Pizza is not native to New Orleans, which is exactly why what happens to it here is interesting. Four kitchens around the city have stopped treating the pie as an import and started treating it as a vehicle for everything else the local pantry holds. Shrimp, crawfish, andouille, remoulade, and jambalaya all turn up on crusts, and the results work better than the descriptions suggest.
1. Pizza Domenica — Uptown and Lakeview
The Magazine Street location came first and the staff still call it the O.G. The draw is the oven, a custom wood-burner shipped over from Italy that gets pies out fast with proper char on the bottom. The menu runs tight, with pizze like margherita, pepperoni, white, clam, and the meat-heavy Tutto Carne alongside antipasti worth ordering on their own.
Garlic knots come with aged provolone fonduta. Wood-roasted cauliflower arrives under whipped feta and sea salt. The happy hour is the real move here, with half-price pizza, draft beer, wines by the glass, and well cocktails from 3 to 5 p.m., dine-in only. Uptown sits at 4933 Magazine Street and Lakeview at 117 West Harrison Avenue. Both close Monday and Tuesday, open 3 to 9 Wednesday and Thursday, 11 to 10 Friday and Saturday, and 11 to 9 Sunday. Call ahead on the hours, since the restaurant posts different versions in different places.
2. Magazine Pizza — Warehouse District
This is the late-night option, and it earns that title honestly. The shop sits at 1068 Magazine Street, directly across from the National WWII Museum, and runs until midnight most nights and 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. Delivery covers the CBD, Warehouse District, downtown, and Uptown as far as Napoleon Avenue.
The local thinking shows up on the Lagniappe, which loads grilled shrimp and crawfish onto mozzarella with jalapeño, onion, and corn. Other house pies carry names like Macho-Man, Aphrodisiac, and Hot Mama, which tells you the kitchen is not precious about any of this. Calzones, pastas, wraps, and sandwiches fill out a long menu. Pizzas come in 10-inch and 14-inch sizes. Phone is (504) 568-0211.
3. Louisiana Pizza Kitchen — French Quarter
Across from the French Market at 95 French Market Place, this room has been a Quarter standby long enough that locals treat it as the sane alternative when the heavier kitchens feel like too much. Every pie goes into a wood-burning oven, and the crust comes unbleached white or untreated whole wheat at no extra charge. The meat and poultry are organic and free-range, and the kitchen sources Louisiana products where it can.
The Jambalaya pizza is the signature, built on creole sauce with Gulf shrimp, chicken, andouille, and whole-milk mozzarella imported from Italy. A muffuletta pizza and jumbo Gulf shrimp pies sit nearby on the menu. An unusually deep vegan section covers cheese, pepperoni, and roasted chicken versions. The wine cellar has taken the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence multiple years running, which is not a sentence most pizzerias can write. Open daily from 11:30 a.m., with closing time listed as either 9 or 9:30 depending on the source. Phone is (504) 522-9500.
4. Mid City Pizza — Mid-City
Slices are the point here, which separates Mid City from the other three. The shop at 4400 Banks Street turns out New York-style pies with a crust that stays crisp instead of folding under its own weight, and customers can buy by the slice and work through several flavors in one sitting.
The shrimp remoulade pizza is the local statement, taking a dressing meant for cold seafood and putting it under heat. The VIP Larry shows up in enough customer photos to count as a house favorite. Cheese sticks round out the order. Sandwiches, including an eggplant parmigiana, and salads are on the menu for anyone not in the mood. Open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Phone is (504) 483-8609.
