The Pizza Renaissance began with Chris Bianco, whose fabulous authentic Neapolitan style pizza in Phoenix inspired copycat (in the best sense) versions. For several years, most of the new worthwhile pizza joints offered that Neapolitan style, personal sized round pies flash-baked in less than two minutes at one thousand degrees to yield a thin pie with a puffy leopard-spotted cornicione.
But it didn't stop there, and more recently artisanal pizzaioli have moved beyond Neapolitan, crafting a variety of new and old style pizzas, several of which made it to our 2022 list. Keep in mind, this is not a list of the best pizzas in America, but simply my own top discoveries of 2022. Let's start the countdown, featuring our Top Seven of 2022.
Honorable Mention: 40 North, Austin TX
How many places offer a world class burger and top shelf Neapolitan Pizza? 40 North did, and in a cozy spot that even had free parking in downtown Austin.
Sadly, they closed at the end of October 2022. Pizzaiolo Clint Elmore has indicated that the 40 North brand may continue, but in the form of pop-ups or special events for a while as he figures out the next best opportunity. His business partner Taslim Jamal added that "It’s not goodbye, it’s see you later."
Number Seven: Harry's Pizza, Miami FL.
In the lush green Miami neighborhood called Coconut Grove, we found a lovely pizza bistro where we savored properly executed Neapolitan pizza, dining al fresco on a lovely evening in March.
We were once again reminded that with Neapolitan pie, simplicity is often best. We wrote "The Margherita was one of the prettiest pizzas I can remember. The crust was very soft, but also flavorful with the perfectly puffy cornicione so typical of Neapolitan pizza."
Number Six: Jester King Pizza and Brewery - Austin TX.
Excellent craft beer. An open, airy, comfy barnlike setting. Spot-on Neapolitan pizza. And baby goats! Jester King, in rural Dripping Springs just west of Austin, offers all this.
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We loved the entire experience and were glad that we gambled on ordering the Citron pizza, noting that "This pie had more depth and layers of flavors ... the spice of the chilies and the sweet heat of the honey mated beautifully with the umami-rich base of garlic oil and the cheese."
Number Five: Lefty's Pizza Kitchen, Austin TX.
I was delighted when the St. Louis pizzeria 'Zza opened its second location in Bee Cave, an Austin suburb close to my home. This wonderful trend continued when the Chicago pizzeria Lefty's opened a location in my neighborhood!
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| The pan pizza |
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| The tavern pizza |
A hip town is going to have some great pizza, right? Indeed, we had a list of pizzerias that was longer than the number of opportunities we had during our vacation in Washington state.
We traveled to a quiet neighborhood in the northwestern part of the city for this wonderful pizza. Sunny Hill makes a thin round traditional pizza, but we had time and stomach for just one style, and chose the Detroit pizza.
The "Arcade" square featured pepperoni, pickled serrano peppers, mozzarella, and parm with a red sauce. It was a stunner visually and the taste matched the looks. We reported that the "caramelized edges were perfectly executed, just the right crunch and very thorough cheese application. The pepperoni and pickled serranos delivered a serious umami punch, but not enough to overwhelm the creaminess of the cheese and the piquant red sauce.
"Most importantly, the crust had a delightful crunchy and oiled underside. It was about the standard thickness for a Detroit pie. Some Detroit pizzas manage to be pillowy and delicate, but this one was more dense, more toothsome, more substantial."
Number Three: Quincy Hall Pints and Pizza - Arlington VA.
After a long covid-related delay, this modern and airy beer garden & pizzeria opened in the Ballston section of Arlington in April 2022, and we visited in early May. 
The pizzas are 14" rounds that are a lovely hybrid of New York and Neapolitan styles. Importantly, under the tutelage of pizzamaking legend Giulio Adriani, the pizzaiolo here gives the dough a 3-day ferment. 
Regarding the "As Mush Room as Possible" pizza, we wrote that "This pie was covered from edge to edge with mushrooms that supplied an earthy, deeply umami flavor. Despite the prominent mushroom flavor, the garlic notes also shone through. There was a generous amount of mozzarella, but not too much; this pie was wonderfully balanced in textures and flavors."
Our party of four also had the "Pepp'd Up" pizza and found that it had a "superb crust as its base, along with top quality cup 'n' char pepperoni, generously applied over a traditional orange mix of sauce and cheese. This pizza was hip, fresh, and modern even as it was a rendition of a familiar pizza style."
