Pizza Quixote

With each visit to America's heartland, I become more certain that the Midwest is overlooked as a great region for pizza. Even pizza novices instinctively recognize Chicago as a source of an authentic pizza style, and the cognoscenti acknowledge the specialty pies of Detroit and St. Louis. Still, the Midwestern wafer-thin party-cut pies are under the radar for most folks outside the region.

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Great examples of this style, which has much in common with the pies that easterners might tag as bar pizza, can be found at Vito & Nick's in South Chicago and Rubino's in Columbus, OH. Plenty of Midwesterners are loyal to the pizza from the regional chain Monical's.

Lucca Grill

Vito & Nick's, Chicago

The best of these pies share one thing in common with the best pizza in New York and New Haven - longevity. Many of the best places have been in business for 30, 40, 50 years or more. I love to get a chance to eat the same pizza that my parents or grandparents might have had. And that brings me to Lucca Grill in Bloomington, which recently celebrated 75 years of operation.

Senator John Kennedy, an early Lucca's patron

The exterior actually reminded me of Vito & Nick's, with its yellow brick construction. Inside, it was an immediately welcoming space where you can sense the history. Nobody knew my name, but it still felt just as warm and cozy as Cheers. This place is so old school, the restroom still has one of those continuous-loop cloth towel dispensers. You may never have seen one if you are under 50!

I was greeted promptly when I arrived at lunchtime on a bitterly cold weekday. The menu was extensive, but I zeroed in on the pizza. There were many specialty pies, but most of them had (for my tastes) too many toppings. I chose a 12" version of "The Barber Shopper" which was topped with mushroom, onion, and sausage.

Brennin, a pizzaiola who was working as a server that day, recommended a Shiner Cheer, a holiday brew from a Texas beermaker. She also calculated that she could save me a few dollars by placing my order under the lunchtime pizza special, only later realizing that I would get a 10" pizza instead of the 12" pie I ordered. To make amends for that "error" in which she was trying to be helpful, she offered to make me another pie, on the house. I declined that generous offer, but I certainly appreciate that Midwestern approach to customer service.

Great pies, great pizzaiola, conventional oven

The pie arrived quickly, accompanied by a small plate of very mild pepperocini. The mushrooms and onions were expertly sliced and proportioned so that they did not weigh down the pie. The meat was juicy chunks of genuine Italian sausage, cooked on the pie. The sauce was properly tangy. The cheese was a perfect role player here.

Nice color underneath

Wafer thin!

Every pizza lives and dies by its crust, and this wafer thin crust was crisp yet chewy, rigid but not dry or cracker-like. It was a near-perfect base for all the lovely stuff riding on top. The small party cuts were easy to wolf down, and it took a bit of discipline to refrain from eating each cut in one bite.

Lucca Grill is a winner on all counts. The ambiance is a 10, the service was an 11. This is superb pizza, and eating it in this setting enhances the experience. I can't imagine coming back to Bloomington and not revisiting Lucca Grill.

This is a spot for locals. If I were a Bloomington local, I might hesitate to share the secret of the great ambiance, service, and food, lest it be overrun with hipster foodies. But this is a secret too good not to share.

Bloomington, Illinois is a small city of about 75,000 people. It has its own tiny airport, but otherwise sits 2 or 3+ hours from four major metro areas - Chicago to the North, St. Louis to the South, Des Moines to the West, and Indianapolis to the East.

Thin crust pizza from Rosati's

The Bloomington-Normal metro area is home to Illinois State University, but it is the home office of State Farm that puts Bloomington on the map.

Jake: wears khaki, likes pizza

One year ago in Normal, I stumbled upon Monical's, a regional pizza chain. It looked faceless and bland - as most chains are - but it turned out to be surprisingly good. I chose a thin-crust party-cut pie, and liked the flavor, the construction, and the friendly Midwestern service. See full review of Monical's HERE.

This fall, I had a return visit scheduled for Bloomington, and I did some research before the trip. Pie makers on my radar were Stolfa's, Tobin's, Lucca Grill, and Rosati's. A two-day visit offered a chance to sample two different Bloomington pizzas.

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The night I arrived, I navigated my rental car to the hotel in the rain on a bitterly cold night. That factor alone pushed me to choose Rosati's for dinner that evening, because the nearby location would deliver to my hotel room. (I visited Lucca Grill for lunch on the following day - full review HERE.)

I had modest expectations for Rosati's. While most of the web reviews are positive, Rosati's is a Chicago-based chain with more than 50 locations in Arkansas, Arizona, Illinois, Wisconsin, Texas, Nevada, and North Carolina. When a chain gets that big, the recipe needs to be simple enough for new hires to execute properly.

From http://www.rosatispizza.com/story/

Rosati's offers four crust styles: thin crust, double dough, stuffed pizza, and Chicago-style deep dish. The deep-dish was tempting; I want to re-examine my bias against deep-dish pies. But I decided that to give deep-dish a fair shake, I should be in Chicago and eating one of the great ones, not a chain pie in the suburbs. Hence, I opted for the thin crust pizza ($11.50), with sausage topping ($1.59).

My 12" small pizza was delivered within the promised one-hour time frame by a friendly deliveryman braving the wet and cold night. It was still hot, and - perhaps due to the plastic mesh between the pie and the box - not steaming itself soggy. The pie arrived in almost "fresh from the oven" condition."

Plastic mesh under the pie in the delivery box

Underside of the crust

Like Monical's, Lucca Grill, Rubino's in Columbus OH and Vito & Nick's in Chicago, this thin-crust pie sported the party cut, with bite-size squares instead of triangular slices. The more I have this kind of pizza, the more I appreciate it.

To my delight, the topping was genuine chunks of authentic Italian sausage, and not precooked slices or crumbles. The deep-red sauce was lively and well-spiced. The cheese was a role player, but applied in proper proportions. The crust was also a winner, but was perhaps the weak link here. It had the right texture and served well to hold the toppings, but it was a tad bland and dry - borderline cracker-like. It might have benefited from a bit more oil.

From http://www.myrosatis.com/store-details/Bloomington/

The crust was the most significant drop-off from the thin-crust pies at Lucca Grill, Rubino's, and Vito & Nick's. The pizza at those three old-school pizzerias is superb; this was a surprisingly good version as rendered by the Rosati's chain. Comparing Rosati's to Monical's, the other regional chain: the crust is better at Monical's, and everything on top is better at Rosati's. Neither pie will make you swoon, but either makes a fine choice.

Rosati's gets a 6 for the crust, 7 for the cheese, 8 for the sauce, 9 for the sausage. It joins Monical's, Bertucci's, Grotto,Russo's, Anthony's Coal-Fired Pizza, and California Pizza Kitchen as a chain pizzeria that is worth the calories.

Destination pizza is usually found in one of two different styles of pizzerias. One type is the venerable pizza joint that has been serving the same kind of old-school pizza to generations of patrons. That type of pizzeria often enjoys fame beyond its region, and it includes legendary places like Joe & Pat's in Staten Island, Santarpio's in Boston, Papa's Tomato Pies near Trenton NJ, Sally's Apizza in New Haven, and Totonno's in Coney Island.

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The other major category of destination pizzerias includes the new artisanal places that, to the delight of foodies everywhere, are springing up all over America. Many of these are crafting authentic Neapolitan pies in wood-fired domed ovens at 900 degrees; the best of them include Scuola Vecchia in Delray Beach, FL, Forcella in Brooklyn, Zavino in Philadelphia, Pane Bianco in Phoenix, and Pizzeria Delfina in San Francisco. Others are making throwback style pies, such as La Villa in Morrisville PA and Gennaro's Tomato Pies and Pizza Brain, both in Philly.

There is one more much smaller category - the cherished local place, somehow undiscovered by the foodies, flying under the pizza radar. One such place is a neighborhood taproom in tiny (2400 residents) Marcus Hook, PA.

Clank's Bar was established by Clank and Bert Mongoia in the 1950's. It has changed hands a few times over the years; Dawn Clymer is the fifth and current owner; at age 12, she began working there by helping to make pizza boxes. Clank's website notes that the pizza recipe hasn't changed since inception.

View of the bar from dining room

From www.PhillyPhoodie.com

From the exterior, Clank's looks like it was once one of the neighborhood row homes; the entry way even has a storm door. There is a bar in the front (where smoking is permitted!) and a long, narrow dining room in the rear. There is an odd but charmingly camouflaged faux brick on the inside of the front door, and an old shuffle bowling arcade game next to the bar. It was immediately homey and comfortable; an old-fashioned shot-and-beer type of watering hole. My guess is that most of the patrons live close enough to walk there.

Wall lights are fashioned from liquor bottles

Shuffle bowling arcade game by the bar

We arrived before 5pm on a Saturday. A handful of happy regulars populated the bar, and one other dining room table was occupied by a large group enjoying the food and the Army-Navy game on the wall-mounted TV. The tipsy laughter coming from the bar made me wonder what it would be like there as the evening wore on.

The menu featured a lot of typical bar food - appetizers, sandwiches, a few salads. The bottled beer selection is mostly domestics; we had a Blue Moon and a Magic Hat ($4 each). Clank's highlighted menu items are the pizza, the stromboli, and the fried pepperoni appetizer. On our visit, we tried only the pizza.

