The 18 Breakout Pizzas of 2018

The American Pizza Renaissance continued into 2018 with no signs of slowing down. Just as we are living in a Golden Age of Television with too many good shows on Netflix, Amazon Prime, and HBO, just as we are living in a Golden Age of Craft Beer with countless high-character local brews available in every state, we're living in a Golden Age of Pizza Worth the Calories as the legendary pie makers soldier on, joined by Neapolitan pizzaioli in every city and some new pie makers creating American pizza in a true old-school fashion.

Slice sampling at Porta in Philadelphia; click on any image for full size

What follows here is a countdown of the best pies that I tried for the first time in 2018. Like 2017 and every year before, 2018 turned out as yet another banner year in discovering "pizza worth the calories." Life is too short to eat mediocre pizza!

What's a Corleone style pizza? Read on!

In 2017, we found great pizza in all sorts of styles: Neapolitan, American old-school, Detroit, NY style, Old Forge, Roman al taglio, New Haven apizza, and even a Chicago deep dish. 2018's list of discoveries was dominated by the Neapolitans and Neapolitan hybrids, but there are plenty of old-school pies that made our list of 18 Breakout Pizzas.

Cozy interior at La Tela, Kiawah Island SC

This is not a "Best 18 Pizzas in America" list - these are the best ones I discovered in 2018. And some are truly spectacular! Click on any pizzeria for the full review and more pictures.

18. &Pizza Philadelphia PA. One of the fastest-growing entries in the "fast Casual" pizza market is &Pizza (https://andpizza.com), which calls itself an "anti-establishment establishment built on the renown of its creative pies and craft beverages" There are about 25 locations in DC, MD, and VA, with new stores opening in NYC, Boston, and Philly.

Personal size pie at &Pizza

I visited the Philadelphia location just off Walnut Street in Center City. All the elements were good quality and in harmony on this well-crafted chain pie. Overall, terrific pizza. I noted that these pies live somewhere in between the generic and the genuine, but they also represent a huge leap forward in chain food.

17. Napizza San Diego CA. Roman style "al taglio" pizza has finally come to America, and what took so long? Our 2017 Breakout list found Roman style slices from Alice Cucina Romana (Ah-lee-chay) in Philly landing on the #6 slot.

"Al Taglio" slices at Napizza

Much like the medium-thick and airy crusts on the slices at Alice and Rione (also Philly, more on that coming up), the dough at Napizza develops for 72 hours, giving these substantial slices a surprising lightness despite the crisp edges and chewy interior. San Diego may not have its own unique variety of pizza, but it covers the great styles exceedingly well.

16. Crust Wood Fired Pizza James Island SC. Spoiler alert: three Charleston area pizzas made this 2018 list. Can there be a truer sign of the Pizza Renaissance than how easy it's become to get destination pizza here in the land of low country cooking?

Flawless Neapolitan at Crust Wood Fired Pizza

Our notes indicate that "we found pizza that was essentially flawless. An ideally-rendered and authentic Neapolitan crust topped with deeply flavorful fresh mozzarella and well-mated toppings."

15. PortaPhiladelphia PA. This brand-new Neapolitan pizzeria, with a few other New Jersey locations, occupies the biggest interior restaurant space in Philly.

A slice at Porta

I sampled several pies, and they were perfectly balanced in tastes and textures, with none of the wet spots or sogginess that plagues so many Neapolitans. I took particular note of the brightly flavored red sauce. The crust, always the most important element, was excellent too.

14. MiDiCiKing of Prussia PA. MiDiCi is the highest ranking chain pie on this list; the fact that any chain pie qualifies is just another flashing red light announcing the ongoing pizza renaissance.

Egg and Bacon pizza at MiDiCi

On my first visit, the wonderful ingredients on this Neapolitan were not perfectly baked or balanced, but the quality was apparent. On a subsequent visit, no such flaws were found. Just ten years ago, this would have been the best pizza in a fifty mile radius. Today, the bar is higher. If places like this can help crowd out all the mediocre pizza we eat from the big chains, we're all better for it.

