Whether it’s Sicilian, Greek, Italian, New York, Chicago or Detroit-style, pizza is one food accessible to nearly everyone. And everyone has their favorite.
Here are 11 of the most often mentioned favorite pizza places in Seacoast New Hampshire and Maine:
Gigi’s Pizza | Portsmouth
Details: 2800 Lafayette Road (behind the Beach Plum in White Birch Plaza), Portsmouth, 603-501-0795, gigispizza.com
Owner Gigi Guennoun was born in Morocco, trained to be a chef in France, and has been serving pizza around the area for nearly 30 years, starting in Portsmouth at the former Ken’s West End Pizza, according to Gigi’s Pizza’s website. She specializes in thin-crust Italian pizza using 72-hour cold fermented dough made in-house and Mediterranean foods, but also offers a varied menu with lots of favorite soups, sandwiches and salads.
Gigi’s offers all the regular pizza and make-your-own options you’d expect as well as Chicken Bomb and Steak Bomb pizzas that feature Genoa salami in addition to seven other ingredients. There’s also a Pesto Pizza, a Basil Burrata with Hot Honey Pizza, and a Chicken Alfredo Pizza on the menu as well as more than a dozen different types of calzones, Mediterranean plates, hot subs, roast beef, cold sandwiches, soups and salads. Gigi’s Baklava stands out on its dessert menu. Appetizers include Fried Ravioli, Philly Cheese Steak Egg Rolls and, you guessed it, Garlic Knots.
The Bratskellar | Portsmouth
Details: 980 Lafayette Road, Route 1, Portsmouth, 603-436-0717, bratskellarpizzapub.com
The Bratskellar offers a dozen “Pizzas with Pizzaz” including the Neptune Pizza featuring clams and shrimp, the Bavarian Pizza with bratwurst and onions, and the Dilemma Pizza loaded with so many things the menu doesn’t list them. There’s also a Make Your Own Pizza option with a large variety of topping options, including everything from chicken livers to artichokes and all the regulars you usually order. Family-owned and operated, The Bratskellar also offers sandwiches, pasta and salads. Its website proclaims “A Local Favorite Since 1968,” and social media recommendations on the Seacoast food scene agree.
La Festa Brick and Brew Pizzeria | Dover
Details: 300 Central Ave., Dover, 603-743-4100, lafestabrickandbrew.com
La Festa offers several styles of pizza in one pizzeria. There’s its hand-tossed New York-style pizza in a 16-inch large or an 18-inch extra-large; a 12-inch Brick Oven pizza cooked in its wood-fired oven; its rectangular thick-crust Sicilian pan pizza; a Grandma Pizza, which is a thin, square pan pizza; and a 12-inch Gluten Free Pizza.
In each style, dozens of choices are available from the Sicilian Chicken Cordon Bleu to the Grandma Beauanca Pizza to the large Shrimp Scampi or Spanakopita Pizza. There’s even a Blair Witch NY Pizza. The creativity is endless. But that’s not La Festa’s secret weapon. Its secret weapon is the to-die-for Garlic Knots. If you get them once, you won’t be able to “knot” get them again. The Cinnamon Knots dipped in sweet icing are a dessert version. It also serves a variety of calzones, salads, heroes, grinders and wraps.
M & Y Brick Oven Pizzeria Bar & Grille | North Hampton
Details: 62 Lafayette Road, Unit A, North Hampton, 603-379-9124, mybrickovenpizzeria.com
Family-owned and family-friendly since 2015, according to its website, M & Y serves hand-tossed Italian-style brick oven pizza in small, large and by the slice, and offers both counter and table service.
Its menu features a large variety of red specialty pizzas with red pizza sauce, and white specialty pizzas with no red sauce. Their 17 red specialties include the Steak Pizzaiola, featuring shaved Philly steak, the Sausage Caramel featuring caramelized onions, sweet Italian sausage and Buffalo mozzarella chicken, and The Hangover, Hangover 2 and Hangover 3, which feature increasing amounts of over-the-top toppings from mozzarella sticks, jalapeno peppers, onion rings and tater tots.
