"best pizza" news and stories

Few things, aside from tax cuts and the eyesight of ballpark umpires, incite more passionate debate among Americans than pizza.

Deep-dish versus thin-crust, canned tomato sauce versus fresh -- no detail is too small to merit an opinion or, in some cases, a heated diatribe. So GQ's list of the 25 best pizzas in America is bound to flame the (wood-burning) fires of controversy.

The list's creator, Alan Richman, is well aware that plenty of people won't be happy with his picks, but stands firm by his favorites, which were culled from pizzerias across the nation, from the grilled pie at Providence (R.I.)'s Il Forno Pizzeria Bianco's prosciutto-topped, coal-fired number in Phoenix, Ariz.

See who won after the jump.

In Naples, the annual Pizzafest was just concluded and the title of the world's best pizzaiolo (pizza-maker) was bestowed upon Makoto Onishi, a veritable pizza prodigy from Japan who bested 24 other pizza-makers, many of whom are Naples natives. This is the second time he has won the title; the first was back in 2003. The judges declared that his pie was the "perfect incarnation of 'real Neapolitan pizza.'"

Onishi came to Naples from Japan in 2002, looking for a job in a pizza restaurant and claimed his first title after only a year working in the Ischia pizzeria. After the victory, he was hired by a popular Tokyo pizzeria and enjoyed some media attention from his surprising win.

The secret of the perfect Neapolitan pizza, according to the judges of the Naples Pizzafest, is using traditional, local ingredients. Onishi adds that a "chef must be free of stress" to produce the perfect pizza.

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This pizza was made with a crust recipe that I got out of the most recent issue of Cooks Illustrated. As soon as I read the article saying that they had come up with a way to replicate the light, crisp crust of pizzeria pizza in a home oven, I knew I needed to try it.

Let me just say that I was not disappointed at all. This was definitely the best pizza crust I have ever made - and better than many that I have had in restaurants. It was light, crisp and delicious - not to mention that the outside edge was full of delightfully airy holes. I may never use another crust recipe.

 Slice NY, the blog that revolves around pizza, has featured an excerpt from Ed Levine's Pizza: A Slice of Heaven. This particular excerpt concerns the existence of the pizza belt, that swath of America along which the first and best pizzas in the country originated. Essentially, the "belt" seems to have spread along patterns of southern Italian immigrants, coming into Ellis Island in New York and gradually spreading over towards Boston. Stretching over a 33 year period, the American pizza timeline clearly shows the launch of some of the mainstays of pizza-dom. Slice also has a textual account of the history of pizza in America, contributed by Mr. Levine.

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