Best Pizza Place in Every State

Restaurateurs Greg Atkin, Rick Post, and Tom White, with then-partner Tom Hennessy, opened the original Il Vicino in Albuquerque in 1992, and the enterprise has since grown into a small chain of seven places in New Mexico, Kansas, and Colorado. The wood-fired pies range from a classic margherita and straightforward pepperoni pizza to the Gamberoni (spicy shrimp, mozzarella, and asiago) and the Molta Carne (“Much Meat”), including pepperoni, house-made sausage, and capicola as well kalamata olives, mushrooms, and mozzarella.

Trying to choose one pizzeria to represent New York – arguably the country’s pizza capital – is a difficult task, but considering quality, consistency, and longevity, John’s seems like a reasonable choice. This 92-year-old classic serves 14- and 16-inch medium-thin-crust New York-style pizzas from a coal-fired oven. Some 15 toppings are available, and specialty pies range from The Sasso (aged mozzarella and tomato sauce) to The “Fifty” (meatballs, pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, onions, peppers, and olives in addition to the sauce and cheese).

Long Island-born Anthony Guerra did a stint at Kesté in New York City and later, after a move south, opened Bella Mia Coal Fired Pizza in Cary, North Carolina, with his family. After they sold the place, Guerra started looking for a new location to make pizza the way he likes it – not in an oven fueled by wood or coal but in a customized Montague 1857 Hearth Bake gas oven. The Pizza Box menu is simplicity itself: Start with an 18″ conventional or white pizza or a 12″ by 18″ crispy square, then add a choice of only 11 possible toppings. There’s nothing else on the menu except those options and a house salad (plus drinks, including cocktails).

Neapolitan-style pizza fans Kendra and Kenny Howard opened Fireflour – the name paying tribute to two essential elements of pizza-making – in 2012. Their wood-fired oven turns out both red and white pies (the former includes the Americano, with hand-stretched mozzarella, Berkshire fennel sausage, sopressata, red onions, roasted mushrooms, and red peppers; the Uptown is a white pie with provolone, goat cheese, roasted red peppers, sliced tomatoes, zucchini, red onions, arugula, and walnuts). Gelato and a serious coffee program are added pleasures.

The pizzas Mike Griffin serves at his two Cleveland locations aren’t fooling around. The hand-tossed or thin crust pies, available in 12- and 16-inch sizes, include a Greek-flavored spanakopita entry (spinach, garlic, feta, lemon zest, extra-virgin olive oil), a Spanish chorizo version (on which the sausage is joined by goat cheese, fresh rosemary, roasted garlic, fire-roasted red peppers, and smoked mozzarella), and, for those who dare, one topped with hot ground-pork-stuffed banana peppers with mozzarella and pecorino romano. Don’t want a whole pie? Cheese or pepperoni pizza slices are on the menu, too – but be forewarned: “Each slice weighs nearly 1 lb.!”