Slate serving slab on each table

Men's room decor

I usually prefer sausage on my pizza, but only when it is genuine Italian sausage, applied uncooked in rough chunks. At Clank's, though, our server told us that the sausage was the crumbled, pre-cooked variety, so we opted for a pepperoni pizza. All the pies are rectangular and cooked in a pan; it has much in common with a Sicilian pie and a Philly-style tomato pie.

Pica's pizza

Much like the better-known Pica's restaurant (also in Delaware County, PA), this is an "upside down" pizza where the cheese is under the sauce. Even though I like the cheese on top to get some oven browning, I had very much enjoyed the pie at Pica's. Our large pizza here at Clank's was $15.00 ($13.25 plus $1.75 for the pepperoni topping).

Pepperoni pie at Clank's

The pizza was served in its well-aged oven pan; on our table it rested on a thick bed of slate that carried a Clank's logo that oddly resembled the Chicago Bears "C" logo. (The Bears reference was particularly peculiar, in light of the crude but funny Philadelphia Eagles deco in the men's room).

There were twelve slices to this thick-crusted rectangular pie. The sauce was a lovely deep red color and visually striking; a generous cover of thick and lightly charred pepperoni circles adorned each of the slices. The uneven edges around the thick cornicione gave the appearance of a home-made pizza.

This pizza crust was a little thicker than the typical Sicilian style pizza, yet lighter in density. It was not quite as airy as the bakery-style crust of a Philly tomato pie (read about that style HERE). It was, actually, about ideal for a thick crust - nicely oiled and crispy on the bottom and light but not "white bread" through the center. We agreed that the crust would be excellent bread; it had its own distinct flavor and delightful crunch. That sets it apart from the typical Philly tomato pie, where the crust is often insubstantial and bland despite its thickness.

A view of the pizza pan

The rich color of the red sauce promised a full flavor, and then delivered on that promise. I loved the red gravy nature of this sauce, although it was messy to eat because it was generously applied and it did ride on top of the cheese. The cheese - buried under the sauce - seemed to be conventional mozzarella and it was a useful role player. The generous cuts of pepperoni added that salty and greasy aspect that I like from cured meats on pizza.

Perfectly crisped underside

This is not - obviously - a high end, gourmet undertaking. This is a simple square pizza rendered from ordinary ingredients, with a terrific result. It won't make you forget the legendary pies or the artisanal Neapolitans, but it has a place in the hearts and bellies of pizza eaters who want to try and enjoy all varieties. Clank's is a special kind of place that once populated urban corners all over, and which has been vanishing since the advent of cheap and convenient chain pizza. We had great service, even though we were outsiders to this cozy neighborhood venue.

Ratings? The crust earns a 9, the sauce a 9, the pepperoni 8, and the cheese a 5. Destination pizza? Absolutely. We made the wretched drive on Route 322 (the Conchester Highway, a.k.a. the "Con-gested Highway") to get there and I'm glad we did. If you like Pica's, you should like Clank's. And if you want to know what pizza and beer was like in a blue-collar town in the 50s and 60s, this is about as close as you can get in modern times.

I love Lancaster County, Pa. Home to large settlements of Amish and Mennonite farmers, the beautiful rolling countryside draws tourists from great distances. It's common to see the Amish horse-drawn buggies on the roads there, as well as the school kids on foot or scooters, dressed in black.

I made this one! Click any pic to enlarge

My home in West Chester PA is close enough for regular visits, and my biggest reason to trek westward on Route 30 is the great quality and variety of produce and other farm products at roadside stands and farm markets.

Roots Country Market

However, I've grown a bit weary of the meat-and-potatoes overload "Amish style" food in the popular tourist restaurants. The approach seems to be "We will serve nothing green, and if it ever was green, we'll cook the green out of it." Lancaster County is not an epicure's destination, and hence truly one of the last places I'd expect to find top shelf pizza.

But for several years, on Facebook pizza groups and pizzamaking.com and at seriouseats.com, I kept seeing pictures and posts from Norma Knepp, described as a "pizza obsessive" who took a keen interest in making pizza and set out to learn all that she could.

I found that she has her own pizza shop, a narrow stand in a huge farm market -- the Roots Country Market in Manheim, which is open only on Tuesdays. When I got the opportunity to have a free Tuesday, visiting Norma's Pizza became a priority.

The Roots Country Market is enormous, at least by "farm market" standards. It is a wonderful throwback kind of place, with long narrow corridors featuring an eclectic mix of vendors. One stall is the vacuum repair guy, the next stall is the coin dealer, then an Amish pastry seller, then a butcher, then the junk store with $3 tools, then the wood carver, then the candy store, and so on. It shares much in common with the long-defunct Pennsauken Mart, and with the Columbus (NJ) Farmers Market, and the Booth's Corner (Boothwyn, PA) Farmer's Market.

The Dough-Li Lama, Norma Knepp

Grand-daughter Drea

I met up with Norma about 11am, just before the lunchtime traffic began to swell. It was a rainy day and relatively slow, but Norma, with the superb assistance of her granddaughter Drea, was selling pizza (whole and by the slice) as fast as she could make them in her 2-deck gas oven.

Drea gets special props not only for her pizza skills (which Norma documented on Facebook) but also her smoothly efficient handling of customers while Norma and I chatted about pizza making.

Boardwalk pizza, dressed before baking

Norma is a genuine pizza scientist, and one of her market pals rightly dubbed her the "Dough-Li Lama" for her genius. She has done her homework, studied the experts, and experimented with all the key variables that can make or break a pizza dough: flour type, moisture level, timing of additional ingredients beyond the flour and water, adding malt, rise time, rise temperature.

A pepperoni boardwalk pie

I learned so much in just a few hours, and I'm hopeful to mimic the wonderful elasticity of her dough the next time I attempt pizza at home.

Norma's mainstay pizza is her thin-crust "Boardwalk Style." The thin and crisp-but-chewy, foldable crust might also be classified as New York style.

For the first hour or so, I watched Norma make pies. She pats each dough ball with flour, flattens it out with her fingers, then stretches (and sometimes, tosses) the dough into a lovely thin 18" disc. She applies half the cheese (she experiments, but her base cheese is a white cheddar). Next goes on the sauce (uncooked) in a swirl pattern that mimics Mack's (of the South Jersey shore) and also used at the Grotto pizza chain in Delaware. Finally, the rest of the cheese goes on with any toppings.

Detroit style slices

Norma also makes a Detroit style pizza - something I've never tried. She uses 9 ounces of dough (different from the dough for her Boardwalk pies; this one has more than 75% hydration) which she presses into a deep rectangular pan. The cheese goes on, then the sauce in two rows (this smaller pie is cut into just 4 lovely square slices).

Detroit pie, right out of the oven

Because it was lunchtime, I was able to sample slices as pies came out of her oven, fresh and hot. I waited for a Detroit style slice with pepperoni. Norma uses a spicy pepperoni from Citterio, and it adds a lot of flavor to her pies. A Detroit style pizza is thick and pan baked, but it is not much like Chicago deep dish. It is more akin to a Sicilian-style, but it is improved greatly because the cheese is deliberately spread beyond the borders of the crust, so that each piece gets a crispy edge of wonderfully browned and caramelized cheese.

This was a wonderful slice of pizza, and the only pan-baked rival that comes close is the square pies at Di Fara in Brooklyn. I'd gladly wait an hour to get a $5 slice at DiFara, but why not spend $2.25 and get a slice with no waiting at Norma's?

Boardwalk pie with sausage

Soon after, I tried a slice of the Boardwalk pie. You can get a broad hint of how spectacular your slice is going to be when you hear the crust crunching under the big blade as she slices the pie. She makes a huge 18" pie (which doesn't quite fit in a full-size pizza box), and then cuts it into six gigantic slices that sell for $2.00 (plain cheese). How good can a two-buck slice be?

Perfect hole structure

It can be awesome, indeed. The thin, light, crisp, foldable crust brought to mind the great old school pizza I had at Pizza Brain in Philly, Ramagi in Brooklyn, and Wiseguy NY Pizza in Washington DC. And the hole structure in the cornicione was without peer - this crunchy handle is upper echelon by any measure.

I have the decadent habit of adding salt to pizza, but Norma's home-made sauce (she adds garlic, basil, and oregano) and cheddar cheese made the slice so fully flavored that it needed no extra seasoning.

My work with the dough

Norma also gave me the chance to make a pie. When I make pizza at home, I struggle to get the dough to be sufficiently elastic for hand-stretching. I usually end up using a rolling pin, which destroys the hole structure. Here, I felt like a genuine pizzaiolo when working with this pliant dough. I didn't stretch it quite so expertly as Norma; my pie came out a little thicker and not quite the full 18". I followed her sauce and cheese assembly method, put it into the oven, and even turned the pie during its ~6 minute bake. It must have been a success, because no customer complained about the six slices she sold from that pie.

Norma with the pie I made

Norma also makes a sausage pizza, and she uses fresh Italian sausage that she buys right there in the Roots Country Market. It goes on the pie raw in rough chunks, the way that all the best pie makers do it. I took home a sausage pie for the family and we were unanimous in our love for this pie as we scrambled for the last slices.

Detroit style veggie slices

Great Jersey shore pizza and authentic Detroit style pie at a farm market in Lancaster? I had to experience to believe it. This is not just good pizza - it is wonderful pizza with all these other good aspects: low prices; terrific produce and other great things to buy from other vendors at Roots; Norma's encyclopedic dough knowledge and willingness to share it.

