Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Food Fight / Travel Advisory When the Moon Hits Your Eye: Pizza Places Slug It Out for National List
Posted by Nicki Wood on Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 11:15 AM
We're the US of A Slice of Pizza, if the magazine GQ is right. The June issue, leaving newstands soon, features the 25 best pizzas in the country, a topic guaranteed to start a national argument. Some fine, well-known pizzas aren't on the list, some newcomers burst onto the scene.
The most famous pizza I ever ate was at Di Fara, in Brooklyn. My friend Kath, a Brooklynite, got the the recommendation from Chowhound, found on the Innertubez in about 1999. It was probably the best pizza I've ever eaten, or ever will. (Except that I had an incredible pizza two summers ago at Mafiaoza's that comes a close second.) Di Fara didn't make the list, so the winning pies must be exceptionally extraordinary.
Here's the list -- I like how seriously it takes itself by adding the "naught" to the single digits so no one could sneak in there and scribble a "1" to move Great Lake to number 11 and Lucali to number 12.
If you know these pizzas, report to Bites.
01. Great Lake (Chicago)
02. Lucali (Brooklyn, NYC)
03. Pizzeria Delfina (San Francisco)
04. Pizzeria Bianco (Phoenix)
05. Bob & Timmy's (Providence, R.I.)
06. Sally's Apizza (New Haven, Conn.)
07. Tomato Pie (Los Angeles)
08. Co. Company (Manhattan, NYC)
09. Tacconelli's (Philadelphia)
10. Totonno's (Brooklyn, NYC)
11. Tarry Lodge (Port Chester, N.Y.)
12. Frank Pepe (New Haven, Conn.)
13. Luigi's "the Original" (Harrison Township, Mich.)
14. Gialina (San Francisco)
15. Buddy's (Detroit)
16. Antica Pizzeria (Marina Del Ray, Calif.)
17. A16 (San Francisco)
18. Al Forno (Providence, R.I.)
19. Galleria Umberto (Boston)
20. Famous Joe's (Manhattan, NYC)
21. Tomatoes Apizza (Farmington Hills, Mich.)
22. Osteria (Philadelphia)
23. Santarpio's (Boston)
24. Niki's (Detroit)
25. Una Pizza Napoletana (Manhattan, NYC)
Comments (17)
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#5 - Bob and Timmy's in Providence is right around the corner from my old dorm. It's quite obscure, situated between a Catholic church and college housing, but I'll be damned if it didn’t get plenty of business from college kids in walking distance. Bob and Timmy's was my first introduction to grilled pizza. My favorite included pink vodka sauce, meatballs, gorgonzola cheese and red onions. Definitely not to be missed for those traveling to the Federal Hill/Atwells Avenue area.
I've never tried a single one of these...but I agree they must be pretty stratospheric if they knocked Di Fara off the list. Kath and Alex took us there too, and the idea that Di Fara's rickety, spit-and-baling-wire oven could produce a crust that perfectly crisp still seems like alchemy. I also remember Alex getting a five-dollar order of spaghetti that practically came served in a mixing bowl, studded with clove after buttery whole clove of garlic in a light tomato sauce.
I think the New Haven pizzerias are highly overrated. I'd prefer your garden variety New York slice any day. But I may be biased, seeing as how I HATE EVERYTHING RELATED TO NEW HAVEN, CONN.
Pardon me.
I wish this list came out last month while I was in Chicago. Didn't make it to Great Lakes, but I did visit Gino's East and Lou Malnatti's while in the city. Gino's East was better, also about double the cost.
notthejetset, in your opinion, what constitutes average, above average and overrated? I ask because I'm not a pizza fan, by and large, so if it isn't extremely good or notably crummy, it's pretty much just another face in the crowd, so to speak.
I've been to Totonno, Sallys, Frank Pepe, and DiFara.
Totonno is in Coney Island, and it's good. Purist Napolitan pies, great thin crust, light on sauce, excellent cheese. But (a) that's not exactly what I want in a pizza, as I like toppings, and (b) Grimaldi's is at least just as good, but more popular b/c of location.
Those New Haven clam pies are great, and I love the crust. But I ate at each place only a couple times (driving between Boston or Providence and NYC and calling ahead), and I can't for the life of me tell you the difference. I do recall being irritated at being charged for freaking cheese.
But DiFara was the best. Hand crafted with amazing ingredients. I also liked the herbs drying in the window that customers could use to custom season their pie. And Pink is right that the non-pizza items on the menu are amazing.
But lordy did that place get busy after it got publicity, and it was only Dom behind the counter making pies. I just couldn't bring myself to go after about 2003: hours long wait in a dingy pizzeria in a boring neighborhood, with some of the worst food trendies on the planet for company.
I suspect that the business volume may have contributed to a decline, the "nobody goes there, it's too crowded" syndrome. Haven't had their food in years, but Difara's was the platonic ideal of pizza, in its prime.
I don't trust a list that has Chicago at the top.
That said, I haven't been to any of those places, but probably will hit Tottono's the next time I'm in NYC (as well as Grimaldi's and John's). Only NYC style for me!
Those New Haven places are definitely overrated, IMHO. Crust was nasty. I definitely prefer traditional NY-style pies.
My two cents involves three guys (hehehe...) The best pizza I've ever eaten was from "3 Guys From Italy" in Jersey City, NJ, in alley/concourse leading to the PATH trains and bus station. Thick, piping hot, cheese falling off it. There were no tables, so you either ate it standing at the counters along the wall or walked with it. My friend Frankie worked their for years, and claimed he never had to reheat a slice, ever, because they sold them so fast. I believed him, because they never reheated mine. There's been some demolition in the area, and it's been moved. Here's an old photo:
http://journalsquarejc.com/archives/961
Wow. The second-best pizza you ever had was from Mafiaoza's? You need to get around.
Looks like it's the year of Nate Appleman. IACP Julie Child Award for "A16: Food + Wine", Food & Wine Best New Chef, James Beard Rising Star Award and already the #17 best pizza in America. I need to take a trip to San Fran.
I do like the white clam pizza at Frank Pepe's but in a way I sort of think of it as not-pizza.
Good question, Nikki. I guess I don't really have a certain set of criteria by which I judge pizza--I like different kinds. But I mainly don't like the New Haven pizza because the crust is soggy. And I call it overrated because people RAVE about it--it always ends up on lists like these, and people routinely line up around the block to go to Pepe's. In my opinion, New Haven pizza is passable--I certainly have eaten my share--but I have no desire ever to eat it again.
(I do kind of like the clam pizza, though.)
(Also, I refer to "New Haven pizza" collectively b/c although folks will debate the individual merits of each pizzeria, the basic product from Pepe's, Sally's, and even Modern is the same.)
