Want pizza this weekend? Best of Springfield winners, placers can help

Two longtime, old-school favorites top the Best Pizza category in the 2023 Best of Springfield contest, but the topic is one that can easily divide friends and family because the area has so many good options.

The champion is the Hickory Inn, which opened in 1947 and remains a local favorite in its quaint, iconic log-cabin setting at 652 N. Limestone St.

A repeat winner from 2022, the Hickory Inn produces gooey, cheesy pizzas on white or wheat crusts that can be enjoyed while dining in or carrying out. It offers traditional sauce and white, or olive oil, options that are fan favorites.

Pizza is only a small portion of the Hickory’s vast menu, but one the restaurant has been known for making for decades.

>> PHOTOS: The 2023 Best of Springfield celebration

Another longtime Springfield business placed second in Best Pizza. Catanzaro’s Pizza & Subs is known for its generous toppings that produce some pizzas that are heavy when you carry them out from their location at 433 Dayton Ave., built in 1951.

Customers cannot go wrong with traditional toppings at Catanzaro’s, but the restaurant’s BLT pizza is a different choice and loved by many for its ham, bacon, mayo, lettuce and tomato toppings. The Catanzaro family has operated businesses in the city since 1889.

Station 1 Bar & Grill placed third this time in Best Pizza, one of three 2023 awards for the business at 325 N. Fountain Ave. Dine in or carry out options are offered, including two up-front parking spaces for those taking out.

Station 1 serves a variety of good specialty pizzas, and its monthly special rotates in some interesting and tasty options, such as October’s birria pizza.

Results for the 2023 Best of Springfield contest, brought to you by the Greater Springfield Partnership and the Springfield News-Sun, were announced this month after community voters cast more than 123,000 ballots.

Of course, the Best Pizza contest represents a fraction of the offerings around Springfield and Clark County.

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