I lived in DC for much of my adult life; I'm an Old and when I got there in the 90s there wasn't a lot of great pizza (no great slice places like NYC). My timing was good, though - soon the entire food scene started to improve, jump-started in some ways by Mark Furstenburg's excellent bread. Pretty soon we got amazing Neopolitan pizza at 2 Amys, but our go-to place in our neighborhood for most of our time there was...Comet, of Pizzagate fame. Not the best in the city, but pretty darn good (especially the Steel Wills with the addition of anchovies). I'm in NYC now with access to a lot of fantastic pizza, high and low, but I do miss the DC places, especially Comet, Pete's (New Haven-style), and Etto. Thanks for the memories!
Another great pizza topic! Growing up in small town Iowa, we had no pizza joints. Pizza Hut was about 22 miles away, so I didn't grow up with it. When I went to college in the Twin Cities, my favorite became Green Mill Pizza, where I first fell in love with deep dish. The original location was not far from campus, though now they have many, and I don't know if they were able to keep the quality or not, since I haven't been for many years. https://www.greenmill.com/menu/
Another long time fave is in Phoenix area, Spinatos. The signature spinach pizza with their homemade sausage and sauce....nothing like it anywhere else. We could walk to one of their restaurants from our home in N Central Phx. SO good. Thin, thin crust....Chicago tavern style square cut. https://www.spinatospizzeria.com/
A completely different style, just 4 blocks from my home in Jax, and a regular neighborhood spot. Crispy's, great flavor in the crust and pretty consistent, but honestly depends who is making it, whether it's at its best or not. But I still support them as much as possible. These days I mostly make my own, but always like a good pizza out too. http://www.crispysspringfieldgallery.com/
There are more but those are the highlights! Have a great week everyone!
In Portland, Oregon my go to pizza is from Scotties. I try to snag a Defino Pie which is a sourdough Sicilian square pie that is perfection- the way the crispy edges of the crust, the sauce and fresh basil comes together is perfection! Bonus points that they have a pay it forward system to help folks who can't afford a meal to get one and they pay their staff a living wage. Overall just seems like really rad people dedicated to making great pizza! https://www.scottiespizzaparlor.com/
Another great one is Lovely's 5050 (https://www.instagram.com/sarahminnick_/) incredible pizza and homemade ice cream and a very unique pizza from Dove Vivi (http://www.dovevivipizza.com/) which has great cornmeal pizzas, the corn one being my fave. Their crust reminds me of if a pie crust and cornbread had a baby- crunchy, flaky and really great!
We had a place in my suburban Chicago hometown called Bacci (the mini-chain is still around, but my hometown one is now a scuzzy OTB). You'd get a slice that would hang slightly over the edge of a cafeteria tray and a pop for like $3.50. All the guys on the baseball team used to see who could eat the most slices before a physical reckoning. The backup catcher always won. High school athletic programs didn't, uh, do much on the training and nutrition end back then. I haven't been to another location SPECIFICALLY because I treasure those memories.
I won't declare that this is my favorite pizza, but I enjoyed one this weekend that was quite unique at Vicino's Restaurante Italiano in SIlver Spring, MD. It was a very thin crust...so thin that I'm not sure there even was a crust...topped with a generous layer of Fontina cheese baked until almost crispy. So good!
Last week, I had my students make your Sesame-Tahini Banana Bread. We made mini loaves so they took one home and we sliced up another for an afterschool faculty meeting. It was a big hit among staff and students. Thanks for the recipe!
My college pizza was the Aqua Vitae in Hadley MA. It was our escape from Campus routine and offered basic gooey slices that were better than the standard in the early 1970s
Chicago check in– I do have fond memories of Bacci like @ John Carruthers! However, my favorite pizzeria is Italian Fiesta (the perfect thin crust, and sauce to cheese ratio). There are close runner up's, but in a decision making moment that's the comfort choice.
I went to college in FiDi, and had every intention of really exploring the rich pizza scene in NYC, especially with Little Italy just a short walk from me. While I did hit Scarr's, Joe's, and Lombardi's, most of the pizza I got in those 3.5 years were from Rosella's. It was directly across from where I dormed most of my time and we could use Flexible Cafe money there, so it won on an accessibility front. And while it wasn't the /best/ pizza I had in the city, it was darn good as well as affordable. The guys behind the counter were cool and it was a place we would go to gather after a particularly stressful class and hang as much as pick up provisions for hunkering down in our dorm rooms for a night in. They always had a number of options, but my go to order was a slice of regular cheese and a square buffalo chicken, maybe picking up a snapple or a house made pineapple soda. I would also sometime get some garlic knots in addition, as this was the first place I had encountered them and they always looked and smelled so beautiful (they were the sleeper stars of the place tbh). We had a handful of joints in the area that each had their loyal student fans, but I would venture to say that Rosella's was the overwhelming favorite. If not on quality of pizza, on quality of experience.
