I don’t know. In reference to Illinois the best pizza place, of course, is Papa Del’s in Champaign. If they missed something so obvious, how can I take the rest of it seriously? Give me your pick for the best pizza place in your state.
Best Pizza Joint in Each State
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Detroit: Shield’s Pizza Restaurant Detroit, MI Voted the best pizza in Detroit. I now live in Venice, Florida where there are maybe 20 places for pizza but nothing as good as Shield square deep dish pizza.
In Northern Michigan, It’s M-22 groceries. A very small mom and pop with an out of this world pizza.
Little Traverse Lake is across the street. Leelanau County. The man has this gift for incredible pizza.
Dangnabit good.
Best pizza in NYC: ALL, except national chains.
Central Florida: One operator reportedly imports NYC water to make his crust. I’ve tried it…nothing beats NYC pizza. Still on the hunt for passable pizza here in the Ocala area.
In Chicago, I did the unthinkable and had deep dish Hawaiian pizza.
Arguing about pizza is sort of like arguing about burgers or BBQ or sopranos (the singing kind.) Very often it amounts to apples vs oranges given different approaches. I haven’t had much bad pizza at any place where they make their own from scratch (which excludes most big national chains, many of whom get their crusts from a central warehouse as blobs of prefabricated dough.) That said, I have had great pizza and terrible BBQ right here in Texas, as well as great BBQ and terrible pizza in Chicago and New Jersey. You just never know.
Personally I prefer a thin, crisp crust and a moderate amount of homemade tomato sauce. Best pizza I’ve ever had was made from scratch by me, from a Neapolitan recipe I got from Guy Fieri’s Food Network program, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. 😁 (I’m humble as well as being a super nice guy and a great cook.)
My pizza experience may be limited but the best pizza I know of right now is from Bernie and Betty’s in Springfield IL. Thin crust, cut tavern style in squares… can’t be beat. Chicago style pizza is IMO grossly overrated.
Pizza Baker, MIdland, MI. Or possibly Grape Beginning Winery. It is very convenient that these two businesses are next door to each other so anyone can do a taste test
@Michael Dowd-
Of course you’ll get a lot of disagreement from many Detroiters who will tout Buddy’s, but I agree with you. I’d take Shields. Though IMO, Buddy’s has the best Antipasto salad…
Houston: Brother’s Pizza.
These transplanted New Yorker-Albanian brothers make the best pizza in the city!
New Hampshire: Rossi’s Ristorante and Giovanni’s. Both are totally Italian and both deserve to be number one! Try the onion and bacon with xtra cheese. Can’t be beat.
Chicago – Home Run Inn
South Dakota: Charlie’s in Yankton. Get the Festus, the most popular order. Meatballs, jalapeños, and sauerkraut on a thin crust. It’s amazing.
All you Detroiters deserve to know that neither Buddy’s nor Shield’s would have ever become the bellweather of Detroit-style pizza without Loui Tortois, who eventually opened his own restaurant in Hazel Park: Loui’s Pizza, still run by his family. Do not be fooled by Louie’s Pizza with an e. Check thou it out, and see for yourself.
Queens, NY — I like Dani’s Pizza in Kew Gardens, an institution in our neighborhood since 1959. That being said, I would encourage anybody to visit DeLorenzo’s Tomato Pies in NJ for the best pizza around: https://www.delorenzostomatopies.com/
Dunno about the rest of the state but in Indianapolis it’s Some Guys at 62nd St. & Allisonville Rd. I proposed to my bride there 31 and a half years ago and it’s still crowded almost every night.
I will try that WK the next time I am in Indie!
Excellent. I look forward to a McClarey-level critical review.