Gary’s Favorite NY-Style Pizza in NT & WC 

Pepperoni & sausage pizza at NY NY Pizza 

1. New York New York Pizza 

As a native New Yawka, although I have nothing against other kinds of pizza — and there are lots of good options for those other types in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel — pizza to me has a thin crust, a certain kind of mozzarella (only) cheese and a certain tomato sauce taste. Some places have it but most simply don’t. 

However, all of the places on the list below come pretty close to the pizza I loved most in my home state, with NY NY coming closest of all.

2. Amici Pizza 

3. 900Âș Woodfired & NY Pizza 

4. Fratelli’s 

5 (tie). PizzaMania 

5. (tie) Taste of NY Pizza 

Have You Entered Our 2023 Dining Survey & Contest Yet?

So far, we have asked you to name your Five Favorite Restaurants in Wesley Chapel, Your Five Favorites in New Tampa & Your Favorite Pizza & Sushi places in New Tampa or Wesley Chapel. If you’ve only responded to one or two of our questions, you can still respond to any of our Dining Survey & Contest questions for your chance to win FREE dining prizes (to the restaurant of your choice) of $100, $60 or $35. Click below to enter and answer any of these questions and look for additional chances to win in every issue of New Tampa & Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News through the end of October!

Click HERE to enter your Five Favorite Restaurants in Wesley Chapel

Click HERE to enter your Five Favorites in New Tampa & Your Favorite Pizza

Click HERE to enter your Sushi places in New Tampa or Wesley Chapel

Wesley Chapel Dining Survey Results: Your Favorite Pizza!

(L.-r.) Preston Parilo, Cynthia Andujar, Joe Carrion & Ivan Plumb obviously enjoy serving — and eating — the delicious New York-style pepperoni pizza at 900Âș Woodfired Pizza in the Shops at Wiregrass Mall. (Photo by Charmaine George)

1. 900Âș Woodfired
28152 Paseo Drive #195
(813) 527-6940
900DegreesWoodfirePizza.com

Pizza continues to be a favorite option for lunch and dinner with our readers and none is more popular this year than owner Steve Falabella’s 900Âș Woodfired Pizza in the Shops at Wiregrass, which won this year’s Favorite Pizza in Wesley Chapel with our readers by a fairly wide margin.

And, considering that Falabella opened not only his Falabella Family Bistro (our readers’ fourth favorite restaurant in WC) but also a second 900Âș Pizza location (900Âș New York Pizza, which finished a solid sixth with our readers in its first year) in The Grove at Wesley Chapel in 2021, the fact that so many still selected the original 900Âș location as their favorite pizza place is a testament to Falabella’s commitment to quality food at super-fair prices.

The primary difference between the two 900Âș locations is that only the original pizza shop in Wiregrass offers Neapolitan-style woodfired pizza (like the Margherita pizza in the photo, right), as well as the New York style ‘za available at both locations.

But, thanks to its other great Italian specialties, 900Âș Woodfired Pizza also finished 10th as our readers’ Favorite Restaurant in Wesley Chapel. Among the favorite appetizers are the deep-fried calzones known as Panzeretto and the bruschetta, while my favorite pasta dish is the authentic pesto Genovese, although the penne alla vodka, Alfredo and Bolognese sauces also are all pretty popular.  And, wash them down with ice cold Peroni on draft, as well as bottled beers and wines by the glass or bottle. — GN

2. PizzaMania
1734 Bruce B Downs Blvd.
(813) 907-0005
MyPizzaMania.com

One of the first pizza places to open in Wesley Chapel also is still high among our readers’ favorites, as the NY/NJ-style pies and Italian specialties continue to earn lots of votes.

