DINING REVIEW: A slice of rivalry

New York vs. Chicago.

It is the classic rivalry when it comes to pizza.

Sure, there are other regional contenders: San Francisco with its thin, crispy crust and zest for adding inventively weird toppings; New Haven, Conn., with its mozzarellaless but delicious tomato pies. But in Colorado Springs, The Big Apples’ floppy, foldy, flat slices dominate and, aside from the snooty artisan stuff, Chicago is the only real alternative.

Devotees of each swear their favorite style is the only REAL pizza.

Which is the true champion?

To find out, we set up a taste-off in The Gazette newsroom on election night.

Throwing pies to a bunch of hungry journalists could have gone either way.

Like most office workers, journalists in the newsroom will devour things put on the office snack table that they would never willingly eat in another setting. Year-old Halloween candy, stale sugar cookies from the mark-down shelf, heck, you could probably put a pile of erasers on the table and if the day-side folks didn’t finish them, the night shift surely would.

On the other hand, a surprising fraction of The Gazette newsroom hails from either Chicago or New York, so I knew regional pride and a natural journalistic tendency to argue would keep the debate cooking.

We needed to be sure the pizzas were hot, so we ruled out places that were too far away. We phoned in pizzas from four established downtown pizzerias — Borriello Brothers and Louie’s Pizza from New York and Old Chicago and Billy’s Old World Pizza to bat for Chicago — and let the game begin.

Not surprisingly, people immediately began touting their hometown favorites.

An editor from Long Island went straight for Borriello Brothers’ big, thin slices, with fresh-made sauce, freshly grated cheese, and crisp, chewy crust, saying, “This is as good as New York pizza gets out here.”

A reporter who worked for the New York Times took one look at Billy’s 3-inch-thick pie, covered with a pool of tomato sauce, and said, “That looks like a pizza on steroids!”

Another New Yorker, stuffing a third slice of Borriello into his mouth, pronounced Billy’s thick, steaming, sloppy pies, which almost beg to be eaten with a fork, “an abomination.”

Most East Coasters refused to even test a slice of Chicago. This did not bother the Chicagolanders. It just meant more Billy’s for them.

Billy’s pizza has a seriously thick, complex crust. It is deeply doughy inside and almost crackerlike outside. It holds heat well, which means that by the time the thin slices of Borriello had faded to cold, greasy leftovers, Billy’s was still warm inside.

“Billy’s is the real thing. It is the best. True Chicago,” said a business writer.

On a table of pizzas, Billy’s can get into trouble because the toppings go on first, then the cheese, then a thick dose of marinara. In the end, you can’t tell the vegetarian from the meat miasma special. But Chicagolanders seem to have some X-ray vision for divining what lies beneath.

The regions were neck and neck during the tasting, but a clear loser started to emerge among the restaurants. Tasters did not like Louie’s. They criticized the sauce for being dominated by tomato paste and took off points for canned mushrooms.

“It’s a sin!” one taster said.

To be fair, Louie’s is also less expensive than the others.

Old Chicago, a Colorado-based chain that has been on Tejon Street for more than 20 years, became the popular choice of testers who were not from either of the competing cities. Old Chicago’s Chicago-style pizza is not exactly deep dish, but is more substantial than a New York slice. “It’s like Pizza Hut, but without the shocking amounts of sodium,” one tester said.

Tasters praised its “rich cheese” and “soft, buttery crust.”

In the jumble of greasy pizza boxes that marked the end of the night, no clear leader emerged. Billy’s was top for Chicago. Borriello was top for New York. But no one from either city switched allegiances.

Maybe this is not such a surprise. After all, rivalries, at their heart, don’t exist to choose a clear winner. They are there as a way to celebrate hometown culture. They offer a “them” that defines and even boosts the “us.” Fresh ingredients and excellent crust make a difference, but thick or thin? It all depends where you’re coming from.

PIZZA TASTE-OFF

Billy’s Old World Pizza
308 S. Eighth St., Suite E; 630-3400

Borriello Brothers New York Pizza
Eight locations; Borriellobrothers.com

Louie’s Pizza
Five locations; www.louies-pizza.com

Old Chicago
Four locations; Oldchicago.com

View Pizza wars in a larger map