16 Best Spots For Pizza In Louisiana
Louisiana punches way above its weight in all things culinary, and pizza is no exception. While most people outside the U.S. couldn't point to "the boot" on a map, pretty much everyone has heard of Louis Armstrong, Tabasco hot sauce, and the city of New Orleans. A big part of Louisiana's cultural gravitas is its vibrant food culture of which its residents are staunch defenders. The layered culinary influences of each migratory wave to feed off this fertile swampland is but a backdrop for the state's best pizzaioli to create their pies.
Although, rightly so, Louisiana is more known for its French Acadian heritage, approximately 290,000 Italian immigrants came through the port of New Orleans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many of them were from Sicily, and you can certainly feel their mark on Louisiana's Italian cuisine today. But back to pizza. You won't find "Louisiana Style" featured on a list of the types of pizza around the world. Instead, you've got plenty of options across the state, from foldable New York-style slices to thin-crusted wood-fired pies. Louisianians take food seriously, so you'll never be too far away from something delicious.
You'll notice many top choices lie in the Greater New Orleans area. That's because this is the most populated and restaurant-dense region of the state. New Orleans is a foodie destination unto itself, and thus offers the widest variety of quality pizza spots.
Read more: 19 Popular Pizza Chains, Ranked From Worst To Best
Pizza Delicious In New Orleans
Pizza Delicious offers exactly that: delicious pizza. It's at or near the top of every New Orleanian pizza lover's list, and it made the cut on the Daily Meal's 101 best pizzas in America. This Bywater joint offers a selection of New York-style slices, full pies, pastas, and more. You can't go wrong with a classic like the cheese, the Margherita, or the Pizza D supreme, but it's the innovative, ever-changing specials that'll keep you coming back. You could land on an artichoke, bottarga, and fennel white pie one day, and red wine braised pork, delicata squash, and juniper pesto pizza the next. Another bonus? Pizza D is vegan-friendly, and it's always got a few vegan options on rotation that just as easily appeal to omnivores (vegan stuffed artichoke pizza, anyone?).
Pizza Delicious got its start as a Sunday night backyard popup for the community. Opening its brick-and-mortar restaurant in 2012, Pizza D has retained a laidback vibe and stayed true to its community roots. Located just blocks from Crescent Park, Pizza Delicious is a destination for locals and venturesome tourists alike. There's ample seating, but expect to stand in line to place your order.
(504) 676-8482
617 Piety St, New Orleans, LA 70117
Ancora Pizzeria In New Orleans
Now a Freret Street mainstay, Ancora Pizzeria opened in 2011 as one of the key restaurants driving transformation in the neighborhood during its post-Katrina growth spurt. Ancora has persisted as businesses around it have come and gone for good reason: It consistently puts out truly excellent Neapolitan-style pizza. Ancora is renowned for its house-made salumi selection. Walk inside, and you can't ignore the towering case of aging meats. While you may be tempted to order nothing but pizza, don't overlook the antipasti. Whet your pallet with arancini, crab gnocchi, or one of the impeccably crafted cured meat boards.
Ancora takes its Neapolitan influences seriously, making its pies in a centuries-old style according to the rules of the Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana. This association specifies details such as how the dough should be made and even how the oven should be constructed. Ancora's pizza oven was handmade in Naples by Stefano Ferrara, a third-generation oven artisan. Fermented over three days, Ancora's pizza dough cooks in less than two minutes to a perfectly crisp exterior texture. While you can never go wrong with a Margherita, be sure to try the diavola with tomato sauce, fior di latte, Neapolitan salami, and chili oil.
(504) 324-1636
4508 Freret St, New Orleans, LA 70115
Margot's In New Orleans
A post-pandemic addition to the New Orleans pizza scene, Margot's creates Neapolitan-style pies in a cheerful corner spot way down Frenchmen Street. But don't let its address fool you; you won't wander in after staggering past Blue Nile. Margot's offers a vastly different vibe from the Bourbon Nouveau atmosphere down the street. Located on the residential side of Frenchmen, walk into Margot's, and you'll know you've stumbled into a neighborhood gem.
