• 3 days ago
Is there such a thing as the best pizza?

Get My Cookbook: https://bit.ly/TextureOverTaste

Additional Cookbook Options (other stores, international, etc.): https://bit.ly/WeissmanCookbook

FOLLOW ME:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshuaweissman
Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@flakeysalt
Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealweissman
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thejoshuaweissman
---------------------------------------------------------------
Transcript
00:00There are hundreds of ways to make a pizza, but which style is truly the best?
00:04We asked you to vote, and after thousands of votes, I'm trying and ranking the top 15 pizza
00:10styles from around the world, from Neapolitan to New Haven, all judged by their unique preparation
00:15and technique. I'll be rating every pizza on flavor and texture, and at the end, I'll name
00:19my favorite style in the world. We've once again enlisted the human encyclopedia of pizza, Scott
00:27Wiener of Scott's Pizza Tours, who will guide us around the world, starting with a style I've never
00:32even heard of before, Argentinian Fugazetta. So we're at a place in Long Island City, Queens,
00:36called BB's, which doesn't make this style, but sometimes they host pop-ups with this guy,
00:41OG Papa Fern, Fernando himself, who makes this very specific Argentinian-style pizza called the
00:46Fugazetta, which is dough, cheese, dough, ton of onions, chimichurri, and then garnished on the
00:52end with olives. At every stop, we're sticking with cheese pizza, unless toppings are essential
00:56to the style, like the way they are here. If you have this without the onion and the chimichurri
01:00and the olive, it's not the style at all. Actually phenomenal. This is completely different than I
01:05think any of the pizzas we're going to have today, by far. The closest comparison of what we'll have
01:08today will be the Chicago Deep Dish. If I'm going to compare this to Chicago Deep Dish, I'm going to
01:12say right away, this is way better. Normally, I don't like super cheesy pies, but it's the addition
01:16of all these onions to help kind of like diffuse the cheese, because now you have texture that's
01:19beating out what would have been too much cheese. The charred onions are almost like a fried onion,
01:23in the sense of like, there's no crunch. It's more of like this crispy french fry texture. And
01:27then the raw onion provides like a raw vegetable crunch that I think gives it structure. But it
01:32also is giving you sweetness. It's giving you that sort of raw onion flavor, like you're eating like
01:35a nice cheesy sandwich in a way. Then on the back, you have this almost like focaccia-like chew
01:40from the dough itself, and a little bit of crunch on the bottom with the crust. I'm with you on the
01:44onion. I think without the onion, I might even dislike this. Now, flavor. It's just not overly
01:48rich. If you manage to get one of these olives in a bite, I think that's the complete experience.
01:5220% crust, 80% cheese, and then there's this random pop of briny, salty, Kalamata olive
01:59deliciousness that enrobes that whole experience, cuts the richness, and creates a perfect bite. And
02:04then there's also that little sprinkling of the chimichurri, which, to be honest, is very subtle.
02:08As a dish, I think it's delicious. As a pizza, it's almost right on the edge of not being a pizza.
02:12For this pizza style, I'll give a solid 8 for texture, and another 8 for flavor.
02:16If you've never had Argentinian pizza, it's worth adding to the list. Moving on.
02:20Fugazetta, a surprising 16 out of 20. Strong. On to our next contender, Detroit Style.
02:27We are at Asus Pizza. I like this place a lot. It's a place that does this style kind of like
02:31right down the center. In my mind, this is the most typical Detroit-style pizza in New York City.
02:36I've had the original Detroit-style pizza at Buddy's in Detroit. I don't think Buddy's is
02:40really that special. Not once have I gone to Buddy's and felt like it was an anomaly in
02:43comparison to the rest. So we're at Asus to at least have it in this video with a new experience.
02:48Good crust on the bottom. Crunchy on the outside. You got the mouth destroyer crust.
02:52And you gotta go with the corners. I mean, the caramelized cheese on the edge. It's what
02:55separates Detroit-style from just standard Sicilian. Not only do I love this, but this
03:00reminds me that I love pizza. It just does all the things that beautiful pizza does. It's not
03:04overthought. And I love fancy, overthought pizza, but it's so comfortable. And I think sometimes
03:08the best pizza is the one that's comfortable, not the one that you have to put on a fancy
03:12dress to go and eat. I agree with that. It's like not trying to be something that it's not.
03:15The pinot sauce isn't overly sweet. It's got some acidity to it, which I love. A little bit
03:19of oregano perfuming the top of it. The cheese on there is mellow, but salty. And it's not stinky
03:24cheese. It's like a classic milky cheese almost. I do like this dough much more than Buddy's. It's
03:29not relying so much on the cheese crust. I can enjoy the center of this. I can enjoy working
03:33my way towards this crunchy bit in the back. Whereas with Buddy's, I felt like that was the
03:36only highlight. It was very heavy. This is much lighter. I could eat this whole pizza.
