East Coast vs Midwest vs West Coast

I did see some show chronicling the history of rap and the Tupac - Biggie feud on VH1 last week, so I guess I could throw Eminem or Nelly in there to represent the Midwest, but I am not writing about rap. I'm talking about pizzas today.

Representing the East Coast will be Amici's. They bring the New York style pizzas and are highly supported by KNBR's Ralph Barberi. Although the credibity of KNBR radio personalities took a major hit this weekend when Fanatics, a sports bar recommended by Damon Bruce, turned out to be a complete disaster. (Speaking of which, all Cal fans need to represent at Knuckles for the USC game.)

Representing the Midwest will be BJ's and their Chicago style pizza. I think Chicago is actually more Mid-east, but as long as it's not East nor West, it will do.

Representing the West Coast will be Brother's Pizza. Nothing really special about this place, but it is located on Taraval and 46th in San Francisco so it is only about 3 blocks from Ocean Beach and the Pacific Ocean, making it as West Coast as you can get.


I was at Amici's yesterday and at BJ's last week. I've ordered from Brother's pizza so many times in my life that their phone number is stored in my brain next to the how-to-tie-my-shoes information.

The Winner: Amici's East Coast Pizzeria (No West Coast bias in play here.)

My judging criteria was pretty simple. My current favorite pizza regardless of geographical lines is the Wombo Combo from Round Table. So step one was if I would rather eat one of these pizzas instead of the Round Table one. Amici's and BJ's both got by this step. Brother's pizza was eliminated. Step two was to see which ones looked better, because according to the Mad Cal Cooking School, if it looks good, it will taste good. Amici's won both the look and taste test. I don't mind the deep dish pizzas, but if it's just stuffed with cheese and tomatoes, I'd prefer less of it.

I don't think I will be doing a test of frozen pizzas anytime soon. We compared two frozen pizzas from Safeway a few months ago and decided the more expensive pizza is usually worth it.