Not only is there ever-popular regular pizzas, but also gourmet options, like But, of course, pizza, including gourmet options like Margherita, white sauce and more, but PizzaMania also offers everything from fried ravioli and bruschetta to arancini (traditional rice balls) and other appetizers, plus a variety of salads, hot and cold subs, calzones and strombolis, plus wings with a variety of sauces, lasagna, baked ziti, stuffed shells, gnocchi Sorrentina and pasta with vodka, white clam and pesto sauce and even a seafood combo of mussels, shrimp and clams that helped it finish tied for 34th Favorite Restaurant in Wesley Chapel with our readers. — GN

3. NY NY Pizza
3757 Bruce B Downs Blvd.
(813) 528-8771
NYNYPizzeria.com

Technically, the New York New York Pizza in Wesley Chapel is part of a small eight-unit chain (including one in Tampa International Airport) of no-frills Tampa-area pizza places that serve excellent true-New York-style pizza. But, chain or no chain, the Wesley Chapel location has been among the top five favorite pizza places with our readers since it first opened.

NY NY, which finished third to second-place PizzaMania by only two votes and ahead of Amici by a half-dozen, offers a large variety of pizza-by-the-slice and whole-pie options, including everything from cheese and pepperoni to meat lovers and white and from cauliflower crust to my favorite Grandma’s pizza with a garlic red sauce in our area.

NY NY also has a nice selection of salads, sandwiches and even burgers plus baked pasta options. — GN

The rest of the 2021 Pizza Top 10:

(4) Amici
(5) Mellow Mushroom
(6) 900 NY
(T7) Fratelli’s
(T7) Best NY
(T7) Blaze
(T10) Papa John’s
(T10) Bosco’s. 


Nibbles & Bytes: Sushi, Pizza and Healthy Items Highlight New Businesses

Pick Of The Week 1: Blue Fin Japanese Restaurant!
For those who complain about all of the chain restaurants that have opened in Wesley Chapel, one thing you should realize is that already we have quite a few excellent non-chain Japanese places — and you can add one more to that already-impressive list.

Blue Fin Japanese Restaurant has finally opened at 6034 Wesley Grove Blvd., next to Treble Makers in The Grove, and offers great Japanese specialties, from a huge assortment of sushi rolls to the excellent gyoza dumplings pictured top left (and other appetizers), to large portions of chicken teriyaki with fresh veggies, hibachi (but not prepared tableside) filet mignon and many more. It is open every day for lunch and dinner and serves beer, wine and sake.

For more info, call (813) 803-4709 and please tell Lawrence, the owner, that I sent you. — GN

Windy City Pizza Replaces Full Circle Pizza In Pebble Creek!
If you’re a fan of authentic deep-dish Chicago-style pizza but you haven’t yet tried the new Windy Cindy Pizza that opened recently in the former Pebble Creek Collection location (at 19651 Bruce B. Downs Blvd. in New Tampa, a mile or so south of the Pasco County line) of Full Circle Pizza — what are you waiting for? I brought the large Chicago deep dish pie with pepperoni & sausage pictured above to the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus & everyone raved. I’m not from Chicago, but this deep dish is legit! 

Tim and Matt, the owners, are both originally from Chicago (and previously owned Windy City on N. 30th St., near USF, and promise that their deep-dish and thin-crust Chicago pizza is authentic, as are the Chicago Italian beef sandwich and Windy City nuggets (fried homemade pizza dough served with pizza dipping sauce) and more. 

For more info, call (813) 388-5844 or visit OrderWindyCityPizza.com. —  GN 

It’s Chick’n, Not Cluckin’
Last issue, we told you that the former location of Hardee’s on Wesley Chapel Blvd. (next to Goodyear Auto Service) was going to be come a new chicken restaurant called Cluckin’ Fun, but we were only half-right.

The banner sign that had been up came down because the building was being re-painted, but according to the leasing agent, the new non-chain fried chicken place will actually be called Chick’n Fun, and also said that it should be ready to open within the next 45 days. — GN

LĂŒfka Refillables Hosts A Chamber Ribbon Cutting!
Congratulations to co-owners Danielle Howard (right in photo) and her mom Gail Sickler (center), who hosted a North Tampa Bay Chamber ribbon-cutting event on Sept. 23 at their new Wesley Chapel location of LĂŒfka Refillables Zero Waste Store at 27221 S.R. 56. 