03:39A solid eight for texture. Light, airy, crisp. And I'd give it a flat seven for flavor. Tasty,
03:44but a little too heavy on the dried spices for me. Better than Buddy's, but no top ranking for
03:48Detroit style. And now after many, many, Jesus, a lot of complaints in our last big pizza video,
03:54crying out for New Haven pizza. Well, we heard you. And we're going directly to the source to
04:00find the very best version of that pizza and enter it into the competition. Now to show us
04:04the best of the best, we are temporarily partying with Scott for a New Haven legend, Colin Kaplan,
04:09of Taste of New Haven Food Tours, who bleeds New Haven pizza. And he's starting us off with
04:14a true legend. This is a signature Frank Pepe white clam pizza. The white clam pie was invented
04:19by Frank Pepe. He's the oldest, longest running pizzeria in Connecticut and one of the oldest in
04:24America. This is what New Haven's known for. Fresh clams, garlic, olive oil, pecorino romano,
04:28little oregano on top. Basically what New Haven style is, is the original pizza. It's the kind
04:32of pizza when the immigrants came over over a hundred years ago. What they used to make in
04:36Boston, New York, Chicago, and every other city that was a pizza city, they made what is now
04:40called New Haven style. To me, this is like calling me because of the char and the crisp,
04:43but like you tell me. When I go for a pie, I want what New Haven is known for, which is the char.
04:47I want it to have that kind of dark, delicious crust that says it's been cooked great. It almost
04:52stands up holding it. That is very nice. I don't have a preconceived notion of what New Haven pizza
04:57should be. This pizza is very focused on the quality of the dough. Because there's not a ton
05:01of sauce, there's not a ton of toppings, but there is a lot of really nice, almost flatbread-like
05:05pizza. Inside it's like thin, but there's a little bit of fluff. But then that bottom is so ridiculously
05:10crisp, almost like a thin little crispy cracker. You get the chew from the toppings, you get the
05:13chew from the dough. It's got a little bit of stretch, and then it just melts with the crunch.
05:17I mean, like you can hear that, and it's loud as f*** in here. And then flavor, it's very mellow.
05:22By keeping the flavor simple, you're not ending up with a bunch of different random tastes like,
05:25oh, garlic here, tomato here. Not heavy too. You can eat this and walk away feeling really f***ing
05:29good. That's our whole goal in New Haven is to eat as much pizza as possible. A lot of people told
05:34me mixed things, either to skip New Haven or to go to New Haven. There was no in-between, and
05:37god, I'm f***ing glad we're here. Now, I was about to give my rating, and then the manager came out of
05:41nowhere and asked me to send a special 100th anniversary Frank Pepe's pizza peel. Right next to
05:46the man himself. 100 years is crazy. And then he gifted me an apron, to which I was like, wait,
05:50pause. Because he insisted I go to the kitchen and go straight to work. Listen, tossing these pizzas
05:54with this long of a pizza peel, not something I have experience with, but I'll give it a shot.
05:58And, uh, well, okay, that didn't go very well, now did it? Uh, all right, we're gonna give that another
06:02try. But you fall down once, you get up twice. I tried again, and it came out great. Whoa, I really
06:08like that. Holy s***, it's perfect in every way. You get to enjoy the cheese and the sauce without it
06:12distracting you from the dough at all. You can enjoy it for what the product truly is. F***, I don't know
06:17who's gonna top this, dude. You guys are screwed. Okay, I had two pizzas. I'm gonna rate the one that I liked
06:21more, which is the tomato. I like the clam, but frankly, the tomato, I would desire that pizza
06:25more than I would the clam. That's just my own personal preference. Texture, clearly, it's all
06:29about the bread. I'll give it an 8.9. The flavor, unbelievable. It's not complicated. It's just purely
06:34what it's supposed to be, that fresh tomato flavor, a little bit of sweetness, olive oil, pecorino,
06:38really nice and salty. So I'd give it a solid 8 on flavor. I just want to be clear, that's high. That's
06:43very high for me. Moving on. Frank Pepe's tomato pie steals the spotlight from their clam pie with a
06:4816.9. That's already an extremely high rating for me, but is it enough for New Haven to win the
06:55entirety of the competition? Let's see what our next New Haven spot, Sally's Abiz, has to say
07:00about that. The A in front of pizza is how we pronounce it, not a pizza, Abiz. They're known for
07:04their tomato pie, tomato sauce, a little less pecorino romano than we've seen. I hardly see it.
