--- --- # These Are the Best Pizza Places in the U.S. by [Food & Wine](https://time.com/author/food-wine-2/) ## Food & Wine Aug 12, 2015 4:51 PM UTC by [Food & Wine](https://time.com/author/food-wine-2/) ## Food & Wine Aug 12, 2015 4:51 PM UTC Top chefs and legendary bakers are among the new breed of pizzaiolo who are just as fanatical about the temperature of their ovens as they are about the provenance of their ingredients. Here, F&W names the best places for pizza around the country from these new guard spots—including a Bay Area pizzeria that uses locally-milled flour—to century old East Coast institutions. ### Pizzeria Vetri (Philadelphia)  Steve Legato At [this pizza spot](http://pizzeriavetri.com) by Marc Vetri, one of the country’s best Italian chefs, the Neapolitan pies come with thick, chewy crusts and toppings like prosciutto _crudo_ and roasted fennel. The rotolo, not to be missed, are pink, fatty slices of house-made mortadella and ricotta wrapped in pizza dough, topped with Sicilian pistachio pesto. ### A16 Rockridge (Oakland, CA)  Natalie Compton Chef Rocky Maselli runs the kitchen here as well as at the A16 flagship in San Francisco. What separates [the Oakland spot](http://www.a16rockridge.com/) from the original is the massive Stefano Ferrara wood-burning oven—which cook pizzas in 90 seconds—and a few different pies such as the Montanara Rockridge (lightly fried pizza dough topped with smoky tomato sauce, burrata and basil). ### Milo & Olive (Santa Monica, CA)  Emily Hart Roth Josh Loeb and Zoe Nathan’s burgeoning food empire includes this bakery cum [pizzeria](http://www.miloandolive.com/) featuring Nathan’s excellent breads and whole–grain pie dough, which are topped with seasonal—and often unconventional—combinations like braised bacon with peach, Fontina and thyme. ### A4 Pizza (Somerville, MA)  Mike Diskin At Best New Chef 2000 Michael Leviton’s [A4](http://areafour.com/), the food menus are simply and clearly delineated into two categories: Pizza and Not Pizza. The stellar wood-fired pies of the former come with addictively charred, blistered sourdough crusts made with a 12-year-old starter. ### Pig Ate My Pizza (Robbinsdale, MN)  Pig Ate My Pizza (Photo by Courtney Perry) Courtney Perry [This pizza spot](http://pigatemypizza.com/) in a suburb just outside Minneapolis pulls off its funky, unorthodox pies with brio. Crusts include thin and deep-dish brioche, and toppings range from pulled pork shoulder to potato chips. ### Del Popolo (San Francisco)  Matthew Millman Jon Darsky, a former _pizzaiolo_ at San Francisco’s excellent Flour & Water, has repurposed a 20-foot shipping container to create his impressive [mobile pizza restaurant](http://delpopolosf.com). The setup includes a handmade wood-burning oven from Naples that’s protected with massive air bags during transit. ### Don Antonio by Starita (New York City and Buckhead, GA)  Anthony Bianciella Roberto Caporuscio, of New York’s Kesté, has partnered with his mentor, Antonio Starita, a third-generation Italian _pizzaiolo_. Their [midtown pizzeria](http://donantoniopizza.com) serves 50 different pies—including fried _montanara_. ### Bar Toma (Chicago)  Jeff Kauck [Chef Tony Mantuano](http://bartomachicago.com) lets his dough rise for 48 hours, which he says makes it lighter. Unusual toppings include lemon and pistachios. ### 800 Degrees (Los Angeles)  800 Degrees From the folks behind Umami Burger: fast artisanal pizza. Each pie is [made to order](http://800degreespizza.com) and cooks in 60 seconds. ### Nicoletta (New York City)  Jan 13:: 2012- NEW YORK- FOR PULSE- Chef Michael White is seen making pizza (the pizza made is not officially on the menu- as per PR) and posing for photos inside Osteria Morini located at 218 lafayette street (near spring street). (Photograph by Astrid Stawiarz for The New York Post) Astrid Stawiarz New York pizzerias love to tout their Italian bonafides, but chef Michael White’s new restaurant references a far less famous pizza destination: Wisconsin. White worked at Domenico’s in Beloit as a teenager and says the pies at [Nicoletta](http://nicolettanyc.com) resemble the crisp-crusted versions he ate there. “There’s no need to fold over the slice, like you do with floppy New York–style pizza,” says White. Even the mozzarella is from Wisconsin. “We’re all trying to capture those childhood tastes, right? I’m chasing the pizza of my youth.” [_Read the full list here._](http://www.foodandwine.com/slideshows/best-pizza-places-in-the-us/11?xid=PS%5Ftime)_This_ [_article_](http://www.foodandwine.com/slideshows/best-pizza-places-in-the-us/?xid=PS%5Ftime) _originally appeared on_ [_Food & Wine_](http://www.foodandwine.com/slideshows/best-pizza-places-in-the-us/11?xid=PS%5Ftime)_._ _More from Food & Wine:_ * [Best Pizza in Unexpected Places](http://www.foodandwine.com/slideshows/best-pizza-unexpected-places?xid=PS%5Ftime) * [America’s Coolest Pizza Ovens](http://www.foodandwine.com/slideshows/americas-coolest-pizza-ovens?xid=PS%5Ftime) * [Easy Pizzas](http://www.foodandwine.com/slideshows/easy-pizzas?xid=PS%5Ftime) Food: The Best Places to Eat Pizza in America ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3994219/best-pizza-places-america/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3994219/best-pizza-places-america/"},"headline":"These Are the Best Pizza Places in the U.S.","datePublished":"2015-08-12T16:51:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:42:26.287Z","description":"From New York to Chicago","url":"https://time.com/3994219/best-pizza-places-america/","keywords":["Living","Food & Drink","Pizza"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Food & Wine","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/food-wine-2/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3994219/best-pizza-places-america/","name":"These Are the Best Pizza Places in the U.S."}}]}] ```