I went to the Manhattan School of Music, just a few blocks from Columbia, and our spot was also Koronet!
Most recently lived in Brooklyn for over 5 years and favorites spots - hands down - were Paulie Gees Slice Shop and Emmy Squared.
Just moved to Portland, and are still getting our bearings, but my husband and I are eager to make our own assessments of the recent claims that Portland is the best pizza town in the country… ordered from Apizza Scholls and I won’t say I can’t be swayed…
In my Manhattan College days, Broadway Joe's was the hands-down favorite. Big, NY-style slices and we'd get a cup of sauce on the side to dip into. And conveniently located, just down the hill from campus near the 242nd St subway station. https://broadway-joes-pizza.business.site/
Since moving to CA (SF Bay Area) I haven't found a good replacement for the NY pizza joint. We enjoy making pizza at home and have found places we like for other pizza styles, but I'm a NY pizza girl at heart and miss the quintessential NY slice.
Three pizzas, my mother’s Friday English muffin pizza, Rays in the Village where the cheese stuck to roof of my mouth (ouch) and Harry’s Famous Pizza in Whitinsville where we would order pizza stoned and peel the cheese off the cardboard and eat it. It has a certain paper taste.
When I lived in Boston La Mammas was just around the corner from where I lived and I was in love with their straight up cheese. Their social media presence is lacking, and the fact they still exist without one probably says something about their deliciousness. website only... https://www.lamammapizzamore.com I was always very afraid to order because the owners scared me but it was so delicious I kept going back.
When I was in Flensburg Germany this place was a regular occurrence, and I am saddened to say the relationship I was in that brought me to that area ended so I fear I may never have it again. https://www.instagram.com/pizzatecadatonis/
Now I live in Ireland and come to think of it Ive never had pizza here. Actually Ive never made pizza here either. Ive not had pizza in over two years. shit.
A long time ago (maybe 1958), in a far off universe I worked at a summer camp a few miles outside the city (NYC). Not far from the camp outside Danbury Conn., there was a bar with a wood fired pizza oven. Occasionally the counselors would go there and order pizza which we would then take out to a local cemetery and sit on the grass and eat pizza. I have no memory of what was on the pizza but the crust and the ambience have left very fond memories.
And although you didn’t ask, the worst pizza I ever had was at a somewhat elegant restaurant in Auckland, NZ. It was supposedly a NZ treat, the topping included sliced yams (I don’t remember the local name for the yams). it was possibly the worst pizza topping I have ever had. As much as anything else, it was the texture of the sliced yams which was most unpleasant on a pizza.
Here in Oakland I love Emilia's (actually in Berkeley). Keith, the owner, makes a wonderfully crisp-chewy, flavorful crust and keeps the toppings classic, high-quality, and spare. I really dislike the overloaded pizza of my youth (Round Table), though of course I loved it at the time. Another Berkeley favorite is Pollara Pizza, also in Berkeley. The call it Roman style I think and it looks like focaccia. The crust is something else - ethereally light with but with a thin, crisp crust on the bottom. A new find is from square pie guys, advertised as Detroit style. VERY rich which is a departure from the other too. But so so good also.
One of my great pizza memories comes from the day I flew down to LA (Burbank) because I had a Southwest ticket that was about to expire and going to Mozza in Hollywood for lunch seemed like the best thing I could do. Flew down in the morning on a rare day off, took public transportation and my walking shoes to the restaurant, and had a fabulous pizza at the counter, followed by Nancy Silverton's justly famous budding for dessert. Then did the reverse and had leftover pizza at home for dinner. Totally unlike me to do something like that. A total blast.
In LA, Desano for a more Italian-style pizza and Prime for a more New York-style pizza. These are objectively good.
In Seattle, I LOVE Pagliacci, which everyone gets mad at me for, but nothing tastes as delicious as nostalgia, man. (I always get the pesto pasta salad, too.)
