Goal Met: Pizza Tour (10+ Famous Pizza Places)

January 3, 2025January 3, 2025Anthony Panariello 1 Comment

OK. So I like pizza. I mean.. you say you like pizza sure.. but not like I do. I don’t think I’ve gone pizza-less for more than a week my entire life. When I was just starting my career and saving money I used to get 2 for 1 pizzas on Tuesdays from the local pizza place and just eat slices of pizza for dinner until I had a few paychecks in the bank and could… get fresher pizza. I mean, one of my goals is to make 50 different pizzas.. during COVID I bought a 50 pound bag of flour and we ate a LOT of pizza.

One of the things I never really did was go visit popular or famous pizza places (sometimes arguing I can make them just as well at home). While I was trying to come up with 50 goals I was really struggling with the last few and thought to myself “You know what, you need to fit more pizza into this” so that’s where this goal came from.

I took in a lot of top 10 pizza lists, reddit rankings, barstool pizza reviews (one bite, everyone knows the rules) and other sources of pizza knowledge to create a list of places I should go. You’ll notice that most of the are in the Northeast which we all know is the mecca of good pizza. Sorry all you other states trying to claim your doughy bread casseroles are pizza.. the tri-state area is where it’s at.

Modern Apizza – New Haven, CT
Considered one of the top thee New Haven pizza places – this was recommended on nearly every list I researched. Located away from downtown New Haven in a relatively quiet neighborhood it’s unassuming other than the giant metal slice of pizza sculpture. We got there somewhat early so we didn’t wait for a seat (there was a pretty long line when we left). The place was relatively small but the service was fast and the pizza arrived perfectly charred with a strong tomato aroma. The first slice had an epic cheese pull – they don’t skimp on the cheese here! It had a strong tomato taste and chewy tangy cheese that melted altogether into what I consider a perfect slice. The crust was thin and crispy but strong enough to hold up all that cheese and had it’s own character.

Score: 9.2

Frank Pepe’s Pizza – New Haven, CT
The second of the big three, this is one I’ve been to before. It’s one of the most popular pizza places (as well as the oldest) and as such there’s usually a long line. On super busy days they open an overflow seating area but I’ve never been there when that has happened so I got to sit in the main restaurant. It’s a treat because the pizza oven is visible from the front room and you can see the staff working like a well oiled machine feeding the pizzas into the coal fired ovens with excessively large pizza peels. This time around I got my usual cheese pizza but also ordered a meatball pie with ricotta. The pies arrived in a timely manner and the cheese pizza was nice and charred. The sauce wasn’t too heavily spiced and they had a really light hand on the cheese. Even with the light hand there was some oil pooling which detracted from the experience. The crust was thin and crispy with little to no dip when you picked up the slices. The meatball pie with ricotta though was a revelation – instead of dabs of ricotta like most pizza places they dabbed on ravioli filling and each bite of the filling was amazing. I can see why this place is so popular – even after so many years they are still slinging some high quality pies.

Score 8.9

Papa’s Tomato Pies – Robbinsville NJ

Located in Robbinsville NJ (originally from Chambersburg in Trenton until they moved about 15 years ago) this iconic tomato pie place continues the trend of famous pizza places located right next to other (see Sally’s and Pepe’s) as DeLorenzo’s is right down the road. Tomato pies are a bit of a misnomer as they aren’t like Philly tomato pies (an abomination they dare to call a pizza) they just put down the cheese first then sauce it with hand crushed tomatoes and a dusting of spices/cheese. The crust is well done but not charred like New Haven style and the tomatoes are sweet which is a great counterpart to the savory cheese that they use. They offer a mustard pie which is intriguing but I opted for the straight plain pie which is the bar I rate each place at. There’s quite the debate amongst the locals which one is best – I side with Papa’s as they hit the right amount of well done with the pie while DeLo’s can come out really dry and overcooked.

Score: 8.7

DeLorenzo’s Tomato Pies – Robbinsville NJ

Located right down the street from Papa’s this place was also originally in Trenton before they moved to Robbinsville. There’s two locations in the area – this one which is based off the original and another one by the train station in Hamilton. I prefer this place as it feels more authentic. The pizza is cracker thin and really well done. The tomatoes are sweet and they use a good amount of cheese. They also cut the pizza in random shapes which I’m sure is a cute way to be different but it ends up with huge slices and tiny side slices. Just cut it into 8 slices – lets be civilized. They have a no Parmesan cheese rule which I support and here’s an important caveat: These pizzas do not travel well. You can get them to go but its a completely different experience. You need to eat them in the restaurant right out of the oven for the optimal experience. I’ve eaten here a few times and it’s hit or miss with how well done it is. Sometimes it is legitimately overcooked and dry and sharp crust splinters attack your gums like an angry wolverine. However when they hit the mark it really is an amazing pizza experience

