dismal_scientist

I'll throw in another vote for Gino's East of Chicago.

dillard8 - what do you usually get at Filippi's? It's walking distance from my place, and I almost ate there for the first time on Saturday.

kaukau

Now you finally found something that isn't better in Hawai'i! Otherwise......

Jocelyn P

I was going to suggest Filippi's in San Diego, but I see that someone beat me to it. Dillard, have you been to the Jamul branch? I think Filippi's best pizza is there. I have eaten a Jamul pizza with pepperoni layered eight slices deep.

dillard8

I always get pizza - pepperoni and mushroom is my favorite. My parents like "the works," and my dad also really likes their sub sandwiches, but I can't remember which one - meatball, maybe?

dillard8

Hmm,I have not eaten at the Jamul branch. I've tried the Mission Gorge one and one down near the border (maybe Chula Vista?), and was not that impressed - I didn't think the pizza was as good and I really like the ambiance of the original.

All this talk about Filippis is making me hungry...luckily I'll be in SAN this weekend and can head straight there from the airport on Friday...

zachs18

Mack and Manco's in Ocean City, NJ is the best there is.

civicmon

Filippi's is alright.. I did like it.

best pizza in San Diego County is Pizza Port in Solana Beach/Carlsbad (2 locations, as well as one in San Clemente).

Not only do they microbrew their own beers, the pizza is the best I've ever had. It's seriously my favorite pizza on earth.

radview44

After spending a year outside Chicago and eating multiple times at Gino's East/Lou Malnati's/Giordano's/Rosati's, have to say Gino's sausage patty pizza is favorite deep dish pizza. Having a solid round patty of sausage covering the whole pizza is genius, though afterwards I always suffer having eaten the second slice, which is totally unnecessary.

I've had pizza in NY and other places and nothing that made an impression.

But none those Chicago pizza places and any other place I've been to compared to eating a Frank Pepe's white clam pizza. The crust is light and thin, burned on the edges from being in a really hot brick oven. When you taste the clam, you can close your eyes and dream of the ocean. I think they shuck fresh clam in the back. And not little itty bitty pieces of clam, chunks and hunks of the stuff with fresh garlic. I really don't remember the other pizzas, I just eat them to insure I don't overdue the clam and get tired of it. Also, I usually get a couple white clams to go after eating, it makes up the long wait to get into the place.

There are downsides to Franks, long wait outside (they have no indoor space for waiting. Worst as 2 1/2 hours in off and on rain), so so service, expensive and small sodas, they charge for extra romano cheese (but the stuff is really good, so not a big complaint). But these annoyances are nothing when you after you take a bite.

Man, I think I am driving New Haven on friday for clam pizza.

stevechin

I've been to the Pizza Port in San Clemente just south of the 5 Fwy. Pizza Port has some of the best pizza I've tasted in California. They bake the pizza just to the point where the pepperoni starts to singe a bit. I like it that way with the partially crispy pepperoni! ^

Their lunch special with slice of pizza and salad is great! The salad is huge and probably feeds 3 people!


Steve

dhuey

I'm about a mile from both Zachary's and Cheese Board. I'll take Zachary's any day. These questions are so hopelessly subjective.

whistler814

I went to Cal. Go Bears!

I love Blondies. It's not authentic anything but it's tasty and I always get nice and full.

Zachary's is awesome for a great sit down pizza.

Fat slice is classic.

West Coast Pizza is decent if you're lazy and want some cheezy sticks.

Greg's was good but they went under.

I can't stand Cheeseboard. I don't like their thin pizza and I don't get the people who eat their pizza on the median in the middle of the street. If it came down to it, I'd have the DC pizza before Cheeseboard. Yeah, you Bears know what I'm talking about.

bumpme

I like my Giordano's and Papa Johns.

escog

Another Cal Alum here. Zachary's is great, though some think they've gone a bit downhill since they changed ownership. My brother, another Cal alum, went to Chicago not long ago, visited the famous pizza joints there, and still prefers Zachary's. I keep meaning to go by the Cheeseboard Collective, but never make it down there.

The only thing I can say about Fat Slice and Blondies is that they were cheap and filling.

Some "pizza expert" from New York came by to grade west coast pizza in the Bay Area last spring. There was an article in the Chronicle about it:

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...sn=001&sc=1000

Paella747

When I spent time in Italy, I had a buddy with a huge house on a vinyard with a brick fire oven in the kitchen. His mom (as (stereo)typical as an Italian "mama" can get) made us pizza and pasta several times. It was by far the best pizza I've ever had in my life. Not a lot of cheese or greasy meats, but some fresh italian sausage and a really tangy tomato sauce. Great mushrooms and bell peppers (sweet!).
To me, that's true italian pizza (of course to each his own!). I'm always craving that kind of pizza!

Now on to the topic (where in the USA?): The closest thing to that Italian essence that I've tasted in the USA is Pizzaria Pagliacci in Seattle, WA. YUM! When I get "home" to the Pacific Northwest from Seoul, I often go straight from the airport to Pagliacci on lower Queen Anne.

At that moment, all is right with the world.


I'm convinced that a lot of heavy cheese and meats on pizza is an American thing. All over Italy I've been, and I never had a thick heavy cheesy pizza with a ton of meat. They are always quite "lite"...... ^

trvadct

Pizzeria Regina, Boston North End, not the sometimes inconsistent location at Faneuil Hall. For me, this is the pizza by which all others are judged.

It can be a little on the oily side, but sooooo good.