Expect expertly made sourdough with high-quality toppings and perfectly balanced cocktails. True to New Orleans' spirit, you'll spend more time studying the drink menu than choosing your pizza. Owner Brad Goocher, who lives above the restaurant with his family, is a familiar name on the New Orleans cocktail scene and offers up no fewer than six Negronis. Former Ancora Chef Adrian Chelette takes care of the pizzas, blistering their bubbly crust in an 850 F oven. His menu is small and focused. It's impossible to make a bad decision.
(504) 224-2892
1243 Frenchmen St, New Orleans, LA 70116
Midway Pizza In New Orleans
Almost directly across the street from Ancora sits Midway, offering a decidedly different approach to pizza. This place is known for deep dish, so you'd be remiss ordering anything else. Its menu is chock-full of superlative combos. You could go basic and get the Margherita, but Midway is all about the toppings. After all, those thick crusts can take it. You've got options like the King Creole with Creole/Fredo sauce and Gulf shrimp, or the Reggie Dunlop with garlic, mozzarella, gorgonzola, prosciutto, pickled red onion, pecan, arugula, and balsamic glaze.
For those dining in, Midway serves its pies on either a thin, stainless-steel platter or a proper deep-dish pan, meaning those edges get extra crispy. Very few can manage an entire Midway pizza on their own, so this is a particularly great spot for families or groups. There's also a selection of salads and appetizers, like garlic knots, meatballs in marinara, and garlic breadsticks.
(504) 322-2815
4725 Freret St, New Orleans, LA 70115
Paladar 511 In New Orleans
The French Quarter is a pizza desert, but venture just a few blocks beyond Esplanade Avenue, and you're in for a real treat. Paladar 511 occupies a corner spot in a converted brick building just beyond Frenchmen Street. With luxury apartments above, and the Grand Krewe wine shop just next door, Paladar 511 anchors the vibe on this block. It offers not only fantastic pizzas but a selection of house-made pasta, seafood, and vegetable dishes. The menu successfully blends a Mediterranean sensibility with Gulf Coast ingredients. Its plated dishes include sophisticated delights, such as beef carpaccio with cornmeal fried oysters, or braised rabbit with sweet potato gnocchi.
Paladar 511's pizzas are personal sized with thin crusts, crisp edges, and high-quality toppings. The spicy San Marzano with mascarpone and wild arugula is a perennial favorite. The sauce is fresh, perfectly balanced, and crowd-pleasingly spicy. Other pizza options include lamb merguez sausage with roasted peppers and pine nuts, or farm egg with bacon, collard greens, and gruyere.
(504) 509-6782
511 Marigny St, New Orleans, LA 70117
Johnny's Pizza House, Statewide
Where's the best pizza in the state? To countless Louisianians, Johnny's Pizza House is the only answer. Johnny's got started in Monroe back in 1967, opening across the street from a local university. Founder Johnny Huntsman built his business from the ground up, back before people in the area had even seen a pizza. These days, Johnny's has dozens of locations across northern Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas, with Monroe newspaper The News-Star calling it the "world's smallest pizza chain" in 2017.
Johnny's is an institution in every area there is one, and the number one pie on everyone's list is the Sweep the Kitchen. Created at the original location, this specialty is loaded with 11 classic American pizza toppings, including pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, black olives, jalapeños, and anchovies. With pizzas that have a soft crust with a sweetish tomato sauce and plenty of shredded mozzarella cheese, Johnny's also offers wings, cheese bread, breadsticks, and even desserts made from sweetened pizza dough.
Multiple locations
Zee's Pizzeria In New Orleans
If you're looking for New England-style pizza uptown, Zee's is where it's at. This former popup opened up a permanent location in 2022. Founder Zander White began selling pies from his home during the COVID-19 pandemic, and eventually became a regular popup at Zony Mash Beer Project. White told New Orleans newspaper The Times-Picayune that the biggest difference with a brick-and-mortar location is the greater degree of control. Working outside, the weather could really affect the oven temperature. "We have a lot better consistency and faster bakes now," said White.
