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Comment by idbehold | Hacker News Reader

This is unfortunate since Pizza Hut is quite possibly the best pizza available in California. Does anyone from California know why the pizza selection is so awful there?

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There are no independent pizza places? Here in the north east US, I have at least 3 independent pizza places in walking distance. They may outnumber the Dunkin Donuts.

Whaaaat? It’s been a while since I lived in california (Monterey and later the Bay Area) but I found California to have some of the best pizza anywhere…

Pesto and potato pizza in the Castro was amazing.

We do, I’m really confused by the original commenter.

Are you asking why do we have “bad” chain pizza? We don’t

Are you asking why we have “bad” pizza overall? We don’t

This thread packs more info in it that any I've seen the last decade, at least, to this northeasterner who put a few years in Cali.

"Pizza Hut is best pizza place in Cali" is rationally incorrect but is broadly correct, in that, California suffers from either:

A) bargain basement tomato-sauce-on-cardboard pizza...think Dominos.

or...

B) pizza that frankly is _not_ pizza to people below 80th percentile income who aren't foodies. To wit, "Pesto and Potato Pizza"

Yes, I would claim that SF Bay Area is a pizza desert.

The midwest easily stomps bay area for pizza (Madison, Milwaukee, Chicago).

disclaimer: 10 years bay area resident.

I agree on the average level of pizza here being low (grew up in Chicagoland, now east bay resident for 9 years) but there are some bright spots. Zachary’s specifically is the best Chicago style deep dish I’ve found outside of Chicago. In fact it’s better than most I had in Chicago, not all to be clear since Uno still holds it for me. Patxis is pretty decent too, though less traditional it’s still on the level of say Giordano’s (roughly third tier Chicago style IMO). Oddly though, if I want a good New York style or tavern style slice, that’s much harder. Mountain Mike’s at least uses good pepperoni, but the odd crust depth is not ideal. At least there are options.

The Bay Area in particular is known for Indian pizza. https://www.vice.com/en/article/bmpa9d/meet-the-godfather-of...

None of it is gourmet, but if you want pizza and spice, it gets the job done.

Capo’s in SF is amazing.

Tell me the best pizza you’ve had in the Bay Area and I’ll quickly respond with a ton of better places.

Yes, pizza culture is better in Chicago + NY + MA, but the Bay Area has probably what I’d say is the best pizza culture vs all other metro areas out west

Agreed. There is maybe 1 or 2 decent pizza places in all of the Bay Area. My grandfather was a chef from Connecticut who lived in CA for 40 years. I also lived in the Bay Area for about 30 years. Once upon a time the chain Pizz'A Chicago in San Jose was okay, but IIRC it broke up or changed.

Edit: If anyone knows of decent pizza in Austin that isn't hipster, overpriced, inconsistent, and/or trash, let me know. I've been disappointed by every pizza place so far.

Long Bridge in SF and Emilia’s in Berkeley are just as good as the best pizza I’ve had in NY. And that’s just off the top of my head.

Yay, an internet pizza thread. Get ready for:

1) snobby east coasters telling everyone what good pizza is, which is only found at the slice shop in their neighborhood;

2) no true Scotsmen, keepers of the purity of pizza, arriving to tell everyone what isn’t pizza (typically a subset of 1);

3) random people in Midwest locations describing how their favorite pizza has ranch as the base, or is cooked in a deep fryer, or whatever other local innovations/aberrations (sure to be shouted down by 1 and 2).

Don’t forget the guy who can’t make up his mind so he tries to be both a food snob and the voice of the people at the same time

Pizza Hut is what it is, but I have pizza places I prefer in orange county and santa clara county. Where are you and someone will make pizza recomendations. Good pizza costs money, but if you're looking at Pizza Hut, maybe you're looking for cheap and palettable rather than good?

Also, maybe where were you that had pizza more to your liking? Or what kind of pizza are you looking for if you can be specific.

For anyone that doesn’t get it, add a /s to this.

I worked at a Pizza Hut 30 years ago. It's absolutely banal shit. The reason it's mostly shit is because it's not NYC or Chicago. There are maybe a handful of excellent pizza places in all of California.

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