If you go to the website of the #1 pizza, you'll see that the pizza is a thin crust pizza cooked in a coal fired oven. If you get a chance to have a pie cooked in such an oven, do so; there's one in downtown Atlanta near the Aquarium, Max's. Great stuff.

We like a thick crust with just sauce, cheese, and pepperoni. Most people in western new york seem to like a thick crust. The wegmans we shop at changed their pizza to thin crust "ny" style. We hate it and won't buy it anymore. Others have told me the same. Another reason we in the WNY are completely different than those in NYC.

I spend a lot of time in the New Haven CT area. And almost as much time at Pepe's pizza. The pizza is amazing. The clam pizza is very good. It's not my personal favorite, but Seems to be the one that everybody orders. My favorite pie there is only available in August. It is a fresh tomato pie.

Jo

My favourite pizza is from a restaurant in Victoria. The pizza is thin crusted and baked in an opened wood burning oven.

I love clams, but the idea of a clam pizza does not appeal to me.

~Ann

"---I love clams, but the idea of a clam pizza does not appeal to me."

Same here. The texture of cooked clams and baked dough ? I am not sure.

Besides, just because it is shaped like a pizza does not a pizza made.

dcarch

Mozza in Los Angeles has a clam pizza at the top of the pizza menu. They make a crust that is thin in the middle and thick at the edges. My favorite has Italian fennel sausage, and the worst is any pizza with pineapple on it. I would be hesitant to order a clam pizza as well, but it makes sense for Connecticut.

I usually make a very thin crust pizza, but I am think about making a thicker crust next time.

Lars

I mean seriously -- a list of best pizzas and not one from Philadelphia??

I do like the thin crisp pan pizza, what we call Greek style pizza. I also live the thicker chewier crusts like you get at Tony & Joe's in Conshohocken!

Debra - I've always thought of you as a NYer, but now I'll think of you as a WNYer and not hold your pizza preferences against you. ;) ;) ;)

Dcarch - "Besides, just because it is shaped like a pizza does not a pizza made." How would you define pizza? I've been contemplating this ever since buying a delicious "pide" at a Mediterranean place a couple weeks ago. Since pizza places seem to put anything stoners come up with on their pizzas, I don't think the toppings alone can define it. (In the case of the pide it was gyro meat and kashar cheese.) Pizza comes round, rectangular, and free-form (fancy word for people like me who can't shape a proper pizza) so I'm not sure that the pointed-elongated shape differentiates pide from pizza more than superficially? Certainly pizza crusts vary significantly across the country, from NY style to less fortunate versions, so that can't define pizza either?

This post was edited by foodonastump on Thu, Jan 23, 14 at 21:09

Here is a picture of a pizza I ordered from Pepe's last summer.
Jo

Debrak, I would also add that almost anywhere in WNY has fabulous pizza! There are so many mom and pop restaurants and takeouts who have amazing pizza. Same thing for wings.

Once in Chicago at Piece pizza, DH and I had a clam pizza. We've made it ever since. We use anchovies, clams, and then put some lemon juice on it when we eat it. Definitely different, but you gotta like fish!

gsciencechick, glad you said it! I didn't want to seem like I was bragging ; ) Go to about any local (not a chain) pizza restaurant in WNY and you will get great pizza and wings. AND we don't call them Buffalo wings. They are just wings and the best in the world are right here.

FOAS, lifelong WNYer. We will stay as long as we can afford the high taxes. Like I said we are completely different here than NYC right down to pizza crust!

Good question, What is pizza?

The best restaurant pizza I've had is from a place in Tahlequah, OK, called Sam and Ellas Chicken Palace. (Don't ask, cause I don't know why they call it that.) They have great dough, sauce, the works. I couldn't name a specific one, but I just like their crust (thick, like it should be), and their sauce. Their toppings are fresh and tasty.

To me, thin crust is like pizza toppings on a cracker. I don't like it.

Sally

"----Good question, What is pizza?---"

There is a legal definition of what is a Neapolitan pizza, but not what is a pizza.

To me, a pizza is baked dough with tomato sauce and cheese topping, nothing else.

All the others are just pizza-like pancakes with various toppings.

dcarch

Google definition

piz÷za
ÃÂp�"tsÃÂ
noun
1.
a dish of Italian origin consisting of a flat, round base of dough baked with a topping of tomato sauce and cheese, typically with added meat or vegetables.

Is it really italian origin? I've heard this is not true that it is american. Anyone know?

I can say quite honestly, the best pizza I have had this year (2014) is from Second Bar and Kitchen in Austin (Chef David Bull), their Black & Bleu pizza:

Black Truffle, Bleu cheese, Pork Belly Confit, Medjool Dates and red onion.

It was incredible and definitely worth the stop if you find yourself in Austin.

Alexa

Here is a link that might be useful: Second Bar and Kitchen

I tend to like a plain pie, just your standard sauce and cheese. I used to order different toppings, but now I prefer just plain by a large margin. However, I'll go for something totally different, like the brunch pizza I've posted about, the pide mentioned above, and that Austin pizza looks and sounds great. (Alexa - I think you got a bad link there.)

Arley - the two best pizzas I've had locally are made in coal-fired ovens so there must be something to that.

My mother is from Naples, Italy and I grew up with the notion that pizza was from that area of Italy. I eagerly went searching for just the right pizza place when I was in Naples last month.

My mother and my grandmother taught me how to make pizza and Italian bread. When my brothers and I would beg for pizza, mom would laugh and tell us that they (her Italian family) ate it frequently because it was what poor people ate.

I live downstate and grew up upstate and I'm still the same person...lol and we call our wings Buffalo wings when they are made with franks hot sauce, of course :)

Even bad pizza...is still pizza, and I'm ok with that and I would eat it with a Pepsi (no Coke;)

"---Even bad pizza...is still pizza, and I'm ok with that and I would eat it with a Pepsi (no Coke;)"

Pizza Hut was owned by Pepsi.

dcarch

Maggie, I made homemade pizza tonight and my DS put franks hot sauce on it. Where upstate?

Buffalo pizza ;)...and Pepsi because my dad worked in the plant in Long Island city.

I grew up in the Catskills. Still downstate to many ;)