# The Best Pizza in Mexico



## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

I don´t have the answer for this inquiry but let´s just say the pizza at Lake Chapala is pretty dreadful in every respect. That includes the old line pizza jonts and the new attempts at improving the awful products generally offered. Terrible food in all places. You would think that in a place overwhelmingly populated by foreign retirees there would be a decent pizza joint but you would be mistaken. The restaurant food here at Lake Chapala is disgraceful overall. 

Surprisingly enouugh, the best pizza we have had in Mexico has been in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas which has a large Italiian expat community many of whom are in the restaurant business serving up pizza cooked in wood-fired ovens serving up exquisite pizzas the likes of which you would never find at Lake Chapala. God serves us up these trivial but important differences to tease us no doubt but take him seriously.
His sense of humor is limited.


----------



## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

Hound Dog said:


> I don´t have the answer for this inquiry but let´s just say the pizza at Lake Chapala is pretty dreadful in every respect. That includes the old line pizza jonts and the new attempts at improving the awful products generally offered. Terrible food in all places. You would think that in a place overwhelmingly populated by foreign retirees there would be a decent pizza joint but you would be mistaken. The restaurant food here at Lake Chapala is disgraceful overall.
> 
> Surprisingly enouugh, the best pizza we have had in Mexico has been in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas which has a large Italiian expat community many of whom are in the restaurant business serving up pizza cooked in wood-fired ovens serving up exquisite pizzas the likes of which you would never find at Lake Chapala. God serves us up these trivial but important differences to tease us no doubt but take him seriously.
> His sense of humor is limited.


I have been told by my house guests that I make the best pizza in Mexico.


----------



## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

[_QUOTE=TundraGreen;1784297]I have been told by my house guests that I make the best pizza in Mexico.[/QUOTE]_

We look foward to enjoying that pizza with the finest pinot noir which we will supply . Unlock the gates. Otherwise , point us toward the nearest Dominoes.


----------



## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

Ok, the best pizza in Mexico is served at Costco.


----------



## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

Hound Dog said:


> We look foward to enjoying that pizza with the finest pinot noir which we will supply . Unlock the gates. Otherwise , point us toward the nearest Dominoes.


You have a deal.


----------



## JoanneR2 (Apr 18, 2012)

Hound Dog said:


> I don´t have the answer for this inquiry but let´s just say the pizza at Lake Chapala is pretty dreadful in every respect. That includes the old line pizza jonts and the new attempts at improving the awful products generally offered. Terrible food in all places. You would think that in a place overwhelmingly populated by foreign retirees there would be a decent pizza joint but you would be mistaken. The restaurant food here at Lake Chapala is disgraceful overall.
> 
> Surprisingly enouugh, the best pizza we have had in Mexico has been in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas which has a large Italiian expat community many of whom are in the restaurant business serving up pizza cooked in wood-fired ovens serving up exquisite pizzas the likes of which you would never find at Lake Chapala. God serves us up these trivial but important differences to tease us no doubt but take him seriously.
> His sense of humor is limited.


 We recently had a fantastic pizza made in a proper pizza oven in Valle del Bravo. The chef is from Pisa and the food was some of the best we've had outside of Italy. Even the pasta is made by hand and you can watch them roll and cut it while you wait. Only 16 covers and you need to wait a while but definitely worth it.


----------



## lagoloo (Apr 12, 2011)

The best pizza I've had in Mexico was down a side road leading to the beach in Sayulita. Wood fired oven, tossed in air, covered generously with great ingredients. The place is heavily patronized by surfers of all stripe.....which might explain it. 

The best pizza in Lakeside is still to come. I wish David at the new Tabarka restaurant location would get his wood fired oven going instead of using it as a cigarette depository. There might be hope.


----------



## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

[_QUOTE=lagoloo;1793801]The best pizza I've had in Mexico was down a side road leading to the beach in Sayulita. Wood fired oven, tossed in air, covered generously with great ingredients. The place is heavily patronized by surfers of all stripe.....which might explain it. 