Detroit pies

I had a lot of terrific pizza experiences in 2014, but this one easily tops the list. I can't think of a better way to spend a Tuesday.

It's time again to take stock of every pizza we've tried and can recommend. Here's an unbiased guide to 100 pizzas that justify the calories.

Detroit style at Norma's Pizza, Manheim PA

At the top of this list, you'll find "destination" pizza. These pies are worth not only the calories, but also the extra time and effort to get them. Truly, the Top 65 are destination pies. The others are excellent pizzas, but perhaps you would seek them out only if you are already in the neighborhood.

Oven char at Regina Pizza, Boston MA

Every pizza list has its biases. Some are blatant attempts to be controversial, in order to spark outrage. Others are "click bait" - they exist purely to persuade the reader to click through a slide show in order to maximize ad revenue for the publisher.

Joe and Pat's, Staten Island NY

At Pizza Quixote, there is no hidden motive. I care about good pizza and I hope to share insights on where to find it. This list does display my own pizza preferences - Trenton and New Haven style pies (tomato pie and apizza, respectively) dominate the Top Pies. Even with a list of 100, there is not yet one Chicago deep dish.

Neapolitan pie at Scuola Vecchia, Delray Beach, FL

The geographic concentration is slanted toward my eating opportunities - the east coast. Lots of NY, CT, NJ, PA. However, we also found great pizza in Texas, California, Florida, Ohio, Oregon, Louisiana, Tuscany, Massachusetts, Venice, Illinois, and Rome.

Lucca Grill, Bloomington IL

More than any time in decades, there is no excuse to eat crappy chain pizza, or local pie shop stuff made from generic mass-sourced ingredients. Get out and get the good stuff. And leave a comment about any of these 100 spots or the ones I need to add to the list.

Marinara pie at Nomad Roman, Philadelphia

Here is our list; you can find the full review for most of them in the geographical index on the right side of this page.

1) DeLorenzo’s Tomato Pies, Robbinsville NJ

2) DiFara Pizza, Brooklyn NY

3) Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana, New Haven CT

4) Forno Marco Roscioli, Rome, Italy

5) Tacconelli’s, Philadelphia PA

6) Sally's Apizza, New Haven CT

7) Scuola Vecchia, Delray Beach FL

8) Pizza Brain, Philadelphia PA

9) Papa's Tomato Pies, Robbinsville NJ

10) Gennaro's Tomato Pies, Philadelphia PA

11) La Porta Ristorante, Edgemont, PA

12) Pizzeria Vetri, Philadelphia PA

13) Pizzeria Delfina, San Francisco CA

14) Denino’s, Staten Island NY

15) Joe and Pat's, Staten Island NY

16) Regina Pizza, Boston MA

17) Patsy’s, East Harlem, Manhattan, NY

18) Santarpio’s, Boston MA

19) Lee’s Tavern, Staten Island NY

20) Apizza Scholls, Portland OR

21) Motorino, Manhattan NY

22) Forcella, Williamsburg, Brooklyn NY

23) Pizzeria Bianco, Phoenix AZ

24) Grimaldi’s, Williamsburg, Brooklyn NY

25) Totonno's, Coney Island, Brooklyn NY

26) Rubino's Pizza, Columbus OH

27) Vito and Nick's Pizza, Chicago IL

28) 2 Amys, Washington DC

29) La Montecarlo, Rome, Italy

30) Pane Bianco, Phoenix AZ

31) Nomad Roman, Philadelphia PA

32) La Villa, Morrisville PA

33) Zuppardi's Apizza, West Haven CT

34) Nick's New Haven Style Pizzeria, Boca Raton FL

35) Nomad Pizza, Hopewell NJ and Philadelphia PA

36) Modern Apizza, New Haven CT

37) Lombardi's, Manhattan NY

38) Norma's Pizza, Manheim PA

39) Arturo’s, Greenwich Village, NY

40) Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza, PA and FL

41) Artichoke Basille’s, Greenwich Village, NY

42) John’s, Greenwich Village, NY

43) Osteria, Philadelphia PA

44) Cambridge 1, Cambridge MA

45) Roberta's, Brooklyn NY

46) Domenica, New Orleans LA

47) Vecchia Pizzeria Napoletana, Phoenixville PA

48) Pieous, Austin TX

49) Lucca Grill, Bloomington IL

50) Zero Otto Nove, Bronx NY

51) Stella, Philadelphia PA

52) Ramagi Brick Oven Pizza, Brooklyn

53) Bufad, Philadelphia

54) Comet Ping Pong, Washington DC

55) Tucci’s Fire N Coal Pizza, Boca Raton, FL

56) New Park Pizza, Queens NY

57) SLiCE, Philadelphia

58) Tosca Café, (Throgs Neck), Bronx NY

59) Sizzle Pie, Portland OR

60) Conte’s, Princeton NJ

61) Spatola's Pizza, Paoli PA

62) Pizzeria Pesto, Philadelphia

63) Zavino, Philadelphia

64) DOCG, Las Vegas NV

65) Tony Baloney's, Hoboken NJ

66) Ricca Pizza, San Gimignano, Tuscany

67) Tommy's Pizza, (Throgs Neck), Bronx NY

68) Russo's Coal-Fired Italian Kitchen, Houston TX

69) Green Parrot, Newtown, Bucks County PA

70) Massimo’s, Hamilton NJ

71) Bar Foscarini, Venice, Italy

72) Wiseguy NY Pizza, Washington DC

73) Barbuzzo, Philadelphia PA

74) Brick Oven Pizza 33, Manhattan NY

75) Rosati's, Bloomington IL

76) Jules Thin Crust, CA and PA

77) Rustica, Philadelphia PA

78) DeLorenzo’s Pizza, Hamilton NJ

79) Franzone's, Bridgeport PA

80) Corropolese Bakery Tomato Pie, Norristown PA

81) Pica's, Upper Darby, PA

82) Napolese, Indianapolis IN

83) Tony Roni's, Willow Grove PA

84) Bertucci’s Jersey City NJ

85) La Sicilia, Belleville, NJ

86) L&B Spumoni Gardens, Brooklyn NY

87) Clank's Bar, Marcus Hook, PA

88) Sauce, Phoenix AZ

89) Pizza by Elizabeth, Greenville, DE

90) Iron Hill Brewery, West Chester PA

91) Grotto Pizza, Dewey Beach, DE

92) The Swiss Hotel, Sonoma CA

93) Magma, Princeton NJ

94) Uncle Oogie’s, Philadelphia

95) Lenny’s, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn NY

96) Stella Rossa, Downingtown PA

97) Monical's Pizza, Bloomington IL

98) Morabito's Tomato Pie (From Costco)

99) Felicia's Pizza Kitchen, Ardmore PA

100) California Pizza Kitchen (national chain)

The best annual recap of pizza comes from Adam Kuban, with "8 Pizzas That Haunt My Dreams." Adam is in fact living the dream, having made the transition from pizza writer to pizza maker with his popup pizza in Brooklyn. His tradition inspired my own annual list, based on the discoveries documented here at Pizza Quixote.

Three and a half years into compiling a pizza blog, and there are no signs that I'm running out of new places worth trying. Some are the venerable places with well-deserved legendary reputations, and others are new places that have sprung up during the ongoing pizza renaissance. Amazingly, I had to omit some pretty good pies to get this list down to just fourteen.

At Napolese, Indianapolis, IN

Honorable mentions go to Napolese in Indianapolis IN, Grotto Pizza in Dewey Beach, DE, and Tony Boloney's in Hoboken, NJ. Click on any of them to see a full review.

Here they are - the Breakout Pizzas discovered in 2014. Go get some! Click on any pizzeria name to get the full review and pictures. These are not the best pies ever, but they are the unforgettable pizzas of 2014. All fourteen of these are included in our list of 100 Pizzas Worth the Calories.

14) Clank's Bar,Marcus Hook PA. Clank's was on my radar for a long time. There is always something special about a neighborhood taproom that is turning out a great pizza. The very best of that breed is Lee's Tavern in Staten Island and their brilliant bar pies; at Clank's, it's a thick pan pizza with a dense sauce and the cheese underneath.

Pan pizza at Clank's Bar

13) Rosati's Authentic Chicago Style Pizza, Bloomington IL. This local chain makes both a deep-dish and a thin-crust party-cut pie, which I sampled and enjoyed. If you are on the east or left coast, you may not know the wafer thin pizzas of the Midwest, cut into bite-size squares, but they have earned a spot on the list of great pies.

A party-cut slice at Rosati's

12)Barbuzzo, Philadelphia PA. Have you ever seen two wonderful pizza joints that are adjacent to one another? Probably not even in Naples! But Philadelphia has just that on 13th Street, where Barbuzzo turns out some lovely Neapolitan pies right next to Zavino. Both are small but lively spaces with a bit of sidewalk space for al fresco dining.

Neapolitan pizza at Barbuzzo

11) Vecchia Pizzeria Napoletana, Phoenixville PA. Vecchia is another of the growing number of authentic Neapolitan pizzas being made in the US. They imported the materials and the oven maker for their dome oven that cooks pies in 2 minutes at 900 degrees. This tiny borough is fortunate to be home to Neapolitan pie every bit as good as places in Philly and Brooklyn.

