Most people will say that New York has the best pizza. Well in all fairness, New York is known to have the best thin crust and Chicago is known for the best deep dish.  But ask anyone from New York, and that will assure you the best overall comes from New York.

Places all over the Boroughs like Brooklyn house some of the best pizzerias in the world, let alone New York City. Most are family owned business that have good old ethics. They both use coal fired brick ovens which they swear is the secret to their smoky crusts. Many of the places even serve Upside Down Sicilian aka Red Sicilian.

Some Italian American families have been living in New York City and the surrounding boroughs since their grandparents or great grandparents came over to the United States from Italy. Some of these families took a risk and opened their own pizzerias. Some succeeded and some failed. Most of them however brought their traditions out of the house and put them into their restaurants. These are the people who know that making a good pizza is a skill that requires practice, and patience. They practice making each pie as if they were painting the next masterpiece and they take pride on their work. Instead of churning out a hundred mediocre pies a day, these people make sure each pie is tended to individually. Some of these old world owners actually get upset if you do not finish the pie you ordered and will not even allow you to take it to go.

So is a being an owner originally from Italy the reason New York City has the best pizza... There are some really good pizzerias that are not owned by Italians and they still have some great pizza. In recent years we have seen many Greek run establishment put out some great pizza in Long Island. So what else is it that could make the pizza in New York the best anywhere.  Many people will say it is the hard water that does it. Any good pizza maker knows that they should use only the best flour that is high gluten when it comes to making their pizza. They mix it with tap water and some swear that the tap water is what makes the pizza so tasteful. In fact, there have been some cases where a pizzeria owner will move out of New York City to other regions and think that they have found a great opportunity to open a pizzeria and boast that it is New York style pizza. Once they start making the  pies, they realize something is off. Most of the time they draw the conclusion that they need New York City water and begin to place frantic phone calls to friends or family to get some New York City water shipped out to them.  We have a place down here in Florida that makes this claim named Vic & Angelos.

No one knows exactly why the water works so well. It could be the chemical make up of the water that helps with the flour. Many people doubt that the water has anything to do with it. However if you were to ask any baker who no longer lives in New York City , if his pizzas come out the same as it did before, you will more then likely get a NO.