The best pizza I’ve had was at a place called La Famiglia in Glen Cove Long Island. They were a client, and I really was not happy about having to drive so far to get to them. The pizza was a Margherita pizza with fresh mozarella and fresh basil leaves. They also made the only salad with gorganzola I’ve ever liked.
My kids still rave about the pizza at the Chandler cafe on the Caltech campus. Made to order - real brick oven.
BTW, Pepe’s now has a branch in Yonkers, NY. I don’t know if it’s as good as the New Haven original, but it gets good reviews. (I haven’t been there since dh won’t eat pizza.)
Hey mathmom – let me chime in with my Pepe’s of Yonkers experience – we lived nearby and ex was a Yale grad so we were very happy to see a branch in Yonkers. Tried it a few times – pizza was just as good as in New Haven – service was AWFUL. As in lose your order then give you an attitude awful. Never went back.
I am sorta kidding, my one visit to Pepe’s was complete with “don’t waste my time you n00b” service, and I loved every minute of it. Saw the waitress we had on The Pizza Show, and she is awesome.
@MamaBear16, I’m not sure I can say it’s the BEST pizza ever but for deep dish we like Windy City (on the peninsula) and for thin crust Amici’s, which has a number of restaurants throughout the bay area, Amici’s pesto pizza really is the best.
S was three. We went to the Audobon field in Westport to get a Christmas tree. A cut-your-own-tree arrangement. It was snowing lightly. When we found the perfect tree, cut it down, and tied it to the top of the car, it was dusk and we were cold and a little wet. On a whim, we stopped at the new Bertucci’s where the old Clam Box used to be on the Post Road. It was warm and cozy, with huge open wood-fired ovens in which the pizzas were being cooked. We ordered pizzas, one of which was a Nolio (caramelized onions, crispy pancetta, a lemon parmesan sauce, no tomato). Heavenly. On another whim, we decided to go to the movies. Aladdin was playing in the Wilton theater, and we were just in time. It was an old-fashioned, full-sized, big screen theater. S’s first time seeing a movie on anything but a smallish TV. When it started, S sat bolt upright on the edge of his seat, and said, “It’s a BIG movie!” He stayed on the edge of his seat for the whole thing.
We used to go to La Famiglia years ago when we used an ENT in Glen Cove. It was good but the absolute best, in my humble opinion as a Bronx girl, is Brother’s Pizzeria in Fresh Meadows, Queens. The pizzerias I used to love in the Bronx are long gone, sadly.
I remember when I was at yeshiva, we would get out of school Fridays at 1 PM to get ready for Shabbat. Instead, all of us kids in the neighborhood would meet at 1:45 and go to Gloria’s Pizzeria where we could get 2 slices, a soda and an Italian ice and still have money left for the jukebox out of $1! The pizza of my memory is the best ever.
Ive been to a lot of different places but my hometown Buffalo, NY has the best pizza n wings hands down. No place has even come close, especially once you get down south, no shade though I love a lot of food down south just not pizza
Al Forno in Providence is considered the “birthplace” of grilled pizza in the US. They’ve been doing it for 30 years, and it’s still fantastic. One type has a bit of roasted corn drizzled with spicy oil - the kind of pizza you dream about later.
My other most vivid pizza memory: traveling with my parents through Italy, and then Greece. Stayed overnight at a motel in Naples. I wasn’t feeling well, so I staying in the room and my parents went out in search of food. They found a pizza place close by where a bunch of people were sitting around at tables in what seemed to be a garage, while a guy made pizzas one at a time and cooked them in a wood fired beehive oven. He stretched the dough, crushed a couple of fresh tomatoes in his hand over it, sprinkled on some fresh chopped garlic, olive oil, and cheese…you get the picture. My mother ate the first one and said “I’ll have another!” They ordered one for me, and brought it back to the room in a piece of olive oil soaked newspaper. It was incredible. The next day we drove by, and it was a garage with the metal shutter door pulled down.
We just discovered good BBQ in Tarrytown - who needs pizza?