Those are all amazing creations for people who would like to try something other than your everyday slice (the have those too ldo).

There is now way BROCCOLI belongs on or near a pizza!

I know, right? I'll make allowances for artichoke hearts because they're yummy. But that's it.

Agreed broccoli pizza looks gross. I guess some people like to think they're eating healthy by throwing some greens on top of their dough and cheese. Can't forget their diet coke too.

i tried the broccoli pizza once before, wasnt bad but wasnt something i'd go out of my way to order.

Broccoli pizza? WTF?

omg please dont be one of those people.

And what if I am?

Broccoli is a very common topping on NY-style white pizza

I'm sure you've seen it in the tray tons of times and looked right past it... oil, garlic, mozzarella, ricotta cheese... occasionally sliced tomato (add basil) and/or broccoli. The shop I worked at used to sell a lot of it. The broccoli was chopped down pretty small, apparently in Chicago they throw they entire stalk on there

I've never even had pizza from New York, so I can't imagine many in here have had the better Chicago deep dish. Tough comparison anyways, I'd take a good thin crust pizza if I were eating pizza once a week, but if I could only eat it a few times a year I'd take a really good deep dish/pan pizza, something like Burt's Place in Morton Grove.

For the few of you that have had New York's best thin crust pizza, is there anything that you like in Chicago? Curious to know what is similar out here, so I can have some idea of what I've missed out on thus far (or haven't missed out on, but I'd imagine I've missed out on something quite good).

Not that Chicago has bad thin crust pizza or anything. I like Candlelight, Aurelios, Marie's and this place on Lincoln (maybe near Fullerton) that I forgot.

But pizza is so subjective. I've had a friend from New York hate Aurelios, but love this crappy local place I despise (and no, the crappy place wasn't any thinner style than Aurelios). I've seen people prefer Gino's East to Burt's or Chicago's or Nancy's deep dish (to me that's tough to swallow) and then there's the inconsistency factor. I saw a poster mention Fox's. I've had that a few times, and the first time I had it I thought it was one of the best pizzas I've had. Twice since then I've had it and though it was terrible, like it was cooked in a microwave.

One thing about pizza places, is either my tastes have changed or some of these places have gotten quite a bit cheaper over the years. Aurelios is one of them in my mind, it just doesn't taste like it used to. Maybe with a tougher economy or expansion or when places are handed down to their children or sold, quality falls as costs fall (or quality falls when it would cost more to maintain it) and places rely more on their reputation.

Sanfratello's was another good one I liked, have only had it once in the last few years and it was delivered non fresh so hard to judge if it's still what I remember.

What about New Haven style pizza? A solid brewery out in Chicago makes what they call that style pizza and it's pretty good (Piece Brewery).

There's also good pizza all over the country, East coast to West coast. It's like beer, there's still people that say Germany and Belgium make the best beer in the world, or that the only place to find a good IPA is California or Portland, but those people are stuck at least a few decades ago. I've had some damn good pizza from Delaware to California. I'm sure the regular delivery places go down in quality quite a bit in many places, but all you need is one reliable place to eat a good pie when you want it.

Aurelio's is terrible, probably the worst pizza in Chicago IMO.

In the 7 years I lived in Chicago, I ate non-deep dish exactly twice; both times at Piece. Living 0.5 blocks from a Giordano's and then 2 blocks from Connie's will tend to do that.

I do not understand why anyone would waste their time with NY "style" pizza, as there is no style to it whatsoever.

Sometimes it's nice to eat a slice or two of pizza without having to use a knife and fork.

Knife and fork not needed. Just a good napkin.

The original Homewood location in the old oven, super six toppings... man that was some of my favorite stuff.

There are like 40 franchises though, and like I mentioned in my post, quality has certainly dipped in recent years, while prices have gone up I believe.

The original owner died in the last 5-10 years, that may have had something to do with it, who knows though.

But that's kind of my point, you may have hated the original location's old oven cooked pizza too, while plenty others swear by it. Pizza is too subjective as it is, then you throw in deep dish vs thin crust...

Can someone familiar with top NY pizza and the Chicago pizza scene (another problem of this thread, how many are familiar and have tried the best of both?) please name me some Chicago pizza places (if any) that are representative of the better NY pizzas?

NY by a mile. My Chicago experience was terrible, I can make pizza better than that.

NY style is fantastic.