Many pizzerias just have one or two white pizzas. M & Y’s 15 white varieties span from The McMac featuring the ingredients of a Big Mac doused in Thousand Island dressing to The Golden Harvest featuring spinach, bacon and sweet potatoes with cheeses, garlic, and caramelized onions under a balsamic drizzle.
On top of all that, and in addition to their array of hoagies, roast beef sandwiches, regular entrees and calzones, they serve imported Greek pastries, a variety of pies and sweets, and 14 flavors of gelato for the perfect ending to pizza night.
Front Row Restaurant & Bar | Exeter
Details: 137 Epping Road, Exeter, 603-773-0047, frontrowrestaurant.com
Front Row pizzas have Italian crust and are hand-tossed, according to its website, which also notes their dough contains peanut oil. Peanut-free and thin-crust versions are available. Make Your Own pizza is a main offering with endless possibilities in gourmet toppings from prosciutto to anchovies. On the house pizzas menu offering all the classic pies, there’s the Front Row Special featuring onions, green peppers, hamburger, hot Italian sausage, imported pepperoni, black olives and fresh mushrooms, and a Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo Pizza made with Alfredo sauce. There’s also a large variety of dinner entrees and calzones available. Many wait in line on a Friday night for their Front Row fix.
Community Oven | Epping and Hampton
Details: 845 Lafayette Road, Hampton, 603-601-6311, thecommunityoven.com/; 24 Brickyard Square, Epping, 603-734-4543, thecommunityovenepping.com.
Community Oven is known for wrapping a warm, comfortable blanket of pizza around you and its whole community. Its hand-tossed dough is made from 100% organic wheat flour and is lightly topped with sauce in thin crust-style, according to its website. The pies are made with its house signature cheese blend and herbs. Supporting community organizations and non-profits with fundraising evenings is one of its secret ingredients.
Community Oven will make any pizza you can dream up with an extensive Make Your Own list of ingredients. Its house specialties are fun and unusual, like The Pickle Pizza with a garlic oil base loaded with a cheese blend of dill pickles with a drizzle of ranch dressing; or The Big Oven, which features seasoned ground beef, Roma tomatoes, sliced red onions, roasted bacon, dill pickles and lettuce finished with Thousand Island dressing. It also offers a cauliflower crust in a personal pan pizza size in addition to a gluten-free crust option in the small size.
Revolution Taproom | Rochester
Details: 61 North Main St., Rochester, 603-244-3022, revolutiontaproomandgrill.com/
Revolution Taproom bills itself as “a gastropub serving eclectic American fare” of all kinds, according to its self-identification, but its artisan pizzas in particular are a big part of its success. It uses hand-tossed, house-made dough made with Stoneface IPA for its pies made in the Neapolitan-style and then wood-fired. You’ll find your inner Colonial Patriot in pizzas from The Molly Pitcher, The Franklin and The Bunker Hill to The Hancock, The Madison and The Revere. And they offer a choice of crust: regular, Pretzel Salt or Garlic Parmesan. It might be your civic duty to try one of these in honor of our country’s 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Revolution features around 40 craft and local beers.
Seacoast Pizza and Pasta | Wells
Details: 901 Post Road, Wells, 207-646-1696, seacoastpizzapasta.com/
Seacoast Pizza and Pasta offer New York-style pizza, a Sicilian Cheese Pizza and a variety of Special Style Pies on its extensive menu of entrees, pasta, Italian specialties, hot and cold heroes, among other goodies. They also offer Sicilian pizza by the slice from a thick-crust square.
Special Style Pies include an Eggplant Rollatini Pizza with diced eggplant and ricotta cheese, Lasagna Pizza and a Mexican Pizza. Calzones and Pepperoni Rolls, Spinach Rolls and Chicken Parmigiana Rolls round the menu out.
