Pizza Guide – Boston, MA

The Northeast is known for its pizza. New Haven, CT and NYC get all the hype, but Boston can go toe-to-toe with any style of pizza your heart desires.

Ciao! Pizza & Pasta (Chelsea)

Ciao has not only one of our favorite pizzas in Boston, but possibly our favorite pizza ever. They specialize in Neapolitan-style pizzas that they cook up in their wood-fired oven.

We love Neapolitan-style because it’s super light (that means you can face a whole pizza). The dough is light and chewy, with a crispy crunch on the crust. A pizza is only as good as its ingredients, and Ciao takes as much care in those as they do with their dough and sauce.

A couple of our favorites include the sausage as well as the pollo arrosto. The sausage is made with a homemade fennel sausage, which is a step up from the sausage on a typical “meat lovers.” The pollo arrosto has roasted chicken, bacon, and pesto, all of which come together in a flavor tsunami.

If there is one must-try unique pizza here, you have to try the nutella dessert pizza. It has a sweet mascarpone base, and tons of nutella and fruit. This is essentially the pizza version of a crepe and it’s the perfect way to end a meal.

Avenue Kitchen + Bar (Somerville)

If you haven’t had the Detroit-style pizza, then stop reading this article right now and get yourself to Avenue.

Similar to Chicago deep dish, you can debate if Detroit-style pizza is really pizza. But, what is not debatable is that when done right, Detroit-style is one hell of a meal.

What sets Detroit-style apart from your typical pizza is that it’s cooked in a square pan with high sides. This creates caramelized (on the verge of burnt) sides and a light an airy center. Typically, a slice is a few inches thick. Avenue has perfected this style, and has added a few twists along the way.

For first time customers of Detroit-style, their classic cheese is good. But for a unique take, we love the beef barbacoa. This is covered in bruised short rib and an electric cilantro pesto sauce. There is beef jus drizzled on top to add even more meatiness. This pizza has an awesome back-and-forth between rich beef flavors and super fresh citrus from pico de gallo and pesto.

Avenue is more than just a pizza place as they have a robust menu and great draft list.

Pizza Days (Allston)

Pizza Days is exactly what we think of when we talk about classic American pizza. Their main style is what we call football pizza. It’s nice and greasy with a medium flop. The true gem here (and why they are in this article) is their Sicilian pizza. This style is cut into squares and is a few inches thick, similar to a Detroit-style.

The difference here is it is not cooked in a pan, so the sides aren’t burnt and caramelized. This pizza is light, airy, and has a touch of sweetness to the dough. When it’s Sunday and the Patriots are on, this is what we are ordering.

You might not be getting the high-end ingredients from the other two spots, but you are getting those familiar flavors from the pizzas you grew up with.