In honor of pizza's current leadership position in the poll, I thought I'd share a bit of info with Small.To readers.

First, here's an informative link sent to me by markveglia. It's a page of news about pizza.

Second, many of you don't know this, but I've sampled pizza the world around. I've had pizza in at least 10 different states in the USA. I've had pizza in France, Austria, Germany, Mexico, and Canada. I've had Chicago-style stuffed pizza. I've had New York-style thin crust pizza with low salt. I've tried pretty much all of the frozen pizzas, including those with rising crusts. And I'm ready to give you my favorites.

1. Joe Bocci's: I don't think Joe Bocci's is still around. If it is, it probably won't live up to my memories. It was an “American-style” pizza, meaning a thin crust, a big roll of crust at the end, a slightly spicy sauce, and really gooey cheese. Man, it was good, but I think it only existed in Carmichael/Sacramento, California.

2. Siggy's: Another “American-style” pizza. They turned me on to “Pizza Today” magazine. They had a place in the mountains of Groveland, CA...a small town you passed through on the way to Yosemite. They're gone now, but I've heard they have opened another in Merced or something. I should find out.

3. Some place in New York. I know, I know, that's weak that I can't remember the name of my #3. I think, having seen a special on the Food Network, that it was Lombardi's in Little Italy.

4. Zachary's Chicago-style pizza, Oakland (or Berkeley) CA. I don't actually think it's true to the Chicago-style. Sure, it has the right shape and building sequence, but it's crust is more pastry/flaky/floury vs. the real Chicago style pizzas which taste a little of corn meal and being fried. Funny, but I prefer Zachary's stuffed Spinach & Mushroom pizza to the “real thing”.

5. Uno's or Due's in Chicago. I've tried plenty of pizzas from Chicago, and these were the best there.

6. Rico's Pizza, Sacramento, CA. I believe Rico was Joe Bocci's brother. Once the family fued was settled, Joe shut down his vastly superior place.

7. Croll's, Alameda, CA. What I like about this place is that it's “American Style”, but the crust has a hard shell filled with steaming hot, super-soft dough. Light and fluffy, with a not-too-sweet sauce

8. Napoli's, Vallejo, CA. My wife grew up in Vallejo, and grew up going to Napoli's. I can see why. It's NY style pizza with no frills.

9. Artz pizza, Vacaville, CA. Yet another on the list that's no longer in existence. Shame. I think it was run by a Filipino fellow, and it was it's own pizza-like creation. (We called it a pan de pizza.) As I recall, it was like pan de leche dough in a pie tin, filled with veggies of all sorts, sauce, and covered with cheese, more crust, and parmesan. I tried to learn to make pan de leche simply so I could duplicate it at home. It failed pretty quickly, since most folks were looking for a traditional pizza.

10. Mike's (?) pizza on the way to Kirkwood ski resort. Jackson, CA. What I like about this place is it has multiple sauces (e.g., you can get cajun spicy sauce on your pizza). It makes the list if only because of novelty.

Garlex, mentioned by Norcalfella, is fine. Not great. Not bad. Primo's is pretty good, but I found their crust got too soggy if you got more than one topping.

I will, of course, have to try Lamorinda Pizza, now that he mentions it.

Honorable mentions include: The Cheese Board in Berkeley, CA; Ashland Pizza Company (?) in Ashland, OR; Lou Malnatti's Pizza from Chicago, IL, which can be ordered half-baked, fed-exed, packed in dry ice; De Vino's Pizza in Pleasant Hill, CA conveniently within walking distance of my house