2 GA Pizzerias Among 101 Best Pizza Joints In US: Daily Meal

ATLANTA, GA — The Daily Meal released its list of the "101 Best Pizzas in America" recently, and restaurants from 30 states made the cut, including two Georgia eateries. The food blog considered nearly 1,000 pizzas and looked for such qualities as a nuanced sauce, well-distributed cheese, a flavorful crust and an overall balance of ingredients.

The Daily Meal then reached out to a diverse list of pizza chefs, bloggers, critics and writers, and asked them to take a survey on the pizza shops where they actually had eaten.

At the end of the process, Georgia had two pizza joints that made the rankings. At No. 72 on the list is O4W Pizza, 3117 Main St. in Duluth, and at No. 29 is Antico Pizza Napoletana, 1093 Hemphill Ave. in Atlanta.

Here's what the Daily Meal says about O4W Pizza: "Anthony Spina made waves in 2015 when he opened O4W in Atlanta, a shop specializing in 'Jersey-style' pizzas. Jersey-style generally refers to a Trenton-style tomato pizza with cheese put down first followed by a sauce heavy on tomato flavor. However, the can’t-miss pizza here is the award-winning grandma pie cooked in cast iron pan. O4W even calls itself 'Home of the Grandma Pie.' And while you might chuckle at a Georgia pizzeria doing Jersey-style pizzas and being known for a pizza that originated in New York, there’s nothing funny about how good this pizza tastes."

Here's what the website says of Antico Pizza Napoletana: "Giovanni Di Palma’s Antico Pizza Napoletana opened in 2009 and has since established itself among most Atlantans as the city’s best pizza. There are 11 pizzas on the menu: five red, five white and one special: the Sophia, with buffalo mozzarella, cippolini onions, roasted mushrooms and white truffle oil. In the red category, opt for the classic Margherita D.O.P (with San Marzano tomato sauce, buffalo mozzarella, basil and garlic) or the San Genarro (sausage, spicy peppers, buffalo mozzarella and cippolini onions). And as for the white pizzas, go for the Bianca, topped with both cow’s milk and buffalo mozzarella, ricotta and pecorino. The menu notes that 'all pizzas come well done and slightly charred,' which in this instance is a very good thing," the food experts noted.

Topping The 101 Best Pizzas List

Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana in New Haven, Connecticut, was named the best pizza joint in the nation for the third year in a row. Connecticut might have had the No. 1 pizza overall, but New York led the way as far as frequency on the list, with 28 pizza places on the list of 101. New York was followed by Illinois with nine, California with seven, and Connecticut, Pennsylvania and New Jersey all with six winning pies.

Here are the top 10 overall pizzas in America, according to The Daily Meal:

1. Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana; New Haven, Connecticut
2. Lucali; Brooklyn, New York
3. Razza Pizza Artigianale; Jersey City, New Jersey
4. Pequod's; Chicago, Illinois
5. Buddy's Pizza; Detroit, Michigan
6. Totonno's; Brooklyn, New York
7. Sally's Apizza; New Haven, Connecticut
8. Patsy's; New York, New York
9. Lou Malnati's Pizzeria; Chicago, Illinois
10. John's of Bleecker Street; New York, New York

See the full "101 Best Pizzas in America" list.