Illustration by Lars Leetaru
I inhaled pizza at six different local restaurants recently, and in the middle of my tasting tour I flew to an out-of-town funeral. What did I grab to eat at the airport? Pizza. (It was actually pretty good: Blaze Pizza in Terminal A at CVG.) What food did we arrange for the family gathering after the funeral? Pizza. (It was meh, ordered from a national chain. But I still had a couple of pieces.)
I’ll argue that pizza has become “America’s food,” replacing the burger as our main course of choice for any and all occasions. Like the burger, you can make decent pizza yourself at home, get quick-and-easy versions at a number of cheap storefronts, or try unusual varieties at specialty spots. Some of the nicest dining establishments in town serve their own take on pizza. You can also find it at a gas station or a neighborhood market.
We explore the depth and breadth of Cincinnati’s awesome pizza offerings this month. We last rated the area’s top pizza places in the September 2018 issue of Cincinnati Magazine. Over those five years, “The Top 25 Pizza Parlors in Cincinnati” was one of the most frequently viewed stories on our website almost every week. Much more than “The 45 Best Burgers in Cincinnati.” More than even “John ‘The Dancing Trucker’ Drury Is a Super Spreader of Joy.” Really.
Knowing the ongoing hunger for pizza news and insight, we sent staff and freelance writers to almost 50 different independently owned pizza spots around the Cincinnati area. As I said, I was assigned to test six places, three of which were new to me. I would gladly have done more.
This month’s top 25 pizza places is an interesting companion to our 2018 ranking: Only four of the top 10 restaurants in 2018 appear in our new top 10; two of the 2018 favorites have closed, and two of this year’s picks have been open for just six months. In the ever-changing landscape of dining options across Cincinnati, one constant remains: Pizza is awesome. What else can you say?
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