# Is NY style pizza supposed to be like this? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 9, 2016, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ny-style-pizza-supposed-to-be-like-this/756929 "2016-06-09T17:04:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ny-style-pizza-supposed-to-be-like-this/756929/21 "2016-06-09T19:43:56Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > “Chicago style” is not a pizza; it is a casserole. Chicago deep dish isn’t how most Chicagoans eat pizza anyway. Usually it’s a [thin, crisp crust](http://www.realdeepdish.com/2014/07-13-chicago-thin-crust-pizza-yes-its-a-thing/) (but not cracker dry) cut “tavern style” into squares. The deep dish stuff is more distinctive though so I guess everyone assumes the people of the Windy City eat giant deep slices of pizza as a regular thing. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ny-style-pizza-supposed-to-be-like-this/756929/22 "2016-06-09T20:18:38Z")
I don’t even like NY style pizza, and I live here. So I’m not defending it as better than all other pizzas or anything. But, I have never had a “NY style pizza” in some other part of the country that had the same texture/taste as the crust on a NY pizza. It’s a combination the crust being very soft and chewy, but then the edge parts of the crust are really crispy and toasty. Even when pizza from other places has the same look, it’s a very different mouth feel. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ny-style-pizza-supposed-to-be-like-this/756929/23 "2016-06-09T20:46:11Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > You fold the slice to eat it. Which is a practical application of Gauss’s [Theorema Egregium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theorema_Egregium): > [@](#): > > An application of the Theorema Egregium is seen in a common pizza-eating strategy: A slice of pizza can be seen as a surface with constant Gaussian curvature 0. Gently bending a slice must then roughly maintain this curvature (assuming the bend is roughly a local isometry). If one bends a slice horizontally along a radius, non-zero principal curvatures are created along the bend, dictating that the other principal curvature at these points must be zero. This creates rigidity in the direction perpendicular to the fold, an attribute desirable when eating pizza, as it holds its shape long enough to be consumed without a mess. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ny-style-pizza-supposed-to-be-like-this/756929/24 "2016-06-09T20:52:51Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Chicago deep dish isn’t how most Chicagoans eat pizza anyway. Usually it’s a [thin, crisp crust](http://www.realdeepdish.com/2014/07-13-chicago-thin-crust-pizza-yes-its-a-thing/) (but not cracker dry) cut “tavern style” into squares. > > The deep dish stuff is more distinctive though so I guess everyone assumes the people of the Windy City eat giant deep slices of pizza as a regular thing. Indeed. And even Chicago style deep dish pizza crusts aren’t particularly bready. It’s not like focaccia or something like that. Maybe 1/2" thick, maybe less. Italian style pan pizzas have thicker crusts. It’s the pile of cheese, tomatoes, and toppings that make it thick. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ny-style-pizza-supposed-to-be-like-this/756929/25 "2016-06-09T22:36:33Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Indeed. And even Chicago style deep dish pizza crusts aren’t particularly bready. It’s not like focaccia or something like that. Maybe 1/2" thick, maybe less. Italian style pan pizzas have thicker crusts. It’s the pile of cheese, tomatoes, and toppings that make it thick. Yup. One of my Chicago father-in-law’s visits to Brooklyn about 20 years back saw us in a pizza joint, and him asking “What’s ‘Sicilian style?’” “Thick crust,” I said. He ordered a slice, bit into it, and sputtered “CHRIST! It’s all BREAD.” Also, a Chicago style crust has the flavor and consistency of pie, rather than baked pizza dough. Since I’ve already consumed more calories than necessary by eating all the sauce and cheese on the sauced cheesed part, I generally toss the crusts. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ny-style-pizza-supposed-to-be-like-this/756929/26 "2016-06-09T22:39:29Z")
If you go to Italy, you’ll see that they fold their pieces of pizza there too. Makes sense, actually. Keeps all the toppings from sliding off. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ny-style-pizza-supposed-to-be-like-this/756929/27 "2016-06-09T23:35:47Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > This is why I use a fork and knife. You and Donald Trump. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ny-style-pizza-supposed-to-be-like-this/756929/28 "2016-06-09T23:59:03Z")
I doubt that I’ve ever had proper New York style pizza (most of the places I’ve gotten pizza from haven’t even claimed to be NY style), but I still often find that folding the slice helps to maintain its rigidity. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ny-style-pizza-supposed-to-be-like-this/756929/29 "2016-06-10T00:04:46Z")
Any pizza you can fold or don’t need a fork for is worthless. Might as well eat toast with ketchup. **Real Pizza** (like I make) has 3 or 4 cheeses, 2 or more meats, mushrooms, peppers, onions, artichoke hearts, olives,\* garlic\*, tomato slices and **goddamn anchovies!** (post bake on the fish) All covered (except the tomato slices) in a second huge layer of cheese, Italian spices and a light dusting of paprika. You can’t fold it. You can pick it up, if you want, but its easier with a fork. [drops mike] ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ny-style-pizza-supposed-to-be-like-this/756929/30 "2016-06-10T00:13:43Z")