07:09It's almost like invisible. It's very fragrant, despite how simple it looks. Super garlicky, I
07:13smell it. Cheers? Cheers. Wow, this is totally different. Towards the center, way more thin,
07:19crisp, but also like almost melt-in-your-mouth crunch. There's not as much chew in this dough,
07:23which I like. The crust is like a wispy crispness. It's almost like crystallic in its way it
07:28dissolves. Really nice, and then it gets chewier as you get towards the back. Also, the sauce on
07:32this, it's a little sweeter, but also that's bringing out some more of the tomato flavor
07:35that I like. The pecorino also being lighter is bringing out more of that tomato flavor too,
07:39so this is a very like fresh pie. I like this. This is nice. This pizza was actually originated
07:43by Frank Pepe's nephew, Salvatore Sally Consiglio. Technique-wise, it's just about the same exact
07:48technique as Pepe's does. Same kind of dough formation. The oven is coal-fired, so there's
07:52this whole family connection here. It's kind of crazy. I mean, if you think about it though,
07:55out of all the pizzas we're going to taste today, many of them have almost the exact same
07:58ingredients. Most of them will have flour, water, yeast, salt, tomatoes, and garlic, and olive oil,
08:03yet they're all wildly different. So what's really the difference between this and the other place
08:06is like minutiae and technique is what changes the product. When you're working with something
08:10so simple, any change in the process will change the product. A lot of people think
08:14that New Haven-style has to be coal-fired. The next place we're going to go to, it's actually
08:18oil-fired. That's sick. V8 biturbo diesel engine. Let's go. It's not gasoline, but it's oil. Like
08:24home heating oil, it's different. You'll see. So for Sally's, the texture here was better than
08:29Pepe's, in my opinion. It felt more delicate. It felt more melt-in-your-mouth. Flavor, I'm going
08:33an 8.5. So simple, but so good. And texture, a whopping, walloping 8.9. Obviously, all technique.
08:41These boys ain't playing. Really solid work. Moving on. Sally's tomato pie unseats Frank
08:46Pepe's version with a very strong 17.4. But our final New Haven stop is Modern Abeats. Here's the
08:52thing. These guys are doing a little differently by not using coal. So the question is, can that
08:56beat the other two and can it win the overall competition? Modern is so well known for their
09:01mozzarella pie. This is kind of our signature pie that we're going to get here. Immediately,
09:04I noticed this one is far more charred. It's obviously getting hit at a much higher temperature
09:08just because even the cheese is getting a little bit of char. The cheese has almost like been hit
09:12so aggressively, there's almost like a brown butter scent to it. And yet, also just evenly
09:16melted in some of the center parts. Listen. That's kind of hot. Cheers. Wow. One of the features of
09:21New Haven pizza is that it's cooked well done, but the structure of the bread is still there.
09:24It hasn't been squeezed out. The rolling pin is shunned. So it's really all about hand movement.
09:28So you get a little bit of that stretch where it pulls on this crust, but you're not getting
09:31a cracker. You're really getting still a bread. I will say I do love the texture of this, possibly
09:35the most. It's super crispy, just like all the other ones, but it has a little bit of that airy
09:38breadiness and that I like. And I'm guessing that has something to do with the modern aspect
09:42of it, right? Like the texture is a little bit less cracker and a little bit more like puffy
09:46and like chewy. Bill Pustari and his family have run Modern for 37 years. One of the big changes
09:50he made was adding a sourdough, taking away the baker's yeast and having a 150 year old sourdough
09:55come into the play, pulling from that on every batch. Also, Modern has a very different oven.
09:59They converted it to home heating oil in the late sixties and they changed a big square oven to a
10:04round domed oven. It's getting hotter because the heat's going up and smack down on top of
10:08the pizza. You're getting little bits and little pops of crunch on the top of this. You're not
10:11going to get anywhere else. The crispness on the underside, pretty similar to a few of the other
10:14places. But like you said, you have that layer of bread. There's like a little bit of chewiness to
10:18it, like a nice flatbread. It's not just a cracker crunch. It's a cracker crunch followed by a nice
10:22chew, a stretch in a way. And it's a little aerated too, surprisingly. Flavor feels a little
10:27bit more relaxed, although it's more rich. You know, you've got all the cheese and oil. I did
10:30prefer the flavor of the Sally's one, just a little marginally more for my own personal preference.
10:35The flavor of the dough though, on the other hand, like I wish there was a bit more salt.
10:38Sauce is a little saltier. Cheese is a little saltier. So that kind of helps balance that out.
10:42Time to score. Texture, 8.7. Flavor, a flat eight.
