The Best Pizza Across the Country

The pizza, a favorite to many Americans. Pizza can be made in many different styles and come with many strange and wonderful toppings or as simple as just a cheese pizza. For many, there is only one way for pizza to made and that opinion usually depends on where they grew up or currently live. The East Coasters will claim their pizza is the best, as will the people of Chicago, the West Coast, and just about every city in between. The styles vary greatly and when you like your kind of pizza, the others just won't do!

Now we all know that pizza is basically a flat, oven-baked round bread with sauce, cheese, and various toppings. As you cross the country certain techniques and ingredients are used to make pizza that makes it stand out from the others. Each area of the country has a specific style and taste, or include locally sourced ingredients to make each and every style uniquely different.

The East Coast 'Pie' actually has many different styles within its own area with the northeast claiming to have some of the best pizza in the country. The New York style is the biggest and from there Connecticut and Massachusetts have slight variations but all are delicious. There is also Greek style pie that is very popular too. All in all, the East Coast tends to have the pizza that is considered by most to be of the classic Italian style with a thin crust and standard toppings like pepperoni, sausage, onion and of course cheese.

Chicago style pizza is generally a thicker crust pie served in a deep dish and can even be 3 inches thick! Also very popular in Chicago is the stuffed pizza, and also very filling. Started in 1943 and invented by Pizzeria Uno, the Chicago style is the favorite type of pizza in and around Chicago. Many other areas have their own deep dish style, but none compare to Chicago's original style.

The West Coast style or to be more precise, the California style, is similar to the East Coast style, in that, it combines a New York and Italian style. The ingredients they use is usually what sets it apart from anywhere else.

Depending on where you live and what types of 'normal' ingredients you like on your pizza, ordering one in California can be extremely difficult. Some pizza artists out on the west coast really go 'far out' when it comes to their creations. Anywhere from BBQ, avocado, goat cheese, artichoke hearts, sprouts and vegan style.

There are many establishments that claim to have the best pizza in Colorado, but, alas, many are wrong. I lived in Colorado and let me be the first to tell you, Colorado pizza was not very good.

Honey does not belong on a pizza crust, it may be tasty but it does NOT belong, plain and simple. So, the places that do this are not even allowed in this little competition.

Many Colorado pizza joints claim to have NY style pizza.......NOT! The altitude alone makes it tough to get pizza dough to rise on the crust. An overly sweet sauce does not help their argument at all.

I lived in Colorado for over 20 years and have searched and searched for a good pizza, and none have been found.

Many arguments have started over which part of the country offers up the best pizza.

Who wins? Everyone.

That is part of the enjoyment of pizza, it can be made many different ways but the results are the same, a beautiful combination of dough and toppings. Pizzas of all styles, shapes or types of ingredients are loved across the nation. We may prefer our home area style the best, but if you are a true pizza pie lover, you should be able to appreciate every pizza placed in front of you, just not the anchovies.

A great vacation idea would be to travel cross country and try all the different types of pizza, your belt may not fit that trip, but it sure would be fun!