Tosca Stone Oven Pizzeria, El Paso

They had a great name—borrowed from Puccini’s famous opera—and a solid concept, but the owners of Tosca Stone Oven Pizzeria still hadn’t perfected their foundation: the crust. Luckily, an alliance formed between the Tosca crew and Antonio Giner, owner of the now-closed Sunset Pizzeria. Eager to keep his famous crust alive, Giner helped the Tosca crew perfect their oven-baked crust and taught them how to deal with dough that refuses to rise. Today, Tosca tops a crisp base with either a red marinara or white roasted-garlic sauce before piling on toppings such as homemade sausage. The staff doesn't just use their stone oven to create decadent pizza, but also to bake calzones, sandwiches, and homemade pasta dishes.