Score: 8.7

John’s of Bleecker Street – NYC

Consistently at the top of NY Pizza rankings; John’s is a tiny pizza place on Bleecker street offering up some traditional NY style pizzas. Waited in line for about 40 minutes on a Saturday night (I was already in the city with friends and we wanted some good pizza) and got stuffed into a tiny booth with barely any room to breathe let alone eat. Ordered the plain cheese and the white pie – both highly recommended. The pizzas came out pretty quick – most likely due to the fact they had so few booths in the place they really needed to move pies to get that turnover they want. The cheese pull was fantastic and the dough was crispy and flavorful. The sauce was very simple – just some crushed tomatoes but it tasted a bit flat – I suspect it needed some salt or something else to dress it up. I enjoyed the very old school decor and ambiance – it felt very old NY.

Score: 8.5

Grimaldi’s – NYC

Classic Neo-neapolitan pies – not crispy like NY, or soft like Naples somewhere in the middle. This time around we hit up the one that was located in what used to be the Limelight nightclub. It was a bit of a mental struggle to reconcile my memories of the club with taking my kids there for pizza. Of course I didn’t fill in the kids about all the fun I had there.. but I did explain to them people used to come here to listen to music and dance. They seemed to get a kick out of that. The pizza came out pretty fast but like John’s the cheese/sauce lock was off and there was a bit too much bare crust at the edges. However the sauce as really savory and packed full of flavor and the cheese was a great balance. It really was a great tasting pie and I’d say comparable to the one located in Brooklyn. Overall the balance was just right and the crust was light and a bit crispy – the sweet spot for this type of pizza.

Score: 9.1

Pizzeria Errico Porzio Lungomare – Naples, Italy

One of my goals this year was to visit my father’s home town in Italy and see the family I had there. I explained to them that I was looking for the best Neapolitan pizza they had and he really talked up this pizzaolo Errico Porzio – showing me his Instagram and saying he’s a pretty big deal in Naples. One afternoon we’re walking along the Lungomare and my step mom is starving so I try to be helpful and say ‘Che Ore Mangiamo?’ to my cousin and we just happened to be right by this pizzeria so we stopped in to see what all the fuss is about. I of course just got the classic margherita pizza (with the obligatory spritz) – if you’re going to the source you need to get the classics! Maybe it was the hype, the fact I was in Naples facing the bay with Vesuvius in the background.. but this had to be one of the best pizzas I’ve ever eaten. The dough was soft but with a hint of crunchiness, the sauce was unadorned and has that san marzano sweetness.. the kiss of the wood fire. Just.. 🤌 Bonus: As I was getting ready to leave my cousin notices Errico walking through and calls him over to take a photo with me which was a pretty cool experience. I tried to express how good the pizza was in Italian then he asked me some rapid fire questions in Italian and I had no idea what he said haha

Score: 9.8

BAR – New Haven CT

I wasn’t sure about this place – the people on the internet were raving about it but it just seemed like a brewery which happened to serve pizza which I wasn’t optimistic about. I was in New Haven with a buddy for a quick pizza run so we decided to try a new place and see what the hype was. We got there and had to go to the bar to order – and we decided to order two medium pies (we were hungry) one plain and one white pie. We also got a few beers to tide us over – mine was a cherry wheat beer that really was quite good. When the pies arrived I though we made a mistake the medium pies came out in a full sheet pan. They where massive. I don’t even want to know what the large pie was served on. Daunted by the acres of pizza in front of us we dug in. The sauce was flat and lacked any real flavor – it was almost watery and the cheese was overcooked and dry. The crust was extremely thin and cracker like but lacked any defining flavors. The white pie fared better but the garlic in it was a bit overpowering I think to compensate for the lack of flavors elsewhere. Overall a middling experience – It’s still pizza in the end but after eating at the other New Haven spots this really didn’t live up to the hype.

