Pete,
Unfortunately both of the pizzerias you mentioned have opened since I moved away from Pittsburgh. Vincent's Pizza Park (The best!), Sir Pizza, Vocelli's, Mama Lucia's (only their Sicilian),and Mineo's are so amazing, that when I get back there to visit I end up wanting to hit them all, and not trying anything new. I am hoping to try them both on my next visit. My sister tried Regina Margherita, and said that it tasted exactly like the pizza she had in Italy.
I am lucky enough to live close to New Haven and New York, and I have to say Pittsburgh is right up there. Actually, I might prefer the Pittsburgh pizzerias, but that is probably just because it is what I grew up with. There is something special in a lot of the crust there. There is just a wonderful flavor that I have not encountered elsewhere, and it does not come from the smoky char of ultra high heat.
As far as Boston pizza goes, forget about it. I actually think we have the worst pizzas in the Northeast. I have lived here for over 10 years, and I swear I have tried every pizzeria at least twice. I don't know what is wrong with this place. We have access to the right cheese and tomatoes, we have a large Italian-American Population. I even have tried all the pizza I can north south, and west, looking for something decent. I have noticed that in general the quality of pizza increases as you move to the suburbs North or the West. Traveling south it gets really rough, unless you like Greek pizza. Once you get to Rhode Island It gets good again. We all know that once you get to Connecticut it totally rocks.
Where NY has a great Italian street pizza, we have a horrible Greek pizza that is pretty much everywhere. They use flavorless wonder bread like crust that is left to raise in a pan, low oven temperatures, white cheddar cheese (sometimes mixed with mozzarella if you are lucky), and pretty much no sauce. The sauce that is there is almost as thin as water. Also, for some reason (and this has been confirmed by the food-service providers around here) almost everyone uses part skim cheese here. There is not a single pizzeria in the Boston area that uses anything other than cheap bland pepperoni. Actually there is not even distribution for Ezzo here, and not one of the four largest pizzeria food-service providers carries the Hormel Rosa/Rosa Grande line. Luckily you can find the Hormel Rosa at Wall mart, of all places, for home made pizzas. It is pretty much the same as Ezzo. I have tried them side by side, and the Ezzo wins, but just by a little.
Regina's in the North End is probably the best Italian style pizza we have. Just make sure you go to that location, and not one of the mall/Fanuel Hall locations. The North End is our Little Italy, and is absolutely gorgeous. They have a fairly good sauce, and unlike most places around here they actually put on a decent amount. The mozzarella seems to be whole milk and has a pretty good flavor. They have an 80 year old gas fired oven that gets up into the 700's. This place is no Sally's, but at least they seem to care about the ingredients. They have one pizza, the polo pesto that is out of this world good. Even though they have only an average (way above average for Boston) crust, sauce, and mozzarella, they have the best ricotta I have ever encountered. It pretty much tastes like cream cheese. The pesto is pretty insane as well. They also have bottles of flavored oil scattered around the pizzeria to add to the pizza. It has an amazing flavor. My favorite one seems to contain whole fresh garlic cloves, romano cheese, pepper flakes, and a touch of oregano. Some of their pizzas have this in place of the red sauce. The polo pesto pizza has grilled chicken, ricotta, pesto, mozzarella, fresh basil (added after it is out of the oven), and a bruschetta topping for sauce. For those that don't know, bruschetta topping is fresh roma tomatoes marinated in salt, pepper, basil, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and garlic. This pizza is outstanding, and this is coming from someone who likes classic simple pies with few toppings, which this obviously isn't.
Another one of the better places in the city is Santarpios. They have a very basic menu with very few toppings for the pizza. The toppings are high quality, and they probably have the best sausage and pepperoni you can find around the city. They also have an old gas oven that can get pretty hot. Unfortunately they use part skim cheese, so the flavor is not quite there. Lucky for them they are using one of the best tasting brands, so even the part skim is passable. They use Pastene tomatoes, which I have found to taste the closest to Escalon. Depending on what day you go, both of these pizzerias are about equal. Regina has the edge, as far as the more creative toppings go, and that polo pesto masterpiece.
