Interesting show on the Travel Channel this weekend, called "The Pizza Wars", pitting Chicago style
vs. NY style.
Watching it made me very very hungry for pizza, but it's too damn cold to go out for it! Maybe
tomorrow.....
They discussed the history of pizza in the US, and how it started at Lombardi's in NYC in 1905.
Well, that may be so for NY, but I heard someplace that pizza in the US started in New Haven CT at
Frank Pepe's.
Anyway, they showcased Lombardi's, Grimaldi's (That's the one not far from Jacques Torres' chocolate
shop in Brooklyn!), Patsy's, and the trio of Ray's chains. I am a huge devotee of coal-fired or wood-
fired oven pizza, and I'm very lucky to have not one, but TWO wood-fired brick oven pizza joints
within a 5 minute drive of my apartment.
They also discussed Chicago style, deep-dish pizza.
The hour ended in a taste-test, three of them, actually. They brought in NYC and Chicago pies to a
fire station in Chicago and in NYC, and of course, local preferences prevailed. Then as a tie
breaker, they went to a Los Angeles fire station and did the same test. Guess what? NYC Style pizza
won in LA. No big surprise, because all the nationwide pizza chains make pies that are modeled on
the NYC style. Note I said "modeled" on it....how close they get is up for debate. I wouldn't mind a
chain pizza, if it's one of the Italian family run chains, such as Sbarro's, Famous Ray's, RayBari,
etc. Pizza Hut, Domino's and the other franchises are not real pizza to me, but that prejudice is
because I have a plenitude of REAL, locally made pizza to choose from where I live. I realize there
are places that only have the chains, and that's what they know, so that's what they like.
i find it curious what the Chicago firefighters said about the NY pizza....they felt the Chicago
style crust had more flavor, they preferred all the toppings, heavier cheese, heavier sauce. To me,
that's the incredible beauty of pizza. It's 3 simple things, maybe four. It's crust--flour, water,
salt, sugar, yeast and maybe a bit of olive oil. It's tomato sauce--it's cheese and maybe a topping
of sausage or mushrooms or what have you. I think it's simplicity exemplified. It's the perfect
example of "less is more". I've always been a fan of "plain" pizza, or one topping, maybe two if
they "go" together, like mushrooms and onions. Or onions and peppers. Never gone for "extra cheese"
or too many toppings. It's like gilding the lily. It's why i don't go for sundaes, I prefer not to
hide my ice cream under all that other "stuff". Just give me good ice cream, in a bowl or a cone,
and I'm happy. I'd rather have one slice of perfect brick oven "plain" pizza than 3 slices of
Domino's, loaded with topping.
It's kind of odd, for me to realize that, because I don't like "plain" food, I like seasoned foods
with complex flavors, give me lots of onion and garlic, herbs, etc. But with some things, simpler is
better, and pizza is definitely one of those things for me.
While I like Chicago style deep dish pizza, as it's own thing, when I want pizza, I want thin crust
pizza. They are two entirely different things.
Anyway, it was an interesting program. Made me hungry for thin-crust pizza.