10:45I will say typically anything that's under salted to me will get under a six. The fact that this is
10:49getting an eight says a lot about the sauce, the quality of the crust. And I think the cheese and
10:53everything that they've done on here is the flavors are just very nice. New Haven, hats off.
10:57Very good. I told myself I would never come here. I was like, it's the same.
11:01It's not often I admit that I'm wrong, but I will admit it if it's true.
11:04And I got to be honest, I was wrong. And I think it is a valuable contender in this.
11:08And it's going to be a stiff competition to beat. Let's move on.
11:11In the battle of New Haven, Sally's tomato pie emerges victorious,
11:15beating Frank Pepe, modern to beats and moving on to first place in the overall competition.
11:19New Haven, it's looking good, but that may not be for long because we're going back to
11:23New York City for a Roman specialty. We're in the Clinton Hill section
11:26of Brooklyn. This place is called Impasto. This is Roman pizza al taglio. In Rome,
11:30this is the one that every day on the street, grab a slice for lunch, grab a slice as a snack,
11:34kind of the way that we treat pizza in New York City is the same as this.
11:36Luca, the owner is from Rome and he's brought this style of pizza to New York.
11:41We're matching what we're doing with the other places. So for that here,
11:43it's a pizza margarita, fresh mozzarella, crushed tomato, basil. For my money,
11:47this is the best version of it. It matches what you'd have in Rome.
11:50That's a big claim. I've had this style of pizza before. So I'm wondering where
11:53this is going to stand up. And we've got these little slices. They look lovely. They're light.
11:56So light. Oh yeah. I'm going to finish this. It's not a lot of pizza. Like we just cut one
12:01slice in half. For the amount of dough, so much of it is water and that water is cooked off. So
12:05it leaves behind so much lightness. Every flavor in it is clear. It's just tomato and salt. So
12:09simple. Some pizza is made with intention. This is a very intentional pizza. I needed this, man.
12:14This reminded me that New Haven's not all that. I'm going to get in trouble. I'm next to you.
12:18Texture. It's got quite literally everything I want in a pizza in the sense of the bottom
12:21is like beautifully crackly, crunchy, like a crisp cracker, wispy, crispy, thin, wafer-like crunch
12:28immediately melts in your mouth. And then above that is this gorgeous, moist, pillowy, soft,
12:33airy dough on top of that with a little bit of chew, but not too much. You're not like working
12:36your jaw. The flavors are fresh. The tomatoes are fresh. You can really taste that tomato.
12:40There's no like throwing sugar and tons of garlic. Like you taste that light, natural sweetness,
12:43a little bit of tartness. And then of course there's that cheese there for a little tinge
12:47of saltiness. I should also mention that there's salt in the dough and it is salted wonderfully.
12:50No more, no less. I want it exactly like that. This is a wonderful pizza. I'm kind of in shock
12:55right now. Texture, 9.1. What? Whoa, brother. And flavor, a massive, even nine. Good God.
13:02With ratings like that, it's going to take truly the best pizza to win this competition.
13:07And as quickly as New Haven takes first place, it gives it up to Roman Taglio with an 18.1.
13:13But our next pizza style, everyone better watch out. It's probably one of the best pizzas ever.
13:17If I was clinically insane, Pizza Hut. This is Scott's most favorite pizza in the entire world.
13:23We have a Pizza Hut stuffed crust pizza. Now you might be wondering why is this in this
13:27competition? This doesn't make any sense. Unfortunately, you voted for it. I'm disappointed.
13:30I'm a man of my word and we will try the pizza that you voted for. So here we go. Looking good
13:34already. You see, most pizzas you actually really want this sort of gravitational pull to the earth.
13:39If you were on the moon, it would do this too. If you want to find the core of the earth,
13:41pick up one of these slices. It's that way. I guess I'll give it a little crack in the back.
13:46Oh wait, you know what? Okay. Actually, Scott, the first thing you're going to notice is kind
13:49of like what's left over in the baby's diaper. I'm kidding. The crust wasn't that bad on the
13:53edge. There was a little bit of crisp, almost like an assumption of it, which was immediately
13:56lost in the plastic-y Play-Doh center. Sauce was not present. Saltiness was okay. I'm getting
14:00salty cheese and just about nothing else. Honestly, I think I'd be better off with a
14:04mozzarella stick from the refrigerator. Cold. But you're thinking about this as someone who's
14:07analyzing food. You got to put yourself in the mindset of somebody who needs comfort in the form
14:11of as much cheese as possible. You got to be really hurting if that's the bandaid you need.
14:15What about the concept of stuffing a crust with cheese? Do you respect that?