Margherita con soppressata at Vecchia

10) Pica's, Upper Darby PA. Pica's is legendary in this Philly suburb, and it got a big boost when Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey shared some Pica's pizza on Fallon's TV show. Like Clank's Bar, Pica's makes a pan pizza that is "upside down" with the cheese under the sauce. It's kind of a Philly thing and it's a cousin to a Philly tomato pie, with that thick and airy bakery style crust. Very old school, very red gravy, the kind of place that never changes.

Pan pizza at Pica's

9) Bufad, Philadelphia PA. Philly's gentrifying Loft District is home to Bufad, which offers Neapolitan pies and square al taglio cuts. It's a cozy space with great service. Roman-style pizza is still largely undiscovered in America, but Bufad is helping to change that.

Al taglio at Bufad

8) Regina Pizza, Boston MA. We paid $30 to park and then stood in line for an hour on a cold October night to get a pizza at the original location of this legendary Boston local pizza chain -- and it was worth it. This pie goes shoulder to shoulder with the old time classics such as John's in Manhattan, Totonno's in Coney Island, and Frank Pepe's in New Haven. Major props for keeping the quality so high while churning out so many pies for locals, college kids, and tourists.

Lined up for Regina Pizza in Boston

7) Joe & Pat's, Staten Island NY. Across the nation, pizza lovers are mostly aware of the great pies in Brooklyn and Manhattan, but Staten Island can be overlooked. However, with Lee's Tavern, Denino's, and Joe & Pat's, Staten Island is home to world-class old-school pies. You don't have to stand in a line to get this pie - but it's good enough to warrant that kind of demand.

Underside of a slice at Joe & Pat's

6) Nomad Roman, Philadelphia PA. Philly has truly become a pizza destination town. Legendary Tacconelli's, upstart Pizza Brain, Trenton-style tomato pies at Gennaro's, Bufad, and plenty more. Nomad is already established in Philly with its funky pizza wagon, and two fixed locations making state of the art Neapolitans. At this newest location, the pie is a thin crust Roman style. Not Roman al taglio like Bufad, but a round pie that took me back to Le Montecarlo in Rome. This pie is so light and thin and yet substantial in flavor.

Roman pizza at Nomad

5) Lucca Grill, Bloomington IL. Bloomington is a lovely town that is home to State Farm and Illinois State University. Because it is more than two hours from any major airport, it has a low profile. But the locals and visitors are glad it has some stellar versions of the thin-crust party-cut Midwestern style pizza that you can get at more famous places like Vito & Nick's in Chicago. A delightful venue with great pizza and great service.

Top and bottom of party-cut slices at Lucca Grill

4) Lombardi's, Manhattan NY. The place where pizza began in America, according to many accounts. Like Regina in Boston, Lombardi's is a major tourist attraction and they are cranking out LOTS of pizza. We went on a lovely warm August Saturday at lunch time, and our pie was rock solid. Even though the oven-charred crust had some droop, this pie was exceptionally well-balanced. Is it Pizza Mecca? Not quite, but serious pizza eaters need to visit at least once.

A slice at Lombardi's

3) Pizzeria Vetri, Philadelphia PA. Yet another destination pizza in Philly. We tried the superb Neapolitan pie, which is pretty much the same as the pizza at Marc Vetri's upscale Osteria venue. But I nearly fell off my chair swooning over the al taglio cut with soppressata. This expensive slice was art-gallery beautiful to see and even better to eat. Walking distance from the new home of the Barnes Museum? Bonus!

Al taglio at Vetri, pretty enough for framing

2) Norma's Pizza, Manheim PA. Lancaster County is home to the big-portion meat-and-potatoes Amish style dining; hence it was an unlikely spot for destination pizza. You can get it only on Tuesdays (when the Roots Country Market is open), but Norma Knepp is crafting some brilliant Detroit-style and "Boardwalk style" pizzas there in her tiny shop. She's been dubbed the "Dough-Li Lama" and she's a genuine pizza scientist. Easily my favorite pizza experience of 2014. Get some yourself!

Boardwalk pizza at Norma's

1) Scuola Vecchia, Delray Beach FL. My personal pizza bias is toward the thin and rigid crust styles of old-school pizzas of New York, New Haven, and Trenton. While most of the new pie makers in the current Pizza Renaissance are crafting authentic Neapolitans, none of them had been able to challenge for the top spot. However, Scuola Vecchia (Italian for "old school") has changed all that. Their Neapolitans are state of the art.

Salsiccia pie at Scuola Vecchia

My two dining companions both felt "best pizza of my life." I'm not ready to bump DeLorenzo's or Pepe's or DiFara, but this pie is a game-changer. The Neapolitans at Scuola Vecchia are ideal in texture and moisture (a frequent point of failure for Neapolitan pies), and topped with wonderful fresh tomatoes, cheese, and savory cured meats. We were in heaven eating this pie in a crowded and noisy shop on a trendy street of this popular beach town. Scuola Vecchia is our top breakout pizza of 2014.

Interior at Scuola Vecchia

Among Philadelphia's growing number of authentic Neapolitan pizza restaurants, Pizzeria DiMeo's enjoys a solid reputation for its Andorra location. Insiders know, also, that the father and son owners (Pino and Antino DiMeo) have opened another Philly-region location in Wayne - Arde Osteria & Pizzeria.

This DiMeo team has yet another venue, in nearby Wilmington DE with DiMeo’s Pizzaiuoli Napulitani. Given the great reputation of the Andorra DiMeo's, we headed for this Delaware location after a visit to the nearby Winterthur Museum and Gardens.

The modern storefront, on busy Market Street, led us into a long and narrow space, with the kitchen and pizza counter separating a small front dining area from a larger seating space in the rear. I had anticipated a more cozy or rustic space, but this looked like only a mildly upscale version of the typical strip mall pizza joint. Another surprising aspect - for a pizzeria calling itself Neapolitan - is that pizza is sold by the slice. The pies on display looked little different than those of the typical suburban slice shop.

I took some encouragement from the menu, where the pizzas are divided into "Le Pizze Napoletane" and "Le Pizze Americane." Perhaps, I thought, the counter stuff is just a compromise for patrons interested in a cheap and fast slice, and the "real" Neapolitan stuff can be made to order from the menu?

Rotolini

The Neapolitan pie menu offered some intriguing options. We choose a full-size pie and we were able to do half-and-half of two different offerings. We chose the Napoletana (san marzano tomatoes, mozzarella di bufala, prosciutto di parma, arugula, shaved parmigiano reggiano) and the Fica (fig spread, mozzarella di bufala, prosciutto di parma, arugula, truffle oil).

Although I usually disdain the greasy garlic knots offered at strip mall slice joints, the small "Rotolini" swirls at the counter here looked especially appealing, and they were offered as pepperoni rolls or broccoli rolls. We ordered a mix of those for an appetizer, and they were superb.

Rotolini close-up

They seemed to made from pizza dough, rolled with cheese and pepperoni or broccoli, and baked to a brilliant golden brown with crisply charred bottoms. Served with a nice cup of marinara sauce for dipping, each bite offered an external crunch with an inner tender dough bite with the added flavors of cheese, pepperoni, or broccoli. These were terrific, but we managed to stop after sharing three of them.

Our pizza arrived soon after. Despite the significant differences of the two halves of our pie - tomatoes and shaved parm on one half versus fig spread and truffle oil on the other half - the shared toppings of arugula and prosciutto made it tough to visually distinguish the two sides of the pie.

This pizza, although beautiful to the eye, was clearly not a Neapolitan pie. Its size alone - somewhere in the 16" - 18" diameter range - disqualified it. The overall shape of the crust was more akin to that of a New York style pizza, with a thin crust and a thicker cornicione, but not the fat puffy handle of a Neapolitan pie. However, although the crust was sturdy enough to support the toppings, it was a bit softer and more pliant than other top-end thin crust pies. In look and in texture, it was mostly a New York style pizza.

I began with a slice of the Fica. Unlike the bold flavor combinations I've had elsewhere with similar toppings (such as the fig jam, onion, and Gorgonzola pizza at Jules Thin Crust), the fig spread here served to provide a hint of sweetness that played very well with the savory prosciutto. I loved this slice, but I confess that I ate it so fast that I did not notice if the truffle oil was a distinct factor. The prosciutto was wonderfully flavored, but it was cut a little too thickly and applied in large slices. For toppings that you cannot bite through, I prefer them to be cut into smaller, bite-size portions - but this is a minor quibble.

On a related note, I love arugula and the flavor that this spicy green lends to pizza, but it usually floats on top (and falls off inelegantly) while eating. I'd improve that here (and everywhere that arugula is offered as a topping) by chopping it a bit and adding some oil to help it adhere to the pizza. Again, a minor quibble.

I enjoyed the Fica, but the Napoletana side was even better. The piquancy of the San Marzano tomatoes and the shaved parmigiana gave this slice a rich depth of flavor. Still, for both sides of this pizza, the crust was the most interesting element. It can best be described as a hybrid. My sense is that it is crafted much as a Neapolitan dough would be, but something changes when it is made into a full "American" sized pizza. It had all the flavor of a Neapolitan crust, but none of the puffiness, little of the softness, and none of the typical leopard-spot char. But it had a bit of crispness, a lot of pliancy, and it served perfectly as a base for the high-end toppings.

This pizza is tough to categorize, but more than any other style, it seems to be New York pizza and a very good rendition. It does seem to be altered to serve to customers who are not ready to take the leap from a slice joint to authentic Neapolitan pizza. We had terrific service, there is wine and beer on the menu, and street parking was not too difficult. Clearly not Neapolitan pizza, but excellent pie nonetheless.

