The Great Pizza Debate

Thin crust or thick? New York or Chicago? Where do you stand?

By Robin Kleven Dishon for MSN City Guides

Looking for a hot topic to spice up your next cocktail party?

Forget religion, politics and global warming. Just start talking pizza.

There’s nothing like a big pizza pie to inspire amore—and impassioned debate about what kind is the best.

Thin crust versus thick. Deep dish versus stuffed. Pepperoni or sausage? New York or Chicago? Do you eat yours with a fork or with your fingers?

And for crying out loud, why did pineapple become a topping?

With annual pizza sales in the United States estimated at $35 billion—and growing—the Great American Pizza polemic is hotter than ever. Industry experts say the average man, woman and child in the U.S. consumes 23 pounds of pizza a year.

Amateurs. This restaurant critic can go through that much in a month. Which qualifies me to discuss the perfect pie.

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• Message Board: What's your favorite type of pizza?
• MSN City Guides: Find pizza near you.

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Nix regional prejudice: A truly magnificent pizza can hail from Chicago or New York City, San Francisco or Seattle, Venice Beach, Calif., or Venice, Italy. So can a lousy one. In the wrong hands, this simple combination of flour, water, cheese and sauce can devolve into a grease-puddled, limp-crusted mess. It’s enough to make a hard-core foodie cry.

So let’s set some ground rules for great pizza. We’ll start with the crust. A world-class pizza crust must be as flawlessly tanned as a swimsuit model. Neither pasty nor scorched. It may be thick or thin—we’re not size-ist here. Extra points for places with guys who spin the dough on their fingertips.