50 Top Pizza, a pizza evaluation site in Paestum, Italy, not far from Naples, has released its 2024 Top 50 Pizza list. 50 Top Pizza is “an independent online guide which evaluates pizzerias with anonymous inspections during which the bill is paid in full.” Maryland contributed with the 22nd and 50th ranked pizzerias in the country.
Inferno Pizzeria Napoletana, located in Gaithersburg, came in ranked 22nd. Angeli’s, located in Baltimore, was ranked 50th. Last year Inferno was ranked 23rd on the list and 25th in 2022. Angeli’s was not on the list in 2023, but is ranked 1st in the Washington Post’s list of Top 6 New York Style Pizza Places in Maryland list.
Inferno Pizzeria Napoletana has been open in Gaithersburg (12207 Darnestown Rd.) for nearly 8.5 years, and there is still a line into the parking lot full of eager diners hoping to get a table before the dough ran out for the night– something that’s a common occurrence for Inferno (see our video below).
For those unfamiliar with the restaurant, it was opened by Chef Tony Conte in October 2015 after he spent nine years in DC’s Oval Room. Inferno specializes in pizza, but regulars will tell you that the appetizers are often just as much of a draw.
The restaurant is currently open four days a week– Wednesday through Saturday, from 5pm-9pm…or until the dough runs out. Sometimes that can be pretty early, so if you’re interested in getting a seat we would highly recommend getting there before the restaurant opens and lining up outside. If you want to eat the pizza at home, you can call in your order earlier in the afternoon and pick it up when the restaurant opens at 5pm to take with you, but even carry-out orders are limited to ensure enough dough for customers dining in each day.
The Angeli’s story began in 1986 in New Orleans, Louisiana before moving to Baltimore more recently. It was described on the Angeli’s website as a small restaurant in a vibrant neighborhood with a goal to provide its community with delicious food, cooked fresh daily. “As the years went by, we created a family friendly atmosphere with the help of our employees, which helped Angeli’s take off into new heights, with the franchise expanding throughout the New Orleans Area. All was well, until Hurricane Katrina hit, leaving us financially limited and unable to hold on to our beloved Angeli’s. Since its closing, our family had always pondered the prospects of bringing back the Angeli’s brand. Little Italy gave us an opportunity to make what was once a possibility into a reality, and bring back Angeli’s to a neighborhood as vibrant and as colorful as the one that we fell in love with all those years ago.”
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