Travel + Leisure Ranks New York City #3 Pizza City Behind Chicago And Providence

T+L – There are some things that exist only in New York, but the city’s traditional foldable, thin-crust pizza is no longer one of them. “These days, you can find decent, or even excellent, New York–style pizza in almost any medium-sized to large city in America,” says Brooklyn-based writer Jeff Turrentine. “But finding even passable Chicago-style pizza outside of Chicago—that still poses a challenge.” That only-in-Chicago factor helps explain why the Windy City once again won the No. 1 spot for best pizza city, according to Travel + Leisure readers. This year’s America’s Favorite Cities survey—in which readers rank 35 cities for such enticements as luxury stores, live music, and good-looking locals—revealed voters’ reverence for Chicago’s deep-dish magic. That said, the top-ranking cities also reflect an increasing passion for authentic, Neapolitan-style pizza—as well as a flair for quirky, local renditions, such as brisket pizza in San Antonio, TX, lobster pizza in Boston, or even Fritos-as-toppings in Houston. (The survey focuses on large metro areas, so voters didn’t have the option to rate some smaller cities with outsize pizza reputations, such as New Haven, CT, and Trenton, NJ.) Even in Chicago, it’s not hard to find Neapolitan-style pizzerias that show off their Verace Pizza Napoletanacertification—proof that they use the appropriate gear, ingredients, and techniques to create pizza like that you’d find in Naples. Take Lincoln Park’s Pizzeria da Nella, for instance, where the owner comes from a long line of Italian pizzaioli.   Traditional Chicago-style, on the other hand, may not have such strict standards, which may be why it doesn’t translate elsewhere. “When I’m traveling, I’ll see a restaurant that says ‘Chicago-style pizza,’ and because it’s me, I have to try it,” says Jonathan Porter, founder of Chicago Pizza Tours, where you can sample five Windy City pizzas in roughly three hours.

I’m not gonna freak out and play the “real New Yorker” role here and go nuts about “New York Pizza” like most people would probably expect me to. I make fun of those people, I’m not one of them. I’ve never even had Chicago pizza. Never been to Rhode Island or Chicago. Theres no way I could judge whether this is a legit ranking or not. Here’s what I will say though.

1) Deep dish pizza is not better than thin crust – I don’t care if its Chicago or New York or any other city in the world. Deep dish pizza is for Pizza Hut. Real pizza is thin crust. If there’s definitive proof that Chicago pizza beats NYC pizza, so be it. But you better not be using Deep Dish Pizza as your argument. Isn’t deep dish pizza and Sicilian the same thing? I don’t even get what the fuss is about. Its just not as good as a real, normal slice.

2) Neapolitan pizza is for the birds – This whole Travel + Leisure ranking is based on Neapolitan pizza. Which I guess I don’t mind. If you put it in front of me, I’ll eat it. But its certainly not as good as your standard cheesy slice. Neapolitan is all tomato sauce with just like patches of cheese. It looks like someone made a half ass pizza. I guess people consider that “gourmet” but I consider that a half cooked pizza.

Bottom line is your standard, thin crust, cheesy pizza cooked just enough that there’s a crunch on the bottom is the best slice of pizza in the world. The reason why you can get that all over the country now, and not just New York, is because everyone has tried to replicate it. Because its one of the greatest foods on the planet earth. Maybe deep dish pizza in Chicago is still exclusive to Chicago because nobody else wants to fucking eat it. Why are people in Connecticut and Rhode Island gonna replicate some fat, dumpy Pizza Hut style pizza from Chicago? They’re too busy mastering the New York Pizza recipe because thats what everyone wants to eat.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Besides, people in Chicago don’t even like pizza. We got Barstool Chicago on an open crusade against pizza in favor of fucking burritos like a bunch of illegal Mexicans.