Pizza in America is better than ever before, and great pizzerias are aplenty throughout the United States, writes The New York Times.

From Southern California to the Mississippi Delta to the Pacific Northwest and beyond, great pizza shops are all over.

The N.Y. Times compiled a list of the top pizza shops in the nation, and Philadelphia was represented as San Lucas Pizzeria in South Philadelphia was included on the list.

When Valentin Palillero and his wife, Eva Mendez, opened San Lucas Pizzeria in 2005, the couple sold traditional pies, with toppings like pepperoni and green peppers, familiar toppings to their historically Italian neighborhood.

However, Palillero, who is originally from Puebla, Mexico, wanted to also appeal to his own community, which had been settling in the surrounding blocks for the last decade or so.

“Using the same simple crust as a base, new recipes used ingredients found in Mexican cuisine,” said Regan Stephens.

These ingredients include smoky guajillo sauce, spiced pork, black beans, flecks of onion and chopped cilantro.

Those varieties have since become as popular as the originals.

“But they’re also a vivid link in a neighborhood that’s been an epicenter of Italian and Mexican immigration, roughly three-quarters of a century apart,” added Stephens.

Read more about the best pizza shops throughout the country at The New York Times.

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