Best Pizzeria in America?

Given the huge number and variety of pizzerias in the United States today, picking the absolute best of the bunch sounds like it could be a whole lot of work, travel and expense, not to mention the fact that making one pizzeria very happy and several thousand other pizzerias very unhappy might not be a super popular activity. That is, unless you are a television personality, celebrity chef and author like Rachel Ray. Ray recently conducted just such a competition for publication in her magazine, Everyday with Rachel Ray. Ray teamed up with food bloggers Ed Levine and Adam Kuban to determine just who makes the best pizzas in America. After touring and tasting the best pizza creations from 64 pizzerias in 25 cities across the nation, Ray and team listed their picks for the four top pizzerias in four geographic areas of the country as well as one overall winner in the March issue of her monthly magazine.

For a food that is so heavily identified with the cities of the Eastern and Mid-Western United States, Ray’s selection of Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix, Arizona as the Best Pizzeria in America might be a surprising result to some. However, those familiar with Ed Levine’s epicurean Blogs and books will recognize Bianco’s as Ed’s pick of his all-time favorite pizzeria for the last several years. If it is any consolation to pizza traditionalists, Chris Bianco is actually from New York, where he started working in pizzerias at age 13. Chris moved to Arizona for his health and opened Bianco’s shortly thereafter in 1993. As an indication of Chris’ focus on original recipes, the menu at Bianco’s has listed the same six traditional pizzas since opening. Bianco’s signature pies include plain Margherita and Marinara pizzas, the Wiseguy (mozzarella, onion and sausage), the Sonny Boy (mozzarella, olives and salami), the Biancoverde (mozzarella, parmesan, ricotta and arugula) and the Rosa (parmesan, onion, rosemary and Arizona-grown pistachios).

The rest of the top 15 of 16 final finishers in Everyday with Rachel Ray were spread out all across the country and might be more familiar to pizza fans living in Brooklyn, Boston and Chicago. Maybe one of your favorite pizzerias is in the top 16 picks from the March 2010 issue of the magazine:

South-Southwest Top Pizzerias

1st Overall –
Pizzeria Bianco
Phoenix, AZ

Dough Pizzeria Napoletana
San Antonio, TX

Mia's Pizzas Bethesda
Bethesda, MD

Varasano's Pizzeria
Atlanta, GA

Midwest Top Pizzerias

1st in Category –
Great Lake
Chicago, IL

Stop 50 Wood Fired Pizzeria
Michiana Shores, IN

Burt's Place
Morton Grove, IL

Maria's Pizza
Milwaukee, WI

East Coast Top Pizzerias

1st in Category –
Motorino
Brooklyn, NY

Picco Restaurant
Boston, MA

Di Fara Pizza
Brooklyn, NY
Margherita pie $24, serves 4; slice $5

Sally's Apizza
New Haven, CT

West Coast Top Pizzerias

1st in Category –
Pizzeria Mozza
Los Angeles, CA

Pizzeria Picco
Larkspur, CA

Delancey
Seattle, WA

Apizza Scholls
Portland, OR