Backs away slowly from\*\* Gatopescado\*\*… ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ny-style-pizza-supposed-to-be-like-this/756929/31 "2016-06-10T00:40:57Z")
How is that a pizza **Gatopescado**? That looks like an KFC Italian Bowl. All it needs is cigarette butts and sadness.\* \*As per Jim Gaffigan. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ny-style-pizza-supposed-to-be-like-this/756929/32 "2016-06-10T00:53:58Z")
A friend of mine from Brooklyn said that all NYC food is designed to be eaten with one hand while you are running for a subway, or from the cops. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ny-style-pizza-supposed-to-be-like-this/756929/33 "2016-06-10T00:59:59Z")
I always thought NYC pizza were those giant 18" pizzas that were cut into sixths. Costcos food court has some great new york style pizza. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ny-style-pizza-supposed-to-be-like-this/756929/34 "2016-06-10T01:11:09Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I doubt that I’ve ever had proper New York style pizza (most of the places I’ve gotten pizza from haven’t even claimed to be NY style) Growing up in Cleveland, I consumed pizza maybe four or five times before moving away to New Haven at age 17 for college. There, in the Holy City of Sally’s Apizz, Pepe’s, Naples, Yorkside, and Broadway Pizza, the scales fell from my eyes. Lived in Manhattan and Brooklyn since, happily eating pizza. If I have to pay a visit to Cleveland now, I stick with fried pierogi or a kielbasa sandwich. I don’t know what’s up with the Italian-Americans there – and I grew up with LOTS of them, who made their own excellent wine and cooked many other great Ital-Amer dishes – but they never seemed to master the pizza pie. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ny-style-pizza-supposed-to-be-like-this/756929/35 "2016-06-10T01:13:05Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I always thought NYC pizza were those giant 18" pizzas that were cut into sixths. We cut them into eighths. Although sometimes I have them cut it into six if I don’t think I can eat eight. (Snare drum/cymbal) ---
**Author:** ![zombywoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9e8a1a/32.png) [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ny-style-pizza-supposed-to-be-like-this/756929/36 "2016-06-10T02:41:34Z")
[How it’s done with style](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRHY27aFpLA) ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ny-style-pizza-supposed-to-be-like-this/756929/37 "2016-06-10T02:42:38Z")
I worked with a guy from New York who would take two slices of pizza and put them together with the crusts on the outside and the tops against each other and he would eat them like a sandwich holding on to the crusts. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ny-style-pizza-supposed-to-be-like-this/756929/38 "2016-06-10T02:57:01Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Indeed. And even Chicago style deep dish pizza crusts aren’t particularly bready. It’s not like focaccia or something like that. Maybe 1/2" thick, maybe less. Half? Three-eighths, max. One quarter, maybe. The crust is short, culinary speaking, but the orange pools of grease come from the sausage. Pronounced “sahss-ich.” > [@panache45](#): > > You and Donald Trump. :rolleyes: Them’s fightin’ words! Or would be, if they weren’t true. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ny-style-pizza-supposed-to-be-like-this/756929/39 "2016-06-10T02:58:54Z")
We visited NYC four years ago. Arrived in the afternoon jet-lagged, me to some extent but the wife especially so. She needed sleep badly and was almost comatose. Our hotel was on Broadway on the Upper West Side, and instead of dragging her out to go eat somewhere for dinner, I roamed around the block to see what I could find. On the corner was a nice deli, where I ordered a large pizza, not realizing quite how large large was. Fuck me! That thing was gigantic! Took it back and we ended up munching on it for two or three days. Luckily, we had a refrigerator and a microwave in the room. Nice and thick. About the best pizza we’ve ever had, and we’ve had lots. I don’t recall it being crunchy though. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ny-style-pizza-supposed-to-be-like-this/756929/40 "2016-06-10T03:16:01Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Growing up in Cleveland, I consumed pizza maybe four or five times before moving away to New Haven at age 17 for college. There, in the Holy City of Sally’s Apizz, Pepe’s, Naples, Yorkside, and Broadway Pizza, the scales fell from my eyes. Lived in Manhattan and Brooklyn since, happily eating pizza. The usual question in New Haven is whether you prefer the pizza from Sally’s Apizza or from Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana. The correct answer is in fact Modern Apizza (formerly called State Street Apizza). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ny-style-pizza-supposed-to-be-like-this/756929.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ny-style-pizza-supposed-to-be-like-this/756929.md?page=3)