I lived in DC for much of my adult life; I'm an Old and when I got there in the 90s there wasn't a lot of great pizza (no great slice places like NYC). My timing was good, though - soon the entire food scene started to improve, jump-started in some ways by Mark Furstenburg's excellent bread. Pretty soon we got amazing Neopolitan pizza at 2 Amys, but our go-to place in our neighborhood for most of our time there was...Comet, of Pizzagate fame. Not the best in the city, but pretty darn good (especially the Steel Wills with the addition of anchovies). I'm in NYC now with access to a lot of fantastic pizza, high and low, but I do miss the DC places, especially Comet, Pete's (New Haven-style), and Etto. Thanks for the memories!
Another great pizza topic! Growing up in small town Iowa, we had no pizza joints. Pizza Hut was about 22 miles away, so I didn't grow up with it. When I went to college in the Twin Cities, my favorite became Green Mill Pizza, where I first fell in love with deep dish. The original location was not far from campus, though now they have many, and I don't know if they were able to keep the quality or not, since I haven't been for many years. https://www.greenmill.com/menu/
Another long time fave is in Phoenix area, Spinatos. The signature spinach pizza with their homemade sausage and sauce....nothing like it anywhere else. We could walk to one of their restaurants from our home in N Central Phx. SO good. Thin, thin crust....Chicago tavern style square cut. https://www.spinatospizzeria.com/
A completely different style, just 4 blocks from my home in Jax, and a regular neighborhood spot. Crispy's, great flavor in the crust and pretty consistent, but honestly depends who is making it, whether it's at its best or not. But I still support them as much as possible. These days I mostly make my own, but always like a good pizza out too. http://www.crispysspringfieldgallery.com/
There are more but those are the highlights! Have a great week everyone!
In Portland, Oregon my go to pizza is from Scotties. I try to snag a Defino Pie which is a sourdough Sicilian square pie that is perfection- the way the crispy edges of the crust, the sauce and fresh basil comes together is perfection! Bonus points that they have a pay it forward system to help folks who can't afford a meal to get one and they pay their staff a living wage. Overall just seems like really rad people dedicated to making great pizza! https://www.scottiespizzaparlor.com/
Another great one is Lovely's 5050 (https://www.instagram.com/sarahminnick_/) incredible pizza and homemade ice cream and a very unique pizza from Dove Vivi (http://www.dovevivipizza.com/) which has great cornmeal pizzas, the corn one being my fave. Their crust reminds me of if a pie crust and cornbread had a baby- crunchy, flaky and really great!
We had a place in my suburban Chicago hometown called Bacci (the mini-chain is still around, but my hometown one is now a scuzzy OTB). You'd get a slice that would hang slightly over the edge of a cafeteria tray and a pop for like $3.50. All the guys on the baseball team used to see who could eat the most slices before a physical reckoning. The backup catcher always won. High school athletic programs didn't, uh, do much on the training and nutrition end back then. I haven't been to another location SPECIFICALLY because I treasure those memories.
I won't declare that this is my favorite pizza, but I enjoyed one this weekend that was quite unique at Vicino's Restaurante Italiano in SIlver Spring, MD. It was a very thin crust...so thin that I'm not sure there even was a crust...topped with a generous layer of Fontina cheese baked until almost crispy. So good!
I'm going totally off-topic.
Last week, I had my students make your Sesame-Tahini Banana Bread. We made mini loaves so they took one home and we sliced up another for an afterschool faculty meeting. It was a big hit among staff and students. Thanks for the recipe!
My college pizza was the Aqua Vitae in Hadley MA. It was our escape from Campus routine and offered basic gooey slices that were better than the standard in the early 1970s
Chicago check in– I do have fond memories of Bacci like @ John Carruthers! However, my favorite pizzeria is Italian Fiesta (the perfect thin crust, and sauce to cheese ratio). There are close runner up's, but in a decision making moment that's the comfort choice.
I went to college in FiDi, and had every intention of really exploring the rich pizza scene in NYC, especially with Little Italy just a short walk from me. While I did hit Scarr's, Joe's, and Lombardi's, most of the pizza I got in those 3.5 years were from Rosella's. It was directly across from where I dormed most of my time and we could use Flexible Cafe money there, so it won on an accessibility front. And while it wasn't the /best/ pizza I had in the city, it was darn good as well as affordable. The guys behind the counter were cool and it was a place we would go to gather after a particularly stressful class and hang as much as pick up provisions for hunkering down in our dorm rooms for a night in. They always had a number of options, but my go to order was a slice of regular cheese and a square buffalo chicken, maybe picking up a snapple or a house made pineapple soda. I would also sometime get some garlic knots in addition, as this was the first place I had encountered them and they always looked and smelled so beautiful (they were the sleeper stars of the place tbh). We had a handful of joints in the area that each had their loyal student fans, but I would venture to say that Rosella's was the overwhelming favorite. If not on quality of pizza, on quality of experience.