Overall, just a deeply satisfying pizza experience, and we concluded this about the pizza evolution by Giulio Adriani: "This Quincy Hall pizza is wonderful but also very different from his earlier Neapolitan successes. The hipsters in Ballston are very fortunate to have this pie within walking distance, it is among the best in the DC region."
Number Two: Serious Pie - Seattle WA.
My first-ever trip to Seattle yielded up two pizzerias in my 2022 Breakout list. Serious Pie is downtown, convenient for both locals and tourists. It has everything you could want in a pizzeria - excellent location, a comfortable interior with a hip vibe, and of course great pizza.
The oval pizzas here had a bit of New Haven feel about them. We ordered two pizzas: a red pie featuring sweet fennel sausage, roasted peppers, and provolone ($24) and a white pie with roasted oyster mushrooms, crimini, and truffle ($22).
Regarding the red pie, our review noted "The cornicione was puffy like a Neapolitan, albeit with a lot more density and crunch. Despite being topped with 'sweet' fennel sausage, the red pie had some spicy elements coming from somewhere, perhaps that deep vibrant red sauce. Also lurking in the flavor mix was a hint of sweetness. Certainly, it was a complex and layered flavor, sweet, salty, spicy, herbal. Bursts of umami riding on the crispy, chewy, puffy, sturdy crust. That pizza alone was more than enough to declare "great pizza" here."
On the white pie, we said that it "shared that same magnificent crust, with a tiny bit more crunch because it didn't carry the moisture load of red sauce. The flavors went in a completely different direction than the red pizza, but equally delightful. I like big mushroom flavors for the earthiness, but here the trio of oyster, crimini, and truffle worked in harmony for a more subtle umami."
It was easy to conclude that this was "a particularly satisfying meal in every regard. Nice setting, terrific service, a spot-on salad, and superb pizza occupying some hybrid region between New Haven, New York, and Naples."
From the late nineteenth century up until around 1960, much of the terrain west of Austin was rugged and sparsely populated Hill Country, home to the Appalachian Mountain folk who came west to make a living chopping cedar for fence posts. The Balcones Fault divides this central Texas Hill Country from Austin and the eastern plains of Texas.
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| A Hill Country cedar chopper |
These cedar choppers dominated the Hill Country, including West Lake Hills right on the edge of the Balcones fault. Today, West Lake Hills is Austin's toniest suburb, with little hint of its hardscrabble past. More to the point, it's home to our top pizza discovery of 2022, Baldinucci Pizza Romana.
If recent years saw the national breakout of Detroit style, Baldinucci may be on the leading edge of a wave of artisanal pizzerias featuring Roman "al taglio" pizza. This thicker style of rectangular pizza is sold by the slice in Italy, and still not often seen in the U.S. (although Philadelphia is blessed with two terrific Roman style pizzerias).
On our first visit, we tried the "Nonna" pizza which included mozzarella, fresh crushed tomatoes, fresh garlic, grated Romano cheese, oregano, fresh basil, and E.V.O.O.
We reported that "This rectangular pizza, from the box to the table, was as beautiful as a work of art. Golden crust with bold red sauce and the varied textures of cheese and sausage, all topped with artful ribbons of fresh basil. Like any great pizza, the crust was the star. It was the deepest Roman style pizza I've had, almost as thick as a Detroit style pie. It was brilliantly crispy on the bottom, with a hefty but somehow airy interior that had the right chewiness and flavor that could stand on its own."
Nothing but superlatives did we find for this Roman pizza: "The vivid red sauce was chunky with a bright taste that stood up to the other flavors. The cheese had an ideal texture; the mild mozzarella was complemented by the salty tang of the Romano. The crust, sauce, and cheese alone would have been a perfectly balanced pie, but the sausage topping added one more element of texture and flavor. And it was terrific sausage; its taste was a standout even riding on the other superb elements."
A fitting crown for the King of 2022 pizza discoveries: "All told, this was about an ideal marriage of flavors, visuals, and textures. A fabulous and flawless pizza, and a top contender for not just the best pizza in the Austin suburbs, but the best in the entire Austin region. There wasn't one thing I'd change about this pie, and I can't wait to have it again."
Baldinucci also makes a New York style pizza, but this Roman style is so good that I'm not sure I'll find out!
Now I want pizza.
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