We’ve argued about whether Dallas is a pizza town. But if The Washington Post’s latest list of best regional pizza joints is to be believed, Dallas is not only a pizza town, it’s also home to some of the best pizza in Texas and beyond.
A whopping 11 pizza joints in Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano, Lewisville and more area cities were named. Just over two dozen are listed in Texas alone. Of note, the map covers the entire United States, but who are we to think too hard about what’s happening outside of our state lines? We know you can fly to New York for New York-style pizza, and to Chicago for deep-dish and tavern-style. Back to Texas, right?
WaPo’s emphasis is on regional pizza — Chicago-style, Detroit-style, New York-style, St. Louis-style, Roman, Sicilian and Neapolitan(”ish”). Dallas-Fort Worth is home to nearly all of those styles of pizza. Particularly during the pandemic, North Texas saw a spike in new pizza joints to complement stalwarts like Campisi’s in Dallas, Angelo’s in Irving and Mama’s in Fort Worth, which are among D-FW’s oldest restaurants.
A data columnist at WaPo started with 7.5 million Yelp reviews, then a team of experts slimmed it down to bite-sized blurbs.
North Texas pizza restaurants that made the list:
- Andrew’s American Pizza Kitchen in Plano, the reincarnation of Picasso’s Pizza, gets special recognition. WaPo lauded it for its crackery, tavern-style pizza, but it was also listed as one of Texas’ best Detroit-style restaurants. In fact, Andrew’s also sells “Dallas style” (thin crust); Chicago style (deep-dish); and two “New York” styles (one that resembles the Neapolitan style from Italy and another with big slices that are foldable). You want to eat regional pizza in D-FW? Andrew’s is the spot.
- Motor City Pizza in Lewisville is a Detroit-style restaurant that Yelp has named as one of the top pizza spots in the United States.
- Cane Rosso is the most prolific restaurant on the D-FW map, with Neapolitan restaurants in Arlington, Carrollton, Dallas, Frisco and Fort Worth.
- Cavalli Pizza made the list for its family-owned Neapolitan-style pies in Irving.
- Pizza Leila, a newcomer in downtown Dallas that sells pies in a grab-and-go setting, is D-FW’s only Sicilian pizza shop on the list.
- Kabylo’s Pizza in North Richland Hills has a great story: This by-the-slice spot was started by an Algerian man who moved to the United States and started working in pizza restaurants some 15 years ago, first as a dishwasher. He opened Kabylo’s in 2022 and named it after his home region, Kabylie.
- Slice City Pizza in Fort Worth serves New York-style pizzas, with New York-style cheesecake for dessert.
- 5th Street Pizza in Allen is the only St. Louis-style pizza joint on the North Texas list.
- Rosati’s Pizza in Fort Worth makes several kinds of pizzas but specializes in the Chicago deep-dish.
- Chicago’s Original Pizza in Allen is another deep-dish joint.
- And Taste of Chicago in Addison is the final entry. It sells both deep-dish pizza and tavern-style pizzas.
What did they miss? Partenope is one of Dallas’ most beloved Neapolitan pizza joints and deserves to be on a best-of list. It was recently named one of the best in the country. And how about Louie’s? The Henderson Avenue staple is a thin-crust spot beloved by long-time Dallasites.
And, just sayin’, Fortunate Son isn’t open yet in downtown Garland, but when the owners of Goodfriend make their debut there, they’ll sell New Haven pizza, another regional pizza style worth a try.
If your favorite pizza joint wasn’t on this list, we’d love to hear about it. (An unrelated list of the best taco cities in the United States whiffed on Dallas, and we’re still salty about it.)
Write to eatdrink@dallasnews.com with your favorite regional pizza joints.