The best pizza in Lakeside is still to come. I wish David at the new Tabarka restaurant location would get his wood fired oven going instead of using it as a cigarette depository. There might be hope.[/QUOTE]_

We never make it over to Sayulita these days since we bought the home in Chiapas but a pizza joint patronized by surfers will be worth a try if we get back over there. We really like Tabarka in West Ajijic and go over there often for Spanish-style seafood. Great ambience in an outdoor setting with a fun and efficient staff. I don´t see why wood oven pizza fired wouldn´t be really good there so the next time I´m there I intend to bug the chef about expanding his menu.

In the meantime, wood-fired pizza at the Italian joint in the El Cerrillo Plaza in San Cristóbal de Las Casas with a glass or two of house red will do. 

I really am puzzled that "Lakeside", the community with a large expat contigent on Lake Chapala, still has no really good pizza joints, especially since the retiree population is so large and retirees like to take home stuff like pizza and sammiches rather than cook for one or two old goobers. Of course, there is Dominos that will moto your pizza over in 20 minutes or so guaranteed or it´s free or so I am told.


----------



## lagoloo (Apr 12, 2011)

Domino's will do, if you assume that all the decent ingredients must be added after it's delivered to your door. So....just go for the cheese basic and put your own stuff on the danged thing, including some decent cheese.


----------



## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

lagoloo said:


> Domino's will do, if you assume that all the decent ingredients must be added after it's delivered to your door. So....just go for the cheese basic and put your own stuff on the danged thing, including some decent cheese.


If you are going to do that you might just as well make your own, you are 80% of the way there. Making the dough takes a little experience but it is not that hard.


----------



## HolyMole (Jan 3, 2009)

Like most pizza aficionados, I think I know my pizza. We've had some excellent pizza in Mexico, from Tio Pablo's in Los Barriles in Baja Sur, to Rito's Bacci in Puerto Vallarta.
We're lucky in Zihuatanejo, where there are 3 or 4 good places: Joe's Cafe Marina, Jungle Pizza and a couple of what we call Mexican style pizzas, (thin crust, heavy on the cheese) like Super Pizza and Vivan Las Pizzas.
And in Montreal, where I grew up, everyone knew that Greeks made better pizza than the Italians.


----------



## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

...And in Montreal, where I grew up, everyone knew that Greeks made better pizza than the Italians...[/QUOTE]

Actually, the best pizza on earth is "pissaladiere" from from Nice, France. Pissaladiere (plus sex perhaps) is the reason I married my French bride in Mobile 42 years ago.


----------



## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

Hound Dog said:


> Actually, the best pizza on earth is "pissaladiere" from from Nice, France. Pissaladiere (plus sex perhaps) is the reason I married my French bride in Mobile 42 years ago.


Pizza and sex sounds like something I did in college. Never knew what to do with the extra pepperoni.


----------



## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

I always wondered why many Mexicans I know always smothers their pieces of pizza with a layer of ketchup no matter where it came from. 

Then when here I was invited to parties where they had bought pizzas from the local low cost pizzerias. The pizza had almost no tomato sauce, was dry, and needed 2X the cheese to make it enjoyable to eat. The meat toppings where about the same as a US pizza.


----------



## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

AlanMexicali said:


> I always wondered why many Mexicans I know always smothers their pieces of pizza with a layer of ketchup no matter where it came from.
> 
> Then when here I was invited to parties where they had bought pizzas from the local low cost pizzerias. The pizza had almost no tomato sauce, was dry, and needed 2X the cheese to make it enjoyable to eat. The meat toppings where about the same as a US pizza.


I have found that the typical Mexican pizza is a large flour tortilla covered with cheese. I've often asked, 'where's the sauce?'


----------



## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

joaquinx said:


> Pizza and sex sounds like something I did in college. Never knew what to do with the extra pepperoni.


