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Newark NJ has the best water ever. Much better than NYC. I don't notice much of a difference in breads/pizza. The water theory is only partially valid. If you have water that tastes like crap (goto Vegas or Florida and you'll find out what I'm talking about), it makes the dough taste that bad. You have to remove the calcium and chlorine from the water. That's what Chris Bianco does by filtration. Aside from that, the yeast you use is way more important along with the rise time you use. You can make some really bland dough from NYC water and you can make some really tasty dough from any water. California may not have the great water but San Fran. sure has some tasty sourdough bread. That's because they use a good sourdough culture.

haha, all lactose intolerance means is you fart after you eat some pizza. Small price to pay for the greatest food in the world.

I would, but I'd totally get fired. And you couldn't cook a pizza with a laser. It's only about a millimeter in diamter. I'd need about 500 lasers to cook a pizza.

man, that pizza really looked mediocre. The best pizza's have a fine balance of ingredients. He had about an inch of cheese and toppings on that thing.

Some of the best pies I've had have come out of gas fired ovens. You can tell a great pie just by looking at it, and you can finally make judgment by tasting it. By the way, Mr. Mangieri's didn't cut the mustard in that whole taste category.

I disagree with the water theory. The best pizza I have had outside of NYC was in North Carolina - two brothers who moved down from the bronx to open up a place. It's how you make it as well as the ingredients.

Slightly OT...but when I was in NYC for my first wedding anniversary 10 years ago, I had a pretzel from a street vendor that I could swear tasted like smog. Not exactly a good thing, not exactly a bad thing...but distinct and unforgettable. So I don't know if you can rule the water thing out...though I agree that bad pizza is probably due more to user error than bad water. =)

i'd say it's the italians.
that and all the tough customers in ny.

As I've been saying online for 4 years, the water thing is 100% myth. I get emails about this several times a week. According to Maggie Glazer, the myth that baked goods are better in NY because of the water goes all the way back to the 1700's when in the rest of the country people used well water and not municipal tap water. Half the time this wasn't too far from the latrine. In other words the original comparison was comparing NY water, which comes from a pretty good aquifer system upstate, to other systems that would be comparable to what the 3rd world uses today. This rumor says more about how rumors and 'common knowledge' are passed down through the ages than anything about your local water system's shortcomings today. As anyone who's read my recipe (http://slice.seriouseats.com/jvpizza/) or tasted my pizza here in Atlanta knows, it's not the water...

My, my...it takes more than H2O to make good pizza. It's takes the embodiment of beliefs and soul to create magic and mozarella. The alchemy of alimentary proportions. IMHO, it boils down to these simple rules - high turnover = more production by the pizza man, seasoned ovens = better flavor and product, and lastly, NYC Dept of Health codes = everyones' on their toes, including Mr. D of Midwood. Guess who's favorite dishes are these inspectors lingering over?