13. John's PizzaFrazer PA. Regular readers know my soft spot for old-school American pizza; thin and rigid crust, tangy red sauce, no overload of cheese. What a thrill it was to sample the throwback pies at John's, right in my neighborhood, after having ignored it for 9 years.

Throwback pizza at John's in Frazer PA

The plentiful and deeply flavored sweet red sauce was the star of this pizza. Come for the cheesesteak, stay for the pizza!

12. Tonito's PizzaWest Chester PA. Not only in my back yard, but close enough to walk! Tonito's makes conventional round pies, a Chicago pizza, and spectacular square thin crust "Trenton" and "Brooklyn" pizzas.

Trenton pizza at Tonito's

I took home a Trenton pie, and each bite provided the true Trenton tomato pie experience of a rigid and tasty crust, with varying ratios of cheese and chunky red sauce on top. I shared this pie with 3 others for dinner, and we demolished the entire pizza. Superb.

11. BrigantessaPhiladelphia PA. In a year filled with many wonderful but conventional Neapolitan pizzas, the Stella was a head-turning variation.

The "Stella" at Brigantessa

Each bite of this little powerhouse pie offered a different mix of flavors and textures. First the red sauce and sausage and mozzarella, then a thicker bite with red sauce and ricotta, then the star point which was a wonderful puff of Neapolitan cornicione wrapped around a dollop of rich sheep's milk ricotta.

10. La Tela PizzaKiawah Island, SC. Can you expect a great pie from a shopping plaza location on the outskirts of Kiawah Island, South Carolina? I didn't, but we found a delightful surprise when we ordered a pizza with nine quail eggs on top.

Quail egg pizza with pancetta at La Tela

Compared to a traditional Neapolitan pie, this hybrid was a little thicker, much more sturdy, and the cornicione was downright crunchy. Crisp outside, pillowy inside with great hole structure, this crust also had a wonderful flavor on its own, like a fresh loaf of Italian bread. This pie was essentially flawless. It was a well-chosen pairing of cheeses, eggs, and pancetta on a delectably crunchy and chewy crust.

9. Bricco Coal-Fired PizzaWestmont NJ. Finding great pizza means having great sources, and in Jersey you can't do better than Pete Genovese. Bricco made Pete's Top Ten and it's a wonderful Neapolitan hybrid pie.

The short rib pie at Bricco

We tried four different pizzas; each sported a wonderfully distinctive crust. Not as pale as a typical Neapolitan, this golden crust sported a bit more crunch all around. There may have been a bit of olive oil in the dough that gave it the crispy sturdiness that Neapolitans typically lack. Beyond its ideal texture, the crust had its own rich flavor, too. Well-chosen toppings makes this an ideal meld of old-school American with Neapolitan qualities.

8. Pizza-Grill.comTrenton NJ. An unusual pizza from an unusually-named pizzeria, this square pie is made in the "Corleone" style. What is a Corleone style pizza? It looks like a Sicilian pizza, but I found the dough to be light and airy yet crisp -- much like that found in the Philly-style tomato pies offered at bakeries.

Corleone style pizza at Pizza-Grill.com

Pizzaiolo Marcello uses only Italian tomatoes, Sicilian oregano, Sicilian olive oil, and a secret blend of three cheeses. What he's achieved in this Corleone pie, though, is balance. This pie brings brings a lot of old-world satisfaction in a lighter and balanced way. Trenton is famous for its round tomato pies, but no pizza lover near Trenton should miss the Corleone pizza.

7. Paulie Gee's HampdenBaltimore MD. I met Paulie and first tried his "Hellboy" Neapolitan at the Pizza Palooza near Washington DC in 2017, so it became a priority to motor down Interstate 95 to visit his Baltimore location.

Paulie Gee's "Hellboy" Neapolitan

Paulie has pretty much perfected the Neapolitan style pizza where all the elements come together. At each bite I wasn't thinking "great crust" or "wonderful sauce" but instead "holy crap this is good." The parts are all great, the sum is greater than the parts.