We had a few slices leftover, and I reheated them a few nights later. I ate another slice of the Fica pie, and it was wonderful. The re-heat is not always a fair test of how good the pizza was coming out of the oven, but here the flavors (and texture) were still in A+ mode. This pizza looks conventional, but it's great stuff.

DiMeo's Pizzaiuoli Napulitani on Urbanspoon

For decades, pizza lovers have had the quick-fix option of frozen pizza to bake at home. Although the quality of frozen pizza has improved substantially, it still lags well behind the better pies that you can make yourself or buy from a pizzeria.

Mama Cozzi's Thin-crust Sausage and Pepperoni Pizza

One recent "convenience pizza" development is the "take and bake" refrigerated pizza. These began in specialty shops, such as Mom Mom's Take and Bake, in Newtown PA. (Bonus trivia - Mom Mom's was shown in the 2002 film Signs that was shot in Bucks County, PA). At these specialty stores, you could order a customized pie on a par-baked crust, then take it home for the full bake. As I recall, the Spinach Salad pizza at Mom Mom's was especially tasty.

Within the last five years, the refrigerated take and bake pizzas have begun to show up in just about every supermarket. They seem to be priced as loss leaders - big pizzas, loaded with toppings, in the $5 to $8 range. A few years ago, we tried the Artisan Take and Bake pizza from Costco - full review is HERE.

Being ALDI fans in general, we also tried the ALDI version, Mama Cozzi's Italian Meat Pizza - full review HERE. It was a thin-crust pie that remained chewy, not crackerlike, after baking. Recently in the local ALDI, I saw a large variety of take and bake pies, but was drawn (again) to the thin-crust one. It seems as if the Italian Meat pizza has been re-badged as a simple Sausage and Pepperoni pizza with a blend of mozzarella and provolone (compared to the "five cheeses" of the Italian Meat pizza).

Right out the freezer, in shrink wrap, before baking

The instructions changed a bit, too, with recommended baking time of 10-16 minutes instead of 10-14. Before baking, I removed all the meat and then distributed it more evenly on the pie, and I cut each large pepperoni slice into two bite-sized pieces. I also added a bit of sweet yellow peppers and purple onion.

Post bake, before slicing

I followed the directions and baked it at 400 degrees. I put it on a low rack, with my Baking Steel on another rack six inches above to better deliver top heat.To reach an ideal state of crispness, I often need to cook frozen or take/bake pizzas longer than indicated by package directions, and then finish them under the broiler to get some top browning. However, I checked this one at 12 minutes and it seemed done underneath and on top.

Sliced and ready to eat

I gave it a traditional cut into 8 triangles for serving. The first thing we noticed was the thin and crackerlike crust. This one was not chewy like the Italian Meat pie; it was crisp (yet dense), crunchy, and it had an excellent flavor.

Click to enlarge

Every other ingredient was a role player; the sauce and cheese and meats surely contributed to a well-balanced taste and texture, but none stood out as especially good or lacking.

I think the regular price on this 16" pizza is $4.99; I found it on special for $3.49. At either price point, this is a tasty pizza that sits - without shame - about halfway between a good cracker-thin crust Midwest pie like Rubino's (full review HERE) and the cheapest thin cracker frozen from Totino's.

A close look at the thin crackerlike crust

Underside of the crust

There is no such thing as a good low-calorie pizza, but this entire pie clocks in at 1900 calories, so if you eat half of it, you're still under 1000 calories. That puts this pie on the low end of the pizza calorie spectrum. Scary, perhaps, but then don't even look at the calories on some of the meat-laden self-rising frozen pies you can get.

This pizza was better than what you get from the large chains, better than most frozen pizza, and even better than most mom-and-pop storefront pizzas. It's not grand or gourmet, but like most things ALDI, it was pretty good and very inexpensive. We'll have it again, no doubt.

We have a guest blog post by one of our favorite pizza writers. Liz Barrett, author of Pizza: A Slice of American History, offers her thoughts on the merits and the traps of pizza rankings.

You’ve undoubtedly noticed the number of “Best Pizza” lists growing over the last few years. We used to see one or two big lists released per year, drumming up huge disagreements over which pizzerias made the list and which did not. I remember when Alan Richman’s 25 Best Pizzas in America list came out in GQ back in 2009. Personally, I thought he named some great places, many of which still make the cut years later, but therein lies the fault with lists—they’re personal.

Don’t get me wrong. I love “Best” lists. I read any I can get my hands on. When I first started working at PMQ Pizza Magazine in 2007, I kept all of the “Best Pizza/Pizzeria” lists that were released. My plan was to make it to every pizzeria that made the list. It went OK for a while there, but then the lists started coming faster and I started falling behind (think Lucy in the chocolate factory). In addition to long-standing historic pizzerias, brand new places started showing up on the lists. How could I make it to all of them without working from an RV?

It suddenly became very apparent that I would never make it to every“best” pizzeria. Besides that, there are more than 70,000 pizzerias in the U.S., so there had to be some missing from the lists I was finding.

I get asked regularly about my “favorite” or “the best” pizza, and I’ve easily eaten enough pizzas to run the comparison, but I very rarely answer the question.

You see, the odds of myfavorite pizza turning out to be yourfavorite pizza are highly unlikely, and vice versa. We’re all products of our own culinary upbringing and individual likes and dislikes. I recently broke down and participated in a couple of “Favorite” lists, but only because after eight years of writing for the industry it’s getting harder and harder to escape the question.

The bottom line is, “Best Pizza” lists should be read and enjoyed for what they are—a list of someone else’s favorite pizzas. They’re great for promoting pizza and getting the pizza conversation started, but they are by no means the final word in what yourbest pizza will be. Leave the judging to your own palate, and never stop exploring and searching for your own favorite pizza.

Liz Barrett

Author of Pizza: A Slice of American History (www.writtenbyliz.com/the-pizza-book.html)

Editor-at-Large, PMQ Pizza Magazine (www.pmq.com)

Blogger, The Pizza Insider (http://thepizzainsider.pmq.com/)

While the main purpose of Pizza Quixote is finding unique pizzerias serving destination pizza (pizza worth the trip), we live in a world also filled with convenience pizza. That includes frozen pizza, refrigerated bake-at-home pizza, and chain pizza. We enjoy quite a few of the smaller chains (round-up HERE), but it's been several years since I've eaten pie from Domino's, Little Caesar's, or Pizza Hut.

Perhaps in response to the rise of better pizza in America, Pizza Hut recently revamped its menu with some bold new choices. The ordering process is very confusing! There is a lot of advertising about specialty crusts, but that is really just about some extra flavorings brushed onto the cornicione.

You begin by choosing from several crust foundations that include:

Hand-tossed
Thin 'n' crispy
Pan pizza
Skinny
Original stuffed crust

You next have a choice of sauces:

Marinara
Crushed tomato
Garlic Parmesan
Honey Sriracha
BBQ
Buffalo

Then you pick a flavor drizzle to top your pie:

Balsamic
Honey Sriracha
BBQ
Buffalo

Finally, you select a flavor for your cornicione:

Toasted Parmesan
Salted pretzel
Honey sriracha
Toasted asiago
Fiery red pepper
Toasted cheddar
Garlic buttery blend
Curry
Ginger

It's a dizzying array of choices. I wanted a reasonably traditional pizza, so I chose the pan pizza crust, crushed tomato, no sauce drizzle, with sausage and pepperoni for toppings. To make it a little more interesting, I chose the salted pretzel cornicione.

One more element of confusion - I had a print ad with advertised specials, including a two-topping large pizza for $7.99. However, the physical location Pizza Hut store could not honor that price, which applies to internet orders only. So I (and another patron in that store) used smartphones to place an order online while standing in the store! The store owner (Exton, PA) apologized for the system, which is beyond his control.

The pie was ready in less than 15 minutes. "Large" by Pizza Hut standards is not a very big pie; this one was about 13.5 inches in diameter.

How did it taste?

The crust was actually quite good. It had some good browning and crispness on the bottom. It was properly thick, but it had a nice hole structure and overall texture. Surprisingly, it had its own good flavor, which is rare in any big-chain pie.

The salted pretzel edge was a disappointment. I wanted pretzel crust, what I got was salted pizza crust. Still good, but not what it might have been.

The sauce also disappointed. Crushed tomatoes are standard in the superb tomato pies of Trenton, and the best pies have a distinct tomato flavor. This sauce (and the cheese) were simply pleasant role players with no distinct character. There was a bit too much cheese, and it could have used more and bolder tomato sauce.

The toppings were ordinary, featuring standard-grade pepperoni, very thinly sliced. The sausage was pre-cooked, and I regretted that I hadn't opted for the new "premium salami" instead.

All told, this pie was tasty and of course filling. It was a little better than a DiGiorno frozen pizza, for not much more money. I'm in no hurry to eat Pizza Hut again, because there are so many better choices.

A pizza is about crust, sauce, cheese - and mostly about the crust. Whenever there is an emphasis on toppings or other unusual flavors, the purpose is typically to distract from a mediocre crust. And that it true, for the most part, with this new Pizza Hut menu. But for a big chain, "mediocre" is a step forward. I had remembered Pizza Hut as lousy pizza - but this pie was pretty good. Not memorable, but there are a lot of worse ways to fill your belly for $8.

