re: TulaneLSU's history of pizza and top 10 pizzas in New Orleans

8.2 or 8.3 from Portnoy

Friends,


Thank you for your responses.

Big Bill, this is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Toof, Gio’s is a 5.84 in my rankings. It is a solid, slightly above average pie. It is the 21st best pizza in the New Orleans Metro in my rankings, which include 97 currently open local restaurants that serve pizza.

Cgrand, what is the company that runs Il Supremo? I thought it was just a couple of guys who love pizza running it. They make a great pizza. A 20” plain of their quality for $18 gives us hope that pizza prices will not swirl out of control. If Joe and Pat’s on Staten Island, not their Manhattan branch which isn’t nearly as good, can run a $13 plain large pie special, it would be nice to see some of our pizza joints similarly running specials.

Iamdan, I do not know how to make videos and I prefer written words and still images to moving images. Thank you for the encouragement.

Moontigr, Pizza Delicious is arguably the nation’s most overrated pizzeria. The last time I was in Portland – interestingly, the most overrated pizza city in America – I was talking to Vince Krone, head chef at Ken’s Artisan Pizza. Even there, he mentioned to me that he wanted to try Pizza Delicious. How on Earth has he even heard about it? Well you can read the conversation we had at TulaneLSU's review of Ken's Artisan Pizza. It has made a national name, showing up in list after list. The owners have strong connections in the pizza world and the media. You can thank, or blame, Brett Anderson, for some of it. As for Zee’s, I think they are the current locals’ darling, but as more and more locals try St., Il Supremo, and Forbidden, you will find fewer and fewer people raving over Zee’s. Zee’s is a good pizza, but it is not great and Zee’s quality control is lacking. Sometimes it will be good; other times only slightly above average.

Legion of Doom, surely Lester will not be upset. I always thought he grew up off Airline in Metairie. Was I wrong about that?

Bestbank Tiger, I remember that Roma Pizza. It was good for the time period. The first one was opened by Kirk Satcino, but it was bought by a Turkish man, Haluk Dogru, who expanded it and had at one point eight Cafe Roma Pizza and Mr. Roma pizzerias around the area. They were everywhere – Destrehan, Mandeville, Metairie, Kenner, Uptown, and the Garden District. What is most memorable to me about their pizza was the amount of cheese they used. When I loved quantity over quality, The last one I ate in was the one on Magazine in 2011. It was as cheesy as ever, and all that grease nearly caused a bathroom accident, save for a quick dash to a cousin’s house around the corner on Camp Street.

Smeg, Mama Rosa Little Slice of Italy seems to hold many fond memories around town. I do not know if it is enough, however, to include as an epoch making pizzeria. True, it was the first New Orleans pizzeria to be mentioned in a national publication, but did it change how New Orleanians looked at pizza? I had to ask Uncle if he had ever taken us there and he replied, “Yes, I took you there in 1994 a few months before they shut down. It was after Mama Rosa’s heyday and that might be why you do not remember it. You loved their peanut butter chocolate pie, but thumbed your nose at their pizza.”

The building on North Rampart where Mama Rosa sat was actually home to another pizzeria, Gibby’s Pizza House from 1956 until 1971. The French Quarter’s pizza peak was probably the late 40s and 50s when the majority of pizzerias in New Orleans were found in that condensed space. Uncle tells me that the space sat empty for a few years before Mama Rosa opened in 1978. Mama Rosa closed in 1994 and its non-FQ architecture was torn down to build luxury apartments after Katrina.

S, Theo’s makes decent pizza. Top 25 in the city. But you are never going to get me to eat a pesto based sauce on a pizza.

LSUblondie, thank you for your informed comments. It is clear you are passionate about pizza. But who would argue that Roberta’s is the most influential pizzeria in America? As much as I hate to say it, but if you’re looking at the most influential new age Neapolitan pizzeria, I give that title to Chris Bianco in Phoenix. Sure, it is grossly overrated now and is never worth the trouble. But he was the one that brought late 20th century Naples style pizza to America more than any other person.

I say late 20th century (or new age) Neapolitan style because there are some pizza historians, such as Scott Weiner, who suggest that true Naples style pizza, at least how pizza would have been made there a century ago and earlier is better reflected in the pizzas of John’s of Bleecker, Patsy’s, and Totonno’s. Whereas pizza makers in Naples in the mid-20th century likely experimented and changed their craft, the pizzas at these old classics tried to remain faithful to the recipes that Naples-born immigrants brought with them. I find the theory quite invigorating, especially in light of the snobbiness of the current Naples pizza establishment who wants to dictate to the world what Neapolitan pizza means.

Lucali, in my opinion, does not fit well into the chapter of gourmet NY slice shops of the 2010s through today. I see Lucali as a high end pizza restaurant steeped in the tradition of both DiFara and Luigi’s, whose owners both taught Mark how to make pizza. It is not a slice shop and does not pretend to be. It opened in 2006, I think, and I do not think it had much of an impact on the gourmet slice shops that followed. Lucali has every year made the top ten in TulaneLSU's top 100 pizzas in America so do not for a moment think I do not love Lucali. World class pizza; debatable historical connection to the current explosion of gourmet NY slice shop throughout America, which we are seeing in Zee's, Forbidden, and St. in New Orleans.

Best Pizza is a noteworthy exclusion in that list. It opened in 2010, and some would argue it was the spark that led to the gourmet slice shop. Frank’s personality – he is a great guy – really helped get his pizzeria out there. While I do not think Best Pizza is great – it suffers, like Zee’s from too little sauce and often being overcooked – your inclusion of it in that period of NY pizza is noted.


Yours,
TulaneLSU

I recently tried Il Supremo it was the best pizza I've had locally.
Thigh i haven't tried St, Zees or Forbidden

I liked their pizza tooI used to work at Begue Animal Hospital and we had an African grey parrot that we had to order a slice of pizza from Mama Rosa’s when it stayed with us as a boarder. They would deliver by bicycle and used a ton of cheese on the pizza which always stuck to the aluminum foil.

Had Tower of Pizza tonight for the first time in a few years. So damn good. Tower Supreme is like perfect melty goodness.

Or Tulano's

I was going to be in New Orleans today and planned to give Il Supremo a try and was hoping to do so before their review drops. But I just looked at their website and it looks like they are only open Friday - Monday. Is that right? If that’s the case, that place will be next to be impossible to get into once Dave’s review drops.

quote:

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Things began to change in 2000, when Antonio Bongiorno opened Nino’s in Carrollton.

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For a few years in the early 00s when living in the area, we ate lunch at Cafe Nino quite often, always delicious with a complimentary pour of house red, which Nino would always say “wine is the life of the blood.”

Can we just zoom in on the blonde?

Reginelllis crawfish pizza is good, that’s all I got