Famous quote: " Pizza is like sex, even the worst pizza tastes pretty good."


----------



## capamando (Sep 22, 2013)

*Wood Fired Pizza*

Hello Folks,

My first day here and I already committed an infraction!... my apologies.. my intention was not to advertise.... just sharing..anyways... back to the subject of pizza... do you guys think is possible for my wife and I to bring our mobile wood fired pizza oven on a trailer to Mexico? 


Thanks


----------



## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

joaquinx said:


> I have found that the typical Mexican pizza is a large flour tortilla covered with cheese. I've often asked, 'where's the sauce?'


Exactly the problem. They are flat and very little sauce, dry, and some are even hard. They need more dough and possibly turn up the heat on the pizza ovens.


----------



## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

capamando said:


> Hello Folks,
> 
> My first day here and I already committed an infraction!... my apologies.. my intention was not to advertise.... just sharing..anyways... back to the subject of pizza... do you guys think is possible for my wife and I to bring our mobile wood fired pizza oven on a trailer to Mexico?
> 
> ...


Most likely very complicated because you will need to first have a the proper immigration document that allows you to set up a business and have an address in Mexico. You will need to have a customs broker give you all the details to import a machine for use in Mexico and probably have to have a corporation set up and registered with customs that allows you to import equipment to Mexico to use for your business and pay duty according to what the rules are. 

Or you can drive over the border with it and deal with customs on the spot and see what happens. The worse they can do is turn you around and send you back across the border. I have seen this happen a few times to people with a loaded truck or trailer.


----------



## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

capamando said:


> Hello Folks,
> 
> _My first day here and I already committed an infraction!... my apologies.. my intention was not to advertise.... just sharing..anyways... back to the subject of pizza... do you guys think is possible for my wife and I to bring our mobile wood fired pizza oven on a trailer to Mexico?
> 
> ...




Why would anyone wish to incur the expense of hauling a "mobile" wood-fired pizza oven to Mexico when one can sell that clumsy encumberance to someone stuck in where-ever one is from and have a superior wood-fired pizza oven made from scratch for peanuts here. Mexican folks know the art of wood-fired oven making in spades so you´d be bringing coals to Newcastle.

By the way, the art of wood-fired oven pizza making in certain parts of Mexico is a well understood and practiced art so don´t be coming down here thinking you are introducing a new whirleygig unknown to locals. Expect serious competition in certain zones but not at Lake Chapala where most folks would not know a good pizza from a gyro made in Cincinnati.


----------



## lagoloo (Apr 12, 2011)

Tell me this: if the LakeChapilites don't know from a good pizza, how come they're always beetchin' about the ones available around here, eh?

Bringing in a wood fired number from the States? Now that is hilarious.


----------



## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

capamando said:


> Hello Folks,
> 
> My first day here and I already committed an infraction!... my apologies.. my intention was not to advertise.... just sharing..anyways... back to the subject of pizza... do you guys think is possible for my wife and I to bring our mobile wood fired pizza oven on a trailer to Mexico?
> 
> ...


Let me tell you this: It is possible to bring just about anything you may think of, you just need to pay the taxes and fill out forms. Things can be imported to Mexico guys, it's not outer space


----------



## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

There are quite a few Italian settlements (colonias) in Mexico, I like the way they make pizzas there. I think those are closer to the real thing, not mexicanized or americanized


----------



## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

We have swimming parties at our house at Lake Chapala quite often with many Mexican kids invited for hot dogs and/or pizza and the essential ingredient for either treat is ketchup followed, in the case of hot dogs, by mayonaisse and maybe onions. The best condiments are those that come in squeeze bottles and make those "farting" sounds when squeezed on the pizzas or hot dogs when partially empty. Highly amusing.


----------



## Snobert (Sep 25, 2013)

As most have said, Mexico's pizzas are truly awful, hard base, no sauce, one type of no taste cheese. I know of only two good places to get pizza in Mexico City, Costco and the really good one is an "Italian" chain restaurant called Buca di Beppo, the pizza is really nice, classic Italian pizza, as in a thin crispy base, lots of sauce and amazing toppings... the rest of the food is ok, but the pizza.. is damn good.