14:19Yeah, I could be into it. This just fails because the concept is good, but the execution is not as
14:24good as you'd want. Pretty much. What has happened here is whatever cheese they use plus the dough
14:28has become an amalgamation of a paste. It has no cheese pull. It has no texture. It really just
14:32feels like undercooked dough in the center, even though it's not. And I don't like that at all.
14:36These pizzas have gotten expensive. I feel like you're better off going somewhere else and putting
14:39the same money you would put towards this pizza towards like a local joint that might be giving
14:43a little bit more attention. Texture, for the crust, it's not bad. Like a six. Everything else,
14:46a one or a two. So I'll equalize that at a solid three and then flavor, I think a 2.5. Look for
14:52other stuffed crust pizzas from potentially a local purveyor and you will probably have a better
14:56experience. Let's move on. You know, Pizza Hut doesn't even deserve to be on the leaderboard,
15:00in my opinion, but now we get to see what a quote unquote legit stuffed pizza is all about.
15:05So we're at La Villa in Park Slope, Brooklyn. We're going to have their stuffed pizza,
15:08which is essentially their Sicilian dough in the rectangular pan folded over the ingredients,
15:13which for this is mozzarella, potato, pepperoni, onion. Again, this isn't just a cheese only pizza
15:19like Fugazetta. This style really wouldn't be what it is without all the fillings inside. Okay,
15:23so just got to go in knowing that. There's stuffed pizzas in New York for decades. And the one that I
15:28always remember seeing was the stuffed pizzas at Sbarro. It looks more like a sandwich than it
15:31does a pizza. I'm a little confused. It'll eat like a sandwich. Okay. Wow. It's like the second
15:36I got out of New Haven, I realized that there's a lot better pizza out there. To me, it's a different
15:40experience than eating standard pizzas because pizza I think of as always being open face,
15:44but you still have stuffed pizzas in Chicago. You've got one from Argentina that has the two
15:48doughs. I love this. And there's no sauce on it. The thing that replaces the texture of that sauce
15:52is how creamy this potato is. Yes. It's not mashed up, but it's steamed so intensely. And I think
15:57there's lemon juice in there. This is special. It's totally different than anything else we had.
16:00Now, how do you feel about sliced pepperoni inside? This is using the pepperoni almost more as a deli
16:05meat. You just get a different product. It's not necessarily better or worse. What's going to
16:08happen is sort of pepperoni, fat, and oil spread out in between the sandwich. You bite it. It's
16:12juicy and tender instead of crispy and chewy, which I kind of like. It's a different experience,
16:16right? Flavor is lovely. My first thought was there's no sauce in here. I feel like I'm going
16:19to miss that. I'm not. I'm not missing it at all. Like this all makes sense without the sauce. A
16:23little bit of that sort of like starchy potato flavor. And then of course the nice salty cheese
16:26and this crunchy, lovely dough. Texturally, it's incredible. I mean, if you've never had this before
16:31and you're in New York City, I really think you got to try this. I would give this probably an
16:358.8 texture and flavor. I would say an 8.8 also. I keep telling myself I'm not going to have any
16:40more, but I'm lying to myself. Unbelievable introduction. A great competitor in the game.
16:44It's a top contender. Moving on. Picture this. You're at the lowest part of Manhattan, Battery
16:50Park City, in what is probably the southernmost pizzeria on Manhattan, Pinatesso. And they have
16:55this incredible grandma's pizza. You're familiar. No. Grandma's pizza is the dough is pushed right
17:00into the pan, not allowed to rise in the pan, immediately topped and baked. Thin, dense, crispy,
17:04crunchy. I like the lines of sauce in between the cheese. Grandma pizza has become a lot more
17:10popular in recent years, but it's an old style. It's the style of pizza made in the home in the
17:15days before everyone had a pizza stone. It's like a thinner alternative to the Sicilian pizza.
17:20All right, the beauty of this pizza is it's simple. More herbal sauce than we had before.
17:24There's garlic involved. It has a very tender crumb. It's not chewy at all. If you put the same
17:28sauce in a Detroit-style pizza, it would kind of belong there, in my opinion. Instead of it being
17:31like puffy and crispy, it's thin and crispy. You've got a salty mozzarella, a very oregano-rich sauce,
17:36which you guys know I'm not honestly the biggest fan of if I'm being totally transparent. And then,
17:40obviously, there's like texture of the dough, which is super soft. And by that, I mean like
17:43you've got the crunch, but then it immediately melts. There's not a ton of chew. There's not a
17:47ton of pull to the dough. You bite straight through it. You know, all things considered,
17:50the pizza was good. It just wasn't like mind-boggling, you know? Very basic flavor.
