Summer pie at Frank Pepe’s. Only available during tomato season. Il Forno in Frederick, MD for white pizza.
DH, a Bronx boy, would agree that the worst NY pizza beats almost any other.
Athens, GA: Steverino’s (back in the 80s).
One of S2’s requirements for college selection was a series of good places to eat en route. We appreciated his decision process.
You know how when God closes a door, She opens a window? Almost anywhere you go has good food if you look for it. There may not be great pizza, but there will be great something else. At least that’s my experience.
You really shouldn’t choose a college based on local pizza quality. And I say that despite full confidence that if you did pick a college based on local pizza quality, it would be my beloved alma mater.
There’s the culture thing too. Being able to walk from BART is good. Being right opposite to Chez Panisse also helps for some reason. That weird one choice per day menu expedites the waiting line and I sometimes like to be surprised instead of having to choose.
The worst pizza I’ve had was ironically in New York City, on the upper east side, somewhere near 76th and Lexington. It was just gross.
Growing up the best pizza was Town Spa Pizza in Stoughton, MA. I don’t know if it’s still good (it’s still there), but when my parents would bring home those weird round paper boxes with plain cheese pizzas (I didn’t know you could have toppings on pizzas until high school), it was just perfection.
Here in Atlanta Antico’s Pizza is hard to beat. There’s one in Buckhead and one just opened up in Avalon in Alpharetta. Pretty darn good.
@Postmodern: The one time I ate pizza at Patsy’s it was the. absolute. worse. thing I’d ever eaten. Burned, charred!
I would n e v e r go back.
Pizza Bob’s Uptown or Pizza Bob’s Downtown? (For those not familiar with Ann Arbor, there was only a few yards between the two places.) Thanks for that memory, @Marilyn. Brown Jug used to do a horrible, greasy pizza that we all loved in the 70’s.
Ann Arbor is also the home of Dominos. Back in the day, that used to be my favorite pizza, but I stopped eating it after they changed their sauce.
Have eaten at Pizzeria Bianco a few times. Don’t see what the fuss is about, and the place is too tiny/noisy/chaotic for me.
Agree with Counting Down–summer pie at Frank Pepe (to die for). Another really good pizza place is Nick and Vitos–the place is in Chicago (Southside–84th and Pulaski); it’s not the typical Chicago pizza.
Frank Pepe (of New Haven) opened an outpost in Chestnut Hill, MA–haven’t been there because it’s not nearby.
Vito and Nick’s- was thinking they would get a mention. Not a fan but my south side friends don’t agree with me!
Seconding @CountingDown: I’ve had that summer pie at Pepe’s once, and I think it may have been the best pizza I’ve ever eaten. Anytime else, I’d go with their white clam pie.
See many of us like it that way… I learned from a new show called “The Pizza Show” on the ViceTV network that it is called “leoparding”. lol… BTW that show is fun for pizza lovers, I recommend it.
A little char is good. Some places overdo it though.
I know a little black on the back just means it was in the oven. I’ve eaten pizza all over NYC and know of the “dust” of the oven, and the fact that it is really baked showing up on the pie. But no. I think Patsy’s gave me the “house special,” that day. I hear there is a clientele they prefer, and I’m not it. This was awful. 
My grandparents lived in NYC when I was a child. I remember walking with my grandpa to a hole in the wall joint and getting one of those classic, foldable grease-bombs of deliciousness and having grandpa instruct us in how to eat it properly while keeping the grease off our clothes so grandma wouldn’t know where we’d been (she disapproved of “foreign” food). Nothing will ever surpass that obviously.
As an adult, I have been diagnosed with celiac so my pizza options are limited. Most pizzerias now offer a tasteless, frozen, pre-made gluten free crust that does little more than make an edible surface for the toppings. The exception is a small chain called Jules. They specialize in the flat, crisp gourmet style of pizza crust and they make their own gluten free version of their dough. It’s delicious. The crispy cracker style wouldn’t be my first choice in crust options but given the choices I have, it’s a slam dunk favorite. My son tasted both the regular and GF versions and said he really couldn’t tell the difference. (They’re mostly located in PA but they have two stores in the SF Bay Area.)
@MotherOfDragons, I think the pizza you are talking about is also Greek pizza…paper plates as packaging instead of a box
I’m a fan of both NY-style and Chicago deep dish. Tried stuffed deep dish at Edwardo’s in Hyde Park on my first visit to UofC, continued to be a devoted customer throughout my four years there–we could get mini stuffed pies for $5 on campus late at night. Much better than the Med, IMO. I would take visitors there and make them order the spinach stuffed pizza, always to much joy. Sadly, the Edwardo’s in HP closed a couple of years ago. I recently tried making my own spinach deep dish pizza, and made a terrific one on the second try.
Now I live in the pizza desert of the West…yes, I’ve tried Cheeseboard. It’s pretty good, but not worth the line I waited in. Yes, you can get decent pizza here if you look. But the joy of a place like the New York area is that you can get a tasty slice of pizza almost anywhere for a dollar or two. Once, my SO tried to prove that there was good pizza out here and took me to a place with pretty decent NY-style pizza. But a plain slice was $6! That same slice would have been a fraction of the price and better tasting in my hometown.
No, the only thing the West has going for it in terms of pizza is access to excellent produce for great homemade pizzas. We often have pizza parties where we make pizza after pizza in our little outdoor pizza oven, full of delicious veggies. And actually one of my fondest pizza memories is of a little farm in the Northwest that made pizzas for folks in the know on Fridays in the summer–I had a great one with cherries there.
But most importantly, I have a question for you all: what do you call a pizza with just sauce and cheese on it? I grew up calling this “plain pizza.” But I learned after moving west that most people here call this “cheese pizza.” My opinion is this is a stupid thing to call it–pizza has cheese by default. And invariably, when I make this argument out here, somebody comes back with “What about vegan pizza??” Yeesh. I have nothing against vegans, but come on.
Ok…not in or even near a college town…but the best pizza I’ve ever had…Pizzeria Marzanno located in Torrington CT. Brick oven, fresh ingredients. Most locally grown. Just the best!!
I’ve been lurking here hoping that someone would recommend a great pizza place in California, but sadly it seems we are somewhat pizza deficient here. I noted the couple in the East Bay, though, in case I am ever in that area. I’ll still follow along, hoping that someone knows a great place that I haven’t heard of. 
Where are all my Philly people?
I thought Philly was all about the roast pork and cheese steak.
Ahem. See #32.
I’m sorry, but Philly has never been a good pizza town. There are now reliably good high-end gourmet pizzas at nu-Italian restaurants in and around Center City, and there is venerable Tacconelli’s in Port Richmond, where you have to reserve your pizza a day in advance. There’s been some attempt by high-end restauranteurs to move down into the neighborhood pizzeria space – e.g., Pizzeria Vetri and Stephen Starr’s Pizzeria Stella – but they have been disappointing when I’ve gone there.
I have had very, very good pizza at DeMeo’s, a small place in a strip mall in Roxborough that I heard about the best way, through word of mouth. It hasn’t hit general buzz yet.
General buzz is obsessed with Pizzeria Beddia in Fishtown, which is only open five days a week, limits itself to 40 pizzas per day, and does not take reservations (does not have a phone). You have to show up around 4:00 pm and be one of the first 25 or so people in line. Maybe I’ll make it a project someday to try it, but that hasn’t happened yet.