----------



## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

Costco's pizza ?
Wow, some settle for less


----------



## Snobert (Sep 25, 2013)

GARYJ65 said:


> Costco's pizza ?
> Wow, some settle for less


Beggar's can't be choosers haha. Beats pretty much every other place like Pizza Hut and Domino's in Mexico City, every single stand alone pizza shop that I have tried is basically like getting cheese on toast with ketchup, instead of pizza.


----------



## Anonimo (Apr 8, 2012)

Good pizza:
Rústica, in Oaxaca.
Pulcinella, Morelia
Pretty good pizza: Lucille's, Colonia Roma Norte, México, D.F. 
I have heard good comments about pizzas at Posada Mandala and at Ivo's Bakery and Pizzas, Pátzcuaro. Just have not tried either one.

Here's my Picasa Web Album of pizze; the majority of which were _pizza casera_. (Home made pizzas). The rest are from pizzerias, not necessarily in Mexico.


----------



## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

Snobert said:


> Beggar's can't be choosers haha. Beats pretty much every other place like Pizza Hut and Domino's in Mexico City, every single stand alone pizza shop that I have tried is basically like getting cheese on toast with ketchup, instead of pizza.


I agree. Some people like a large tortilla covered with cheese and believe that is Italian. Costco pizza is better than most. Pizza Hut and Domin's is nothing but cheese, cheese, cheese.


----------



## capamando (Sep 22, 2013)

Thanks for all the replies....so are we dreaming or would it be possible to bring our 5' x10' long mobile wood fired oven pulled by our Suburban and open a mobile pizza business in Mejico?


----------



## sbrimer (Nov 8, 2008)

Try Quino Sabor in Joco it is really good 387 763 1861 Thin Crust terrific had mad dough
juarez Ote. # 21
Joco


----------



## sbrimer (Nov 8, 2008)

Quinto Sabor Sorry for the mis-spelling


----------



## lagoloo (Apr 12, 2011)

Delicious food of all kinds there!


----------



## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

OK, guys, I find it hard to believe I´m supposed to drive over to Jocotepec from West Ajijic for good pizza, especially since they "tope-ized" the Ajijic-Jocotepec highway so that we could slow way down and enjoy the view of all of those (relatively) new massive ticky-tacky housing developments they built just east of the town so people could sit in their tiny boxes and enjoy a view of the lake over a strong margarita. Actually, Jocotepec (which I dubbed as "Yokeltepec" a few years ago in jest, is looking quite prosperous these days for a farm town so I am heading over there to try the place you all are bragging about in the near future. I can eat there just after my next doctor´s appointment as she lives and practices in Jocotepec but I think it would be prudent for me to go get a pizza there after my visit with her because she has a clinic upstairs and just might commit me if I see her while stinking of pizza and red wine.

All this talk of pizza - not generally something for which anyone makes the decision to move to Mexico (except, in my experience, San Cristóbal de Las Casas with all of its wood fired oven pizza joints owned and run by Italian immigrants) , has reminded me of the 1980s when I was managing a bank branch in San Francisco´s financial district and hired as my assistant manager a guy from Chicago who had fled that city because he could no longer take the arctic-like winters there and never stopped running from that icebox until he reached the Pacific Coast. It was not like he didn´t like Chicago which I think we can all agree is a great city, but the snow shovelling was more that he could endure.

Anyway, the one thing he really - and I mean_ "really-really_" missed about Chicago was the pizza which, he informed me, was of the deep-dish type and, according to him, the best pizza on the planet hands down. Now, I´ve been to Chicago a few times but never tried the pizza there since the city is a notable restaurant town so I can´t confirm his accolades and, anyway, I prefer extremely thin-crust pizza so maybe I would or would not agree with his assessment but, now that I am 71 and never intend to head for the Midwest again, I guess I will never know.

