Corn aside, this topic has enticed me out of my cozy den in Classic Movies to finally participate over here in GD&N.
I grew up in NYC, and there was a pizza parlor right across the street from my grade school. I probably ate pizza for lunch at least two or three days a week during the third grade. Somewhere I still have a photo of me as an 8-year old holding a huge slice of steaming hot pizza up to my mouth -- it took two hands and I was blowing on it to cool it down and making a funny face at the same time. Priceless.
I remember when the price for a slice went up from a quarter to 35 cents. We were outraged! Interesting factoid: the price for a slice of pizza, a hot dog from a street cart, and a subway token were all one quarter when I was in third grade. Then they all went up to 35 cents, then 50 cents, then 75 cents, then a dollar. One would go up, then the others followed suit. Eventually a slice of pizza became more expensive than a hot dog or a subway ride. But it was so worth it.
In New York, you are rarely more than a block or two from a pizza parlour. My high school newspaper did a review of every pizza joint within walking distance of the school: you had to be able to walk there without rushing, order and eat your slice at the restaurant, and walk (not run) back to school within a 40-minute lunch period. There were 20 pizza joints that qualified. Twenty!
I left NYC to go to college in Chicago, and despite being a huge fan of New York pizza, I soon learned to love Chicago deep-dish style. My friends and I sampled pizza at dozens of Chicago eateries, and we finally decided that there was no single pizzeria that was best. Gino's had the best sauce and Giordano's had the best crust, hands down. If only they could have merged, they would have had the very best deep-dish pizza.
I've been on the West Coast (USA) for 30+ years now, and I've eaten lots of pizza out here, but none as good as in NY and Chicago. I still love to eat pizza regardless, and there is some very good pizza nearby. Right in my neighborhood, we even have a truly gourmet upscale and very trendy restaurant called Pizzaiolo -- founded by one of the proteges of Alice Waters -- which has a wood-fired oven and makes excellent pizza. But I still miss those basic but huge slices of good ole cheese pizza from the neighborhood pizzeria back in Brooklyn.