Which one? Ray's Famous Pizza? Ray's Original Pizza? Ray's Famous Original Pizza? Ray's Original Famous Pizza? Famous Ray's Pizza? Original Famous Ray's Pizza?

This is an inside joke among New Yorkers. There are probably over a hundred pizza places, none that are related, that have "Ray's" as part of the name. None of them have really noteworthy pizza, by New York standards.

Ledo's, Maryand

1. Papa Del's - Champaign, IL (on Green Street!)
2. Gino's East - Chicago
3. Bill's Pub - Mundelein, IL
4. Giordano's - Chicago
5. Savastano's - Tulsa, OK

Honorable mention: Imo's - St. Louis, MO

Maybe its b/c I am from Brooklyn where there is a good pizza place on every other corner but I can't believe people put places like Pizza Hut & Papa Johns on their lists.

L & B Spumoni Gardens in Brooklyn is simply the best. The Sicialian Slices are amazing! They also have great regular pizza, pasta & spumoni. I can't believe it didn't make your top 5 Russ! They have a website with pics if anyone wants to check it out: L&B Spumoni Gardens

Another place I forgot (and haven't been in ages): Garcia's Pizza in a Pan! I went there all the time in Bloomington. Sadly, that location is now closed, though there still are locations in Champaign, IL.

Ditto even though I'm from Manhattan. The really good pizza comes from those small Mom and Pop pizza places (or Ray's and Famiglia's). To me anything that's from a chain simply isn't real pizza.

This is something my fellow NYers (even the transplants like me) always knock me for (aside fromm saying 'pop') - I think NY pizza is yucky. It's way too thin and soggy - even the "best". I will say that Sal's in my suburban town of Mamaroneck is very good - their sicilian is really good. And I even like their regular b/c they have great sauce. But give me some Chicago-style pizza any day. AND, I even prefer Domino's to a basic NY slice...

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1. FatBoyz Pizza
2. Lorobi's Pizzia
3. Jimenetti's Pizzaria
4. Fox's Pizza Den
5. Giovanni's Pizza

We need to swap pizza places or something. :) I am a Chicago-area native who prefers NY-style pizzas. That is practically blasphemy around here.

So of course when I went to NYC I ate pizza at a different place pretty much every day. :D

You guys, I feel really bad for the people who have to list stuff like Pizza Hut and Papa John's (or any other national chain for that matter). I wonder if we could somehow take up a collection to send these people to Chicago so they can finally experience good pizza.

I think I want to add Carl's of Denver to my list, in place of Pasquini's, maybe. Beniamino's has been slipping as well; they seem to be suffering from the Great Cheese Famine of 2005.

What about your newly found home of Little Caesar's? As I remember correctly, their food was hot and ready?

I think I like them so much because they're hot and ready, even if they're not known for their quality. Other pizza places might call them sluts, skanks or coke-heads, but they're all right with me!

1. Pete's Pizza (mmm... best calzones...) in the Seattle U-District
2. Pizza Brava - run by Ukranians; looove the techno music
3. Pagliacci (bonus points for pesto parmasean breadsticks)
4. Round Table

and

5. Papa Murphy's Take 'N Bake - since moving to the Inland Northwest, I've had to change my standards, plus I'm poor