![]() Philadelphia is one of those intensely lucky cities that not only have an overwhelming amount of pizza but is also, stylistically, all over the map. Regular pies are a steal for as little as $10. One of the best new versions comes from the recently opened Michigan & Trumbull, where two Detroit natives have sensitively updated the template, introducing some excellent topping combinations, and paying close attention to ingredients. Not that there hasn't been any movement in recent years. ![]() Unless, of course, you're a diehard Loui's Pizza fan since 1977, the musty, cozy, family-owned restaurant has been a staple in Detroit-adjacent Hazel Park, serving up one of the heartiest versions of the style. These days, if you're not loyal to Buddy's, which is now a regional chain (the original being the best), chances are you're loyal to Cloverleaf Bar & Restaurant. Guerra split amicably from the restaurant a decade or so later, opening his own place in Eastpointe. Detroit pizza goes back to 1946 when Gus and Anna Guerra introduced the city to the style at Buddy's on Conant and McNichols. In more than one other state on this list, it's some of the best pizza being made right now. ![]() On it goes-there is the now-legendary Hellboy slice, an indulgent, intensely craveable marriage of soppressata and hot honey at Paulie Gee's Slice Shop in Greenpoint, and the seriously underrated cheese slices prepared with love and care at Philomena's in Sunnyside, and the astonishingly good, high-quality squares coming from Corner Slice, always worth a walk to 11th Avenue in Hell's Kitchen.Īnd yet, somehow, we got there, finally-nowadays, Detroit's square pies, with their distinctive crispy edges, plenty of Wisconsin brick cheese, and a quality tomato sauce on top, are cropping up all over. (They opened a second location in Nolita, during the pandemic.) On the Upper West Side, at Mama's Too!, every plain slice is scattered with fresh basil leaves and a final shower of cheese before being handed over the counter, the crust cracking open in a thunderclap at first bite, collapsing into a light, chewy, beautifully-balanced crust. In the middle of it all, you'll find Upside Pizza, turning pie after high-quality pie out of their brick-lined oven, just around the corner from Times Square. For example, head next to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, the land of the sloppy dollar slice. There's still work to be done, but it's possible to see a time when far-above-average could become the norm, all across the city. Don't let the modern premises fool you this is one of the finest classic pies in the entire Northeast. These days, the same magic still happens, the same way it has since 1947. Practically around the corner, you have DeLorenzo's Tomato Pies, which until recently still operated out of a memorably outdated space in the old neighborhood. If you really want to throw it back, ask them about putting mustard on your pizza (seriously-it's kind of a tradition here). There's Papa's, which dates to 1912, run by the Azzaro family, who will proudly tell you that this is the oldest, continuously operating, a family-owned pizzeria in the United States. These days, the two best practitioners of the style can be found in suburban Robbinsville. Here, that means a relatively small amount of mozzarella on a nice, thin crust, with a generous amount of crushed tomatoes up top. Do you know, for instance, about the beach pizza in Massachusetts and New Hampshire-crispy, thin squares with the provolone and the sweet sauce that you think you're going to absolutely hate, then secretly fall in love with? How about the scissor-cut strips of lean sausage pie with the malted crust in the Quad Cities region of Iowa and Illinois? Or what of the Old Forge pie, the calling card of a blue-collar Pennsylvania town that very seriously calls itself the Pizza Capital of the World and has the highest rate of pizzerias per capita in the country? How about Utica-style pizza, a staple in New York's Mohawk Valley for longer than many of New York City's famous pizzerias? Sure, it may not be all to your stylistic taste, but every single one of these long-held regional traditions is spectacular, in its own way.īesides having the best new pizza in America, New Jersey also has some of the best, oldest pizzas in America, down in Trenton, where they don't call it pizza at all, but rather tomato pie. ![]() For a minute, however, never mind the latest trends, because there has always been so much to uncover and appreciate, so much that has always been there, so much wonderful Italian-American tradition, which is a whole other universe from Italian-Italian.
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