USA Today - Nation's best pizzeria is Tony's Pizza Napoletana in San Francisco

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USA Today - Great American Bites: Is the USA's best pizzeria in San Francisco?

Tony Gemingnani, the first American ever to win the title of World Champion Pizza Maker at the World Pizza Cup in Naples (2007), has built a temple to pizza-making. His restaurant has seven different ovens using every conceivable fuel -- coal, wood, gas and electric -- at varied temperatures from 550 to 1000 degrees in an effort to turn out the best and most authentic versions of nine distinctly different regional styles of pizza. It's a pizza-tasting trip around the world under one roof.
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The food: The menu is intimidating - I went with five other people and we did not have a big enough group to try everything we wanted. There are antipasti, salads, pastas, calzones and sandwiches, but the main event is pizza, which comes in nine different sub-categories (not counting gluten free). The most recognizable are the "Classic American" (New York Style, gas-fired); Neopolitan (totally authentic, wood-fired); Sicilian (thick rectangular pies, gas); Coal-Fired (New Haven-style) and California, which is more about esoteric toppings than dough. Wolfgang Puck gave us smoked salmon and caviar, California Pizza Kitchen gave us Thai chicken, Tony gives us quail egg, white potato and chorizo or pulled pork with cactus nectar and a medley of chilies.

His more esoteric sub-headings include Detroit-style (square, cooked in steel pan); Classic Italian (the tomatoey pies you find in Italy outside Naples); Pizza Romana (Long, narrow rectangular pie in the Roman tradition); and St. Louis-style. The latter is a very unique pizza, which I thought could never be found outside Missouri, an ultra-thin cracker crust topped with processed but distinctive Provel cheese.

Tony, who is also ten-time World Champion Pizza Acrobat - he does things with dough you have only seen with Frisbees and soccer balls - and a Guinness World Record holder for throwing the largest pizza by hand, is deadly serious about each and every variety. "Besides the oven, I use the correct type of flour, proofing, and even tomato for each type to keep it authentic."

That he does. In this column, I recently sang the praises of historic Frank Pepe's as the finest example of New Haven-style coal pizza. Well, Tony, who installed just one of two coal-burning pizza ovens on the West Coast, does it better. It is not as soupy as Pepe's, but is quite saucy, and the crust is absolutely perfect. The Neopolitan is as good as any I have had at numerous authentic AVPN places around the country, and better than many, plus Tony has a broader selection of toppings than most. It also has a more pronounced edge, raised higher than most Neopolitan pies, but is super light and airy, not crispy at all, flecked just enough from the wood fire to give it that smoky, oven flavor. He sources his ingredients very carefully: the arugula on one pie was farmer's-market fresh, and he has his own beehives on the roof to produce honey. The meatballs on one pizza are no afterthought; rather, they are full-size homemade meatballs that could stand alone, but are cut in half and scream with flavor.

The Roman pizza is perhaps the most interesting, about three feet long and 10-inches wide. He prepares these with three discreet foot-long sections of toppings, representing a starter, entrée and dessert, all on one pizza. The version I tried (there are four combos) had prosciutto, arugula, and parmesan as a "salad;" the middle section was topped with meatballs, garlic, and white cream sauce; and the sweet end had fig, gorgonzola, and balsamic. It was the most unique - and one of the tastiest - single pizzas I have ever seen.

I can't go so far as to say Tony's makes the absolute best pizza in the nation (I have one secret love), but I would say it is America's best pizzeria, doing so many things, and doing them all so well.

Pilgrimage-worthy?: Absolutely - the most unique and comprehensive pizzeria in the nation, if not the world.
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Weird that they've brought the New Haven pie to other places.

It's a weird pizza they have in New Haven, you can't even get it anywhere else in Connecticut. It's kind of shaped like a circle, but not really, and cut every which way. Most of the stuff here in CT is pan-cooked Greek style pizza.

Anyway, NYC water, secret to the dough, blah blah, this thread title is impossible.
 
Pizza... Not Chicago Deep Dish Pizza...

All of my wats.

I feel compelled to go out there one day and try it just to be sure now though.
 
Cornballer said:
I've been there a few times, and it's pretty damn good. The wait for a table is usually extremely long.
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So long, but worth the wait.
 
I like the idea behind the pizzeria and it does sound like they stepped it up.

Would someone please make a Step Up style movie but with pizzeria battles. Make it happen, god awful hollywood.
 
I'll never understand how people can make such a rash claim. Surely they can't eat at all the pizza joints and have taste buds that match an entire population.
 
I can't go so far as to say Tony's makes the absolute best pizza in the nation (I have one secret love), but I would say it is America's best pizzeria, doing so many things, and doing them all so well.
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The best pizzeria that doesn't make the best pizza is not the best pizzeria. Stupid article.
 
It does sound pretty amazing, to be fair. Being able to have an excellent version of each style of pizza under one roof is a great concept, never mind being very difficult to pull off well.
 
KingGondo said:
It does sound pretty amazing, to be fair. Being able to have an excellent version of each style of pizza under one roof is a great concept, never mind being very difficult to pull off well.
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I'd love to read more about the economics behind the shop. That's a lot of overhead he's looking at over there.
 
KingGondo said:
It does sound pretty amazing, to be fair. Being able to have an excellent version of each style of pizza under one roof is a great concept, never mind being very difficult to pull off well.
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Most authentic at the very least. Napolitana pizza beats North American pizza every time.
 
I am shocked they have the StL style pizza. I do not understand why anyone would want to eat that, let alone take it to another part of the country and subject others to it.
 
TheLastCandle said:
NYC style pizza is definitely my fave, although I do love basically any style provided it's done well.

I just fucking love pizza.
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I think this sums up my feelings on the subject pretty well.
 
Oh man, I gotta make a trip to SF and try this out. Reading about it seems amazing. I'm going to check out Yelp.
 
Pizza is overrated. I haven't had good pizza in years.

We used to love Brothers Pizza here in Houston but they turned shitty after 20 years so we quit eating it.
 
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