There was a VERY short-lived place in San Diego called “Good Pizza.”
They lied.
My friends once made a pizza with a Boboli crust, melted Velveeta, and Hunt’s tomato paste. The damnedest thing was, it wasn’t really all that bad!
I’m a bit surprised that three of the joints I mentioned are on the list. Not surprised about Bianco, but a little surprised that Vito & Nick’s got Illinois and, well, I guess I thought there was some other place in Michigan that might get the nod, but Buddy’s it was.
Asthma due to exposure to airborne flour and smoke from the wood-burning fire.
Pizza is landfill. I like it, but I’ve never had a religious experience eating it. The perfectly ripe piece of cantelope I got at Armand’s on Milwaukee was trancendential. The pizza was okay.
In my neck of the woods, there’s Via Veneto: http://www.viavenetopizza.com
Go there and order a slice of sicillian, no toppings. Most people around hear will tell you that it’s the world’s best sicillian. Obviously you can’t prove “world’s best” but it’s hard to imagine a better one.
The other I’d recommend which isn’t technically pizza but is a close cousin, is tomato pie from Corropolese Bakery. Again, many around here call it the best in the world. If you mention Corropolese Bakery in a group everyone will chime in “tomato pie!” Seriously. I’ve seen it happen more than once.
http://www.corropolesebakery.com/?page_id=13
For what it’s worth, that list of “best pizza in every state” is wrong. Well, at least 2% wrong. For Montana, they have Cosmic Pizza. Now, Cosmic Pizza is pretty darned good (especially their spinach tomato chicken alfredo white pizza), but any Bozemanite can tell you that the best pizza in town is Mackenzie River.
It’s kind of strange being Michigander at times. Our local pizzerias tend to suck. They’re “me too!” types of places that don’t really have a good economic footing. But then… you get Little Caesar’s, Domino’s, Jet’s, Hungry Howie’s, Cottage Inn… maybe they’re not all great pies, but they’re all available in a very large part of the United States. From the sucky local places, success seems to happen.
The best, though, is Cloverleaf. A single location, despite their stupid carryout franchises that produce garbage. They invented Detroit Pizza. Buddy’s was an associate of Cloverleaf, and is damned close, but still only a local chain. Shield’s kind of branches off from them, and is a good pie, too.
Then there’s Jet’s. Jet’s is kind of national. It’s growing. And for chain pizza, it’s transcendent. But get their square pizza. The round pizza sucks.
The key to “transcendent” pizza is “Detroit style.”
Yeah, this. I’ve been several time to the “World’s Greatest Pizza” guy on Avenue J in Brooklyn, where he pulls the pies out of the wood-fired oven with only his mighty paws, and it was REAL good.
But it was nothing nearly as tremendous as the pizza of New Haven.
Look for a pizza box with You’ve Tried The Rest, Now Try The Best.
Ta-Da!
For me it’s Campisi’s here in Dallas.
Their sauce is divine and their crust is like none other I’ve ever seen.
I’m not always in the mood for pizza; but I AM always in the mood for Campisi’s!
Here in Arlington, VA, it’s Pupatella – all their pizzas are the same size (enough for a large meal for 1), and they use high quality, mostly imported cheeses. No delivery, and always long lines.
And when I’ve visited NYC, even the average pizza joint is pretty good – the ‘good’ ones are great, by my palate.
I can allege without reservation that there is no such thing as a transcendent frozen pizza. Edible, yes (in some circumstances). Transcendent, no.
I feel confident that the average pizza place pizza is way better than the best frozen pizza.
Bite me, DiGiorno’s.
Yes. The OP’s story reminded me when I took a girlfriend of mine back home to New Jersey. She was originally from Montana and we met in Atlanta. With the first bite of a local New Jersey slice, her eyes closed as her face looked as if it was in ecstasy and she almost feel right out of the booth. It looked as if she was having a Pentecostal religious experience.
Thank you, Dr Cooper 
I can distinctly remember three restaurants (and one not so distinctly) from where I grew up that had pizza such as I’ve never tasted since. They didn’t taste anything like one another but each was delicious in its own way. Now, with one exception, it seems like any pizza I taste is the same as every other. Perhaps I’ve already had the best pizza I’m ever going to have. 
A restaurant in my hometown won a World’s Best Pizza contest, but never really figured out why. I’ve had pleasant pizza di tavola in Campo di Fiore, and agree Mom n Pop places are often dramatically overrated by locals, with a few exceptions.
Best in Toronto is a Detroit style place called Descendant’s in Leslieville. I was pleasantly surprised by an incredible Grimaldi’s pie I had (in Vegas, unfortunately, not Brooklyn).
When I was about 18 or 19, I ate pizza at a pizza place in Italy. I’m going to go ahead and assume that it was the same kind of pizza that Italians have been making for centuries and not the Americanized version. Anyway, it was heavenly beyond description. The dough melted in my mouth. The cheese was pure, liquid yum. The sauce was more flavorful than any tomato sauce I’ve ever had in the US. The herbs and spices and such tasted like they were just cut from the garden not ten minutes before they wound up on my pizza.
I will go ahead and call that list invalid since the place they name in my state serves tomato pie and not pizza.
Eh, close enough. If Detroit style pizza is on the list, then a tomato pie would qualify, I should think. Same with Chicago style pizza (although the Illinois winner is not a deep dish pizza.)
ETA: I mean, come on, who would not identify this as a type of pizza, name notwithstanding.
ETA2: And, goddamit, I want one of those right now. Never had one from De Lorenzo’s, but, damn, that looks fantastic.
All pizza is mostly just pizza.
I like most pizza. Pizza, in general, no matter what style, is great.