza that’s good. That’s just dumb.
You beat me to it. We had pizza last year* at some place near the Gateway Arch, and it was by far the worst pizza I’ve ever had. It was completely inedible. I’ve had cold school cafeteria pizza that tasted better. It’s like it was made by aliens that had no idea what a pizza actually was, so they made something that superficially resembled a pizza.
*ETA: Actually, it was in August of 2017. We went there to see the eclipse.
That’s what a lot of Chicago Pizza detractors do when they only talk about deep dish, so same same right? Yes the big thin slices that you can fold, have you not heard of that NY pizza?
I’m sure NY has great pizza, I’ve never been there, but heard tell. I just love Chicago pizza and object to the idea that any other opinion besides NY is laughable.
I remember getting good pizza in Dayton. But then, I was kid and was smoking a lotta dope.
I lived in Los Angeles for 30 years and it should not be on the list. Lots of bad pizza, not much good pizza.
But still better than the Sacramento area.
So far, my favorite pizza ever is in Lodi, Ca. http://www.smackpiepizza.com/
I doubt San Jose would ever make a top 10 list of best pizza cities, but we do have outstanding places to get NY style (Bibos, Slice of New York) and Chicago-style (Patxi’s, BJ’s). i would also recommend Premier Pizza and Tony & Alba’s.
I’ve been in New York and I have had New York pizza. I just think it’s weird to tout “foldability” as a desirable characteristic of foodstuffs. Can you not talk about what it’s like to eat it?
I spent four years in New Haven. New Haven has the best pizza. Hands down.
I’m a Sally’s man. They literally pour virgin olive oil over the fresh pies as they take them from the ovens.
Wooster Street is a hella long way from campus though. For everyday pizza or grinders (hero sandwiches) we went to Yorkside Pizza, just across from the back of Sterling Memorial Library. Second choice was Naples Pizza on Wall Street, across from Silliman College. Name since changed to “Wall Street Pizza.”
Rosati’s is the Chicago chain out there that does a reasonable Chicago-style thin crust. I’ve had their pizza a couple times out in Phoenix and it compares relatively well to their Chicago outposts, but Rosati’s here in Chicago is not a favorite of mine, as it tends to be on the sweet side of the Chicago scale. And Chicago crust isn’t really cracker-like. A lot of people describe it as “cracker crust” but there’s very few pizzas I’ve had here that are what I would describe as a true cracker. There’s chew to the crust, and the middle pieces end up being foldable in 95% of Chicago thin crusts I’ve had. But the edge pieces are usually crisp enough that if you cut the pizza into a pie slice, you’d have trouble folding it.
There’s also Oregano’s out there in Phoenix. They have no restaurant locations here in Chicago, but they claim to do some kind of Chicago thin crust on their menu. I do like their pizza. It’s not quite like the thin crusts I’ve had here in Chicago, but it’s solid.
There also used be an outpost of Vito & Nicks II out in Phoenix, but that’s been gone since about ten years ago. Vito & Nick’s (the original, not II) is my favorite example of Chicago thin crust. I have no idea what the II location (which is owned by a different part of the family) is like, and I never had a chance to try it while it was out there in Phoenix, as I generally try to avoid food I could get back home when I go there. Rosati’s I’ve tried because the in-laws like it.)
As for the square cut, it’s because it’s meant to be finger food while drinking beer at the bar type of pizza. So it works great where you want something to peck at instead of committing to a whole eighth of a pie at a time. I’m fine with either type of cut, but for Chicago thin crust, party cut is the way to go.
Old School Pizza on Craig and Losee is the best in town. Small place right across from Cannery. It is dinky and looks like nothing special but the pizza is freaking amazing.
Slee
I was in Connecticut for Woodstock II and had the best pasta diavolo I’ve ever had at a place near New Haven. Now, I wish I tried a pizza. New Haven style sounds delish.
A Geno’s East opened in Manhattan Beach maybe 20 years ago (probably longer ago?). I don’t think it lasted six months. I ate there once, and the only pizza they had was the deep dish. It was deeply weird and unpleasant.
I’m not a purist by any means so currently my favorite pizza is at a place called Beach Pizza (two locations – Playa del Rey and Manhattan Beach, CA). It’s the Surfer. Spicy Thai peanut sauce with mozarella, chicken, caramelized onions and bacon. It’s soooooo tasty.
I agree. Pacci’s in Silver Spring doe a good job with Neopolitan, and there are ok places, but finding good pizza in the DC area takes a bit of effort.
There’s a shop I work out of a few times a year in that area; I’ll make a point of trying them next time. Thanks for the rec.
The point is that pizza should not just be cardboard with sauce on it. Great pizza, IMHO, must have a great crust. If it is too soggy, or doesn’t have enough strength to stand up to picking up a large slice to eat, then the crust is not good.
On a really good pizza the crust is delicious enough to eat on its own.
Also, Rosco’s in Takoma Park is good, but you can’t just pick a random spot in DC and have a good chance of getting good pizza.
No matter what pizza style is concerned, yes to this. To me, that is the essence of pizza.
In that case, don’t ever order pizza in Naples, Italy (the birthplace of what we think of as pizza…)
Yeah, Roscoe’s is pretty good. Our go-to for delivery is Angelico’s. I’ve heard there are a couple of good places in Petworth, but I haven’t been down to check them out.