17:54Texture, I'll give a six. Slightly above average. And a flavor, another six. Also,
17:58slightly above average. That's how I felt about it, you know? No disrespect to the grandma pie.
18:02I would be fine if I was sitting at home and that's what my grandma gave me. I'd be pumped.
18:05So, moving on. Next up, Emmitt's to try two of Chicago's most famous pizza styles. Now,
18:10we've been to the famous Chicago places. We've had the famous Chicago pizza. So,
18:14I'll make sure to think of those when I rate this. Emmitt's is a rare pizzeria of New York City
18:19because it is a Chicago-style pizza shop. Emmitt Burke founded the place. He's from Chicago. He
18:25wanted to bring his pizza to New York City, and as it turns out, New York has embraced it. Not only
18:29do they do the more commonly understood deep-dish pizza of Chicago, but they also do the more
18:34commonly eaten thin-crust, tavern-style. Let's start with this while it's hot. I'm gonna be on
18:38record to say this is much better than Luminati's. I'm like suffocating right now. What is it that
18:43this version of deep-dish and the ones you had in Chicago have in common? The commonality,
18:46obviously, is the fact that the sauce is on top, and it's more of like a pie than it is just a
18:50simple pizza, right? Like, it's got a pie vibe mentality to it. Sauce is way better on this.
18:55It's not like a sugar ketchup sauce. It's like a nice quality tomato sauce. There's not too much
19:00cheese on this, and the crust is nice. It's not too rich and oily. But a completely different
19:04crust than everything else we've had today. Yeah. There's also that feeling of the teeth
19:07going through the pizza. Most pizzas, it's like chewy cheese, and then you get to that soft sauce,
19:11and then the chewy dough. This is like your teeth are going through this hot sauce, which I think
19:15creates a different flavor experience, right? Because then you get the sauce before you get the
19:18cheese. Tomato has way more flavor than mozzarella, and so I like the feature of deep-dish pizza.
19:24People get really lost in thinking about that it's thick, but then when you look at the profile of
19:28it, it's not a thick bread. Deep-dish gets a 7 for flavor and a 6.9 on texture. But I'm told that's
19:33not even the pizza that Chicagoans love. It's actually this next one. Now, let's talk about
19:37this thing crust tavern style. The polar opposite. I want to eat it right away while it's still fresh.
19:42This is way more of an everyday pizza. Super-duper light. In comparison to that grandma pie we had,
19:46this is much more what I would have preferred. It's crunchy on the bottom. It's chewy on the
19:50top. Not a lot of sauce. It's cheesy. This is so fun to eat. A round pie cut into squares at first
19:56gave me issues, but then I got into the idea that, wait a second, now I can just pop. It's just super
20:00fun to eat. I like how subtle and simple this is, and yet you want to keep going back for another
20:04bite. After one slice, I'm like, dude, I don't know. Like, I don't know if I can handle another
20:07slice. But this one, like you said, it like makes you want to go back for another little one. It's
20:10like potato chips. Yes. My favorite thing about this pizza is the fact that every bite is different.
20:15This is the most fun pizza on the list by far. Chicago tavern style, 7.2 on both texture and
20:20flavor. Rightfully so, better than deep dish. You know, in the age of overthinking pizza and making
20:26videos about going to too many pizzerias and saying all kinds of nonsense about them. I was
20:30talking about somebody else. Oh, okay. It's great to have a pizza that kind of washes all that out
20:34of your mind and reminds you that eating pizza is fun. That's a beautiful statement. Moving on.
20:37Now, I appreciate Emmett's, the only Chicago pizza in New York City, and I appreciate Chicago.
20:41Let's be real, two amazing food cities. I just don't love Chicago's take on pizza. I'm sorry.
