By Anthony Mattariello
Pizza is arguably the best food out there. I think that most people would agree that if you’re looking for a good meal then pizza is one of your best bets.
For those who don’t know, it is an Italian dish that was created in 1889. Raffaele Esposito created the first pizza to give the Queen Consort of Italy, Margherita of Savoy. The “Margherita” pizza paid homage to Italy by showcasing the nation’s colors and the rest, as they say, is history.
I think the thing about pizza is that it’s such a simple meal yet it’s so delicious. Plus, pizza is just so customizable. Theoretically, you could put anything on pizza.
From pepperoni and sausage to macaroni and buffalo chicken, the opportunities are infinite.
As someone who is predominately Italian, pizza continues to play a significant role in my life. Growing up, and even still to this day, I get pizza at least once a week. Again, that just goes to show how accessible and economical pizza could be.
I grew up in a nice little cul-de-sac in the New York City borough of Staten Island.
If anyone has ever been to Staten Island then you would know that pizza is not something we take lightly.
Living in a place where we had the best pizza on the entire planet, you could say I had a lot of reason to choose pizza over any other food.
Since pizza has such a large place in my heart, I knew that it could influence how I make some of my decisions throughout my life.
For example, where I would go to college. I am not going to lie, the pizza hype in Connecticut did have an impact on my decision to come to Sacred Heart.
One of my first questions when I was on a tour here was about the food places near school.
Maybe it was just my tour guide, but she started to immediately talk about how Connecticut has tons of really good pizza restaurants.
One place that she mentioned is Frank Pepe’s. I hear this spiel all the time about how long they’ve been around and how fantastic their pizza is.
Personally, I do not care for it. Not to mention they burn the entire crust so it’s pretty much inedible and their pizza seems to be very bland.
Next up was Colony, where they charge you a dollar per topping. It isn’t that bad if I go more than one sausage per slice and if the pizza was so tiny that I could house three pies.
I could go on for days about other pizza restaurants here, but I’m just going to end it.
If you ever try to make the argument that Connecticut has better pizza then just think about this. Every place here proclaims to have “New York style pizza.”
Why is that? Well, it’s because New York has the best pizza so everyone tries to imitate it, unsuccessfully of course.
If you want real pizza, head to New York. Better yet, go to Joe & Pats on Staten Island and then we can chat.