Score: 6.2

Zuppardi’s – New Haven CT

Another highly recommended place, it as a bit off the beaten path in West Haven CT in a residential neighborhood. It really seemed out of place it’s all just residential houses then BAM pizza place.. then more houses. I suspect it was here before the neighborhood rose around it. Either way it was a bit different from the other New Haven spots in that it used a gas oven and put out pretty standard round pies. We ordered the usual plain cheese then a meatball and onion. The cheese pizza was pretty good – nice char on the crust, tangy sauce and a lot of cheese but it didn’t stand out compared to other New Haven spots and really felt like a NJ/NY pie. The meatball pie was interesting that the onions were sliced so thin they melted into the sauce and provided a kick of flavor without the usual onion texture. I was so impressed I ordered a fancy mandolin the next day so I could start experimenting with super thin slices of toppings. Overall a really good pizza but nothing about it made it stand out compared to all the other spots I visited.

Score: 8.2

Sally’s – New Haven CT

I’m going to tiptoe the line of heresy here and say I really don’t care for the apizza at Sally’s. The sauce has way too much going on, the cheese is a bit heavy and it takes forever to get your pizza (easily the longest wait I’ve had this year). I understand for some people it’s their favorite of the big three but the couple of times I’ve eaten here I’ve been underwhelmed. Now, I’m not saying it’s not good – it’s just not the pizza I like. I like my sauce to be plain – I sauce my pizzas with just tomatoes and a bit of salt. When you start doctoring your sauce to amp up the flavor you start to lose me. The person I was with loved the pizza and rated it higher than some of the other places so I can see that it’s completely subjective. The pizza had a good char and generous toppings so I can’t find fault there but all this being said this is me rating pizzas that I am eating so the score will reflect that it’s not something I particularly enjoy.

Score: 8.0

Federicis – Freehold NJ

I’m not sure this rises to the level of ‘Fame’ but if does show up quite frequently in “Best Pizza in NJ” lists. The crust is thin – I mean really thin – it was such a crispy and thin crust that I ate 4 slices and barely felt full. The plain cheese is good with a nice mozzarella stretch and the sauce is lightly flavored but tomato forward. The only issue I had is that I was expecting the thin crust pizzas to be approaching well done but this pizza was very light – I felt like it was taken out of the oven a bit too early as the crust was a pale blonde color with just a little bit of char on the ears. I still enjoyed the pizza but the under cooked cracker thin crust gave it a bit of a bowling alley pizza vibe that it had to work hard to overcome.

Score: 7.8

Pizza: Pesto sauce with fig jam and goat cheese

November 11, 2024November 6, 2024Anthony Panariello Leave a comment

This one is a crowd favorite.

Maybe 15 years ago someone gifted me a food basket and it had some fig jam in it. I tried some on crackers and it was pretty good but it was a big jar and I was wondering what I could possibly do to use up all this fig jam.

I was having some friends over for some pizza in a few weeks and I started to brainstorm how I could integrate the jam into a pizza. I knew the jam was really sweet so I needed a savory counterpart so that was the goat cheese and I didn’t think a tomato sauce would mesh well with the jam so I made a savory pesto sauce to use as the base.

here’s the fun part – I didn’t test it out. I ran out of time and just made the pizzas and watched people for their reactions. Fortunately for me almost everyone had the same reaction ‘This in interesting let me try it and see.. ohhhh my GOD give me more!’

This is a pizza that stays in the rotation and when people come over for pizza nights they almost always request it so I keep a jar of fig jam in the fridge next to the peso on the off chance I want to make one of these pizzas on short notice!

Pizza: Grandpa Mike’s ‘Affogatz’

November 10, 2024November 6, 2024Anthony Panariello Leave a comment

This is an odd one. My grandfather Mike was a NY Italian and I’m pretty sure this is his NY accent butchering ‘a foccacia’ – but that’s what he called it and it was a central part of every holiday held in their house. He would grow his own tomatoes and then make a bunch of these pizzas then freeze them for the holidays. They held up in the freezer surprisingly well and it was one of the things I most looked forward to when visiting them for the holidays. I would also steal big slices of it and smuggle it out wrapped tinfoil so I could eat it like a cave troll later in the privacy of my room and not have to share it

Now – we all loved this pizza and when I was in my early teens he showed me how to make it (since I was the only one that showed any interest in cooking he felt I was worthy). I remember him patiently walking me through the steps and me paying close attention but NOT TAKING NOTES. So when he passed a few years later my grandmother asked me if I could make some ‘affogatz’ for her and I panicked because I barely remembered what he taught me at all.

That began the trip down the rabbit hole of trying to recreate a taste from memory. I knew he often bought pizza dough from the store so I started there but it didn’t really match the texture of the pizza so I turned to making a quick 2 hour rise dough that fit the flavor profile (it wasn’t a long proofed dough – it has a more bready consistency). I knew plum tomatoes were the answer because other tomatoes were too wet. I remember him walking me through crushing the tomatoes after they are cut and that helps ensure it cooked a bit more evenly but the texture was off.