6. All-Purpose PizzaWashington DC. Our nation's capital region is already blessed with some fine pies, such as 2Amys and Seventh Hill Pizza. The pies at this new spot in the Capitol Riverfront area are inspired by the old-school joints in NJ and NY. These non-Neapolitans take about 10 minutes to cook in a conventional gas oven.

"Buona" pizza at All-Purpose

I sometimes keep notes about the particular qualities of the sauce, the cheese, the toppings. I failed to do that here - and that speaks to how much I was enjoying each slice and how the ingredients were in ideal balance and harmony. Much like the authentic pizza I grew up eating in New Jersey, the sauce and the cheese melded into a delicious orange swirl that married the pepperoni to the crust.

5. (Tie)DeLorenzo's The Burg (Levittown PA) and DeLorenzo's Tomato Pies (Yardley, PA). Okay, this was a sneaky way to get 19 pies into my list of 18, but this was a fitting tribute to the two great legendary pie makers of Trenton.

Sam Amico, owner at DeLorenzo's Yardley

For decades, locals argued over which was better - the tomato pies from DeLorenzo's on Hudson Street, or the pizza from DeLorenzo's on Hamilton Avenue.

Tomato pie from DeLorenzo's Yardley

The different pizzerias, owned by relatives but not otherwise affiliated, engaged in a longstanding mostly-friendly competition. I always felt that the tomato pies on Hudson Street were much better than the pizzas at Hamilton Ave. In fact, since about 1980, DeLorenzo's tomato pies have been my favorite pizza.

DeLorenzo's Tomato Pies - Yardley PA

Times changed; DeLorenzo's Tomato Pies moved to Robbinsville NJ and DeLorenzo's Pizza moved from Hamilton Avenue in Trenton to nearby Hamilton, NJ (which has a Trenton zip code, to keep it all the more confusing).

A slice of DeLorenzo's tomato pie in Yardley

2018 brought the expansion of the DeLorenzo tomato pie franchise to my former home town, Yardley PA. I made it a point to visit and was pleased to find that although a bit of the Hudson Street magic is gone, the pies are every bit as good as they are in Robbinsville. Importantly, these great pies are available in big, comfortable settings that can serve a lot more customers.

A large pizza from DeLorenzo's The Burg

A current Yardley resident alerted me to DeLorenzo's the Burg, where nephew of the Hamilton Avenue DeLorenzo's is fashioning the same pizza. I was skeptical, especially because I always felt that Hamilton Ave took a back seat compared to Hudson Street, but I trusted his counsel.

DeLorenzo's The Burg - Levittown PA

That was wise, because this pie floored me. Way better than my memory of the Hamilton Ave pizza, it had the tangy sauce and sturdy crust of all the long-closed old-school pizza places of the 60s and 70s. You just can't go wrong with any pizza from any DeLorenzo's. These two PA descendants are winners.

4. Rione Pizza Al TaglioPhiladelphia PA. Roman "al taglio" pizza made our 2018 list at #17 with the slices from Napizza in San Diego. Philly, already blessed with one genuinely authentic al taglio pizzeria at Alice, now has Rione just blocks away.

Brilliant crust on al taglio pizza at Rione

I was just as delighted at Rione as I had been at Alice in 2017. In May, I declared it "the best slice I've eaten this year." My first impression was about the noise of the crunch. The bottom of the crust was as crunchy as any pizza I can recall, but only for a wafer thin layer. Above that, the crust was dense yet airy and it had a delightful al dente chew.

Choices at Rione

The Margherita slice was topped with some very mild fior di latte mozzarella, fresh basil, and a generous amount of olive oil. The red sauce, smooth and thick, was tangy but surprisingly subdued. With relatively mild sauce and cheese, it was left to the crust to stand out, and it did. I'd eat this crust with no topping because its flavor was wonderful and its texture unparalleled. But the sum was greater than the parts, even if the sauce and cheese were essentially role players.

3. BIGA Pizza and BeerBryn Mawr PA. Philly is home to great pizzas of all kinds - old school, Neapolitan, Roman al taglio, and excellent hybrids. But the fashionable western suburbs, collectively known as the Philadelphia Main Line, has been largely left out of the pizza renaissance.