I went to the Manhattan School of Music, just a few blocks from Columbia, and our spot was also Koronet!
Most recently lived in Brooklyn for over 5 years and favorites spots - hands down - were Paulie Gees Slice Shop and Emmy Squared.
Just moved to Portland, and are still getting our bearings, but my husband and I are eager to make our own assessments of the recent claims that Portland is the best pizza town in the country… ordered from Apizza Scholls and I won’t say I can’t be swayed…
In my Manhattan College days, Broadway Joe's was the hands-down favorite. Big, NY-style slices and we'd get a cup of sauce on the side to dip into. And conveniently located, just down the hill from campus near the 242nd St subway station. https://broadway-joes-pizza.business.site/
Since moving to CA (SF Bay Area) I haven't found a good replacement for the NY pizza joint. We enjoy making pizza at home and have found places we like for other pizza styles, but I'm a NY pizza girl at heart and miss the quintessential NY slice.
Three pizzas, my mother’s Friday English muffin pizza, Rays in the Village where the cheese stuck to roof of my mouth (ouch) and Harry’s Famous Pizza in Whitinsville where we would order pizza stoned and peel the cheese off the cardboard and eat it. It has a certain paper taste.
This is the best topic!
When I lived in Boston La Mammas was just around the corner from where I lived and I was in love with their straight up cheese. Their social media presence is lacking, and the fact they still exist without one probably says something about their deliciousness. website only... https://www.lamammapizzamore.com I was always very afraid to order because the owners scared me but it was so delicious I kept going back.
When I was in Flensburg Germany this place was a regular occurrence, and I am saddened to say the relationship I was in that brought me to that area ended so I fear I may never have it again. https://www.instagram.com/pizzatecadatonis/
Now I live in Ireland and come to think of it Ive never had pizza here. Actually Ive never made pizza here either. Ive not had pizza in over two years. shit.
A long time ago (maybe 1958), in a far off universe I worked at a summer camp a few miles outside the city (NYC). Not far from the camp outside Danbury Conn., there was a bar with a wood fired pizza oven. Occasionally the counselors would go there and order pizza which we would then take out to a local cemetery and sit on the grass and eat pizza. I have no memory of what was on the pizza but the crust and the ambience have left very fond memories.
And although you didn’t ask, the worst pizza I ever had was at a somewhat elegant restaurant in Auckland, NZ. It was supposedly a NZ treat, the topping included sliced yams (I don’t remember the local name for the yams). it was possibly the worst pizza topping I have ever had. As much as anything else, it was the texture of the sliced yams which was most unpleasant on a pizza.
Here in Oakland I love Emilia's (actually in Berkeley). Keith, the owner, makes a wonderfully crisp-chewy, flavorful crust and keeps the toppings classic, high-quality, and spare. I really dislike the overloaded pizza of my youth (Round Table), though of course I loved it at the time. Another Berkeley favorite is Pollara Pizza, also in Berkeley. The call it Roman style I think and it looks like focaccia. The crust is something else - ethereally light with but with a thin, crisp crust on the bottom. A new find is from square pie guys, advertised as Detroit style. VERY rich which is a departure from the other too. But so so good also.
One of my great pizza memories comes from the day I flew down to LA (Burbank) because I had a Southwest ticket that was about to expire and going to Mozza in Hollywood for lunch seemed like the best thing I could do. Flew down in the morning on a rare day off, took public transportation and my walking shoes to the restaurant, and had a fabulous pizza at the counter, followed by Nancy Silverton's justly famous budding for dessert. Then did the reverse and had leftover pizza at home for dinner. Totally unlike me to do something like that. A total blast.
In LA, Desano for a more Italian-style pizza and Prime for a more New York-style pizza. These are objectively good.
In Seattle, I LOVE Pagliacci, which everyone gets mad at me for, but nothing tastes as delicious as nostalgia, man. (I always get the pesto pasta salad, too.)
http://www.desanopizza.com/
https://primepizza.la/
https://www.pagliacci.com/