The best pizza I have ever tasted was at a Japanese restaurant in an exurb of Southwest Los Angeles where I was assigned many years ago to work for a couple of weeks in a town with a large Japanese population and many Japanese restaurants. Those Japanese pizzas were absolutely delicious and covered with Japanese-style ingredients one would rarely if ever find in Italy. 

What the hell was the name of that town? One thing one learns over time is that there is a certain visual sameness that belies community diversity in the huge Los Angeles urban sprawl and if one is a traveling bank examiner as I was in those days, it´s hard to tell exactly where one is without a Harbor Freeway exit sign. It doesn´t matter since I presume most of our readers are not headed in that direction. Better to head for San Cristóbal de Las Casas or maybe Jocotepec.


----------



## Lorij (Jul 8, 2012)

This summer I can say I found wonderful New York styled pizza in Mexico. We traveled to Pochutla, Oaxaca to go shopping and found a place in the town centro there called Kore's pizza. The owner lives in Huatulco now but spent 20+ years in the US living in NY and NJ. It was great, we went there every time we visited Pochutla this summer!


----------



## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

Lorij said:


> This summer I can say I found wonderful New York styled pizza in Mexico. We traveled to Pochutla, Oaxaca to go shopping and found a place in the town centro there called Kore's pizza. The owner lives in Huatulco now but spent 20+ years in the US living in NY and NJ. It was great, we went there every time we visited Pochutla this summer!


Just one thought, meaning no offense
I would like to try that pizza place ONCE, but traveling to Oaxaca to me, is forgetting about most kinds off couisines and taste Oaxaca's!

It's like going to a sea food place and order scrambled eggs
Or going to Rome and look for an american hamburger


----------



## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

GARYJ65 said:


> Just one thought, meaning no offense
> I would like to try that pizza place ONCE, but traveling to Oaxaca to me, is forgetting about most kinds off couisines and taste Oaxaca's!
> 
> It's like going to a sea food place and order scrambled eggs
> Or going to Rome and look for an american hamburger


I would be very boring to have seafood for every meal, every day, for the entire stay. Pizza is a universal food like french fries or chicken. People in Rome do eat hamburgers and even Chinese food.


----------



## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

joaquinx said:


> I would be very boring to have seafood for every meal, every day, for the entire stay. Pizza is a universal food like french fries or chicken. People in Rome do eat hamburgers and even Chinese food.


That's why I wrote "Traveling"


----------



## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

_


joaquinx said:



I would be very boring to have seafood for every meal, every day, for the entire stay. Pizza is a universal food like french fries or chicken. People in Rome do eat hamburgers and even Chinese food.

Click to expand...

_Good point joaquinx and, I might add, sometimes exotic places fool you. I love Ethiopian food and was traveling about Africa in the 1960s and, in Addis Ababa, was flipping out over the local food there but then discovered that the city had some of the best pizza I had ever tasted and, as far as my experience taught me, these pizza joints were owned and run by aging Italians, certainly all dead by now, who had been colonists when Italy had colonized Ethiopia many years before my time there. These seeming paradoxes in local cuisines are not unusual in parts of Africa and the Indian Subcontinent as well as Europe where I had the privilege of backpacking when I was a young , worthless traveler farting around those continents for a couple of years on a dime.

My surprise at finding outstanding pizza in Addis Ababa in the 1960s was duplicated by my inadvertently finding great pizza in the Chiapas Highlands in the 2000s also produced largely by Italian immigrants - though not colonists. Never presume you know a place until you have spent some serious time there. We lived in Chiapas for years before we began to understand the place and were, at least, partially accepted there.

