An Italian media company's list has honored this year's top 100 pizzerias in the world, including an award-winning San Francisco institution among its distributors of the delightful dishes.
According to 50TopPizza, which held a ceremony Sept. 13 at the Palazzo Reale in Naples, Tony Gemignani's Tony's Pizza Napoletana at 1570 Stockton St., is the 19th-best pizzeria in the world.
First-place honors were sliced up between 10 Diego Vitagliano Pizzeria of Naples, and Francesco Martucci's I Masanielli of Caserta, Italy, while second- and third-place honors went, respectively, to New York's Una Pizza Napoletana and Sartoria Panatieri of Barcelona.
Una Pizza Napoletana was frequently regarded as among San Francisco's best when it opened on 11th Street in San Francisco's SoMa neighborhood—until restaurateur Anthony Mangieri decamped for New York in late 2017, that is.
A consistent award winner in its own right, Tony's Pizza Napoletana earned entry into this year's world contest after a stellar showing in 50TopPizza's ranking of American pizzerias. At an award show in New York on June 27, Tony's ranked No. 4, while Gemignani's Pizza Rock in Las Vegas also made its list at No. 18.
As the only business with two pizzerias in the year's guide, he took home the list's Robo Award for Performance of the Year.
Judges for 50TopPizza called Tony's "a sure and traditional reference point for those who are seeking a high-quality pizza in the United States," adding that "great attention is put into detail and, above all, the leavening time for all types of pizza."
Most Bay Area pizza fans who love a good slice, even partisans of San Francisco's own Flour + Water and Shuggie's Trash Pie or the East Bay's Mama's Boy, aren't likely to be surprised by the news.
On a slightly different pizza pairing front, starting this week through Saturday, Tony's plans to offer a trio of variations on the popular negroni cocktail: a classic with gin, carpano and Campari; an Oaxacan version with mezcal and orange bitters; and a "tiramisu" version with rum, coffee-infused Campari and biscotti liqueur.