20:46I'd go there for Italian beef. Shout out Mr. Beef, just not a pizza. But now we return to New York
20:51City's legend, Scars Pizza, one of my all-time favorites for a big boy slice, where we'll try
20:56three styles. New York, New York Sicilian, and the classic American pan pizza. I know you've
21:00had Scars before, and I know you like Scars, but last time we did the video when you picked best
21:04pizza in New York, you picked Lindustri, that was not typical New York style pizza. This is a classic
21:10New York slice, so that's why we're highlighting the slice of Scars. New York slice, it's big,
21:14first of all. Yeah, this is a 22-inch diameter pipe. Huge, good lord. It's like a really great
21:20rendition of the New York slice. It's phenomenal. Every time I come here, I'm always reminded,
21:24damn, Scars is f***ing good. Is this a style of pizza that you tend to prefer personally? I would
21:29say so, yeah, but like only in the right context. It's a gigantic slice of pizza that you just get
21:34one and call it a day. You can eat it on the street, you can walk around. Oily cheese fat,
21:37the crispy cheese on top, that crunchy crust on the bottom. It's ultra, ultra thin, and it's also
21:43uncomplicated. It's just cheese, sauce, and maybe a little bit of oregano, and that's it. It's a
21:46pizza you can fold, which I feel like every time I see someone fold a pizza, I think New York City,
21:50I don't know why. It's casual. This is like the food that makes sense to a city. The texture
21:54doesn't get much better than this. It's a nine. The flavor, I'd say, is an 8.8. It's a very simple
21:59flavor. They're not reinventing the wheel, they're just doing it well. The New York slice almost
22:03takes the lead, but lands in second place behind Roman Altaglio. Maybe the crisp, airy Sicilian can
22:08elevate New York City. Sicilian pizza, squares, dough in the pan, allowed to proof in the pan
22:13to get puffy and fluffy, unlike the grandma pie, and then topped and baked, which is why you pick
22:17it up, and it's thick, but it should be light. Let's go into it. This is a good Sicilian, a great
22:21Sicilian. Bad Sicilians are the ones that are dense, they're just thick. I think Scar's also
22:25does the American Sicilian the best here. I love this pizza. I've had it before, and this reminds
22:29me why this is delicious. It's not the toppings, it's this unbelievable bread that's underneath it.
22:33You can eat this bread by itself and absolutely love every millisecond of it. Earth-shatteringly
22:38crispy. The inside's super-duper aerated, so airy that when you bite it, it almost like
22:43breathes a little bit of salty, yeasty pizza air into your mouth, and it tastes good. Almost positive
22:48that the Sicilian is par-baked. Before they top the dough, they bake it halfway so that they can
22:52finish off the bread before the toppings weigh it down. This is a f****** phenomenal texture. I love
22:56this. 9-3. I care more about the bread than I do the flavor of this pizza, and so I would give it an
23:018-2 for flavor. I highly, highly recommend for people to come here and try this. The New York City
23:05Sicilian just misses the top three, sliding in just above New Haven, but let's be honest, we got one
23:10more left, which means they have one more shot. The cheese goes all the way to the edge, so you're
23:14gonna get caramelized cheese. The sauce is on top of the cheese. The pan pizza is not baked with a
23:18par-bake. That means that the toppings are weighing down the dough when they go from raw to cooked.
23:22Completely different pizza. More dense. It doesn't have that air, but this to me feels cozy.
23:27Yeah, I'm really getting every little flavor in this. Like, the fragrance of the oregano is super
23:31apparent. I'm tasting the olive oil in it. I'm getting that nice tomato flavor in there, and even
23:35the cheese. That salty, chewy cheese is like very, very present. I'm getting every little minuscule,
23:41microscopic flavor compound that's in this bite. Flavor on this one, it's an 8-9. The inside's
23:46more dense. It's more of like a chewy pizza. It's not as in-your-face from a textural standpoint as
23:51this Sicilian is. Texture, I would say, a solid 8. Pan style, American Sicilian, and New York style
23:56have all found their place on the leaderboard, but we have more to find, so let's move on.
24:00We move on to Ruby Rosa, New York City's top thin crust pizza. This is a tight competition with only
24:06three styles to go from three of the most legendary places of all time, so this is gonna get a little
24:11interesting. Super thin crust, cubes of mozzarella, California tomatoes on top. I'm ready to eat.
24:18This style completely different from Scar's, which is flexible, and this is snappy, thin, brittle.
24:23Thin crust visually can sometimes look unsubstantial. It's literally thinner than the
24:27peel that it's on. The flavor and the texture in this is much more loud and pronounced than the
24:31Chicago deep dish we had. It says a lot about the quality of this pie and the flavors behind it. I
24:35love the tomato forward flavor. It's tart, seasoned nicely, fragrant, and it is just straight up tomato.
24:41I'm not being masked by the cheese, not being masked by the dough. I'm getting that beautiful,
24:45fresh tomato flavor that's just slightly cooked in the oven. Saltiness from the cheese, not oily
24:50at all. The crust is super crunchy like a nice thick cracker. If my thin crust is floppy and
24:55chewy, it's not thin crust pizza. You know, it feels like it could be a dressed up pizza in a
24:59place like this where we're sitting down and there's flowers and wine glasses on the table,
25:02or it could be a by the slice on a paper plate. I like the versatility. Flavor, easy, easy, easy,
25:078.8. It's not too much, it's not too little. It's very nice texture. I would give it also an 8.9,
25:13honestly. Like, I think out of all the crunchy thin crust, this is by far my most favorite,
25:18way over the tavern style. This is the top dog. All that said, we're not done yet, moving on.
