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[title]RECOMMENDED: Complete New York pizza guide
OTHER NOMINEES: Basil Brick Oven Pizza, PeteZaaz, Wild Rise
Neapolitan rounds have long been the gold standard for NYC pie purists, but this year, a crop of pizza revisionists challenged the style’s supremacy. In Astoria, Basil Brick Oven Pizza championed a thin-crusted variant native to Northern Italy. PeteZaaz showcased wacky flourishes (purple potato, crème fraîche) in Bed-Stuy. And in the back of a Dumbo bar, pop-up joint Wild Rise crafted its traditional pies from dough leavened with wild yeast. But Forcella pizzaiolo Giulio Adriani earned your votes over all of these upstarts with a pair of standout joints: one in Williamsburg and the other in the East Village. Sure, his pizzas boasted all the vaunted Neapolitan bona fides: Caputo 00 flour, San Marzano tomatoes and a blistered, pillowy crust. But it was Adriani’s montanara, a flash-fried pie inspired by a version he grew up with in Naples, that really lured you in. This nouveau round—puffy and golden with a kiss of tangy sauce, creamy mozzarella and torn basil—earned its rightful place in Gotham’s pizza pantheon, solidifying its spot alongside the wood-fired beauties that have charmed us for years. 485 Lorimer St between Grand and Powers Sts, Williamsburg, Brooklyn (718-388-8820) • 334 Bowery between Bond and E 3rd Sts (212-466-3300) • forcellaeatery.com