“I know this isn’t very original of me,” I told a friend recently, while pulling a third slice from a takeout pizza box on my back porch, “but I do actually think pizza is my favorite food.” In the same way that some Top 40 pop songs are genuinely good, some massively popular dishes are so for a reason—and the holy trinity of bread, tomato, and cheese is definitely one of them. The fact of the pizza’s endless permutability and its perfect-for-sharing design are certainly strengths, as is the fact that one can use it to instantly repay any social favor (i.e., the cadre that helped you move, or the friend that picked you up when your car broke down last week). Pizzas have been witness to birthdays, graduation parties, softball games, and many a late night brainstorming sesh among creative or entrepreneurial collaborators. It is, simply put, a food given to camaraderie, celebration, and sharing. 

It’s probably not only because camaraderie, celebration, and sharing are also core New Mexican values that we have so many killer pizza places here, but I like to think there’s at least a connection. I’ve been on the pizza beat for the last few months—an enviable position, to be sure—and now have a report for you on some of my favorite pizza spots in Santa Fe. If you’re a local, this list likely won’t surprise you—and if there are some good ones I missed, I eagerly await your intel so that I can visit them on my next trip to The City Different. I’ll be following this up in coming weeks with a report on the pizza scene in Albuquerque, my home turf—so keep your eyes peeled for that.

Tender Fire Kitchen

I admit to having strong preferences when it comes to pizza—I think deep dish is an abomination, and I don’t want pineapple anywhere within a mile radius of me when I’m slamming a slice. I am also an unapologetic Neopolitan supremacist. I love a pizza crust that’s thin and chewy, with just a little singe on it. Which is all to say that, for somebody like me, Tender Fire Kitchen’s crust is about as good as it gets. The three-day fermented sourdough crust is tangy and light, kissed by a wickedly hot oven for some charred bubbles, and soft enough for a New York-style fold. You could put anything on top of a crust like that and it’d be gold.

Originally serving pizzas out of a food truck that popped up all summer at El Rey Court, Ben Crosky launched Tender Fire’s very own brick and mortar on the old Santa Fe Arts College campus in March 2026. It’s a beautiful spot, with a wood-fired oven taking pride of place behind the bar, a patio that’s perfect for golden hour, and a private room you can book for big parties. They have a small but mighty menu of pizzas made with housemade cheeses, a short list of natural wines, and a unique, agave-leaning cocktail program. The kale pizza, with mozzarella, fontina, cream-soaked kale, and red onion is a deliciously original veggie pie, and there’s always a rotating vegan option as well. I’ve heard tell that they intend to expand their menu to include some other entrees in the coming months—and, if I can ever bring myself to not order a pizza when I’m there, I’ll certainly follow up with a report.

Back Road Pizza

If Tender Fire is where you take a date you want to impress, then Back Road Pizza is where you meet up with the homies after work. The storied and unpretentious counter-service joint opened by the community-minded Piper Kapin more than twenty years ago serves thin and crispy cornmeal crust pizzas by the slice or by the pie, in classic pizzaways like margherita and New Mexican (pepperoni and green chile), and with plenty of additional topping options available for a make-your-own situation. These are pizzas that are meant to be enjoyed on a patio, alongside a beer or two—which is great, because they happen to have both a beautiful, sun-dappled patio and a rotating tap of local and domestic brews. 

Back Road Pizza has been voted #1 pizza in Santa Fe by readers of the Santa Fe Reporter consistently since 2012, and it’s easy to see why: This is a true locals’ spot, with tasty pies and incredibly good vibes. I imagine more than a few born-and-raised Santa Feans had their first jobs here as teenagers, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find some of those same Santa Feans hosting birthday parties for their kids there now. There are gluten-free crusts on offer, and they’re happy to hold the cheese to make something vegan, ensuring everyone who walks in the door can have a good time. They have a daily happy hour for beer and wine and a single-slice lunch special at nearly 2000s-level prices, and you can get a vanilla soft serve cone for dessert or take home a pint of ice cream from local creamery La Lecheria. Everything about the place says that they’re dedicated to keeping their clientele, and their clientele is definitely dedicated to keeping them. 

Pizza Centro

If you’re a Santa Fe local, Pizza Centro is also likely to be one of your regular spots, whether for a lunchtime slice or a Thursday-night takeout pie. Opened in 2009 by Jason Aufrichtig (who’s also the owner of Counter Culture) and his brother Nathan, the New York-style joint has two locations: one in the Southside on Zafarano Drive and one in the Design Center on Cerrillos. I recently visited the latter to carboload before a hike in the Dale Ball trail system (in retrospect, eating a ton of pizza right before the hike was maybe not the wisest sequence of events). Their signature pies—all of which are named after neighborhoods in New York City—feature great options for the carnivorous and plant-based alike. The meat-forward Chelsea sports sausage, housemade meatballs, bacon, onion, and green peppers. I went with the Alphabet City, which seems to be a fan favorite: flash-fried eggplant, mushrooms, fresh spinach, artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, garlic, and roasted red peppers, all drizzled with a balsamic glaze. The combo of salty, crispy fried eggplant with the tang of artichoke and balsamic makes this definitely worth the hype. In case the sheer number of ingredients doesn’t tip you off, I’ll say it outright: these are loaded pies, where the toppings are more the focus than the crust. They’re hefty and satisfying, without being offputtingly greasy like some NY-style can be. Pizza Centro has wine and beer available if you’re dining in, as well as a dipping cabinet full of gelato in classic Italian flavors like tiramisu and Sicilian pistachio. 

Esquina

Esquina Pizza, one of several culinary projects cocreated by the prolific Chef Nathan Mayes (whose current project, Mañana Taco, opens its brick-and-mortar spot in Albuquerque sometime this year), boasts not only some of the best pizza in town, but, partly thanks to the stylings of owner Marja Martin, a truly charming space for spending an evening in. The service is excellent and their rotating specials (on both pizzas and small plates) are inventive—a brilliant fresh fava bean hummus in late spring, for example. Here’s my prescription for a perfect dinner there: Some day during monsoon season, grab a few pals and show up early in the evening to get a patio spot—they don’t take reservations. Order some of their stuffed dates or marinated olives to start, plus a bottle of wine from Copita, the conjoined natural wine bar. Feel the temperature drop and the humidity rise as you sip and look over the menu, and pick a couple pies—the mushroom, perhaps, with a decadent garlic cream sauce, and the margherita, featuring a super-simple jammy tomato sauce that properly exhibits just how good tomatoes can be. Take your first bite just as the thunder starts in the distance, breathe in that desert rain smell, and realize that the outdoor concert you’d been planning to see at the Railyard probably isn’t going to happen—but it’s okay, because you’re a little tipsy, you’re with your friends, and you’re eating some transcendently good pizza. There will not be any leftovers to take home, but—as you all weave your way back to the car, running from awning to awning to avoid the rain and still getting soaked despite your best efforts—you’ll know that this is a memory you’re going to hang onto for a long, long time.