"Da Bomb" at BIGA

Happily, there is a very notable exception at BIGA. We tried four pizzas there and found four winners. The crust is wonderful; among Philly's best. What elevates BIGA above other Neapolitan pizzerias is how thoughtfully-chosen and well-balanced these pies are.

The "Daytripper" at BIGA

The pie that most surprised me was the Daytripper. This white pie was just a flavor explosion; mushrooms bursting with umami, and it was doubled by the cheese blend, the garlic bechamel, and the liberal application of diced scallion. On a return visit, we tried other pies and appetizers, all at the same high level.

2. EVO PizzaNorth Charleston SC. The third and final South Carolina pie on this list lands at number two for 2018. This pizza was so wonderful, in fact, that my wife declared it best pizza of her life.

Speck and mushroom pizza at EVO

EVO (Extra Virgin Oven) is both a bakery and a pizzeria, and it seems they have some special bread skills. The pies at our other SC stops - Crust and La Tela - had both sported flawless Neapolitan or Neapolitan hybrid crusts, but this crust was at another level. It had all the elements of great bread - flavor, a tender chew, structure to support the toppings, and a crisp crunch.

EVO pizza

But the crust was only the beginning here. Some white pies can be tame in flavor, lacking the acidic punch of a good red sauce. Here, though, was an explosion of deep savory flavors. Not sure what kind of mushrooms were used (shittake?), but there was an umami party going on here.

Crust perfection at EVO Pizza

When we visited in July, I was sure this would be the top pie of 2018. You could argue for that, because #1 and #2 were really close. This is perfect pizza.

1. Tribute PizzaSan Diego CA. At the end of the day, great pizza comes from passionate pizza makers. The further you get from the pizzaiolo, the less likely the pizza will rise above ordinary. That's why frozen pizza is stuck at ordinary (or worse) and why great pizza rarely remains great once a chain gets a lot of locations. People make all the difference, like the energy flowing from Paulie Gee.

Margherita at Tribute Pizza

It was the bloodline and the passion of the wonderful folks at Elio G's in Old Forge PA that took them to the top of this list in 2017. The husband and wife team at tiny Rize Pizza took them to the #3 spot in 2016. Pizza perfectionist James Oley (Binge House Pizza) won in 2015 with his inspired Old Forge-Detroit hybrid. And in 2014, Chopped star and Caputo Cup winner Norma Knepp's incredible boardwalk pizza took the #2 spot.

A slice at Tribute

I was truly excited to take a bunch of colleagues on an excursion to Tribute Pizza, because it had already earned a lot of buzz among pizza cognoscenti. At Tribute, owner Matt Lyons fashions several kinds of pies in tribute to the world’s best pizzas, such as Apizza Scholls in Portland, Best Pizza in Brooklyn, Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix, and a rotating variety of other regional favorites. Lyons says "We’re not looking to create exact replicas or take something and make it our own. We want to make something incredible as well as we can."

Tribute Pizza, San Diego CA

Our group ordered a variety of pizzas to share. While the Margherita pie was as completely authentic as you'll find anywhere in America, the other two pizzas seemed to start with that Margherita base and then morph into something more American; it's hard to think of a better Tribute than that. These pies are not replicas, but ground-breaking stuff that blends ancient methods with cutting edge pizza craft.

"Brooklyn's Best" pizza at Tribute

I've eaten a lot of pizza and it's often tempting to say "this was the best X pizza ever." This stuff stands with the best pies I've had in NYC, Rome, New Haven, Trenton, Philly, and Chicago. As good as the sauce and other toppings are, it's the dough that makes a great pizza, and I could eat this every day.

Enjoying a Margherita slice

We had the chance to chat with Matt Lyons at the end of our meal, and he told us about his time making pies in Nairobi and what inspired his approach and how his team is committed to excellence. There's a lot of good reasons to make a visit to San Diego, and Tribute Pizza is a can't-miss destination pizza there.

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