Dave McGrogan is among the top tier restaurant stars of Chester County PA and nearby areas. On several occasions, I've visited his signature Doc McGrogan's Oyster House in downtown West Chester.

Pizza at Red Star Craft House, Exton

There, the great seafood, casual-yet-elegant ambiance and consistently fresh food make for a regularly excellent dining experience. There are three other Doc McGrogan's locations in the region.

Barra Rossa, Downingtown

The Dave McGrogan restaurant group also includes Kildare's, a West Chester Irish pub, Harvest Seasonal Grill and Wine Bar (five locations), Barra Rossa in Downingtown (reviewed HERE before the name changed from Stella Rossa), and now Red Star Craft House in Exton PA.

Mall entrance to Red Star

Red Star was designed to be a variant of Barra Rossa, with more emphasis on casual fare. It is housed within the Exton Square Mall, in the site formerly occupied by Houlihan's. Along with its new neighbor Main Line Health, Red Star is just the kind of place that this sleepy mall needed to give it a boost of traffic and interest.

Cafe and takeout area

Much like the nearby Pour House on Route 100, Red Star has enjoyed a flood of traffic upon opening. Exton area diners don't have a lot of interesting choices beyond the wonderful and growing crop of Indian restaurants in the "Dosa Belt" as described by Philly food critic Craig Laban. If you want an authentic dining experience, you generally head to West Chester or Phoenixville; Exton is a bit crammed with dreary chain restaurants.

Bar and dining area

We tried to go early on a Friday night without reservations - and faced a 90 minute wait. We chose instead to go across Rt. 30 from the mall to Biryani King. There, the service is a bit confused but the Indian food is wonderful and expertly presented. The Mongolian cauliflower is other-worldly. Ask for a table in the back of this converted old mansion. But - let's get back to Red Star.

Dining room and bar, from opposite end

We tried next on a Sunday at 6:30pm, with reservations. We arrived 15 minutes early, but could not be seated early - the place was buzzing. Folks without reservations faced a 30 minute wait. Hence, with great anticipation, we were seated in the hip-but-comfy dining room and began to examine the menu.

Our server was excellent and spoke knowingly of the menu. We had come for the pizza, of course, but we decided to split an appetizer (shrimp lettuce wraps), a burger, and a pizza. I was delighted by the interesting cocktail selection, at a reasonable $7 each. I ordered a craft beer from the extensive list while my wife had a basil-infused martini.

Shrimp lettuce wraps

The lettuce wraps were fine, but I thought the sauce was a little too sweet and that the green peppers dominated the milder flavors of the shrimp and the excellent mango strips included.

We made a mistake by ordering the smokehouse burger "medium well." It was a nicely constructed burger, but the meat was cooked "well done" and was a bit dry. The lovely brioche roll was probably a day past its prime, as well. The fries, smartly served in a metal cup, were undercooked and limp. This may have been "Sunday night at a new restaurant" syndrome, because several things on the menu were not available. Bottom line - good but not great for both the burger and the appetizer.

We had visited sister restaurant Barra Rossa in Downingtown on two occasions. On our first visit, we had excellent pasta and almost-great Neapolitan pizza. I tried the pizza again on my second visit, and I came away thinking that the ingredients were right, but the execution was not. Too much cheese and an undercooked crust made for a tasty pie that lacked the character and texture of the best Neapolitans.

Pepperoni Neapolitan

Here, the pizza seems to be very much the same. There is an authentic wood-fired dome oven, but the magic isn't happening. Our pepperoni (with long hots) pizza had excellent cheese and pepperoni. The "long hots" came out as green dollops of pepper pesto, which was a nice touch but lacking any real spicy fire.

The crust, though, was a failure. It was good - not great - in flavor, but its major defect was texture. It was limp (but not wet) and lacking substantial char, crisping, or hole structure. Terrific opportunity to take this pie from OK to wonderful by getting the crust right and cooking it properly.

Droopy slice

Overall, Red Star is a big plus for Exton. We instantly loved the ambiance, and much like Barra Rossa and Doc McGrogan's, the staff was friendly and efficient.

Underside of crust

The pizza is the second-best pizza in Exton, trailing Anthony's Coal-Fired Pizza by a large margin. But it could be so much better. This pie earns a 6 out of 10. We'll be back, though - Dave McGrogan has a good idea of how to keep his patrons happy.

Red Star Craft House Exton on Urbanspoon

Having tried and liked several varieties of frozen pizza from ALDI (as well as THIS take-and-bake pie), I was intrigued by the appearance of an "Uncured Pepperoni" thin and crispy pizza bearing the SimplyNaturebrand.

Click on any image to enlarge

What is uncured pepperoni? The USDA defines uncured as products that have not been preserved by adding sodium nitrite or sodium nitrate. ALDI tells us that this uncured pepperoni contains "no nitrates or nitrites except those naturally occurring in in sea salt and celery juice powder." See? I told you that pizza is a health food!

I generally check the calorie count, and I must reject some frozen pies when I see the obscene numbers. This pie, though (which cost about $4) had only 840 calories for the entire pizza. Some are over 3,000 calories.

When I took it out of the box, it was easy to see why it has a modest calorie count. It's a very thin crust, and at most 12 inches in diameter. Any adult male could easily eat the whole thing; I prepared it for two, along with a big garden salad.

Out of the oven, party-cut

Following package directions, I baked it at 425 degrees directly on the center rack for 9-12 minutes (closer to 12). The top looked fully cooked, but the bottom could have benefited from another minute in the oven.

Given its resemblance to the thin-crust Midwestern kind of pies you'd find at regional chain Monical's (reviewed HERE), I sliced it in the square party-cut style common to bar pies and Midwestern thin crust pizza.

The crust was whole wheat, and you could see the darker color and tell by its taste. Overall, the texture was chewy and satisfying but lacking the crunch I prefer. The sauce was thin and sweet. No off notes, but it did not deliver any full flavors. The cheese was a role player, too. Not bad, but not special.

Underside of the whole-wheat crust

The pepperoni, with generous amounts of big circles, was the highlight. It had a savory-salty flavor and a good chewy texture. But in general, this is the kind of pie that sends you looking for something to sprinkle on top (cheese, pepper flakes, oregano, garlic powder, or salt) to give it some oomph.

This pie - and its ambition to be a healthy version of pizza - earns a 5. Not a bad $4 emergency dinner to have in your freezer, but not a pizza I would seek out again. It pales in comparison to the other ALDI $4 frozen pizza - Mama Cozzi's Caprese - which is made in Germany.

On previous visits to Anaheim, I had given up on finding any pizza worth the calories. Visiting Anaheim is like going to the mall - the familiar chain stores and chain restaurants. All the best food is in Disneyland. It's not quite authentic, but Disney always does a good job imitating any category of food.

Click on any image to see full-size resolution

Still, I managed to stumble on some intriguing pizza, quite by accident. Downtown Disney is an area of shops and restaurants that does not require admission to the parks. I went there to have breakfast at La Brea Bakery Cafe. La Brea is a huge bakery, making bread on both coasts, but also operates a cafe in Los Angeles and another at Disneyland.

Looking at the breakfast menu, I searched for something that emphasized the bread which has made the bakery famous. But then I saw the pizzas! I was going to resist pizza for breakfast until I saw the "Eggs in a Nest" option. This pie featured two eggs over easy, prosciutto, spicy marinara, and a big pile of arugula "nest."

I ordered a decaf coffee, not the usual beverage for pizza, but it seemed right for the bread-and-eggs dish that this pizza promised. The coffee was remarkably good. Better than the good K-cups I've been drinking, better than Starbucks. The waiter told me is was "Silverback single origin" coffee, sourced from Rwanda. Powerful flavor but with a silky smooth finish.

The pizza arrived swiftly, and it was a pretty big personal pie. Beautiful to look at, with the huge puffy charred cornicione that is typical of the best Neapolitans. The deep piles of wonderfully fresh arugula were lovely but also served to hide the rest of the pie.

Ordinarily, I love arugula, but I like my salad on the side instead of piled onto my pizza. But it worked very well with the egg, spicy sauce, and crust, even as it made for a messy slice.

The crust was superb. Better than 4 out of 5 authentic Neapolitan pies I've had. This is the magic of Disney (or Disney-approved places) - somehow great food is churned out by the kids they hire to staff these places. The cheese was sparse, appropriately, and a bit of a role player. The sauce was likewise applied sparingly; otherwise, the weight and the moisture of the sunnyside egg would have made for a wet pie.

Underside

In fact, this pie had a wonderful texture, terrific balance, and no soggy middle. Each slice could be picked up and eaten with little sag. The one shortcoming is the quality of the prosciutto. It was pale pink, cut a little too thickly, and didn't have a fresh aroma. It still added to the pie, but other cured meat (bacon, speck, soppressata) might have worked better.

Wonderful coffee, a nearly-perfectly executed Neapolitan, good service -- all this made for a delightful pizza experience in a town where I'd given up on finding decent pie. The pie was $15, the coffee (free refills) was $4. Not cheap, but a grand bargain in Disneyland. I would eat again at La Brea Bakery without hesitation. Breakfast may be the best time to be there, before it gets populated with sunburned crying kids well past nap time.

West Chester, PA is the town that inspired this blog. Because, even though West Chester is a very livable college town with a wide variety of wonderful restaurants, when I moved here in 2009, it was Pizza Kansas. Every pie I tried was another sad, soft, floppy Sysco-sourced bland belly-filler.

