GQ Top 25 Pizza Places in the US

CHI REPRESENT!!

Great Lakes Pizza in Andersonville was rated the #1 pizza place in the country. I was back in Chicago for a few days last week, and my boy Matt hooked me up with a spontaneous trip to Great Lake. He'd been raving about it for months. We ordered a crazy awesome wild mushroom pizza. Apparently they have 3-4 pizzas on the menu and they constantly change. The oven only cooks 2 pizzas at a time, which would seem ridiculous, but they only have 4 tables inside and 3-4 outside.

The list is a little surprising to the giants of the pizza blog world. Lots of newcomers, and some places that the pizza experts at Slice hadn't heard of. "I don't know if I should admit this, but of the 25, I had not heard of the following: Bob & Timmy's (Providence, R.I.), Luigi's "the Original (Harrison Tawnship, Mich., and "Niki's (Detroit)". Guess what folks, I dined and blogged about Bob & Timmy's almost exactly one year ago. I'm also kicking myself for not having tried out Luigi's, Tomatoes Apizza, and Niki's while I was living outside of Detroit, or Pizzeria Bianco when I was in Phoenix for a conference. But, overall, for a novice, I think I'm doing pretty good as a pizza expert. I've been to 5 of the top 25, and I'm planning on picking up another 2 in the next couple weeks.

01. Great Lake (Chicago)
02. Lucali (Brooklyn, NYC)
03. Pizzeria Delfina (San Francisco)
04. Pizzeria Bianco (Phoenix)
05. Bob & Timmy's (Providence, R.I.)
06. Sally's Apizza (New Haven, Conn.)
07. Tomato Pie (Los Angeles)
08. Co. Company (Manhattan, NYC)
09. Tacconelli's (Philadelphia)
10. Totonno's (Brooklyn, NYC)
11. Tarry Lodge (Port Chester, N.Y.)
12. Frank Pepe (New Haven, Conn.)
13. Luigi's "the Original" (Harrison Township, Mich.)
14. Gialina (San Francisco)
15. Buddy's (Detroit)
16. Antica Pizzeria (Marina Del Ray, Calif.)
17. A16 (San Francisco)
18. Al Forno (Providence, R.I.)
19. Galleria Umberto (Boston)
20. Famous Joe's (Manhattan, NYC)
21. Tomatoes Apizza (Farmington Hills, Mich.)
22. Osteria (Philadelphia)
23. Santarpio's (Boston)
24. Niki's (Detroit)
25. Una Pizza Napoletana (Manhattan, NYC)


I plan to check out the two representing North Phila as soon as possible. Here's the wood-burning oven from Osteria. Isn't that beautiful?! Makes me want to cry a little.