There is a new place with two locations called The Upper Crust that is pretty good. It is similar in quality to Regina, and Santarpios. Unfortunately the crust is on the tough side. The sauce might be the best of the three, with some nice fresh tasting chunks in it. Unfortunately they have dropped the ball on the cheese. Rumor has it that the owner used to be a Pepe's employee, and I believe it because the quality is up there. They might have even stolen the crust recipe. Unfortunately, I think they need the ultra hot oven to get that dough to work right.
Another place that comes up all the time on peoples best of Boston pizza lists is Emmas. They use a crust that is the thinnest and most brittle of any cracker crust variety I have encountered. They have all kinds of fancy toppings, and interesting cheese choices. Unfortunately I just can't get over that crust. I prefer cracker crusts that still have some moisture left in them.
While I am on the subject of cracker crusts, we do have an exceptional version of that one here. For some reason, it never gets any press, or mention in any of the Boston "favorites" lists. I highly recommend it. The place is called Bar 10, and it is in the Westin hotel right in Copley square. They have an amazing chewy, crisp, ultra thin crust that almost reminds me of an Indian Nan bread crossed with a cracker crust. Try to get one with the roasted tomatoes. The cheese is top quality, with a nice buttery flavor. They finish most of their pizzas with a drizzle of garlic/basil infused oil. Unfortunately when I crave Pizza I usually want more of a traditional Italian style pie, but this place is definitely worth visiting.
There are two places called New York Pizza that I like, one on Mass Ave, and one on Tremont st. in the theater district. They are not affiliated with each other. They both sell slices quite late, and are pretty close to your average New York style pizza. The Mass ave location uses Grande cheese, and might have the edge over the Tremont one, but they are both pretty similar.
There is some really good Italian style pizza north of Boston. One of the better pizzerias is called Sal's, or Sal's Just Pizza. I actually think it is as good as the best of the NY street pizzas. They have a bunch of locations, with the closest being about a half hour drive. There are some in New Hampshire, as well as Massachusetts. My wife likes it even better than Regina's.
When I first moved to Boston in 1990, we had an AMAZING pizzeria called Bertucci's. It was some of the best pizza I have ever had. Top quality everything. It was basically an authentic Pizza like what they have in Naples, probably using 00 flour, but with a really high end dry mozzarella instead of fresh. This is where I saw my first real wood burning oven. Unfortunately it turned into a chain and the pizza quality dropped dramatically. Having said that, it is still some of the best pizza you can find around here.
I should probably cover some of the regional pizza styles that we have here. People that grew up with these especially go crazy over them. One style is quite prevalent north of Boston. I also find this style in the Rhode Island area, although down there it is usually found with a sprinkle of romano or Parmesan instead of mozzarella. This pizza is usually found in Italian bakery's. One of the most popular versions is in Lawrence Mass at the Tripoli bakery. It is a square slice, but is not as thick as the typical Sicilian. Like most Greek and Sicilian style pizza, the dough is left to rise in a pan, but typically the pan is not oiled first. Tripoli has a REALLY sweet sauce, and offers your choice of mozzarella or provolone cheese. These pizzas are made in huge sheet pans, and are therefore usually only offered by the slice. It seems like they have basically designed this pizza to be able to sit out at room temperature for hours and still taste good. A few of the more popular places, like Tripoli, offer the slices hot from the oven.
Another regional specialty we have here can be found only in the south, between Boston and Rhode Island. It is sometimes referred to as pub pizza, or bar pizza. It is basically a better version of the typical Greek pizza that is found all over the Boston area. One main difference is that it is only found in one size, small. The other main difference is that the pan is oiled before the dough is put in. Like the typical Greek pizza here, it uses a white cheddar/mozzarella blend, and small amounts of thinned out sauce with a healthy dose of oregano in it. To me all of these places are pretty much the same, but other people have their favorites. The more popular places are The Town Spa, The Linwood Cafe, Christo's, The Cape Cod Cafe, and Damian's Pub.
