Cow, Goat, or Sheep?
Not usually the first question you get when making a pizza, but it is at Emma's.
Emma's Pizza is a small, semi-upscale pizza place in Kendall Square, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A large pizza with toppings and (non-alcoholic) drinks for two would probably run you about $20 including tip there.
Arguably the best pizza in Boston, Emma's was originally located on Huron Ave., a short ways from Harvard Square. It has since moved near Kendall Square and gained a liquor license as well as a real seating area and a much better ambiance. A good place to go with friends or to take a date.
The old Emma's was a tiny, bar-seating only place. It was vitually free of much atmosphere, save for pizza boxes on the wall decorated by neighborhood kids. Emma's was so swamped by orders for its amazing pizza that to make sure you got a pizza from them that the proper protocol for getting a pizza in the evening was placing your order for that pizza around 3pm.
The pizza at the new place is the same as that at the old, and that is to say it is the very most delicious pizza I have ever had, ever. Along with the aforementioned choice of cheeses, you also get a choice of normal sauce or spicy rosemary sauce (my favorite). Their toppings menu absolutely destroys that of your typical pizza place. All the standards are there: pepperoni, mushrooms, and the like, but Emma's goes above and beyond with really cool toppings like house smoked spicy chicken, capers, fresh kalamata olives (none of that canned stuff), or two kinds of fresh sausage. And when they put on a topping, it's not a couple pieces of meat or vegetable per slice, but a layer up to a half-inch thick of goodness. The thin and soft-yet-crispy, almost-crackery crust completes the pizza.
I've heard that a place called Figs near the Boston Common can give the pizza at Emma's a run for its money, but I've never been there, so Emma's remains my choice for the best pizza in Boston, if not the world.
Location Details:
40 Hampshire St, Cambridge, MA
(617) 864-8534
Located near the Kendall Square T stop.