Available whole or by the slice, these pies have crispy, foldable crusts that hold their shape. Zee's is known for bringing the pepperoni cup to the Crescent City. White uses small pepperoni that cook up into tiny meaty bowls, bathing your tongue with salty orange grease. If you're in the mood for vegetables, try the red top Margherita with garlic butter, two kinds of mozzarella, and red sauce on top. This style creates an exceptionally crispy crust. Zee's also offers a white pizza, plain cheese, and supreme, among others.
(504) 766-6056
3914 Baronne St, New Orleans, LA 70115
Pizza Domenica In New Orleans
Now with two locations across New Orleans, Pizza Domenica was born from the success of the pizza at the luxe Domenica restaurant in the Roosevelt Hotel downtown. Both businesses are part of BRG Hospitality, John Besh's former restaurant group. While Pizza Domenica's first location on Magazine Street may be noisy, it's a neighborhood favorite for families, groups, or takeout. Just be prepared to wait! Known for its bubbly crust and fresh toppings, all of the pizzas have somewhat of an Italian flair with ingredients such as black truffle salami, tomato vodka sauce, prosciutto, and fennel sausage.
Pizza Domenica also offers a few salads, garlic knots, smoked chicken wings, and meatballs. But if you're going to get anything other than pizza, you absolutely must order the wood-roasted cauliflower with sea salt and whipped feta. This impressive creation first appeared at the original Domenica restaurant. It proved so popular that it just had to be on offer at Pizza Domenica, as well. And yes, you can get it to go.
Multiple locations
Oak Oven In Harahan
This cozy restaurant off Jefferson Highway offers thin-crusted, personal-sized pizzas that emerge bubbling hot and crisp from the wood-fired pizza oven in the back of the restaurant. Suitable for families and first-dates alike, Oak Oven has a full menu with Creole-Italian flair influenced by the founders' Sicilian heritage. In this vein, Oak Oven creates Neapolitan-style pizzas with high-quality, Italian-inspired toppings. Pies include a classic Margherita, a formaggi with four kinds of cheese, a salsiccia with fennel sausage and capers, and even a shrimp and crab pizza with artichokes and red chili.
The pizzas are just the right size for one person, but just as easily form a great side dish or appetizer to one of Oak Oven's delectable entrees. The restaurant's homemade pastas are just as popular as the pizza. Choose from options such as pappardelle with shrimp and artichokes, fettucine with cream, butter, and Grana Padano cheese, or go all out with the chicken parmigiano. Oak Oven also offers an approachable, reasonably priced wine list and a limited selection of beer.
(504) 305-4039
6625 Jefferson Hwy, Harahan, LA 70123
Meaux Jeaux Pizza In Metairie
"-Eaux" is pronounced with a French accent down in Louisiana, so you can say "mo jo pizza" in this case. With a 4.8/5 stars on Yelp, you could also say this pizzeria's got its mojo working. Meaux Jeaux Pizza is a casual joint that opened up in 2022 in an unassuming strip mall, but it's quickly becoming a neighborhood favorite — and it's well worth the drive out to Metairie.
Choose between hand-tossed, thin, Neapolitan, or cauliflower crust, then decide between over 20 topping combos. There are carnivore-pleasing options like the Meaux Jeaux supreme or the chicken bacon ranch, as well as more refined choices like the pear with prosciutto and gorgonzola. But the real draw here are those creations you'll find only successfully executed in this part of the world. We're talking about shrimp Creole pizza with marinara sauce, shrimp, onions, tomatoes, and mozzarella. Or the Sweep the Bayou pie loaded with shrimp, cheesy crawfish sauce, and mozzarella, which is perhaps inspired by the Johnny's Pizza House classic referenced in this piece.
