Flavorwire

If you’re an aficionado of Brooklyn pizza, you don’t need us to tell you about Grimaldi’s, Di Fara, or Totonno’s. But in what is arguably the pizza capital of the world, there are literally dozens of other places that are almost as good, occasionally even just as good, as those perennial survey winners. Many of them, however, have the handicap of being in less-well-known neighborhoods, or pockets of the borough that are hard for outsiders to get to — you can travel from north Brooklyn to Staten Island in less time than it would take to get to Mill Basin, for example. But this handicap can be a benefit for anyone who’s up for a little road trip. No matter where you might plunk yourself down in Brooklyn, it’s pretty much guaranteed that you can find a decent slice, or a great slice, less than a half mile away, and more often three blocks away. Here’s a sampling of the best pizza places in some of Brooklyn’s lower-profile neighborhoods, some of them nowhere near a subway station. Their locations may prevent them from making the best-of lists, but they all serve pizza that’s worth the bus or car ride.

La Villa Pizzeria, 6610 Avenue U, Mill Basin

La Villa, in a nondescript outdoor shopping center not far from the Kings Plaza mall, is related to the pizzeria of the same name in Park Slope. (The Slope branch opened in 2003; the Mill Basin one has been around since 1992.) Apart from Ramagi, which is a fraction of the size, La Villa is the only place on this list that can be called a full-blown restaurant. This means they have a huge menu, but while the pasta dishes here are nothing to sneeze at, the pizza, made in a wood-burning oven, is what stands out.