Your favorite pizza places?

Yes, San Antonio does have great pizza. The River Walk is a great place to go.

Papa Murphys (so far I've had it in Astoria, OR, O'Fallon, MO & Auburn, WA.....all three locations *rocked*).
Cottage Inn Pizza in Ann Arbor, MI (2x it was great, the 3rd time not so much so....)
Astoria Pizza in Groton, CT (hole in the wall family run joint.....Greeks can make some damn good pizza & calzones!)
Some small chain in Oklahoma.....can't remember the name, but went there with my now ex husband on a few trips to his friends and family in the area. I think it was in Lawton....but I could be wrong.

And lets face it, any pizza is great pizza when you've had a few drinks, lol! So my list could keep going and going.....

Uno's is awesome, Round Table and California Pizza Kitchen are to die

for

quote:

Originally posted by Budgetgourmet

Uno's is awesome, Round Table and California Pizza Kitchen are to die

for!

For a chain, my wife and I absolutely LOVE Round Table pizza, but unfortunately they are no where east of the west coast. They closed all 5 of their Idaho locations this past year. CPK is okay, but overpriced. Uno's - only eat at the original location in Chicago. That chain with their name on it is blasphemy!

Local places in the Kansas City area that I have visited and generally like:

Old Shawnee Pizza - cracker crust, reminds me a little of how Shakey's used to be.

Papa Keno's - both in old Overland Park and in Lawrence, KS. Good New York-style pizza, whole pie or by the slice, but the last time I visited their OP location the pizza was tasteless.

Mafia Mike's in Lenexa - similar to a New York style pizza, but only comes in whole pies. Nice crust, good flavorful sauce.

Pyramid Pizza - a local/regional chain that seems all but defunct. Great pizza until the original owners sold it. If you can find some that matches the original, it's absolutely terrific.

Wheat State Pizza - a regional chain now, similar to a Godfather's or Pyramid pizza in terms of sauce, cheese and toppings but they offer both a whole wheat and white crust. I actually like their thick white crust better than their thin or wheat dough crusts.

Minsky's Pizza - only go to the original location in downtown Kansas City; all of the Kansas locations blow.

Cracker crust????...that's good???????

Not in my universe.

quote:

Originally posted by leethebard

Cracker crust????...that's good???????

For people who grew up on Shakey's, Pizza Hut thin and crispy, and other similar types of pizza in the Mid-west and West, it is. For me, I am not one to prejudice a pizza based on the style of crust, as long as its good. NY chewy, Chicago deep-dish, or any of the varities I mentioned in my post above have different styles and I like them all.

Different strokes for different folks.

Sal and Carmine
NYC

Our favorite pizza is on the boardwalk in Ocean City NJ.  The place is called Mack & Manco.  They only serve pizza and beverages.  No hoagies, no fries, just pizza.
 
 

 
It is just simple boardwalk pizza, but Mrs. OC and I love it.
 

A few months ago, I found a great little place for thin-crust pizza in south-suburban Chicagoland. It's called Simply Slices, and it's located in Crestwood IL, on Cicero Ave. just north of Sibley Blvd. It's a tiny place with a drive-thru window that specializes in by-the-slice, but whole pies are also available. I love a thin, crispy crust, and the crust at Simply Slices is the best of this kind that I've found in southern Cook County. High quality toppings too, and they apply them generously. The prices are ridiculously low; two sausage slices and a medium drink costs only $4.89 ( that's with tax. ) Simply Slices is over a half-hour from my home, but the drive is worth it.

As much as I like Simply Slices, my favorite thin-crust pizza is at a place called Fox's in Orland Park IL. It's a very nice sit-down restaurant with a full menu, but it's the pizza that compels me to make the two-hour round trip occasionally. Crust and toppings both are, IMHO, perfection, and the service is very good. As for deep-dish pizza, it's gotta be Pizzeria Uno in Chicago. Actually, in my case it's Uno's 'twin sister' Pizzeria Due, just down the street ( it's a tradition thing. ) Man, do I love that deep-dish sausage pizza! Besides being far from my home, the parking situation by Uno's and Due's is awful ( very expensive garage parking ), so I rarely get over there, but when I do it sure is worth it. Warning: avoid the franchised Uno's locations ( recently renamed Uno Chicago Grill ); they are bad, bad news.  

I really only know pizza places on the Northeast. When I am in other parts of the country I don't try it. Even though Bon Appetit said that Bianco's in Phoenix is the best pie in the country. Would like to try some chicago style in Chitown, but this is what I know.  

Difara's, Avenue J the key is just to be the first one there and anything that comes out of the oven, just take it. A sublime experience

Grimaldi's under the Brooklyn Bridge. Extraordinary as well but for whatever reason it tasted better when it was named Patsy's.