(504) 455-2252
2221 Transcontinental Dr, Metairie, LA 70001
Gendusa's Italian Market In Kenner
This mom-and-pop restaurant is chef-owned, and you can taste it. Troy Gendusa offers up a Creole-Italian menu with an extensive selection of pizzas. Expect small, thin-crusted pies loaded with cheese and creative toppings. Besides pizza, Gendusa's offers rotating daily specials, like Thursday steak night. There's also an impressive array of garlicky Creole-Italian heavy hitters like shrimp parmesan and eggplant lasagna. Plus, like any respectable Italian market, you can get a sandwich here, too. All po' boys are made on bread from the historic John Gendusa Bakery in New Orleans.
Gendusa's imports flour from Italy for its pizza dough. Once cooked, it's thin yet sturdy enough to support the generous toppings. There are plenty of options to choose from, and even though Gendusa's only offers one size of pizza, you can split your toppings half and half. In fact, Gendusa's goes so far as to suggest certain mashups, like the half Marcello/half Anastatia. If you choose just one, go for the Vito Genovese with red sauce, pepperoni, and homemade Italian sausage.
(504) 305-5305
325 Williams Blvd, Kenner, LA 70065
Pomodori Pizza In Mandeville
This cozy restaurant popped up in a new development occupying the site of a former strip mall and K-Mart. Pomodori Pizza is one of the few places on the Northshore serving Italian-style, wood-fired pizzas. Chef Lee Webb has an obsession with brick ovens and a passion for pizza. Together with Chef Mike Degavage, they offer an approachable, truly Italian-American menu. The restaurant's antipasti include house-made focaccia, meatballs with marinara, and the cheekily named mozzarella fritto. Pomodori has an impressive selection of formaggi and salumi, with regional rarities such as bresaola, mortadella, and ricotta salata. You'll find these ingredients dotted across the menu on pizzas and other dishes, but if you're craving a tagliere, you can build your own platter.
Pomodori's pizzas range from simple to complex, with both American and Italian influences. On one end of the spectrum, you've got the namesake Pomodori with tomato sauce, two kinds of mozzarella, and 24-month aged parmigiana reggiano. On the other, you've got the jalapeño popper pizza with extra virgin olive oil, cream cheese, cheddar, pickled jalapeños, and pancetta. But a trip to Pomodori Pizza would be incomplete without the Il Pauly Gee, named for Webb's friend and pizza mentor.
(985) 778-0243
3555 Hwy 190, Ste 3439, Mandeville, LA 70471
Meribo In Covington
After Sorelli's closed, it was difficult to find a reliable pizza spot in downtown Covington. Enter Chef Gavin Jobe. He opened Meribo in 2016, directly adjacent to the 31-mile Tammany Trace bike path. Expect a sturdy, pleasantly crisp, crunchy crust. Choose between red sauce or white sauce pies, with options like the meridionale with Calabrian chilis, smoked pork, ricotta, and collard greens, or the Rocket with sun-dried tomatoes, roasted garlic, and preserved lemon chili marmalade.
Jobe has an Italian sensibility to cooking, and in that vein, he seeks to use locally grown or produced ingredients whenever he can, as he told The Times-Picayune. Those fresher flavors shine through with each dish on his menu. There are plenty of other options on the menu to accompany or even entirely replace your pizza, including cacio e pepe (another rarity in Louisiana), as well as casarecce with wild boar, sweet peppers, eggplant, and pecans. If you order just one non-pizza item, treat yourself to the crispy Brussels.
(985) 302-5533
326 N Lee Ln, Covington, LA 70433
Rocca Pizzeria In Baton Rouge
Rocca Pizzeria opened in 2018 to fill the Neapolitan pizza gap in the state capital. This space has exposed lightbulbs, a larger-than-life Ray Charles mural, and a glistening monolith of a pizza oven that can reach up to 900 F. Owner Ozzie Fernandez teamed up with celebrated New Orleans Chef Alon Shaya's Pomegranate Hospitality to develop the menu. To get an idea of his vibe, check out this preview of our Tasting Table test kitchen dinner with Shaya from back in 2015. With this initiative, Rocca's has struck the perfect balance between familiarity and creativity. Yes, it's got garlic knots, but they come with chimichurri and whipped provolone.