Appetizers include Zeppole fried dough and those Garlic Knots. Desserts include cannolis, Limoncello Mascarpone Cake and Tiramisu.
Flatbread Company | Portsmouth
Details: 138 Congress St., Portsmouth, 603-436-7888, flatbreadcompany.com
Since 2004, Flatbread Company has specialized in wood-fired pizzas with organic ingredients and free-range meats, made in traditional clay ovens, and has supported the community in so many ways. It has locations in other places, but Portsmouth is where it all began. It offers a wide variety of regular pies and summer seasonals such as Street Taco Flatbread and Pesto Margherita Flatbread and weekly specials in both the Carne and Veggie categories. A recent Carne Special featured honey-mustard chicken, organic Roma tomatoes, organic red onions, mozzarella, Copper Kettle parmesan and its house organic herb blend, finished after baking with local arugula and honey-mustard dressing. The Veggie Special that same week was homemade queso made with Pineland Farms Cheddar, crushed tortilla chips, organic black beans, oven-roasted corn, organic Roma tomato, mozzarella, Copper Kettle parmesan and its house herb blend, finished after baking with cilantro. Both veritable feasts on a platter of pizza dough.
Their always-available Portsmouth Community Flatbread is wood-fired cauldron tomato sauce, organic caramelized onions, organic mushrooms, whole milk mozzarella and parmesan cheese baked on organic bread dough with homemade garlic oil, sprinkled with that house herb blend.
The unusual and unforgettable way Flatbread slices the pizzas in long, thin rectangles is as unique as its combos and make for an eminently shareable experience.
Joe’s New York | Portsmouth
Details: 1981 Woodbury Ave., Unit 15, Portsmouth, 603-766-5566, joesnypizza.com
Joe’s New York Pizza, of course, makes traditional New York-style pizzas with its house sauce and dough made daily. It has pleased area pizza lovers for decades with all the regulars you’d expect, but also the Big Joe Pizza, its version of a Big Mac pizza; the Chicken Parmesan pizza; and its Mai Tai Chicken Pizza, which has a Thai sweet chili sauce with chicken, bacon, pineapple, green peppers and mozzarella. There’s also a Gyro Pizza, which is sauceless and topped with cheese, gyro, onions and tomatoes, and comes with tzatziki sauce for dipping.
But its pizza is not the only temptation here. Its appetizers such as the Mac & Cheese Bites; Tater Kegs, which are stuffed with cheddar, bacon and chives with sour cream to dip; and, yes, Garlic Knots, which they note contain pesto, might not leave much room for that pizza. Its several party sizes of salad so everyone can have some salad with their pizza are a nice idea. That idea carries over to its party pack sizes of its chicken wings. Its Baklava, Fried Dough Balls, Cinnamon Knots and Whoopie Pies make sure you leave room for dessert.
When Pigs Fly | Kittery
Details: 460 U. S. Route 1, Kittery, 207-438-7036, whenpigsflypizzeria.com/
When Pigs Fly Pizzeria features wood-fired Neapolitan-style pizzas with all natural ingredients and is also home to the When Pigs Fly Company Store, which offers all of the classic and artisan breads, and other products.
Its red sauce pizzas include Medjool Date and Soppressatta, Mama Lil’s Pepper and Italian Sausage, and Eggplant and Basil Ricotta. Its pizzas not with red sauce include a Truffle Pizza with roasted garlic rosemary ricotta base, wood-fired roasted mushrooms, red onions, fontina, Romano cheese, topped with arugula, and truffle aioli; and Jerk Chicken, with a sweet and spicy BBQ base, red onions, bell peppers, smoked mozzarella, jerk-seasoned chicken, shredded mozzarella and scallions.
Appetizers include Poutine, Pork Belly Steam Buns and Bruschetta. The big finish includes mini cannolis, a Root Beer Float, a Grasshopper Sundae and a Butter Toffee Cake among other goodies for dessert. And you can pick up a great loaf of bread or two or three for later.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald. Reporting by Jane Murphy.