DeLorenzo's Chambersburg, Trenton NJ I love Hudson and Robbinsville, but I think Robbinsville is better because all of the pizzaiolis  are all at the Robbinsville location

DeLorenzo's Hamilton-  More Tomato Pies. Another wing of the family and incredible too, very friendly atmosphere

Nunzio's Staten Island. I think I like this more than Joe and Pat's, I love the sauce at Nunzio's. However, I heard it was recently sold and not as good, does anyone know this is true. They certainly renovated, I loved it more when it was a true hole in the wall.

Totonno's.- I rarely get the chance to go here, but I love it, its off the cuff pizza making, no round pies here.

Spumoni Gardens, Brooklyn, for Sicilian of course!

BTB in Florida, I hope you're reading this. I attempted to answer your PM, but my stupid POS computer wouldn't cooperate ( my new computer is being delivered this week, thankfully. ) Your comment about the Orland Pk. Fox's really surprised me. In all the times I've eaten there, I have never had a pizza that I didn't think was wonderful; they have yet to disappoint me. Yes, I've had pizza at Louisa's a number of times. In fact, Louisa's is part of a rather strange tradition with me. Everytime I have a colonoscopy ( I've had three ), my first post-procedure meal is a deep-dish sausage pizza at Louisa's. For those of you unfamiliar with this place, it's at 142nd & Cicero in Crestwood IL., and it's very good. BTB, what was it about that Fox's location that displeased you?                  Bob 

pica's pizza on west chester pike in upper darby, pa has the ABSOLUTE BEST pizza!

it's traditional 'tomato pie'; rectangle shape, thin crust, provolone cheese on first then toppings and sauce.  it's absolutely fabulous - first time i had it was in high school...told my parents about it and we went one weekend (as a family) so they could try it.  turns out they used to be located in west philly and it's the very first pizza my dad had when he was a kid.  he said it is made exactly as they did way back in the 40's - and tastes just as good as it did back then.

when i lived in nj (which didn't have any good pizza anywhere in camden county), i actually would travel to upper darby specifically just to have pica's pizza...people thought i was nuts until they bit into it!

another good one fairly close to that is marrone's pizza in ardmore.  round style pie - with the provolone on first and then sauce and toppings.  thicker crust and it's pretty crusty (without the oil used for 'boston' or deep dish style).

then there's boston style pizza...deep dish style...three locations - merion, bala cynwyd, wynnewood.  that's some good stuff, too.

pica's is the top pick though.  both pica's and marrone's have been voted 'best of philly' numerous times over the years.

When I go to NJ, central shore area, Lisa's Pizza on Rt. 35 in Lawrence Harbor, NJ has one of the best pizza's I've had.  I live in Pa now but was raised in Morgan NJ and go to NJ at least 3x a year and we have to stop at Lisa's for Pizza, then in South Amboy to Broadway bakery that has the best rye bread and hard rolls, then to Sipo's in Perth Amboy for potato bread that is terrific.
In Myerstown, Pa where I live bread is not like NJ, so we usually stock up and freeze it. Pizza in Myerstown was Vinny's but they closed, CC's in Quinton,Pa is good.

Angelo's Pizza in Auburn, NY. Awesome NY style thin crust, big slices. The original owner, Angelo, as far as I know, still stops in regularly to check on things... I remember many late nights and Sunday afternoons, stopping in and chewing the fat with Angelo over a slice and a bottle of Coke.

There's an email going around the internet, one of those "you know you're from Auburn, NY when" things, and one of them is "you know you're from Auburn if you know about Angelo's mop, and don't care".
The rumour was that when Angelo would mop the floor, he'd walk over to the oven, open it up, and mop it out while it was hot... that's why the pizza tasted so good. Not true, but funny anyway.

For my money Pop's New York Pizza is about as good as it's going to get in Columbia, SC. The service can be hit and miss (apparently you don't want to have it delivered...will take forever), but if you walk in to order a few slices or whole pie, I've never had any problems. It's good, the crust has the right char for this kind of pizza and it's impressed some friends of mine from New York and New Jersey. It's the best that I've had around here, even though that's not saying that much.

kidtcha


A friend of mine read that the best pizza in Virginia AND the world was located 2.5 hours from us in Crozet, Virginia. So we drove down to Crozet and tried the Crozet Pizza! It was very good! Part of the charm was the actual restaurant. We were curious as to why we needed to make a reservation and found out the reason as soon as we walked through the door. There were only 6.5 tables in the place with one Tiffany lamp in the middle of the place giving us light. The restaurant only serves salads and pizza along with sodas and beer. My friend and I are not big on veggies so we ordered the Meatlover's style pizza. It was delicious! It had ham, meatballs, pepperoni and sausage on it!
If you are in VA and would like to check out this pizza joint, look up Crozet Pizza. I'm not sure if anyone on here has mentioned it yet!

