The gauntlet was thrown down on Wednesday in the Comments section of the blog.  The topic was bottled water but there was a reference by my good buddy Ian about how superior New York style pizza is compared to Chicago style.  Another old school Chicagoan (Jason’s Mom – don’t worry, I won’t use your real name!) reminded us that flat square pizza is the original Chicago style pizza.  While I won’t argue that, and a few joints in Chicago still make it that way to fantastic results, the perception of Chicago-style pizza nowadays is the deep dish variety.

First, let me throw some bouquets to the New York Style pizza.  It’s extremely easy to handle.  You pick it up, fold it in two, and open your gullet.  Anyone that doesn’t eat it that way is a novice.  You can pick out a non-east coaster by handing them a New York style slice and see how they eat it.  If they pick it up and don’t fold it or they eat it with a fork and knife, they’re imposters.  In terms of portability, you can enjoy a New York style slice in more places than you can a Chicago style slice.

But let’s not kid each other.  In terms of taste, visual appeal, caloric count and flat-out kickassedness, the Chicago style deep dish pizza simply rules the roost in the pizza kingdom.  For those of us who love cheese, there couldn’t be a better option than having ¼ - ½ inch of nothing but cheese on a slice of pizza.  Obviously you can’t have a slice of this kind of pizza often unless you’re not bothered by buying larger and larger pants each time you go clothes shopping, but there are few things more “Chicago” than a piping hot pie-shaped slice of gooey cheese and whatever red meat topping you choose.  Of course, “topping” is a misnomer in this case since any addition to a Chicago style pizza is topped by another layer of cheese and red sauce.  HOT DAMN.  My mouth is salivating just thinking about it.  Thankfully there is a Nancy’s Pizza outlet here in Atlanta and I can get my Chicago style fix when the cravings get too intense.

So go ahead, New York/New Jersey, flap all you want about your supposedly superior slice of “pie” but the deep dish version is the undisputed heavyweight of pizza and isn’t about to relinquish its crown anytime soon.  Obviously this is extremely subjective and both sides are passionate about their style of pizza.  I worked at a baseball camp in New York and New Jersey for 8 summers in high school and college so I appreciate a good slice of New York pizza.  There’s no disputing it’s a fantastic interpretation but if you want to use a comparison, deep dish pizza is the current version of the New England Patriots and New York style pizza is the Indianapolis Colts.  Take your spineless little pizza, place 3 other slices on top of it and maybe you can come close to the Cholesterol Bomb that Chicago perfected.

One thing we can all agree is that if you live in either metropolitan area, you should NEVER order pizza from a national chain.  If there was a point where I lost my interest in MTV’s ‘The Real World’ back when it was still popular and I actually watched that channel, it was when they had the Chicago crew meet for the first time in their apartment and they were greeted with boxes of Papa John’s “pizza”.  It was heresy as far as I was concerned.  Dominos?  Pizza Hut? Those pizzas are never ordered in the Kirkpatrick household and they never will be.

The other thing you should never do?  Add chicken and/or barbecue sauce to your pizza.  If I ever catch one of you with either of those ingredients on your “pizza”, I will either personally remove them off for you or pay for another slice of real pizza for you to consume.