The spice profile was pretty easy to nail – salt, lots of pepper, and a proprietary blend of seasonings were easy to isolate as I knew he had a very limited spice cabinet so it wasn’t hard to deduce what he used.

So I had the pizza, I had the flavors but the texture just wasn’t what I remembered. It took me a few years but I was making some other dish when it clicked in my mind that he cooked the tomatoes and drained them before he put them on the pizza.

The last piece of the puzzle was solved and now I can reliably recreate this unique dish for my family and hopefully inspire one of my future grand-kids to take up the torch and keep the tradition alive (the recipe is in the family cookbook now so it’s safe and preserved for the future)

Tony’s White Pie

November 9, 2024November 6, 2024Anthony Panariello Leave a comment

I came into the white pie lifestyle later in life. I was a read sauce kinda guy then one day there was a meetup with friends and someone insisted I try the white pie. It was revelatory but I thought to myself I could improve this.

How did I improve it? Garlic. a LOT of garlic. I made a quick bechamel but infused it with a ton of crushed garlic then added in a slight bit of red pepper flakes for something to cut through the richness of the sauce, the mozzarella, the ricotta, and the Parmesan cheese.

It seems like it would be too much but somehow it works and the flavors all meld together to make something special. I’s my wife’s favorite pizza and whenever I have company over for some pizzas it’s usually one of the ones I break out to impress the crowd.

Goal Met: Visit my family’s hometown [Day 1]

November 6, 2024Anthony Panariello Leave a comment

My father is an immigrant from a town near Naples called ‘Torre Del Greco’ or Tower of the Greek in English. I’ve seen old black and white photos of the place and have heard a few stories but I’ve always wanted to go to there. Especially since I have family there I’ve met only once, or extended family I’ve never met at all. It’s not really a tourist hot spot so the couple of times I’ve been to Italy it didn’t make sense to find my way there but I knew this bucket list item needed to be done this year. It’s one of the ones I truly wanted to check off my list.

So I reached out to my dad and convinced him to go back (it has been close to 15 years for him), be the de facto tour guide and help me to meet all my extended family that still live in this beautiful region. We booked the flight (step-mom decided to tag along which was great) arranged all the visits and were lucky enough that my dad’s cousin insisted we stay with her at her town home in downtown Torre Del Greco (right by the port).

We landed in Naples International after our red eye flight. It was a relatively small airport all things considered and we met my dad’s cousin’s son Fabio who then drove us to her townhouse where we decompressed from the long flight with some espresso and Italian cookies (which will be a theme the whole week) which was needed because we immediately left the place to go visit some more family.

But first – we had to stop for a pastry and a coffee! We went to one of Samina’s favorite pastry shops where I got a cornetto filled with nutella and some more coffee (even ordered in Italian which I was inordinately proud of). I also determined during my stay here that I really need to lean into Italian pastry making – something I’ve struggled with in the past but after a week of eating there I’m determined to master

We then stopped by the house of more relatives – Mary Ann and her son Rafaele (who will come into this story later) and we had more coffee and cookies as my dad caught up with everyone. I struggled to understand a lot of it because although I was learning Italian, they were speaking a thick dialect commonly used in Naples. Still, I managed to get the gist of the conversation and it was a lovely time. I explained that I wanted to see where my dad grew up and explore the town and Rafaele quickly volunteered to drive us around and show me all the places from their childhood.

We started with the apartment my dad grew up in – it was along a winding road and up the mountain a bit then down a very small lane.

Oh, I should note that Mt. Vesuvius is everywhere you look in this town it’s a prominent part of the history of the town and I spent a lot of time on it but that’s for a different part of this story.

We then visited the church they went to which seemed abandoned which is a shame because there’s an organ in there that my grandfather helped pay for and there’s a plaque thanking him and I really wanted to see it – however I didn’t want to break into a church so I settled for just looking in.

We then visited a bigger church where the priest that serviced my dad’s church was based and where they had some of the bigger celebrations. It has a statue of padre pio – the patron saint of the area and kind of a big deal (I remember my great aunt had a picture of him on her nightstand) this church was also a bit run down but seemed active and the grounds were well maintained.

Having run around the town all day we decided to all go out to dinner so they brought me to a pizza place that I swear was called ‘New York Pizza’ – I thought they were messing with me but they insisted the pizza was good. I was very excited to have my first real neapolitan pizza in southern Italy and they made an amazing margherita pizza and I was exposed to the wonders of the pizza fritte (which I’m still going to try to make this year as one of my 50 pizzas)

Now very tired from a long flight and a long day we walked out of the pizza place and I was stopped short by a large gold sign that took me a few seconds to process – did I somehow own a pizza place in Italy? Was I destined to be a pizzaolo?

