Every year, the organization 50 Top Pizza rates the world’s best pizza restaurants. This organization is the real deal–they’re based in Italy, pizza’s original home, and they evaluate pizza places from all around the world.
50 Top Pizza just published their 2023 list of the world’s best pizzerias. Amazingly, only one San Francisco Bay Area pizzeria was chosen for the list.
Read on to learn about our local winner.
Snubbing the Bay?
It may seem surprising that San Francisco only won a single spot on the top-50 list. Our region, after all, is known as one of the best foodie destinations in the world.
So what gives? Our theory, here at the Bay Area Telegraph, is that people expect pizza to be traditional, not innovative. The Bay Area has all kinds of innovative pizza places.
We love Delarosa in San Ramon, California for example, and consider it one of San Ramon’s best restaurants. They’ve built a whole restaurant experience around thin Roman-style pizzas topped with prosciutto, arugula, and more.
We also have pizza places selling regional American specialties, like excellent Chicago-style deep-dish pizza at Zacharys.
But those are fairly specific and unique pizza types. Top 50 Pizza, in contrast, seems to prefer a more traditional pie. Their top American pizza joint was in New York City, whose food scene is very different from ours.
Our Local Winner
Still, 50 Top Pizza didn’t entirely snub the Bay Area. They did award a top honor to one Bay Area pizza place.
The lucky winner is Tony’s Pizza Napoletana in San Francisco, California. The pizza restaurant is owned by Tony Gemignani, one of the Bay Area’s best pizza chefs.
We couldn’t agree more with 50 Top Pizza’s pick. We love Gemignani’s pizza, which we often get at his Walnut Creek, California outpost, Slice House.
In fact, we chose Slice House as having the Bay Area’s best New York Style pizza months ago! Our track record is pretty good–we also called Boichik Bagels the best bagels in the Bay Area months before the New York Times reached the same conclusion.
It’s good to see that Gemignani’s pizza is getting some much-deserved love from one of the world’s top pizza authorities.
Grab a slice from Tony’s Pizza Napoletana or Slice House, and then sign up for our newsletter so you never miss our (apparently highly accurate) stories about the Bay Area’s best food.
