8 Pizzas That Haunt My Dreams, 2011

This is an annual thing with me now (see 8PTHMD 2009 and 8PTHMD 2010). I ate a lot of pizza over the course of the year, but these eight pies, mostly from around the NYC area, are the ones that haunt my dreams even as we close in on 2012. Like years past, I'm not declaring these "the best," per se, just eight pizzas that stand out in my memory and that I want more of. Are they in any kind of order? Not this year, so don't read anything into it. Just peep the slideshow and salivate.

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13 Comments | Posted by Adam Kuban, December 23, 2011 at 10:00 AM
Tagged: 8 Pizzas That Haunt My Dreams, best-of lists, Recommended, The Year That Was, The Year That Was 2011

Boulder, CO: Stellar Pies and More at Pizzeria Basta

The last couple of years have seen a relative flurry of top-notch pizzeria openings in Denver and Boulder. From the crisp and chewy crust to the high quality and often creative toppings, it's quite possible that Pizzeria Basta is the best of the bunch.

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7 Comments | Posted by Daniel Zemans, December 21, 2011 at 9:00 AM
Tagged: Boulder, Colorado, Pizzeria Basta, recommended, reviews, slice reviews

Brooklyn: Everything On The Menu at Best Pizza

Opened just over a year ago, Best Pizza has fast become one of our favorite pizzerias in New York, and yeah, it's mostly because they serve some of the tastiest by-the-slice stuff around. Since opening the shop, the menu has expanded ever-so-slightly to include sandwiches and a single salad. But man, oh man what good sandwiches those are. Check out everything they've got on the menu.

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32 Comments | Posted by J. Kenji López-Alt, November 1, 2011 at 1:45 PM
Tagged: Best Pizza, Brooklyn, Frank Pinello, New York Style Pizza, NYC, Recommended, reviews, Roberta's, Slice reviews, Williamsburg, wood-oven

Daily Slice: The Portobello, Pine Nut, and Dried Tomato Pizza from Star Tavern

Of course we did get the requisite Pepperoni Pie ($11.50 and it was as glorious as ever, along with a White Clam Pie ($12.50) (theirs are made with plenty of garlic, and a clam-flavored bechamel-like sauce with just a few chunks of real clam—like no other clam pie I've had, but delicious in its own way), but this time I also opted for one of their specialty pie. Something about the high-low dichotomy of portobello, sun dried tomatoes, and pinenuts on a decidedly non fancy-pants bar-style crust seemed interesting to me.

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4 Comments | Posted by J. Kenji López-Alt, October 18, 2011 at 10:00 AM
Tagged: bar pizza, New Jersey, Orange NJ, recommended, reviews, Slice reviews, Star Tavern

Randolph, MA: Eat Bar Pie at Lynwood Cafe

I like bars and everybody likes pies, but I wasn't drawn to the words as a compound food noun for a couple of reasons. In these parts, it's served primarily in places where the food is, if not an afterthought, at least an after-the-booze-and-barely-before-the-Keno thought. But people kept raving to me about the pizza at the Lynwood Café in Randolph, a nice enough town about 20 miles south of Boston, so I stopped in to check it out.

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13 Comments | Posted by Will Gordon, October 11, 2011 at 12:30 PM
Tagged: Lynwood Cafe, Massachussetts, Randolph, recommended, reviews, slice reviews

Cranford, New Jersey: Emma's Brick Oven Pizza & Cafe

You're probably not going to just stumble upon the quaint and quiet center of the suburban-Jersey commuter town of Cranford. But hey, if you ever do, rest assured that at the very least, there's decent pizza at Emma's Brick Oven Pizza.

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17 Comments | Posted by Erin Meister, September 8, 2011 at 3:30 PM
Tagged: Cranford, Emma's Brick Oven Pizza and Cafe, New Jersey, recommended, reviews, slice reviews

NYC Quintessential: Patsy's Pizza, East Harlem

There's only one size pizza available on the menu. It's a respectable size — about 16 inches across. Not HUGE but not Neapolitan dainty. Still, even though it's on the bigger side, don't let the size fool you. As the menu says, it's "paper thin." (Yes, the menu says "paper thin.") Got a big appetite? You could easily house three-quarters of a plain pie on your own. Hell, I've eaten an entire Patsy's plain pizza by myself. That was in another lifetime, before Slice even existed. On a long lunch break. I almost fell asleep at my desk when I got back to work. But I digress...

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23 Comments | Posted by Adam Kuban, August 19, 2011 at 10:45 AM
Tagged: coal-oven, East Harlem, Manhattan, NYC, NYC Quintessentials, Patsy's, Patsy's (East Harlem), Recommended, reviews, Slice reviews

PizzArte: Great Neapolitan Pizza in Midtown Manhattan

I almost hate to recommend this place to you, since it's about two blocks from my office and is going to go into my personal lunchtime heavy rotation. But I didn't start this site to keep pizza a secret from you. So go. It's worth the trip.

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9 Comments | Posted by Adam Kuban, July 22, 2011 at 1:15 PM
Tagged: Manhattan, Midtown, Midtown West, NYC, PizzArte, Recommended, reviews, Slice reviews

Forcella: Yeah, You Kinda Need to Get Here

OK. Forget for a minute that Forcella is doing some solidly legit traditional pizzas. That's all well and good and totally worth your while. But just know that the place is the only pizzeria I know of in NYC that's doing a deep-fried "montagnara" pizza.

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47 Comments | Posted by Adam Kuban, July 15, 2011 at 11:45 AM
Tagged: Brooklyn, Forcella, Giulio Adriani, Neapolitan pizza in NYC, NYC, recommended, reviews, Slice reviews, Williamsburg, wood-oven

Portland, Oregon: All-You-Can-Eat Pizza at Tastebud Farm Dining Room

Mention Tastebud to a Portlander, and they'll likely think of Tastebud's Saturday Farmers' Market stand, where they sell schmeared bagel sandwiches, pitas stuffed with lamb, and reheated, parbaked slices of pizza. Very few people know that Tastebud's pizza is available fresh from an actual bricks-and-mortar establishment, and even fewer know that you can eat as much as your belly will allow every Sunday night for fifteen dollars.

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4 Comments | Posted by Jim Bonomo, May 11, 2011 at 3:00 PM
Tagged: all-you-can-eat pizza, Portland OR, recommended, reviews, Slice reviews, Tastebud Farm Dining Room