This MD Pizzeria's Cheese Slice Named 3rd Best In The Northeast

BALTIMORE, MD — A Baltimore pizzeria was honored among the world's best at the recent International Pizza Challenge, which brought together the premier pizza makers from around the globe for an intensively judged, category-specific competition.

Some 550 competing eateries participated in the event, which was part of the Pizza Expo celebrations in Las Vegas.

Frank's Pizza & Pasta, located in Baltimore's Overlea neighborhood, placed third in the best cheese slice preliminaries for the Northeast region.

To compete in the category, pizza makers presented their top three cheese slices to the judges. Slices could only consist of dough, traditional red tomato sauce, cheese or cheese blend, and spices.

Established in 1985, Frank’s was recognized as Baltimore’s Best Pizza in 2023 and 2024 by Baltimore Magazine and The Baltimore Sun.

Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports and his “One Bite” pizza reviews, visited Frank’s earlier this year to sample their pizza. In his review, he gave the eatery's New York-style cheese pizza a score of 8.3.

Since Portnoy's visit, customers have lined up down the block to sample Frank's pies.

Other winners in the best cheese preliminaries for the Northeast region were Slice on Broadway in Pittsburgh (1st) and Peppino’s Restaurant & Catering in Syracuse, New York (2nd).

The International Pizza Expo bills itself as the world's premier pizza judging competition. The world-renowned three-day competition saw 550 competitors from around the world competing to have their pizzas proclaimed the world’s best non-traditional pizza, traditional pizza, pan pizza, pizza Napoletana and cheese slice. Winners included first, second and third places in each division as well as the top 3 in each region.

Ryan Ososky of DTown Pizzeria in Los Angeles was named 2025's Pizza Maker of the Year World Champion, while Anthony Cerimele of New Columbus Pizza Co. in Pittston, Pennsylvania, nabbed the Best of the Best Champion title for 2025.

See the full list of winners at PizzaToday.com.