Why New York Pizza is so Tough to Replicate

Nothing beats Swedish pizza. Laugh if you will, but every single American I've ever introduced to a real Swedish-style Capricciosa has come away deeply impressed. The ranking goes; Swedish (Scandinavian if you're generous), Italian, Chicago, NYC.

The big problem is US over-reliance on tomato sauce and generally inferior cheeses.

So there.

Pizza from Naples can't be beat.
Chicago pizza is deep - it's almost like soup.

Talking about homemade, my wife makes a really tasty philly cheese steak pizza with a store-bought crust, roast beef, onions, and assorted cheeses.

I pack it away by the plateful, and clamor for more!

As a Chicagoan who grew up in New York and New Jersey, I still crave New York-style pizza and lament that fact it's so hard to find here. The commenters you wrote about Midwestern square-cut pizza being designed to share - um, why would triangular slices be any less shareable than squares? Here, people just end up taking four or five tiny squares - a New York-style slice's worth - per serving, anyhow. Square-cut doesn't serve any more people per pie.

I agree, the square cuts are probably more a means of dealing with the dry, crackery Midwestern pizza crust ... or a nod to Chicago's "grid" style city street plan. :)

I think the best way to get a good pizza is to make it yourself. I'm partial to an extremely thin sourdough crust myself, partially cooked in a very hot oven before adding the toppings, then cooked a bit longer with the toppings in a slightly cooler oven. I'd love to have a wood oven for it (and for bread), but that's a bit outside my budget right now.