The restaurant's pizzas are made from a sourdough starter and Italian flour, making for crust that has a complex flavor and crisps up quickly in the blazing heat of the imported Acunto pizza oven. Choose between red or white pies, with many vegetarian and meat-heavy options. The dolce vita combines salami and andouille on the same plate, which doesn't happen too often. The pesto pizza uses hazelnuts instead of pinenuts to produce a sauce that emphasizes the already nutty flavor of the crust. Rocca Pizzeria also has numerous specials running every week: It offers a three-course prix-fixe lunch menu Tuesday through Friday; plus, select pizzas are half off during happy hour on these same days.
(225) 478-1286
3897 Government St, Baton Rouge, LA 70806
Frank's Pizza Napoletana In Shreveport
The first pizzeria of its kind on the Shreveport scene when it opened about 10 years ago, Frank's takes pizza Napoletana very seriously. Like Ancora in New Orleans, Frank's Pizza Napoletana has an imported Stefano Ferrara brick oven that cooks each pizza in just 80 seconds. It uses imported Italian San Marzano tomatoes in its pizza sauce, just like the pizzaioli in Naples. This restaurant is vehemently dedicated to quality, making its own mozzarella, butchering its meat and fish, making its own sausage, and even curing its own salmon. Frank's further bills itself as "Traditional Neapolitan, Contemporary Shreveport," and its menu is full of Italianisms both authentic and invented, with pizza titles like prosciutto di parma con rucola and l'hawaiano-italiano.
Choose from over 20 pizzas with a wide variety of toppings. Each pizza is about 12" in diameter, but smaller sizes are available during lunch. Frank's also offers a strong selection of creative appetizers, such as crawfish arancini with Tabasco cream sauce, and potato beignets with crispy pancetta. Impressively, the menu includes eight salads to choose from. There are also several lunch combos available with soups, salads, sandwiches, and smaller-sized pizzas. Suitable for family meals and date nights alike, Frank's Pizza Napoletana also has an extensive wine list with a strong selection of appropriately priced, lesser-available Italian options.
(318) 230-7130
6950 Fern Ave, Shreveport, LA 71105
Jim Deggy's Brick Oven Pizza & Brewery In Pineville
Established in 2016, Jim Deggy's brings personal-sized, hand-tossed, wood-fired pizzas to the greater Alexandria area. Paul Averett named his restaurant after his grandfather, James DeGregorio, and combined Cajun and Italian flavors in his honor. We're not talking about shrimp étouffé here; don't forget there are significant differences between Cajun and Creole cuisine. Jim Deggy's prides itself on its sweet and savory crust with a bubbly dappling from the wood-burning pizza oven. It's got the basics like cheese, pepperoni, or veggie, but this is one of the few places you can get boudin on a pizza, so carpe diem and try the Voodoo pizza with pepperoni, boudin, jalapeños, and pepper jack.
Pork reigns supreme on this menu — it appears not only as boudin, but also as candied bacon, pulled pork, and of course, pepperoni. Jim Deggy's appetizers include cheese bread, spinach artichoke dip, and chicken wings. There is also a pleasing variety of salads, a few soups, and even a kids' meal with chicken nuggets and fries. In early 2024, Jim Deggy's opened a second location in Lafayette.
(318) 528-8116
3497 LA-28, Pineville, LA 71360
Methodology
This selection was created based on personal experience, recommendations from locals, press coverage, social media, and web presence. Each location shows a commitment to quality and community, whatever that may look like in a given context. I've lived in Italy and Louisiana and have eaten countless pizzas in both places. While some Italians may not approve of Louisiana's rather liberal use of garlic, I imagine most would readily admit this state has created something special with its cuisine.
Static Media owns and operates Tasting Table and the Daily Meal.
Read the original article on Tasting Table.
