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Ed, in your post you mention that Chinese food is like pizza in the sense that it morphed into something else when it crossed the ocean and has taken on its own American identity completely separate from its "authentic" roots. I smell another book! We need a "Pizza: A slice of heaven" for Chinese food. I would love to read a thoroughly researched book explaining how Chinese-American and Chinese-Canadian food came to be and discussing the regional differences in what we call "Chinese food" within the US itself.

This is a subject that has puzzled me ever since the pizza giants started making inroads into the city. How do they survive..thrive, even, in a city that takes its pizza so seriously? Mostly for the same reasons they dominate the rest of America.

1) Delivery - It's the one thing the chains do very well. They will get you a consistent (if mediocre) pie in about half an hour more often than not. Their products are designed for delivery and hold up well in transit. That's why my parents back in Queens switched over to Papa John's and hardly ever order from local places anymore.

2) Good ol' fashioned marketing - TV, radio, newspapers, direct mail, coupon door hangers, etc. Free Superman DVD with pizza? The corner place can't do that.

3) Demographics - My brother's biggest complaint in life is that "New York isn't for New Yorkers anymore." The city is now full of tourists and yuppie midwestern college grads for whom chain pizza is a slice of home.

I'm reasonably sure that the classic NY slice is in no danger of becoming extinct, but I've seen enough Dominos and Pizza Hut boxes around town to know that times have changed.

Ok, where is MVP pizza and Second String??? I've tried to google these pizza joints. If there is going to be throwdown and recommend these places, put the @#$!&*$@@@!!# address and location so people can order one, DUH!

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.

Mongoose, you are absolutely correct, in that the authenticity of ingredients is only one aspect to the greater authenticity of a cuisine. And you are also correct in pointing out the fetishism associated with ingredients. Spanish ham that costs upwards of $150/lb. Truffles costing upwards of $800/lb. Finger limes. Ramps. Yes, these are delicious, yes they are essential to certain cuisines. But they are only part of the picture. You need both authentic ingredients and authentic preparation by a trained cook, and in some case, even the way the food is served and eaten has bearing on the overall authenticity of the experience.

Such as when eating Ethiopian food. For the authentic experience, diners sit around the mesob, a woven basket like table, upon which is placed a large pancake-like sourdough flatbread called injera. All the dishes are put directly onto the injera. Each diner is given smaller cut pieces of injera bread, and the food is consumed by grabbing it with your own little pieces of bread. No utensils are used. Eating Ethiopian food with silverware at a dinner table, even if the food is perfectly prepared and delicious, falls short of the fully authentic experience.

So, yes, authenticity is a very complex issue. But unlike deliciousness, which remains highly subjective, authenticity can be vetted, using definitions and criteria that everyone can agree on. It takes education, passion and dedication. Something which is seriously lacking in most eaters, who want the familiar, the easy, the gut filling, 99% of the time, and don't really want to be bothered with thinking about what it means to eat food from another culture. Selling food is a business, so there are plenty of people willing to dumb down their culture's food in order to sell it more readily to this demographic.

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).