This year-old Roseville pizzeria makes the Sacramento region’s best pies, readers say

Flour Dust Pizza Co. makes the best pizza in the Sacramento region, according to a Bee poll that concluded Monday.

The Roseville pizzeria received 2,074 out of 7,687 total votes, or 27.2%. Currently open for takeout Tuesday-Saturday evenings, Flour Dust uses Italian ingredients like San Marzano tomatoes and 00 Flour in its seasonally-changing pizzas in addition to pasta, salads and desserts.

Founder Mano Vrapi’s passion project began when he and his father built their own backyard pizza oven. After starting his career as an insurance agent, Vrapi went on to study at the Bivero Pizza Academy in Florence, Italy, before returning to the United States and catering under the Flour Dust name out of a converted 1952 International Harvester truck in 2015.

The Albanian-born Vrapi opened his brick-and-mortar pizzeria a year ago Friday in Foothill Junction shopping center at 5080 Foothills Blvd., Suite 5. The truck’s wood-fired ovens remained in operation prior to the pandemic; both have five stars on Yelp after 175 reviews.

Another suburban restaurant, Pasquale’s Italian Pizzeria in Carmichael, finished second with 1,386 votes (18.2%). Founded in 1975 as an homage to the Giambrone family’s Palermo-born patriarch, Pasquale’s was sold in 2018 after five generations of family ownership.

Sacramento institutions Zelda’s Original Gourmet Pizza (8.4%) and OneSpeed (7.4%) were the only other restaurants to get 5% or more of the total vote. Roma’s Pizzeria, Old Town Pizza & Tap House, Masullo and Luigi’s Pizza Parlor all received more than 3.5%.

This story was originally published December 14, 2020 at 12:29 PM.