Click on any image to see full-size resolution

Much has changed in the time since 2009. The wonderful Anthony's Coal-Fired Pizza opened a location in nearby Exton, and it's not a long drive to world-class Neapolitan hybrid pies from La Porta in Gradyville. Spatola's in Paoli makes some excellent New York round pizza and some spot-on square Trenton and Brooklyn pies.

As the Pizza Renaissance continues, more pie options can be found in nearby Wayne, PA. Dave McGrogan offers up good (not great) pizza at Barra Rossa in Downingtown and Red Star Craft House in Exton. And Philly's famous Lorenzo & Sons is opening a branch in downtown West Chester.

In 2003, Craig Mosmen and Michael Cassano opened the original Couch Tomato Cafe in Philly's Manayunk neighborhood. They opened this West Chester location late in 2014. We went to this attractive BYOB on a warm Monday night in April.

Located on Gay Street, a lovely boulevard of shops and restaurants that lends a lot of character to the town, The Couch Tomato Cafe has a spacious seating area on the first level and a modest rooftop deck with picnic tables after you climb a long set of stairs.

Just about everyone there - working or eating - looked to be a college student. There is no table service. You order (from a menu of pizzas and sandwiches) and pay; when your name is announced, you come pick up your food.

We opted for the $16.49 Italian Stallion 16-inch pizza with a white (vs. wheat) crust, fresh and aged mozzarella, provolone, crushed tomato, sausage, basil, and fennel. There is a nice fountain offering New Hope soda for $2.19.

The pie came quickly, along with paper plates and paper napkins. It had a lovely appearance, and by every indication, it was cooked properly. Not burnt, not wet, not floppy, no toppings sliding off. The crushed tomatoes might have been distributed a little more evenly, but that was easy to fix.

The flavor was terrific. The fennel seemed lightly pickled, but it blended nicely with the vibrant tomatoes, the cheeses, and the sausage. The sausage seemed authentic, but it was in smaller chunks than I would have preferred. Overall, you can tell that the chef behind this pie blended the flavors expertly.

The crust, however, fell short. It was bland and white-bready in a way that suggested it was mass-sourced. I'm pretty religious about eating the cornicione, but here you could toss them without much regret. This dough was indeed expertly cooked, but it was not qualified to carry the high-quality toppings.

The upstairs deck was lovely, and the gestalt experience was positive. The ambiance earns an 8, the (limited) service also an 8, the topping combination was a 9, but the crust was a 4. Overall, the pizza at Couch Tomato earns a 6.

Couch Tomato Cafe', West Chester on Urbanspoon

Given the pizza renaissance taking place across America, I am no longer surprised to find great pie outside of the traditional pizza belt cities like Philly, Trenton, New York, New Haven, and Boston. One area with a terrific concentration of destination pizza is the Atlantic Coast in South Florida.

Luigi's Coal Fired Pizza, Fort Lauderdale

South Florida is home to the wonderful chain Anthony's Coal-Fired Pizza. Boca Raton is host to two other first-rate coal oven pizza joints - Nick's New Haven Style Apizza and Tucci's Fire N Coal Pizza. In Delray Beach, Scuola Vecchia is turning out the best Neapolitan pizza I've had anywhere.

From frontpage.jumponmarkslist.com

Thus, a recent trip to Fort Lauderdale again opened up possibilities for some great pie. I didn't have much chance to get out of my hotel due to business obligations, so one night we ordered a takeout pizza from Luigi's Coal Oven Pizza, which is located with dozens of other great restaurants on Las Olas Boulevard. Luigi's does not deliver, but they partner with "Delivery Dudes" who add a modest service charge; the pie arrived at our hotel in under an hour.

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I wanted the Margherita - but with sausage. However, Luigi's won't make any alterations to that signature pie with tomato, basil, and fresh mozzarella. In haste to get some cured meat on my pizza, I ordered one with four meats - sausage, bacon, meatballs, and pepperoni.

Takeout pizza is never ideal, because the pie steams in the box, and that affects the texture of the crust. And this pie arrived looking beautiful, but the first third of each slice was wet and floppy. I don't blame that on the pizzaiolo - it was a result of the overloaded meat toppings and the time spent in the box.

After the first few wet bites of each slice, the coal-fired crust really began to shine. It had excellent flavor and superb texture; the cornicione was a delight.

Coal oven at Luigi's other location in Delray Beach

However, something on top was seriously amiss. I love salt - I usually add salt to a slice of pizza. But this pie was bracingly briny. By a large margin, it was the saltiest pizza I've ever had. It was at the upper end of my salt tolerance; I think some would fail to finish a slice because of the excess salt.

Underside of crust, great coal oven char

Perhaps the four meats - especially the bacon - leached a lot of salt into the pie, and perhaps the cheese and sauce had their own sodium contributions. The extreme saltiness did not ruin the pie for me, but it was a major defect.

The meats were quite good, otherwise. The cheese was good too, although perhaps applied a bit too thickly. The sauce had a good tang, but salt was the dominant impression to each bite.

Overall - I think this is a great pizza that suffered two major insults. First was the time spent in the box, and second was that salt overdose. I'd gladly try it again, but in the restaurant and with some pre-bake caution about the salt. Luigi's is crafting a top shelf crust in that coal oven, and that takes you 80% of the way to destination pizza.

I recommend Luigi's - but be sure to ask them to temper the salt when making your pie.

Primanti Brothers are famous for their Pittsburgh location and the habit of putting cole slaw and french fries into a variety of sandwiches. Elsewhere on this blog, our Western PA correspondent shared a review of the food at the Grove City PA location. He gave the pizza there a B+ rating. Primanti Brothers has 19 (and counting) western PA locations, as well as two in West Virginia and two in Florida.

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South Florida is blessed with a lot of great pizza, and on a recent trip to Fort Lauderdale, we experienced some very good coal-fired pie at Luigi's Coal Oven Pizza. Walking the beach, I spotted the Primanti Brothers location on North Atlantic Boulevard, which runs parallel to the water. I had modest expectations for a chain location this far from the original spot in Pittsburgh's Strip District, but I was curious about those famous sandwiches.

This spot looks like an old greasy-spoon luncheonette, and it had its own casual charm. We arrived early afternoon on a Sunday and the place was busy at the counter, but we easily found a table. The overworked waitress was friendly and helpful. We decided to split one famous sandwich and one slice of pizza.

We saw a whole pie when we entered, and it looked ordinary - large and unremarkable, like the countless mom and pop pizzerias using low-end mass-sourced ingredients. When I learned that the sausage topping is applied pre-cooked, we opted instead for a pepperoni slice.

It appears that they make only plain pies, then toss on the toppings when your slice is re-heated in the oven. Another otherwise-excellent pizzeria does that too - New Park Pizza, in Queens. It's a terrible habit - the meat should spend the entire time with the pie. But it's less of a sin with pepperoni than with sausage.

Our slice came out quickly, and it was huge, dwarfing the standard paper plate. The pepperoni had yielded generous puddles of orange grease that stained the plate (no objection to that).

Taking some quick photos of the underside before we ate it, I could see that something special was going on. The crust was thin, with a generous puffy cornicione. It sported a lovely char underneath, and it was rigid and crunchy while retaining an al dente inner chew. It was a classically rendered New York slice.

We saw one staffer opening the huge cans of tomato product, Saporito brand. The sauce and cheese were both role players here - no outstanding characteristics other than blending perfectly and providing proper balance to this slice. We immediately regretted not ordering more slices, but we did need room for the sandwich.

We had chosen the "Pitts-burger" which is the #2 seller (though the menu fails to inform what is the #1 selling sandwich). It was a normal size hamburger patty with provolone, cole slaw, tomato slice, and a pile of french fries encased in two thick slices of soft Italian bread.

The "Pitts-Burger"

The patty was good, not amazing. I removed about two thirds of the fries to eat on the side (heresy to Yinzers). I was skeptical, but the combo was very tasty. The cole slaw was a little sweet and finished with vinegar, not the mayonnaise style. That sweetness played nicely with the saltiness of the other ingredients. The fries had good flavor but I would have liked them to be a bit crispier.

Pizzaiolo

I can recommend the sandwich, and it cost less than $7. The slice of pizza came to about $3.30, which is not bad given its size. And it was delectable. It qualifies as destination pizza, and that's pretty good for a place with more than 20 locations that doesn't even specialize in pizza. Great crust, ideal balance -- it was a New York slice better than 95% of slices actually served in New York. It compares favorably to the wonderful NY style pie at Wiseguy NY Pizza in Washington DC.

The Italian Market, the famous stretch of 9th Street in South Philadelphia, just celebrated its 100th Anniversary. Philly.com published a nice article HERE detailing its history and current state.

On a recent warm spring day, we walked the entire stretch - from Pat's& Geno's (tourist cheesesteaks) at Passyunk Avenue on its southern edge to Sarcone's Deli on the northern terminus.

Rocky's famous run through the 1970's Italian Market

In that general area of South Philly, one can find a lot of worthy pizza places. Santucci's (briefly reviewed HERE for its appearance at the South Philly Pizza Olympics), the hipster spot Birra, the old-school red gravy restaurant Marra's, and the widely-known corner shop Lorenzo's Pizza, at 9th and Christian Streets.

I've walked past Lorenzo's on several occasions, with little to indicate that it might be worth a visit. Online reviews are mixed, but I decided that I finally needed to experience this pizza. We stopped in and sampled a plain cheese slice.

