Yelp declares the best pizza in America is in the Bay Area (sorry, NYC)

SFGate ^ | 2/10/2022 | By Joshua Bote

[NohSpinZone]

Yelp dropped a list Tuesday ranking the best pizza in America — while simultaneously celebrating the made-up holiday National Pizza Day and trying to hire its inaugural “Chief Pizza Officer.”

All that hullabaloo is to say: Yelp decreed that the top-ranked pizza spot in the U.S. is Cheese Board Pizza in North Berkeley, beating out New York City’s uber-popular (and troubled) Prince Street Pizza.

The charms of the restaurant co-op are apparent for anyone who’s stepped into the perpetually long line: Crisp pizza dough topped with a rotating list of fresh, always vegetarian toppings, with the free green sauce, makes for a stellar combo.

Many Bay Area shops rank high on this list — which could be a testament to either Yelp’s pervasiveness in the bay, or its emergence as the new pizza capital of America. (It’s more than likely the former.)

[FroggyTheGremlim]

Beto’s pizza, Banksville Road, Pittsburgh.

Only cheese, but that’s all we need!

[waterhill]

Wow, same here! Weird!

I am in planning stages for a wood-fired oven in the backyard as well!

[JonPreston]

Lie!

[reg45]

And tofu …

[wally_bert]

There is no pizza like a true Chicago deep dish.

[Allegra]

Imho start in NYC and go 3000 miles east to Italia.

Pozzuoli, just south of Napoli. I get a hunger pang just thinking about it.

[jonrick46]

Good for you. I have my own recipe and if any pizza company knew it, they would sweep the market. I use the Roma tomatoes I can myself.

[vespa300]

Pizza Hut thin crust. Best Pizza on the planet and we’re getting it for the superbowl. Go Bengals!

[ALPAPilot]

Imho start in NYC and go 3000 miles east to Italia.

5.56mm

I've never had an American pizza that was better than a fair pizza in Italia.

[MarineBrat]

“...always vegetarian toppings...”

Fail!

[MarineBrat]

>>Beto’s pizza, Banksville Road, Pittsburgh.

OMG.... I grew up in Da Burgh and Beto’s was our family favorite. Haven’t been there in 45-50 years.

Beto’s Pizza and Danny’s Hoagies was our favorites.

[Sarcazmo]

Hard pass.....

[BillyBonebrake]

Lived in California for 8 years and generally speaking the pizza out there sucks. New Haven pizza is hard to beat.

[Dr. Sivana]

Pizza Hut thin crust. Best Pizza on the planet and we’re getting it for the superbowl.

True story. I was a cook at a Pizza Hut in Connecticut in the early '80s. The types of pizza on the menu were "Thin and Crispy", "Thick and Chewy", and "Pan". In Connecticut, the "Thin and Crispy" was almost never ordered, so we never made the dough. A batch calls for 50 pounds of flour, plus 18 pounds of water or so, yeast, salt and oil (no sugar in the Thin and Crispy). One day the area supervisor came in, and asked us where the Thin and Crispy was. He then told us as that was the original; Pizza Hut pizza, we had to have it.

My manager told me to make some, so I took a standard batch, divided by 16, and put it in a Tupperware container, and slapped masking tape with the date on it.

My manager liked the approach, and so did the area supervisor. One problem: while it saved most of the food cost, it took almost as much time to prepare. So, we started changing the masking tape without changing the dough, making a new 1/16 batch when we were inclined. My manager was cool with it. The Area Supervisor didn't know.

One time, we let the dough sit unchanged for almost two weeks. Worse, a 30 something year old man came for a sit down meal of Thin and Crispy pizza. Bonnie the waitress tried to dissuade him. He would have none of it. He wanted his Thin and Crispy.

I opened the container. It had a wine-like fermented scent. It rolled out fine though, and I made his pizza.

When he came up to pay, he told us that was the BEST Thin and Crispy he had in his life, and thanked us! Whew!

[married21]

I made a Chicago deep dish pizza once. It was very good and very filling. A piece is a meal. I would buy some around here, but in LA right now thin crust is more available.

[Dr. Sivana]

Lived in California for 8 years and generally speaking the pizza out there sucks. New Haven pizza is hard to beat.

What? You don't want bar-b-q chicken on your pizza? Tsk.

Phoenix has samples of pizza from all over, though no convincing New Haven style. (New York is close enough for a good meal, and the high priced certified stuff Italia stuff is ok). Oddly, Chicago has a passable New Haven-style pizza place called "Piece Pizza". There's only onew Sally's, but Piece was better than Pepe's and could go head-to-head with Modern.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

The WORST pizza I ever had was in N. Ireland. Don’t remember the name. Ordered a pepperoni pie. Turned out that it was thin sliced ring baloney. Yuck.

[BozoTexino]

I’ll never go to Berkeley or NYC. The best I’ve had is Cane Rosso in Texas and Aurelio’s from Chicago that my son-in-law has shipped in.

[wally_bert]

My aunt in NC made a pizza along the lines of a Chicago pizza. It was better than a commercial places because she cared.

It was the big treat when I was a kid when we made the hours long trek to the mountains.

We’d all play monopoly after dinner.

I miss those simple pleasures to this day.

[married21]

Me too.