Helping to put Tennyson Street on the map when it opened to instant raves in 2010, this craft beer and pizza parlor has held its edge with a menu that goes well beyond the norm. It starts with a hefty list of custom ingredients for topping New York-, Sicilian-, or Detroit-style sourdough crusts: Think smoked tofu, ham hock, blue cheese, and hot honey. It continues with the Artisan Pie of the Month, which could feature mashed potatoes, bacon, caramelized onions, and charred-tomato jam or grilled chicken, artichoke hearts, spinach, mascarpone, and everything bagel sesaoning. And then there’s the slice of the day, which might be a play on crab rangoon or street tacos. Throw in an ever-rotating taplist, and the options are truly near-endless.

Despite the name — and the Big Apple–inspired decor, and the fact that chef Justin Freeman hails from the Hudson Valley — this RiNo hot spot doesn’t do New York–style pies. What it does do, however, is fabulous, from the chewy, well-structured sourdough crust to smart topping combos like pickled pineapple, bacon jam, and jalapeño or soubise, caramelized onions, and aged cheddar.

Only good things can come from a tiled oven as drop-dead gorgeous as the one at this LoHi haunt. And so they do. The pizzas here aren’t fussy, just crafted with care to pair with drinks that exude Italian style, from spritzes and Negronis to bottles of Menabrea and indigenous red blends from the Valle d’Aosta: Seasonal specials featuring taleggio, prosciutto cotto, delicata squash, and barrel-aged maple syrup might crop up in autumn, giving way to ricotta di bufala, kale, Castelvetrano olives, and garlic oil in spring. Come brunchtime, try the breakfast pie with eggs, potatoes, and fennel sausage on for size.

As the dynamic duo behind beloved pasta joint Dio Mio, Alex Figura and Spencer White know a thing or three about dough, and they’re proving it at this pizzeria down the block from their flagship in RiNo (complete with an alley window for service by the slice). Natural leavening and a 72-hour fermentation process yields just the right amount of crunch, give, and tang, while toppings like aged Gouda, pickled pioppino mushrooms, and pink peppercorns add extra flash; specials of the day might involve both butter-poached white asparagus and roasted green asparagus, preserved lemon ricotta, and Green Goddess dressing or house-corned beef, Sichuan-spiced sauerkraut, Guinness beer cheese, and Fresno peppers.

For their Euro-cool vibe as well as their wood-fired pies, this dynamic duo — housed in a RiNo shipping container and the old Z Cuisine space in LoHi, respectively — has mojo to spare. In addition to crowd favorites like the namesake Cart-Driver with mozzarella, sausage, kale, and chili flakes and the clam pie with littlenecks, pancetta, roasted garlic, and cream, both branches whip up market specials on the regular — a recent example being LoHi’s Lambchetta with lemon crème fraîche, gremolata, capers, and mint. Snappy cocktails and geeky wines add to the allure.

Now here’s il pranzo perfetto (the perfect lunch): For $15, this fast-casual newcomer to LoDo serves up two hearty square-cut slices, aka Roman-style pizza al taglio, with a choice of four side salads. Topping combos like Italian sausage and potato; summer squash, ricotta, and basil; and soppressata, burrata, and roasted asparagus make for a breezily sophisticated noontime getaway.

The seats at the bar of this Lakewood successor to Deli Italia are the best in the house, offering an unobstructed view of pie after pie being assembled from start to finish — and what a finish it is, courtesy of beautifully blistered crusts that glisten with a brush of olive oil beneath the likes of garlic sauce, speck, spinach, and pepperoncini or goat cheese, roasted eggplant, arugula, and balsamic reduction.

Though fraternal owners Kris and Jason Wallenta, who also run Dos Santos around the corner, opened this cozy Uptowner in honor of the New Haven–style parlors they grew up around in Connecticut, their menu is anything but beholden to tradition, East Coast or otherwise. Pies here come topped with everything from mashed potatoes, bacon, and candied walnuts to Brie, Swiss, roasted-garlic crème fraîche, and smoked salt — and, with their distinctly irregular-shaped crusts, they look as well as taste as intriguing as they sound.

When one of Denver’s best bakeries gets into the pizza game, odds are they’re going to win. Naturally leavened and cold bulk fermented overnight, Good Bread’s dough is already proving to be the stuff of cult followings, whether topped with garlic cream, caramelized shallots, and parsley or cupping pepperoni, mascarpone cream, and hot honey: Dining reservations for Thursday and Friday nights only go like hotcakes (or rather hot pies).

Operating out of the Pita Grill and Hookah Lounge space at somewhat odd hours, this vegan vendor couldn’t be more endearingly quirky as it slings daily specials inspired by nachos, Reuben sandwiches, avocado toast, and even chicken and waffles. But rest assured it’s grounded in the fundamentals, from the crunchy crust to the richly tangy sauce on generously topped pies like the “meatball” parm.

Though it wouldn’t be out of place anywhere along the Northeastern Seaboard, Angelo’s has for decades served as a second home to the Alamo Placita neighborhood, where it serves up red-sauce staples and seafood treats like chargrilled oysters with equal aplomb. Signature combos include the extra-meaty Sir Psycho Sexy with meatballs, sausage, pepperoni, salami, and pancetta, while the list of custom ingredients gives vegetarians plenty to play with — fried eggplant, sundried tomatoes, broccoli, artichoke hearts, and three different types of olives, for example. (A second location in Littleton adjoins sibling Carboy Winery.)

Despite the unfortunate timing of its grand opening just before the pandemic, the arrival of this homage to the fern bars of the 1970s on South Broadway’s Antique Row proved auspicious thanks to the kitchen’s earnest craft. The organic dough undergoes a natural two-day fermentation to yield a crust that’s paper-thin yet somehow sturdy on bottom, chewy at the edges, and tangy all over, while the topping combos are as flavorful as they are thoughtful (not to mention veggie-centric). Must-tries include the Hunter with bison chorizo, cheddar, green-chile ranch dressing, caramelized onions, pickled jalapeños, and cilantro as well as the That 70’s Pie with three cheeses, arugula pesto, baby kale, and roasted golden beets.

Denver doesn’t have anything quite like Massachusetts-style bar pizza, but this beloved Virginia Village fixture and its Park Hill sibling have carved out a similar niche as vital purveyors of the neighborhood pub pie. Despite their relatively thin, crispy crusts, they’re solidly built for soaking up any of the 20 or so craft beers on tap (with plenty more in bottles or cans), be it the Ya Mar with sausage, salami, ham, and two types of mozzarella or fancier fare like the Bliss with aged Gouda, herb-roasted potatoes, arugula pesto, scallions, and white truffle–infused olive oil.

When a hankering for old-school red sauce strikes, this Littleton institution cheerfully delivers — just as it has since 1967. Stained-glass lamps, roomy maroon booths, and a crowd full of families celebrating this or that occasion set the mood for tomato-splashed pies with thin, crunchy crusts that support the likes of shaved roast beef with roasted peppers and onions, meatballs and pepperoni with jalapeños, or even a pile of cheese tortellini.