Everybody Loves Pizza

I just started reading Everybody Loves Pizza by Penny Pollak and Jeff Ruby and skipped to the back to see what Washington State pizzerias were recommended. Pagliacci's, naturally, made the list, as did Zeek's, Belltown Pizza) which I have still not been) and A New York Pizza Place, which, IMO, if their pizza is authentic New York pizza I'll stick with Seattle's (not that it's bad, it's just un-extraordinary). Much to my surprise and delight, my favorite pizza place, Pazzo's, made the list. I feel vindicated. I have been trying to get Nancy Leson at the Seattle Times to review them for years to no avail. Leave it to a national critic to give Pazzo's a thumbs up.

As far as the book, it is choc-ful of georgeous pictures and tells the story of pizza's trek from Italy to the United States. The book says their are four basic American styles of pizza. New York thin slice, Chicago Deep Dish, Californian (which stretches the boundaries of toppings) and New Haven, CT (known for white sauces and seafood toppings).

As I said, I haven't really scratched the surface of the book yet (like most "cook books" I mainly buy them for the pictures) but so far it seems pretty interesting,