Pizza Brain

Readers' Choice: The new kid on the block gets the biggest slice of the pie. (Couldn't resist.) Try the Lucy Waggle. 2313 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19125, pizzabrain.org.

Pizza Brain

Pizza Brainis a destination. Go for the Worlds First Pizza Museum, stay for the incredible (and strange) pies. 2313 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19125, pizzabrain.org.

Charlie Mayfair Pie at Pizza Brain

Paper-thin slices of apples and sweet potatoes overlap beneath dollops of honey goat cheese in what could be eye-catching modern art, but is actually a pizza sweetened with brown sugar and inflected with pie spice. Save this one for the end of your meal. 2313 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19125, pizzabrain.org.

Down North

Out with minimalist pizza; in with maximalist. Here, the What We Do is topped with beef pepperoni, beef sausage, kale, banana peppers and honey chipotle; the Flip Side is like a next-level Hawaiian pie, with BBQ beef bacon, pineapple and jalapeños. And if the pizza’s having fun, imagine how much fun we’re having here. 2804 West Lehigh Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19132, downnorthpizza.com.

Pizza Plus

If nothing else, pizza is as comforting as comfort foods get. See the full write up at Takeout Pizza. 1846 South 12th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19148, pizzawhat.com.

Gigi Pizza

If nothing else, pizza is as comforting as comfort foods get. See the full write up at Takeout Pizza. 504 Bainbridge Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147, gigipizzaphilly.com.

@pizza_jawn

If nothing else, pizza is as comforting as comfort foods get. See the full write up at Takeout Pizza. instagram.com/pizza_jawn.

Takeout Pizza

There are times when we resent how obsessed this city can get with pizza. How in 2020 — an era in dining when we ought to be fawning over Sri Lankan curries and Nigerian jollof rice — pizza still consistently gets top billing.

And there are other times — like … now, when the world feels so unsteady — that we’re very happy seeking solace in the basics. Finding comfort in pizza. Letting Philly’s pizzaiolos, you know, take care of us in our time of need. Because if nothing else, pizza is as comforting as comfort foods get.

When we were still in the red phase, some shops, like Pizzeria Stella(420 South 2nd Street) in Society Hill, Barbuzzo (110 South 13th Street) in Midtown Village, and Wood Street Pizza (325 North 12th Street) in Callowhill (which, not for nothing, is one of the city’s best classic pizza shops), provided us with DIY pizza kits that kept us occupied and well-fed during the quarantine. Wood Street’s Dean Kitagawa even commissioned his wife, Sarah D’Ambrosio, to create artwork on some of the pizza boxes. “It was a small thing we did to establish a connection with our guests — a connection we lost when we pivoted to just doing takeout,” he says.

Philly found comfort in pizza even when the style of pizza was completely new to us. Much as it did in almost every other major food city in the U.S., Detroit-style pizza took over Philly. Of course, it got the aged-dough/high-quality-ingredients treatment we’ve become so used to seeing; witness Dan Gutter’s focaccia-like frico-crusted pies from Circles + Squares (2513 Tulip Street) in Kensington, or even his less Detroit-y pan pizzas — à la Pizza Hut — at Pizza Plus (1846 South 12th Street) in East Passyunk, or the fat, deeply caramelized squares at Sidecar Bar & Grille (2201 Christian Street) in Grad Hospital. The ranch-drizzled, banana-peppered monstrosity at Emmy Squared (632 South 5th Street) was a delicious addition to Queen Village.

Neapolitan pizza, a food trend that came as quickly as it left this city, found new life at Gigi Pizza (504 Bainbridge Street), across the street from Emmy Squared. They do a sort of hybrid NYC-meets-Napoli pie baked in a wood-burning oven, with a crust that’s somehow both airy and stiff — essentially, a big middle finger to the chewy, soupy pies favored by the Neapolitan pizza gods.

We saw our fair share of illegal pizza activity, too, which has become something of the norm in this city after @pizza_gutt paved the way back in 2017. Instagram “pizza shops” like @pizza_jawn and @freelancepizza_ began delivering pies (baked who knows where) to their thousands of eager followers.

And in maybe the longest slog of quarantine, Joe and Angela Cicala, the chef-owners of Cicala at the Divine Lorraine and former owners of Brigantessa in East Passyunk, launched an illicit pizza “speakeasy” out of their backyard in South Philly, with proceeds to help pay their laid-off staff. On its first day, the Cicalas sold 200 pizzas in 40 minutes. They sold out again on the second day. And on the third day, seven cops and two city health inspectors shut the operation down. Pizza-obsessed, indeed.

Pizza Shackamaxon

Big, beautiful slices, slightly thicker than New York-thin, served by staffers who understand that their primary duty is to get pizza into people’s faces as quickly as possible. 115 East Girard Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19125, pizzashackamaxon.com.

Oath Pizza

Oath is the Chipotle of quick-serve pizza, but with sustainable practices and the crust cooked in avocado oil. 59 St. James Place, Ardmore, PA 19003, oathpizza.com.

Pizza Gutt

Young pizzaiolo Dan Gutter is just out there slinging dope square pepperoni-and-onion pizzas out of the back of a coffee shop, and people who know what’s up are reserving their pies ahead of time via Instagram. We live in a world where this is possible, and that’s a wonderful thing. 931 Spring Garden Street, Philadelphia, PA 19123, pizzawhat.com.

Nomad Pizza

The roasted root salad isn't your average salad. It's a brilliantly composed plate of cared-for veggies, tangled wilted pea greens, caramelized rainbow-hued carrots, paper-thin slices of wood-fired beets, served warm and topped with creamy chévre. But then again, Nomad isn't really your average pizza joint. 611 South 7th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147, nomadpizzaco.com/philadelphia.html.

Buckminster Green

Green but not too granola, Buckminster is the brains and brawn behind NoLibs' urban-rustic One Shot Coffee. (We'd move in if we could.) Happily, they do residential work, too. 958 North 5th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19123, buckminstergreen.com.

Charlie's Pizzeria

Remember when pizza used to taste like pizza? Charlie's does. Its pies are thin-crusted (but not crackers). The ingredients are simple (but not artisanal). When you bite into a slice, there's the appropriate amount of grease, the right amount of chew in the cheese, and an ideal floppiness to the crust. Someday, Charlie's will be a museum to what pizza tasted like before all pizza became gourmet. 107 West Germantown Pike, Norristown, PA 19401, pizzacharlies.com.

Wood Street Pizza

If nothing else, pizza is as comforting as comfort foods get. See the full write up at Takeout Pizza. 325 North 12th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, woodstreetphl.com.