Everybody has a favorite restaurant. Maybe it’s even one that they would travel just because they’re craving it. 

And everyone has a favorite pizza restaurant. Some people claim the best pizza is in New Jersey, New York, or Philadelphia. Others claim (strangely) that you can’t get a good pizza outside of Miami. But who is right? 

The answer is: everybody is, and everybody isn’t. A great pizza restaurant is a mostly subjective thing, and to that end, we’re going to take a look at three amazing–and different–pizza joints. One of them is the Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix, Arizona. Another is the Pizzeria Pellone in Naples, Italy. And the last is Labriola in Chicago. 

Pizzeria Bianco – Phoenix, Arizona: Famous food critics have given Pizzeria Bianco, a restaurant opened by Chris Bianco in downtown Phoenix, Arizona, in 1987, wonderful reviews. Located in downtown Phoenix, Arizona, this restaurant opened in 1987. Chris was born in the Bronx, New York. Because he suffered from asthma, he had to stay inside and watch his aunt do the cooking. He started working at a local pizza place when he was just 13 years old.

Then he won two plane tickets to go anywhere he wanted to in 1985. He chose Phoenix, and he instantly loved it. He decided to stay there and earned money by making mozzarella in his apartment and selling it to local Italian eateries. 

A grocer asked him to make and sell pizzas in the corner of his grocery–and that’s when Chris Bianco realized he could make pizza for a living. 

He went to Italy to learn how to improve his pizza-making talent. When he returned to Phoenix in 1994, he opened the first Pizzeria Bianco in a shopping center. He later moved to the current location on Adams Street.

Chris says that the secrets to his great pizza include a special organic type of bread flour, a special kind of oregano from Sicily, and amazingly delicious tomatoes. In fact, he now has his own line of organic canned tomatoes called Bianco Dinapoli.

Pizzeria Bianco features a wood-burning oven. He often makes as many as 250 pizzas per night. He makes them himself, and Bianco’s Pizzeria has received rave reviews: “Bon Appetit” has rated it as the best pizza restaurant in the United States; Vogue and Rachel Ray have also rated it as the best pizza in the United States.

Pizzeria Pellone – Naples, Italy: Pizzeria Pellone is on the Via Nazionale in Naples, and they make Neapolitan Pizza. The Italian Ministry of Agriculture has specific rules on how Neapolitan Pizza can be made: It must have tomatoes from Mt. Vesuvius’ slopes, and it must be baked in a wood-fired oven. 

When Vincenzo Pellone opened this pizzeria in 1960, it was quickly rated as one of the best in Naples. The “Federico II University Of Naples” has awarded them with the “Maestri d’Arte in pizza.” It’s not only the local people who love this place. Tourists go there from all over the world. 

Labriola – Chicago, Illinois: Owner Rick Labriola was born in Blue Island, Illinois. As a young boy, he worked side-by-side with his dad, making pizzas. He became a baker and started his own baking company in 1993. He studied with masters in French, German, and Italian bread making. He eventually developed his own bread, using special Italian ovens. 

His baking was so well received that he opened his first restaurant in 2008. Goldbelly.com says that their pizzas are pitch-perfect. Zagat.com says that they have pastas that are considered to be “outstanding.” They consider it to be a worthwhile place that offers good value. They say that it is a casual and yet somehow sophisticated pizzeria that has wonderful outdoor areas. The Chicago Tribune reported that they ordered a deep-dish pizza from Labriola’s. They said it was delicious. They like the fact that it was very crunchy. And this independent blogger says that the pizza has a very attractive, cheesy edge. 

The reviews don’t stop there! ChicagoMag.com says that Labriola’s might change your mind if you don’t care for deep-dish pizza. They say that the “flavor landmines” are the sausage crumbles that are “fennel-flecked.” They say that everyone will love Labriola’s Pizza.