Who's Got the Best Pizza?

Pizzeria Stella, Philadelphia. Excellent! www.pizzeriastella.net


I would have the San Daniele pizza with add on tomatoes chopped and the oregano. Yummy!

 

My pizza is the best. Nothing else in the world comes close. It comes from my furnace.

The answer to the second question is irrelevant, because my pizzas are not for sale. But Margarita with pepperoni and sun-dried tomatoes added, are a fair taste.

Personally I prefer Margarita with Spanish prosciutto. "Pata Negra" to be exact.

 

Beau Jo's... Grand Sicilian. 14 pounds of pizza extravagance! Crust is created with the intention it be slathered with honey and consumed as dessert.

If you come to Colorado and are a pizza lover, you should make it a point to try this. If not in Denver, in Idaho Springs.... on the way up I70 to the ski slopes.

http://www.beaujos.com/colorado-pizza-menu/denver-menu/

 

Second this!!! ...and it has been twenty years since I've been to Beau Jo's... but the memories are still there. Definitely agree with the honey and crust as dessert: I called it "Pizza bones with honey".

 

The two-part answer is simple.

It would come from the Tri-state area (any old corner mom-and-pop shop), and it would not have any toppings on it. It would be a plain pie.

Dough, sauce, cheese. That is what pizza is. Fugheddabouddit.

I've had pizza from other areas of the country, and while I am biased, I still will never forget the ultimate pizza experience that can ever be had from that region...

You get the pie delivered to your table. You take a slice from the pie, and the cheese strings out 15 feet from the pie to your slice, and by then you have to break the string of cheese.

Then you fold the slice in two, and as you bring the slice up to your mouth, the steaming-hot tip flops over and you instinctively bite into it.

At that moment, your face is on fire because the cheese and sauce of the slice is still at about 400,000 degrees F.

As you realize how delicious the saucy fire is that is now enveloping your soul, and as you pull away that slice vertically with your head tipped to the sky, there's that one stream of boiling hot grease running down your forearm causing you to scream for mercy to the heavens, and the one string of mozzarella that will not stop stretching. If the pizza is good enough, that little stream of boiling hot grease will leave a first-degree burn down your forearm.

In rapid fashion, the pizza slice becomes consumable a bit more quickly. You will get one or two more screaming moments of pain with the following bites with more hot grease burning your forearm, and from there the true bliss begins.

And when you are done with the slice, you bite into the delicious crust with the giant air-holes and that satisfying CRUNCH. This is how pizza is meant to be experienced. And so it was written.

 

This is what pizza was all about when I grew up in New York. Now that I have been down in North Carolina for 30+ years, it is impossible to find the equivalent experience.

Even the "New York Pizza" places down in Cary, Raleigh, Durham, etc which try to emulate this fall far short.

 

Well, there is always a "diamond in the rough" out there when it comes to food.

I recall a friend of mine from Brooklyn who relocated to Ocala Florida and decided to open up a small mom-and-pop-type pizza place. I had the privilege of patronizing his place about 5 years ago, on two occasions. On both visits, both the pizza and the lasagna he made was a near perfect "replication" of what it tasted like in NY. Especially the plain cheese pie. It had all the classic elements, minus the burning grease. (Consider that a slight difference in recipe). Also, he had another secret so simple it seems to baffle everyone else who tries to run a good Italian eatery...The menu was TINY. All it had on it were the basic pizzas with toppings, and a few other Italian entrees and subs. THAT'S IT. He kept it simple, so the small kitchen was not overwhelmed.

We got to talking about how he was able to bring the authenticity of NY-style thin crust to the middle of Florida, and he dispelled a couple of rumors about it...

1.) The water to make the dough makes the whole difference. You have to import it from NY.

False. The water makes no difference. His pies were made with that nasty hard water from the Florida taps. Everything came out fine.

2.) The fat content of the mozzarella must be skim or it gets too greasy.

False. He said he can make the same-tasting pie with either skim or whole. All you need to do is adjust temperature and baking times for the two different cheeses.

He reiterated to me what I have felt for a long time...Making that special pie is not just pure recipe, but also art. You need to have a "feel" for all the variables involved, and that is what makes a great pizza chef. Quality of ingredients, the recipe (proportion of portions) and quality of chef is all it takes to maintain consistency. We never got into the idea of different styles of ovens making a difference, so not sure how that would factor in. Based on what I have experienced, it seems the type of oven would have minimal influence on the outcome.

Unfortunately, my friend was not good at running a business, and he closed down about a year after my visit.

But if you keep exploring your neighborhood, @gwb-trading, you may find a local "diamond in the rough."

P.S. Ocala was about a 90 minute drive from where I lived at the time. So it was a long-distance diamond. Keep driving!

 

Nice crust.