hyper-local pizza religiousness (updated)

One thing that ties together the Youngstown Nation and Diaspora is its food.

the region's pizza style, many would say, deserves it own genre in the pantheon of national pizza prowess.

its qualities: a thick crust (soft inside - crunchy but never burnt outside), sweet sauce with garlic, sometimes with cheeses other than mozzarella, and often full of sweet peppers.

The local ABC station has been doing an excellent job this week of visiting some of the local best pizza places. Unfortunately, the station's video links seem to expire after three days, so you need to check out these videos RIGHT AWAY.


Monday - the Elmton in Struthers (since 1945) [map]
Tuesday - Avalon Gardens in Youngstown (since 1930) [map]
Wednesday - Mary's in Lisbon (since 1961) [map]
Thursday - Robbins Avenue Pizza in Niles (since 1959) [map]
Friday - Tony's in Sharon, PA (since 1949) [map]

others not of their list, but stand-out pizzas:
Joe - the artichoke and tomato pizza [map]
Uptown Pizza - fantastic sauce [map]
the original Belleria - makes a mean Brier Hill pizza [map]
Inner Circle - good brier hill also [map]
U Pie - great dough, lamb on saturdays too [map]