The 40 Best Pizzerias in America

Al Santillo’s massive pizza oven — it requires a 20-foot-long peel to retrieve the pies — is housed in his living room, a tradition started by his grandfather in 1950, and pizzas are available for takeout only. And be ready to order your pizza by “vintage” as Santillo labels his pies by the year of their creation.

When Anthony Mangieri’ closed his original Una Pizza Napoletana (see No. 34) to head to San Francisco, Mathieu Palombino took over the East Village site to open first Manhattan pizzeria (his original was in Brooklyn). Having now expanded to the Upper East Side and opening several offshoots in Asia, Palombino has developed a reputation for making one of New York’s great Neapolitan pies: the Brussels sprouts pizza, with fior di latte, garlic, pecorino, smoked pancetta, and olive oil.

Seattle pizza maven Brandon Pettit slings seven variations each on 18-inch round and Sicilian (square) pizzas using his custom brick ovens. Extra toppings are available, but as a note on his website points out, “more than three toppings will be expensive and won’t be any better.” His Sicilians are the right move — airy and crunchy, with sides crisped with blackened cheese.

Established in 1975, this West Village institution — still owned and operated by 75-year-old founder Joe Pozzuoli — has a perpetual line outside. Joe’s serves fresh, hot, cheesy slices that are the baseline against which all other New York City slices must be judged.

De Lorenzo’s is a serious New Jersey pizza tradition, founded by Alexander “Chick” De Lorenzo in Trenton in 1947 and relocated to Robbinsville in 2007. (De Lorenzo added the Pennsylvania location, just across the border from New Jersey, in 2018.) De Lorenzo’s pies, described on the menu as “thin, crisp, with a slight char on the crust,” can be enhance with 18 different toppings.