Just tried this place recently.  Got take out on a Saturday afternoon - they are now open for lunch on Saturdays, not sure if this is always the case.

I think 6.5 tables may have been generous, but probably accurate.  It would be considered small and cramped even in Boston's north end.  It is much smaller than Blue Ridge Pig though not as dingy. 

But the pizza was very very good.  A bit more oregano than I am used to  but it was excellent.  The crust was very well done - mottled with goodly splotches of dark brown on the bottom, almost like the pictures of places I have seen in NY. 

I am guessing it must be popular with the UVA students from up north.  I am tempted to drive there again this weekend, since technically it is only about 37 miles from my house, probably closet than my fav pizza in the  Richmond area, Frank's West [ which is not as good as Crozet Pizza ].  But since I work in the Richmond area I don't have to make too much of a special trip to go to Frank's West - only about 15 miles out of my way lol. 

Well my favorite all time pizza is Pizza King. I now live in Florida where there is no Pizza King..I ate at the Sir Pizza a few years back in Miami..however it was just not quite the same. I was reading old posts and learned of Chubbys Thin Crust out of Apopka..however do not know if it still exists or not? If anyone knows..shoot me a line...Thks....Also if anyone ever travel to central florida be sure to try Gourmetos Pizza...Really good pizza...

I have lived in the Hudson valley for the past 15 years but grew up in Central Jersey and I have not found a pizza place that can compare to my top 20 jersey pizzerias.  The best I have ever had was Mr Assante's on Rt 22 in Green Brook, don't know if it is still there.

Just met our daughter for lunch at Market Street Pizza. They are local and serve kinds that you don't see everywhere like cheeseburger, big meaty, etc. and the pizza is always Hot. They also have calzones and pasta on the lunch buffet

Imo's in Saint Louis, MO.

I've been gone from the Saint Louis area longer than I ever lived there (25 years) and I've yet to find something to replace my Imo's.  Consequenlty, I rarely eat pizza any longer because nothing compares - for me - to Imo's.

 
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!  Just discovered Imo's flies their pizzas all over the country when I went to their web site!  And I'm out of a job!  Just as soon as I get a job, I KNOW what I'm getting!
 

I hope some of these joints start using:


http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1909544

What an amazing concept.

Chicago: Giordano's for stuffed
               Geppetto's (Oak Park) for...well, any crust, really.
Detroit: Flip a coin between Buddy's And Papa Romano's

Chain: Papa John's for original, Pizza Hut for pan
Frozen: Palmero's
             Reggio's (availible at Aldi!)

JBuffCombo


I have lived in the Hudson valley for the past 15 years but grew up in Central Jersey and I have not found a pizza place that can compare to my top 20 jersey pizzerias.  The best I have ever had was Mr Assante's on Rt 22 in Green Brook, don't know if it is still there.

Try living for 32 years in Southwest Ohio - you would really have something to complain about!

A fairly new place in Richmond (open less than a year) is Capriccio's in the 9100 block of West Broad, in the TJ max plaza.

Not as good as Crozet pizza, but for richmond, it had some darn good NY style pie.

NYPIzzaNut

JBuffCombo


I have lived in the Hudson valley for the past 15 years but grew up in Central Jersey and I have not found a pizza place that can compare to my top 20 jersey pizzerias.  The best I have ever had was Mr Assante's on Rt 22 in Green Brook, don't know if it is still there.

Try living for 32 years in Southwest Ohio - you would really have something to complain about!

Wow, you really do hate Dayton pizza. I still don't see how you can dislike it so much but I guess to each their own.

had pizza tonight (last night actually....) at stellar pizza in georgetown, south of downtown seattle. it's a mom-and-pop place, and their pizza is decent for seattle pizza. the dough is made fresh, hand-tossed, the sauce is made with fresh ingredients, not canned. the cheeses are decent mozzarella, romano, and goat..... it's a dive atmosphere, but the food and service make up for it :) toppings range from simple to complex, but anything custom can be ordered. they also make awesome calzones.... and they have arrogant bastard ale on tap :)

marzsit


had pizza tonight (last night actually....) at stellar pizza in georgetown, south of downtown seattle. it's a mom-and-pop place, and their pizza is decent for seattle pizza. the dough is made fresh, hand-tossed, the sauce is made with fresh ingredients, not canned. the cheeses are decent mozzarella, romano, and goat..... it's a dive atmosphere, but the food and service make up for it :) toppings range from simple to complex, but anything custom can be ordered. they also make awesome calzones.... and they have arrogant bastard ale on tap :)

 
Ahh! That ale has my name written all over it!
 
Having lived in Seattle, I still say that the words "decent pizza" and "Seattle" should not be used in the same sentence, or paragraph, or website....come to think of it, even in the same universe.