General Notes and observations from day 1:

In Torre Del Greco is there’s lots of ‘death sign’s everywhere – when someone dies, they make a big poster of them with a photo and some details and then stick on a random wall in town. Some are just paper, others are legit plaques. It’s a bit – strange, but who am I to judge local customs?

Barely slept during the flight in – because I was seated next to a literal giant who took up all the available space and made it extremely difficult to get any sleep. I did manage a quick nap in the middle of the day due to some downtime waiting for the crew at Ann Marie’s to assemble. That nap helped quite a bit as we ended up getting dinner at 9:00 pm at night.

The roads are a mix of cobbles and concrete blocks with the rare paved road. The cars are all small compact versions (Fiat 500 is the most popular) and there’s nary a stoplight to be found – the cars all just kind of go and figure it out on the fly. Although, I did witness a few accidents – small bumper scrapes (probably from the very very narrow roads that we had to traverse). Mt. Vesuvius is ever present but the rainy weather obscured the top of the mountain. The islands of Capri and Ischerra are clearly visible from the port area and the sea looks beautiful (if a bit choppy)

The Scooters.. oh man. They are a menace – weaving in and out of traffic with absolute disregard for the very idea of traffic laws. Kids hanging off the sides of scooters. Three people riding on a vespa. weaving in and out of traffic in very tight margins. I’m guessing it’s just the way it is in this part of the world but it sure is nerve wracking to watch!

Fried Zucchini Pizza

October 19, 2024November 13, 2024Anthony Panariello Leave a comment

Not every brainchild is going to succeed. I had plenty of fresh zucchini and was looking for ways to integrate it into a pizza. In the past I’ve shaved some onto a pizza as a finisher.. but I wondered how I could find a new use for them. I thought maybe if I fried them like chips I could maybe add a crunchy element to a pizza. However, I couldn’t get the zucchini to be crunchy they were either burned in the oil or soggy.. and when I put them on the pizza they ended up burning. After all that the flavor of the zucchini was almost non existent. Time go back to the zucchini drawing board.

Pesto, cherry tomato and ricotta pizza

October 12, 2024November 13, 2024Anthony Panariello Leave a comment

It was the end of summer and there were garden fresh tomatoes everywhere – a perfect opportunity to try to integrate some into a pizza. Since the tomatoes were so sweet I knew I wanted a savory base so I opted for pesto (basil and tomatoes go together forever) to round out the flavors I tried adding dollops of fresh ricotta after the pizza was fired. I wasn’t sure about this one but it turned out amazing – the salty pesto helped cut through the creamy ricotta and the sweet tomato pops brought it all together. The wife asked that I add this one to the regular rotation which I count as a win!

Meatball Pizza

October 6, 2024November 13, 2024Anthony Panariello Leave a comment

Pretty standard local pizzeria joint meatball pie. Due to a shortage of time, I used frozen premade meatballs for this and some canned sauce. Yes, I know.. but sometimes you want pizza and simply don’t have time to make everything by hand. Now, that being said.. the sauce really tasted like canned sauce so it wasn’t a great experience and the meatballs dried out a bit since they were full of stabilizers and whatnot. Still – I ate a bunch of slices because.. well meatballs.

Pizza with vodka sauce

August 2, 2024July 19, 2024Anthony Panariello Leave a comment

This one is pretty standard pizzeria fare but one that I haven’t tried before. I cooked up some vodka sauce, used a standard NY pizza dough, finished with dry and fresh mozzarella and a dusting of Sicilian oregano. It was actually really good – the only note I have is the sauce has a ton of cream and cheese in it so next time use a light hand on the cheese to ensure it doesn’t get too heavy.

Spanish Tapas Pizza

July 26, 2024July 19, 2024Anthony Panariello Leave a comment

This idea came from one of the many pizza cookbooks I own (I have a problem) – I tinkered with it a bit but the essentials are thin crust with spicy tomato sauce, chorizo, chunks of fresh mozzarella, and finished with a healthy grating of manchego. It really came together nice – the super thin chorizo I got from the deli crisped up nice and the manchego cheese added a nutty finish that really paired with the spicy pizza. Fired in the Ooni at 750.

I liked this combo – the flavors melded well – I think a good variation would be to replace the chorizo next time with jamon iberico added after the firing (no sense killing the delicate taste by cooking it!)