25:23Ruby Rose's Thin Crust moves into the top three behind New York City Slice and Roman Altaglio,
25:28but now one of New York City's most famous styles at one of the most historic spots,
25:32possibly in the United States of America. We are having classic coal-fired pizza at John's
25:37Obliquer Street in Greenwich Village. So it's a coal-fired oven, not wood, not gas, anthracite
25:42coal. Not gas, but I know I'm gonna have gas. Let's go. So good. It's a completely different
25:47and unique experience. Kind of hits all the notes you want from pizza without it being
25:50pretentious or fancy. It's just like a wonderfully thin crusted pizza. This is like a chewy crunch.
25:56You get a little crisp, and then you kind of got to pull. And then you're chewing, and it's like
25:59crunchy, and it's chewy at the same time. Not super arid, and I don't mind it at all. And there's
26:03so many elements about it you don't detect as you eat it. The sauce is on top of the cheese,
26:07so this way the cheese adheres to the dough. Most coal-fired pizza, if they're using fresh
26:10mozzarella, it's sliced. These guys use low moisture, which is also sliced. So it's not
26:15shreds of cheese that break up really quickly. There's more cohesion among the cheese. This way
26:19when you take a bite, you get some nice extraction. It's gooey, it's ooey, and it's a little chewy. I
26:24like it. You had coal-fired pizza at Peppy's and Sally's in New Haven. This is New York coal-fired
26:28pizza, which are round, cut into equal triangles, have more flexibility. They're not as dense and
26:33crisp and crunchy as New Haven. I think this is slightly better. I also think this dough is
26:37seasoned phenomenally. I love the pizza in New Haven, but the crust is salted lower than this.
26:43Texture, I'm going to give a solid 8.4. Random number, I know what you're thinking. I really
26:47don't care. We should just end the video there. Flavor of this pizza is substantial. It's powerful,
26:53it's strong, it's salted nicely. All the little flavors that are in here are popping the way I
26:57want them to pop. I'm going to give this a 9. Absolutely delicious. If you've never had it
27:00before, it's obviously something to add to the list, but we got to move on. Take it all in,
27:03Roman Alitalio, our current leader, still 18.1. Can anyone unseat and upset that victory? We got
27:10one more left. The biggest contender of them all, Neapolitan style. This is quite literally the
27:15crown jewel, the original pizza, but can it steal the throne? We're at Una Pizza Napoletana in the
27:20Lower East Side. This place has all the accolades you could ever expect. It's been named number one
27:25pizzeria in the world, two years running now, by Top 50 Pizza, the prime place if you want
27:31Neapolitan pizza. This style is not just an Italian pizza, it is the original pizza of
27:37Southern Italy. It's the hottest oven, fastest bake, hardest execution of any style that we're
27:43having. Basically no margin for error. Can I get this one? That was for you, yes.
27:52You okay? I don't know. First of all, the texture of the dough is absurd. The thinnest crisp on the
27:58exterior that relents to this soft, cloud interior. Texturally, this is like really bar
28:04none. This is gonna bring me back to my first time I ever had Neapolitan pizza was at Damichele,
28:08and I had never had it before. I knew nothing about it. I just walked in. Somehow there was
28:12no line that day, and I took a bite of the pizza. I don't know what it was, but it literally brought
28:16a tear to my eye. That life-altering experience immediately sucked me back into that moment when
28:20I ate this. Just ridiculously earth-shattering, thin crispiness, and the inside is like
28:25webby, and luscious, and puffy, and aerated, but like also super moist. That's a 9.5 texture for
28:31me. Flavor? What's in their sauce? Tomato and salt. How is this outshining things where they
28:35have garlic, and salt, and pepper, and oregano, and sugar? This is special. Now the moment of
28:40truth. It all comes down to this final score. This pizza is so simple I almost don't even know
28:45that it has the capability to take itself over the edge, to crown this pizza as our winner,
28:49but we'll find out.
28:57I think a 9.4 flavor. It's just like, just letting good be good. This is probably the
29:01best single-handed execution of it I think I've ever had in my life. And there you have it. After
29:0515 of the most iconic pizza styles in the world, the Neapolitan at Una Pizza Napoletana reigns
29:12supreme. The best style of pizza in the world. Italy takes two of the top three spots, but let's
29:18be real. Every pizza here owes its existence, honestly, to Italy. We went all the way around
29:22the world. We went to Italy. We went to America. We went to Italian America. Then we went to
29:26Argentina, and we've come back to Italy, ultimately for a real big dub for the Italians,
29:31the originators, the creators. It came back home thanks to Una. Subscribe. Bye.
29:48you