New York Times names Ava, Illinois, pizza place as one of the best in the country

AVA, Ill. – According to the New York Times, one of the best pizza spots in the country is right in our viewing area.

Located in a town of 545 people, Scratch Brewing sits just miles away from Shawnee National Forest.

“It was incredibly gratifying to be included on the list. Most people know us for our beer, but our kitchen follows the same ethos, sourcing everything as locally as possible,” owner Marika Josephson said.

The brewery features a handmade brick oven for wood-fired pizza on weekends. All their pizzas are nearly entirely locally sourced from local farmers, mills, or right on their property.

“Like our beer, we think our pizza is a special representation of the land around us. We grow all the tomatoes and basil we put on our pizza; we grind and season our own sausage. When possible, we’ll also harvest an extra helping of the wild ingredients we put into our beer—like nettle—and make a topping with them, like pesto,” Josephson explained. “It’s a place-based approach to food that mirrors our place-based approach to beer.”

Types of pizzas include fennel pesto with goat cheese, margherita, sliced potato with rosemary and sausage, and bloomsdale cheese with hearth bread.

“Our pizzas change all the time—much like our beer—but in the middle of the summer, it’s hard to beat a classic margherita made with our own tomatoes harvested directly from the garden outside. They’re so fresh and so flavorful,” Josephson said.

The location also has an ever-changing line of drinks; from elderberry and ginger to hickory, lavender, and more, there is a variety for customers’ tastes.

“It would be an understatement to call Scratch a product of its environment,” the article from the NYT said. “To say this place is worth its own road trip is another understatement.”

Ava is located an hour and a half southeast of St. Louis. For more information on Scratch, click here.