Best Pizza in Elvis Country | The Boneyard

Best Pizza in Elvis Country

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We all know and love the Best CT pizza thread. However, I thought it might be helpful to start a thread on Pizza oasis’ in the vast pizza dessert outside the pizza belt for those traveling for business or pleasure, or simply ex-pats like myself, when they need their pizza fix.

Note: this is pizza in Elvis Country; defined by the Sopranos as “places were there are no Italians or Jews.” So no pizza places in New York, NJ etc.

I’ll start. Nina and Rafi’s recently opened here in Atlanta. My wife and I have eaten here a couple of times and it has been really good. Highly recommend if you’re passing through the ATL:


Avoid the Detroit-style square pie (shown in the pictures :( ). The standard pie is really excellent. They nail the crust.
 
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storrsroars

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The locals here swear by the "Pittsburgh Big Three": Mineo's, Aiello's and Fiori's. The locals also eat Primantis, so draw your own conclusions. Of those, Fiori's in the best. But it's far from my favorite pizza here. The standard Pittsburgh pizza, which seems like >90% of what's around here is thicker crust than a NY slice, always undercooked (no char), sweet sauce and way too much cheese, which is almost always provolone and quite often Grande (Wisconsin) provolone, or a provolone/dry mozz mix.

I've posted photos of the Betos grandma pie here in the past, always to (deserved) ridicule, but that's also popular and there are a few grandma pie places northwest of here (it's big in Ohio too). Pittsburgh is also home to the worst pizza I've ever had (Campitis), which was like pizza sauce on the cardboard disk leftover from unpacking a Tombstone. Only pizza I actually threw out before I got home, stopping to get another pizza elsewhere. It too is highly rated on Yelp.

There's nothing remotely like Pepes/Sallys here. Which is odd since you'd think coal country would have coal fired pizza ovens (closes thing is Anthony's Coal Fired). But over the past 10-12 years, the pizza game has become pretty decent. I have a local takeout spot, Claudio's, that I enjoy. It's a dump, Claudio is often shirtless on hot days and smokes Camels in the kitchen. But he gives me free stuff quite often. Apizza A'Badamo also quite good for takeout/slices (the only place that uses "apizza" in the name, but it ain't Wooster St and mozz is mozz, not mootz). There's a Harry's south of the city which bought their recipes from Harry's in West Hartford. It was my favorite until Claudios and A'Badamo came along.

There are numerous Neopolitan places, including a D.O.C. registered place that shows up on national top 100 lists. There's a great place called Dinette (James Beard nominated) that has solid pizzas including one with fingerling potatoes and egg. Taglio features Roman street pizza, which is new around here. Michigan & Trumbull and Ironborn are both very good Detroit style places.

There's no Greek per se, but there is Ephesus, which is Turkish (never had it, but it's popular). There's also no Colony tavern pie here. But if someone wants to invest in one, DM me. I need something to do.
 
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The locals here swear by the "Pittsburgh Big Three": Mineo's, Aiello's and Fiori's. The locals also eat Primantis, so draw your own conclusions. Of those, Fiori's in the best. But it's far from my favorite pizza here. The standard Pittsburgh pizza, which seems like >90% of what's around here is thicker crust than a NY slice, always undercooked (no char), sweet sauce and way too much cheese, which is almost always provolone and quite often Grande (Wisconsin) provolone, or a provolone/dry mozz mix.

I've posted photos of the Betos grandma pie here in the past, always to (deserved) ridicule, but that's also popular and there are a few grandma pie places northwest of here (it's big in Ohio too). Pittsburgh is also home to the worst pizza I've ever had (Campitis), which was like pizza sauce on the cardboard disk leftover from unpacking a Tombstone. Only pizza I actually threw out before I got home, stopping to get another pizza elsewhere. It too is highly rated on Yelp.

There's nothing remotely like Pepes/Sallys here. Which is odd since you'd think coal country would have coal fired pizza ovens (closes thing is Anthony's Coal Fired). But over the past 10-12 years, the pizza game has become pretty decent. I have a local takeout spot, Claudio's, that I enjoy. It's a dump, Claudio is often shirtless on hot days and smokes Camels in the kitchen. But he gives me free stuff quite often. Apizza A'Badamo also quite good for takeout/slices (the only place that uses "apizza" in the name, but it ain't Wooster St and mozz is mozz, not mootz). There's a Harry's south of the city which bought their recipes from Harry's in West Hartford. It was my favorite until Claudios and A'Badamo came along.

There are numerous Neopolitan places, including a D.O.C. registered place that shows up on national top 100 lists. There's a great place called Dinette (James Beard nominated) that has solid pizzas including one with fingerling potatoes and egg. Taglio features Roman street pizza, which is new around here. Michigan & Trumbull and Ironborn are both very good Detroit style places.

There's no Greek per se, but there is Ephesus, which is Turkish (never had it, but it's popular). There's also no Colony tavern pie here. But if someone wants to invest in one, DM me. I need something to do.

The Pittsburgh area has historic, entrenched Italian-American population. I’ve never understood how all the Italian food I’ve ever had there could so bad.
 

storrsroars

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The Pittsburgh area has historic, entrenched Italian-American population. I’ve never understood how all the Italian food I’ve ever had there could so bad.

DM me next time you're in town. There are a few good ones. I typically don't go out for Italian as I can cook it better than most restaurants, but the few I'd recommend generally have access to stuff I don't and do a great job with it.

There's one, La Tavola, up on Mt. Washington, that I'll make a trek to simply for the calamari fra diavolo which is superb and something I don't make as my wife gets woozy watching me clean and cut up squid. DiAnoia's is relatively new and excellent. Alla Famiglia is also great but it's family style and for Italian, very pricey. And of course Lidia's, which is hot and cold for me, but I've had great meals there. Some solid places for Italian charcuteire as well. However, you're right in that the types of 2nd/3rd/4th generation family places that are all over New England/NY/NJ rarely rise above mediocre but the red sauce crowd around here isn't too picky.
 
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HuskyHawk

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Hmmm. Most of Massachusetts doesn't qualify. Plenty of Italians. Same with the Providence area. San Francisco too.

I will offer up an oddball pie that I enjoy anyway. Nothing like Neopolitan style, but at least not super heavy grease ball "house of" Greek style. Imo's in St. Louis.

If it's allowed, the South Shore of Massachusetts is the "Irish Riviera". There are Italians, but it's not their haunt as other parts of the Boston metro are. I'll nominate Poopsie's in Pembroke, MA. That area has a style they call "bar pizza" and Poopsie's nails it perfectly. Thin crisp crust underneath, almost no crust on the edges.
 

storrsroars

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Imo's in St. Louis.

I know a lot of St. Louis ex-pats who love Imo's and will defend provel and cracker crust to the death. Not sure I could go there.

If it's allowed, the South Shore of Massachusetts is the "Irish Riviera". There are Italians, but it's not their haunt as other parts of the Boston metro are. I'll nominate Poopsie's in Pembroke, MA. That area has a style they call "bar pizza" and Poopsie's nails it perfectly. Thin crisp crust underneath, almost no crust on the edges.

The "big three" of bar pizza are generally considered to be Star Tavern in Orange, NJ, Colony in Stamford, and Lynwood Cafe in Randolph, MA. But there are more of them in MA than anywhere I believe. When I lived in Quincy in 99-01, one of my guilty pleasures was The Alumni, where they had a $5 bar pizza special Mon-Thurs. Sadly, they sold out to developers in 2013, but it was solid bar pizza.
 

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