The friendly counterman popped a few slices into the oven and they were quickly ready. Perhaps a little too quick, because the pizza was somewhere between warm and hot. It was a big slice for its modest $2 price.

My expectations, too, were modest. We were delighted, then, to find that this thin-crust pizza had an almost ideal balance of crisped edge bottom and a sturdy chewiness as well. The sauce was sweet and lively, and the standard mozzarella cheese blended into that mottled orange that characterizes most pizza.

A look at the nicely charred undercarriage revealed that this was not a mass-sourced dough, and that there is some skill in the preparation. Great crust, punchy sauce, and cheese as a role player. This was a true throwback slice, and a reminder that at one point many decades ago it was easy to find a genuine slice of good New York style pizza.

Lorenzo's in the Italian Market is a gem of a find, and a grand bargain for a two-buck slice. We're at a stage in the nationwide pizza renaissance that you can find a decent Neapolitan pie in almost any major city, but a good slice remains a rarity, even in New York. Simple, elegant, classic. We loved this pizza.

Four years ago, I made a short list of the Boston-area pizzas that I wanted to try. The top four included Cambridge 1, Regina, and Santarpio's - click on any of those names for pics and full review.

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On a beautiful spring weekend that coincided with graduation ceremonies at Tufts in Somerville, we met up with friends for Pizza at the fourth and final place on the list - Picco.

Regina and Santarpio's are the classic old-style eateries crafting old-style classic pizzas, and doing so beautifully. Picco, by its modern exterior look, seemed to have more in common with Cambridge 1, a newer venue for modern fare and hip diners.

We arrived around 5:30 on a Saturday, and had to wait (at a comfortable and friendly bar area) for about 45 minutes in order to secure a table for our large group of eight. We ordered a few drinks (some great craft beers on tap) and two salads for the table. Both starters were excellent, but the salad of arugula garnished simply with olive oil and aged shaved cheese was memorable.

The Margherita

We ordered four pizzas: a plain margherita with fresh mozzarella; another margherita-type pie topped with pepperoni; a pizza featuring mushrooms, sausage, and smoked mozzarella; and a pie sporting a mix of vegetable toppings including banana peppers and sauteed greens.

Margherita slices

Picco warns you that "our pizzas are cooked well done." In other words, the charred spots are a small price to pay for getting the rest of the pie perfect. We've seen similar warnings to novice pizza eaters at Anthony's Coal-Fired Pizza and Philly's Zavino. For me? Of course - I'll take a charred edge every time over a pale and floppy undercooked pie.

Pepperoni slices

The pies came out in swift succession from the open oven. Each had its own visual appeal, but the plain margherita and the pepperoni held the most beauty with the contrast of the milky white mozzarella, the deep red sauce, and the leopard spotted crust.

Mushrooms, sausage, smoked mozzarella

Let's begin with the crust. While the first impression might have been "Neapolitan," this crust was much firmer and sturdier than a Neapolitan, even as it shared the thick, tender, air-filled puffy cornicione. It was one of those wonderful pies that sits somewhere between a Neapolitan and the thin, crisp style of old-school pies like Regina, Totonno's, or Lombardi's.

The veggie pie

In a word, even with some serious spots of char, the crust was about perfect.

Awesome char

Even the burnt edges tasted wonderful

Happily, the excellence did not end there. The red sauce was a standout - rich, dark, with an intense tomato flavor. I often prefer standard dry mozzarella, but this fresh mozz was not overly wet and it was baked to a wonderful texture.

Waiting for our pizza

That was the margherita: a perfect crust that could stand alone with the best of breads, topped with impeccable sauce and fresh mozzarella.

That was kicked up yet another level on the pepperoni version. Full thick circles of dense, small-diameter pepperoni dotted the pie, and curled up into delightfully crisp and chewy cups. The oil yielded by the pepperoni added to the flavor. The margherita was an A+ pizza; the pepperoni gets A++.

Open flame coming from one side of the oven

I was a bit leery about the smoked mozz on the mushroom pie, but the smoke flavor was properly subtle. This was an excellent pizza in every way, and so was the mixed veggie pie. Like the first two pizzas, they sported a perfect crust and showed off the skill of the pizzaiolo. No complaints about either, but the simpler pies were the star of the day.

Astonishingly good stuff. Nice ambiance and service, too. As always, great pizza begins with the crust, and this base was superb. Everything worked on these pies - flavors, textures, balance, and combination of sauce, cheese, and toppings. Picco is destination pie for any discriminating pizza eater.

After four years of traveling to Boston, Picco is the clear winner of the pizzas that I was able to sample. In fact, I cannot find a flaw in this pie. It is, simply, one of the best pizzas I have had anywhere. I can rank it within the same league as Frank Pepe, DeLorenzo's, and DiFara.

It was about 30 years ago that I first tried Chicago-style deep-dish pizza. Oddly, the pie came not from Chicago, but from a Washington DC chain called Armand's. I loved that pie. Not long after, I made my first visit to Chicago and ate at Pizzeria Due. Even though it was probably already "tourist food," I enjoyed that experience.

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In the years since then, Pizzeria Uno opened a lot of east coast franchise locations. About ten years ago, I visited an Uno's in Levittown, PA, located near a shopping mall. The pizza was a sloppy wet mess, and that experience made me a deep-dish skeptic.

Uno in Newtown (Chester County PA)

I haven't had a real Chicago deep-dish experience since starting this pizza blog. I did have a re-heated slice of Giordano's that a family member brought home from Chicago. My review noted that "This really was one sorry excuse for pizza, and I cannot fathom at all why folks get excited over this blob casserole."

My excellent salad

With that background, you can perhaps understand why I was reluctant to accept a lunchtime invite to the Newtown PA (Chester County) franchise of Uno Pizzeria and Grill. While I knew it offered a chance to write about a pizza experience, I anticipated a "take one for the team" by eating lousy pizza and warning others to avoid it.

Fast forward to the plot summary: I was wrong - I enjoyed almost everything about this lunch visit and I'm breaking down my deep-dish aversion.

For modest under-ten-dollar prices, Uno's offers some under-ten-minutes combinations. I began with a "warm walnut-crusted goat cheese" salad that featured baked goat cheese atop field greens with fresh seasonal berries and low fat blueberry pomegranate dressing. It was excellent and fresh in every way. The greens were served with a soft and salty "breadstick" that might have been right at home in Olive Garden.

The second half of my combo was a personal-size deep dish pizza. The menu suggests that you need to order the pie of the day, but I was able to choose the pepperoni version. It was cut into six small slices. I have a healthy appetite, but three slices with the salad made a very filling meal, so I had three slices to take home.

How was it? The crust was crunchy outside, soft inside, and surprisingly tasty all by itself. We'll call that a win. The red sauce was lively and well-seasoned, too. The pepperoni added an unexpected amount of welcome spicy heat. The cheese was not buried under the sauce, as often found with a deep dish pie. It rode mostly on top and hence benefited both in flavor and texture from exposure to the oven heat.

This was not a life-changing event, but it was a flavorful and filling lunch at a modest price. It rattled two of my preconceptions - one, that deep-dish is "tomato soup in a bread bowl" and two, that franchise deep dish can't be worth eating. I was wrong on both counts.

The most important takeaway may be that, if an Uno franchise can craft a deep dish that tasty, then I truly need to visit Chicago and get the real thing. It's a big world, every pizza doesn't have to have a thin crust.

On a recent visit to South Philly's Italian Market, we planned a stop on nearby Passyunk Avenue for some old-school pizza at Marra's, a full-service Italian restaurant.

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With Birra, Santucci's, and Lorenzo's only a short walk away, Marra's faces some worthy competition for the best pie in South Philly.

The Zagat reviews really capture the essence of this place, where your grandfather may have dined: “This is what Buca di Beppo is trying to parody.”

Most of my favorite pizzas come from such long-standing establishments, such as Totonno's, Frank Pepe, Lombardi's, DeLorenzo's, Regina (click on any for full review). So I really wanted to like this place.

We arrived early on a warm weekday, and the place was not busy. Our waitress was prompt and friendly when we ordered a large pie with mushrooms and sausage, after we confirmed the use of real chunks of Italian sausage that go on the pie uncooked.

Our huge 18" pie (only $13.75 plus $3.00 extra for two toppings) arrived quickly. The sauce exhibited some good South Philly "red gravy" character, but was mostly a role player. Both the sauce and the standard mozzarella were applied a bit too thickly.

The crust was expertly cooked, but it lacked character and flavor. Its generic nature made me suspect a mass-sourced (such as Sysco) origin. This was an above-average pie, but the crust was soggy in the middle from the overload of cheese and sauce. Even on reheating some slices a few days later, much of the crust remained saturated and limp.

Under the hood

The sausage topping was superb, squeezed out raw from real Italian sausage ropes. The sauce and cheese worked nicely with the sausage for an excellent flavor despite the flaccid crust.

The cornicione, sadly, was dry and lacking flavor. This pizza could go - quickly - from good to great with better dough. The char on the crust showed some genuine pizzaiolo skills, and the rest of the pie was sound.

Overall, a decent pie and a nice value, especially when you consider the throwback ambiance and the friendly service. Marra's enjoys a solid reputation even as the neighborhood evolves and gentrifies; I wish that we had more time and appetite that day to try more of the menu. Surely worth a revisit.

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