Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

laemtandrew: You're joking right? "MVP" and "Second String" are not pizzerias. They're the descriptions of ... oh, never mind. AGH.

I spent 20 years plus running around the country in the military. I've had pizza around the country. NYC, Chicago, Old Forge style, every chain there is, and my personal favorite, Erie pizza.

There's a lot to be said for pizza you grow up with. I'm from Erie, PA and our pizza, especially the crust, is quite unique. They usually use par-baked shells that are somewhere between thin and thick crust. I know it sounds sacreligious, but I've never had better. The ovens are seasoned from high use and they add a nice char taste to the bottom. The sauce is spicy and plentiful, and they have an enticing aroma that hits you as soon as you walk in the door.

I live in California for now (0 good pizzas in this state), but I was just home a couple of weeks ago, and I can't get over how much I love Erie pizza. Erie's such a small town that I don't expect our food to reach much of an audience, but if you ever travel through, try Patti's, Skipperino's, Valerio's, Serafini's, Presque Isle, or one of the other mom and pop places.

We had a Domino's in the heart of downtown Erie, but it went out of business. For a town of around 100K there are more mom and pop pizza joints than any other food, Erie's a great wing town too. Like NYC, Erieite's take their pizza seriously. Before you laugh, think about it, not one Domino's. I don't have anything against Domino's other than the fact that I dislike their food.

Yes, we're more famous for Brian Wells, the "Pizza Bomber", but Mama Mia's where he worked is a great shop as well.

Donato's is the biggest chain in Cincinnati. The quality of their toppings is very good, but sorry, that "cracker" crust is a big turn off to me. NY style fresh dough is great, but that's not what Donato's is. Tasty pizza due primarily to the quality toppings, but lousy crust in my opinion. They cut their round pies in to whacky squares too. I don't care for that either.

The comments about St Louis and about people that moved to NY are probably accurate. If you grew up with a certain style like I did, you tend to remember it fondly. As far as I'm concerned, all of the chains are abhorrent, and just support your local establishments.

The only good chain pizza I have ever had is Donatos. Everything else on the menu is terrible: sandwiches, salads, wings, ciabattas, thick crust pizza. But the thin crust pizza more than makes up for it. Pizza as good as a lot of places in Brooklyn and NJ.

Unfortunately, Donatos is only available in Ohio, Alabama, Northern Kentucky, Indianapolis, and Orlando. But if you ever want to experience the best pizza in fly over country, this is it.

Actually the "Alfredo" pizzas from Papa John's are kind of good. You get around the overly sweet sauce problem that plagues most chain pizzas by replacing the sauce with something resembling a more creamy and garlicky butter. I think there is one with Chicken and Bacon and that is delicious (mostly because Bacon + Butter + Garlic= always delicious).

@Prairie: Thanks. I think we did have a PJ's thin-crust, and of all PF's crusts, I like it the most, but we had a Hawaiian pizza on the thin crust, and it was not good, so it did not get a mention here.

@ShayAlyce: Frozen pizza probably is better. And, yes, chix tastes better on CPK pies.

@j_diddy: I'll have to check to see where Donato's has locations. I know the name but have never had a Donato's pie.

@Dutchy: Yes. Pizza is subjective, but it's fun to talk about, no?