However, one must use discretion in one´s choices as I learned the hard way in the eary 1970s while visiting my in-laws´ home in Paris and decided to satisfy my American need to snack on a hamburger even though the food I was enjoying in Paris was exquisite. Once in a while, whether in Rome or Paris or Cincinnatti, one needs to return, at least temporarily, to one´s roots so I took the Metro over to the Champs Elysées and ate a cheeseburger with a fried egg at a branch of the British Wimpy´s hamburger joint chain which was prominent in France in those day. Now, we all know that the Champs Elysées is a grand boulevard but is a bit seedy and there were many dives there in the early 70s and today as well.

Anyway, I got really sick from that tainted burger and was so sick that my parents-in-law called a local physician to make a house call and he treated me at their apartment requesting that I tell him exactly what I had eaten. I told him about the cheeseburger with the fried egg (which had; the egg I mean, tasted a bit over the hill when I consumed it) at that Wimpy´s hamburger joint and his response was, "What kind of moron eats a cheeseburger at a hamburger joint on the Champs Elysées. No wonder you are so sick." I assured him this moron would not be repeating such inexcusable behavior.

Speking, once again, about Addis Ababa, locals there back in the 60s pronounced the name of the capital in different ways, so one night when I was enjoying a cold beer with a local fellow I had met, I inquired of him; " Just how is it you pronounce the name of this town? Is it "Addis Ababá. Addis Abába or Addis Abeba?" His response was; "As you wish."

A very civilized town in those days even though ruled over by "The Lion of Judah" i Haile Selassie) in an authoritarian manner. I don´t know about these days. He´s been gone for a while.


----------



## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

_


Lorij said:



This summer I can say I found wonderful New York styled pizza in Mexico. We traveled to Pochutla, Oaxaca to go shopping and found a place in the town centro there called Kore's pizza. The owner lives in Huatulco now but spent 20+ years in the US living in NY and NJ. It was great, we went there every time we visited Pochutla this summer!

Click to expand...

_Unlike Gary - whose comment was certainly appropriate concerning "some" Oaxacan food although there are many vastly overrated "Oaxacan" restaurants and street joints , especially in Oaxaca City,. I want to thank you Lorif, for your recommendation of the New York style pizza joint in Pochutla. We drive through there from time to time on our way between Huatulco and Oaxaca City as we drive between Lake Chapala and San Cristóbal de Las Casas but have never eaten there. Kore´s is now on our agenda thanks to you. 

These sorts of random recommendations in rural areas are very helpful for travelers and readers should fully understand that we are not speaking here of dinner on the zocalo in Oaxaco City in some tourist joint . Maybe, in the future, we might even consider Pochutla as a night stop on our way from Chiapas to Jalisco just to pig out on pizza and then have a snooze.


----------



## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

If I am not mistaken Lorij moved to Oaxaca recently so she is not travelling and will have plenty of time to taste Oaxaca food.
When staying in Oaxaca I get sick of the cuisine there, like everything else it is ok for a few days but then I want some variety. One Estaer we had 18 different moles from 18 different houses, it was fun to taste everything and find out the ones we like best and order those to bring back but I sure would not want a steady diet of them it is way too rich. They are some nice dishes when eating at the houses but I get sick of the restaurant Oaxaca food after a week I am there. Pizza sounds pretty good to me.
By the way this is no reflection on the cuisine there, I feel the same way when going back to France as well. Variety is nice and I need to escape all the wonderful local food no matter where I am.


----------



## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

I can do without the high content of lard in our state´s La Huasteca cuisine. Also they add oil to food that doesn´t need it to begin with. Eating out my wife and I don´t usually eat local cuisine for this reason. Even when eating at family and friend´s houses and parties we eat very little of high lard, high oil foods and stick to bread and cheese. Not to be rude we will eat a very small portion of the main dish if it is local cuisine, which it usually is. 

The bodas here now have more chicken breasts and roast beef than before in a sauce which is healthier.

On Fri. night we went to a sister in law´s birthday party. Catered and they served turkey breast that was so overcooked it was like eating turkey jerky with nice a sauce. The chicken breast in green sauce was good. The spinach and cheese lasagna was delicious.


----------

