TPTHMD: 11 Years of Pizzas That Have Haunted OG Pizza Writer Adam Kuban

Every year, OG pizza writer Adam Kuban (once called one of the “20 Greatest Food Bloggers of All Time” by First We Feast) publishes a list of pizzerias he’s visited during the calendar year. He’s been doing this since 2009 when he was writing for Slice, his pizza blog (since folded, sorry…pun) acquired by Ed Levine’s site Serious Eats. A few days ago, Kuban published his annual TPTHMD piece (The Pizzas That Haunt My Dreams), making it 11 (!) years of pizzas that’ve haunted the guy.

“Looked at as a whole, you could argue that at least half of these pizzerias could be featured on a “best pizzas in America” list and you’d have something better than most best-of lists out there.”

I’ve been in food writing for 15 years and I’ve read a ton of stuff by writers (not just pizza, LOL) that either makes me mad, skeptical, or… well, mad. That doesn’t happen with Adam. I trust the guy’s recs implicitly. So when he does his roundup at year’s end, I look to see if there are any places I need to hit.

In my head over the past five years, I thought that these lists first snagged my attention because of Kuban’s Louie & Ernie’s sausage pie rec, which I immediately fell in love with (if you don’t know, it’s the post-game Bronx pizza move after a Yankees afternoon win).

But the fog of pizza memory can be thick: Turns out Louie & Ernie’s isn’t among pizzerias featured on these lists from 2009 through 2019. It was written about in 2010 (“The Bronx: Louie & Ernie's Pizza for a Sausage/Onion Pie to Haunt Your Dreams”) and noted as not making the list because it wasn’t visited until after that year’s list was published.

Anyway, that first eye-rollingly good sausage pie cemented my already substantial trust in Adam’s recs. If he says a pizza haunts him, I need to meet the ghost. (The original criterion was, “not ‘the best,’ per se, just the top eight I keep thinking about and wanting more of.”)

But one thing Kuban hasn’t done is feature all of these pizza poltergeists in one place. Sure, you can look at the bottom of each piece and go back one piece at a time (‘19, ’18, ’17, ’16, ’15, ’14, ’13, ’12, ’11, ’10, ’09) and read them all—and if you’re an obsessive and you haven’t, you’ll have fun doing that—but if you just want to know where the places are so you can start hitting them…well, you can’t.

So because over the years I’ve used these lists to do my own adventuring, and I know there are others out there like me (well, at least a little as obsessed), I collected all the places into one map for ease of reference (the 2015 list had to be found in The Wayback Machine). Looked at as a whole, you could argue that at least half of these pizzerias could be featured on a “best pizzas in America” list and you’d have something better than most best-of lists out there.

Here’s what you should know if are interested in the places featured over more than a decade:

This list goes back. And I mean back. One of the haunting pies was made by Paulie Giannone in his backyard… as in Paulie Gee before he opened his first pizzeria.

It’s a little slice of pizza trend history. From Pizzeria Bianco and Prince Street Pizza to L’Industrie and Mama’s Too!, you can track the arrival and rise of many of today’s most well-respected pizzerias.

I’m not the only one who looks forward to this list. Pizza guys have told me they were bummed to know he ate at their joint and they didn’t make the list.

It’s not actually eight pizzas. Only about half the years have featured eight pies. As I understand it, there are eight because Serious Eats slideshows used to be eight slides long (how quaint!) and there are eight slices in a pie. A few years feature more than eight pies (with 12, 2018 featured the most) and there are repeats over the years. Sue the guy—what can he do, he’s haunted… didn’t you hear me? LOL

He’s featured places he hasn’t visited. “There are dreams you have after the fact and dreams born of aspiration.” Who said there’s no poetry to pizza?

It's actually pizzas from about 75 pizzerias. Fourteen places have been featured more than once. Paulie Gee's and Mack's are tied with five times, followed by Prince Street Pizza with four times, Motorino at three, and a bunch of places with two hits. Only one place has made the list twice in one year: Paulie Gee’s in 2010.

Ball and chain. Papa John’s made the list in 2010.

You can’t hit all the places. A bunch of places are closed. And one year, a reader’s pie made the list. So you’d have to find Craig "TXCraig1" Lindberg in Texas (if he still lives there) and get him to cook for you.

This map is color coded. By year. Here’s a link to it in case you just want to view it that way on your phone or download it onto your laptop so you can look easier year by year.

Me? I’ve hit all but 22 of the spots that have made the lists. Norma’s and Mack’s are burning holes in my to-do list. So check out the map and the list of places featured below to use as your own to-do list and follow @akuban and @spinningpizzathing on Instagram if you’re not already.

8 Pizzas That Haunt My Dreams 2009 Maria's Pizzeria, Motorino, Paulie Gee's Backyard Oven, Veloce Pizzeria, Serious Pie, Emilia's Pizzeria, Pizzeria Bianco, Sally's Apizza

8 Pizzas That Haunt My Dreams 2010 Paulie Gee's, Loui's Pizza, Motorino, Roseland Apizza, Kesté, Papa John's Pizza, Marco’s Pizza, Best Pizza, Paulie Gee's

8 Pizzas That Haunt My Dreams 2011 Umberto's, Star Tavern, Adrienne's, Santillo’s Brick Oven Pizza, Paulie Gee's, Roberta's Pizza Cart, Pizzetteria Brunetti, Forcella

8 Pizzas That Haunt My Dreams 2012 Lombardi's Pizza Truck, Mack's Pizza, Speedy Romeo, Prince Street Pizza, Williamsburg Pizza, Federici's, Rosario's, READER PIE

8 Pizzas That Haunt My Dreams 2013 Via 313, Motorino, Totonno's, Colony Grill, Tappo, Williamsburg Pizza, Tufino, Paulie Gee's

8 Pizzas That Haunt My Dreams 2014 Prince Street Pizza, Casey's Pizza, Ragazza, Kinchley's Tavern, Wheated, Lazzara's, Rosario's, GG's, Paulie Gee's, Emily

8 Pizzas That Haunt My Dreams 2015 Rubirosa, Via 313, Pieous, Maria's Pizza, Mack's, Lazzara’s Pizza, Colony Grill, Prince Street Pizza, Roberta’s Square Pie Pop-Up at Humboldt & Jackson, Last Dragon Pizza

8 Pizzas That Haunt My Dreams 2016 Prince Street Pizza, Lillian Pizzeria, Harry's Italian Pizza Bar, Emmy Squared, Mack's Pizza, Bruno, Pugsley Pizza, Farinella Bakery Pizza

8 Pizzas That Haunt My Dreams 2017 Sofia, Nick's Pizzabar, Corner Slice, Mack's, Pizza Head, Dani's, Marinara Pizza, Delmar, NY Pizza Suprema, Emily (West Village)

8 Pizzas That Haunt My Dreams 2018 Louie's, NY Pizza Suprema, Emmy Squared, L&B, Mama's Too!, Beebe's, Paulie Gee's Slice Shop, L'Industrie, Scarr's, Corner Slice, Brooklyn Square, Mack's

8 Pizzas That Haunt My Dreams 2019 Upside, Sofia, Dani's, Rosie's, Mama's Too!, Norma's, King Umberto, Paulie Gee's Slice Shop, Philomena's, Razza, L'industrie