LĂŒfka, founded by Kelly Hawaii (left) and her husband Parosh in Seminole Heights in 2019, offers eco-friendly personal care (Jannah loved the handcrafted soap I bought for her) and cleaning products, including many refillable and zero-waste items.

For info, call (813) 596-9376 or visit lufka.com. — GN 

Pick Of The Week 2: Green Market Cafe!
Located next door to LĂŒfka (at 27225 S.R. 56) is the sixth location of a Tampa Bay-area chain called Green Market Cafe.

Green Market definitely could have been included in our most recent issue’s “Healthy Food & Drink” story, with its menu of salads (like the almond chicken salad in the first photo), healthy bowls, wrap and other sandwiches, house-made soups (like the excellent spinach feta soup Jannah and I sampled recently) and unique drink options like Kombucha and CBD-infused water.

Green Market Cafe makes it easy to order, whether online (with pick-up and delivery options), at the self-service kiosk inside the store or at the counter, and proudly proclaims that all locations buy their produce “directly from the source — our local farmers. We strive for balanced nutrition…and wholesome ingredients free of hormones and preservatives — all at affordable prices.” For more info, call (813) 803-4590 or visit visit GreenMarketCafe.com for the current specials. — GN

Wesley Chapel’s Favorite Pizza!

Head Chef Adrian Luna (left) and owner Steve Fallabella.

Based upon votes cast in our annual Reader Survey, here are Wesley Chapel’s favorite pizza joints.

1 — 900 Woodfired Pizza
Steve Falabella says he doesn’t have one secret to his success as the owner of 900 Woodfired Pizza — he has many.

It starts with the pizza, sure. The New York-style pizza, his best seller, boasts a crispy crust — a little bit of whole milk when making the dough gives it some extra life — sauce derived from six different tomatoes and Grande cheese, which he says is the best around.

“It’s all about the cheese,” Falabella says, and he doesn’t mix any other into his choice of mozzarella to cut any corners.

But it’s also all about the employees. If you wonder why the food — whether one of 20 different kinds of pizza, specialty pastas like the Tortellini della casa or a big plate or spaghetti or Pesto Genovese — is always delicious, it’s because it’s probably made by the same people that made it last time.

Head chef Adrian Luna has been with Falabella all eight years he has been at the Shops of Wiregrass, as have those providing top-notch service — Cynthia, Bryan and Ivan.

“Consistency is crucial, it’s what we do,” Falabella says. “You know you are going to get the best quality ingredients cooked in the best quality way, and if you don’t, we will fix it for you in a second.” 

For more information about 900 Woodfired Pizza (28152 Paseo Dr.), call (813) 527-6940 or visit 900degreeswoodfirepizza.com.

2. Amici’s
Amici Pizza & Deli dropped to 2nd place in this year’s Reader Survey after winning the Favorite Pizza in WC” title last year and there’s no doubt that the pizza is true New York style and the linguini with white clam sauce is the best (and most authentic) in our area. The new location has been a blessing.

3. Mellow Mushroom
Mellow Mushroom definitely has the funkiest decor of all the pizza joints on this list, and it pairs an eclectic environment with equally eclectic offerings like the Funky Q Chicken (BBQ), Holy Shittake (for the mushroom lover), Great White and Kosmic Karma, with a handful of gluten-free pies as well.

4. PizzaMania
PizzaMania has never been much lower than the top three or four favorite pizza places with our readers since the day it opened in the Shoppes at New Tampa plaza. PizzaMania offers authentic New York/New Jersey-style pizza and excellent veal and chicken parmigiana & other Italian specialties.

5. NY NY Pizza
NY NY Pizza lives up to its name, serving up some pretty tasty NY-style pizza lauded for its sauce-to-cheese balance. One of the most popular items is the thin-crust Grandma Pie, with basil, garlic and plum tomatoes. With more than 25 kinds of pizza, as well as wings and sandwiches, NY NY has something for everyone.

6. Blaze Pizza
7. Best NY Pizza
8. Pomodoro Pizza
9. MOD Pizza
10. Fratelli’s