Title text:
If you want to see true audacity, do an image search for 'Altoona-style pizza.'
Transcript:
Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com
Source: https://xkcd.com/3142/
this post was submitted on 15 Sep 2025
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I feel like this graph needs a line that indicates your baseline normal pizza
NYC pizza is the baseline
I seriously doubt it's the most common pizza sold.
It's thin crust nature makes it economical for selling hot slices, but horrible for delivery and for reheating.
I personally consider New York pizza to be A tier; S tier I reserve for pizza with a slightly thicker, slightly sour, focaccia-like crust, and regardless, the baseline should be B-Tier.
It's not even "thin crust" pizza. That's St. Louis style.
Incorrect; it reheats fine in a countertop convection oven (or a cast iron or carbon steel pan on the stovetop if you know what you're doing)
Incorrect; pizza does not need to be reheated, as it is delectable cold.
Yes, and pizza with real crust reheats fine in any oven.
As much as I love Jon Stewart, NYC has the worst pizza in the country. Don't get why people love a limp pizza with the wrong ratio of bread/sauce/cheese. I've had better school lunch pizza than your average New York slice. Chicago style thin crust or Midwestern thin crust, or neapolitan are all worlds better pizza.
WTF is "Chicago style thin crust?" Or have you mixed that city up with St. Louis?
If what you're looking for in a pizza is bread, sounds like you'd prefer Sicilian.
Chicago style pizza was originally tavern style thin crust. This deep dish nonsense is a modern thing. And I prefer Neapolitan over Sicilian because thinner crust is usually better.
NY crust is closer to Neapoliton, so I'm not sure what the problem is.
Not in taste, not in texture/airiness, not on quality what exactly do you believe is similar? They are both pizza! Just to clarify, I walked into this argument fully aware it is subjective. Maybe I've just never had good NY pizza when I'm there. If you let me know your favorite NY pizza you swear by, I'll give it another shot when I'm there. In all honesty I've only had it as a tourist as I have family there. Locals usually have a more developed sense of where the best example of something is.
If you've got locals there, ask them next time you visit! I couldn't tell you where I've gotten slices there, as it's been a while, but it's always been under the guidance of a local.