What Is Pizza? New York, Chicago, Detroit & the Great Topping Debate

Recorded in February 2022, Henrique Couto says he is finally beginning to feel like himself again after being ill, then celebrates by recounting a run of movie-theater visits. His capsule reactions cover Jackass Forever, Moonfall, Licorice Pizza, Blacklight, Dog and Uncharted. The food tie-in arrives with Little Caesars’ Batman Calzony, a bat-shaped combination of pizza and calzone that immediately exposes Michelle’s strong—but no longer entirely secret—opinions about what deserves to be called pizza.The hosts test the boundaries with BLT pizza, taco pizza, pierogi pizza, loaded-baked-potato pizza and a Japanese restaurant’s sushi pizza. A Kitchen Nightmares compilation adds an enormous greasy pie advertised as thin crust, raw dough and more examples for Henrique and Michelle to judge. They agree that even disappointing pizza can still be enjoyable, but price, execution and expectations matter when a restaurant asks customers to treat it as something special.Then the debate turns regional. Henrique and Michelle compare New York and New Jersey slices with Chicago deep dish, Detroit-style squares and the thin, square-cut pizzas associated with Dayton and nearby Midwestern chains. They discuss fresh versus canned mushrooms, black olives, anchovies, extra sauce and well-done crust, plus the abundance of neighborhood pizzerias and diners on the East Coast. Michelle remains willing to eat nearly any pizza, yet still refuses to offer a final universal definition.The conversation closes with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze and its opening montage of New Yorkers eating pizza. Henrique remembers needing a pie whenever he watched the movie as a child, recalls Ernie Reyes Jr. as Keno and notes wrestler Kevin Nash’s turn as Super Shredder. It is a nostalgic finish to an hour spent asking whether pizza is a set recipe, a regional tradition or simply something you recognize when you see it.LinksEmail the hosts: [email protected]