San Francisco may not be known for its deep-dish pizza like our Midwestern brother, Chicago, but our rivalries and our crusts run just as deep. We’ve got some damn good Chicago-style pies in San Francisco, and the city’s two favorites, Little Star and Patxi’s, incite just as much frenzy among their loyal fans as any sports game.
In order to find out who makes the best deep dish in San Francisco, I invited 10 locals to come to the Bold Italic headquarters and participate in a blind taste test involving three different ’zas. Initially, I had also invited the East Bay staple and legendary pizza in its own right, Zachary’s, to participate; however, I received a very nice email from the CEO asking that they not be a contender in the taste test. Sad news, but it guaranteed that this was, indeed, a turf war for the city’s heart and guts.
Instead, we threw in a Domino’s deep-dish pizza as a joke to throw off our blindfolded readers. And to our surprise, one of the tasters actually liked that one the best! Go figure.
When it got down to eating time, each volunteer was blindfolded and given a middle portion of each pizza. (For consistency, all were just cheese pizzas, although we added diced tomatoes to the Domino’s pizza to mimic the style of the other two.) Afterward, each participant also tasted just the bordering crust of each pie. They were asked to rank each element of the pie on a scale from one to five, with five being the best, and then to give an overall ranking for each pizza.
At the end of the day, we calculated the results, and they were pretty shocking. Seriously, though, you’re not gonna believe this.
Bridget
Hood: South Beach “I’m from NY. I’m new to deep dish.”
Laura
Hood: Polk Gulch
Favorite Pizza: Zachary’s
Christopher
Hood: Upper Market
Favorite Pizza: Lou Malnati’s
(in Chicago)
Hood: Potrero Hill
Favorite Pizza: Zachary’s
Hood: Inner Richmond
Favorite Pizza: Zachary’s
Hood: Berkeley
Favorite Pizza: Little Star
Hood: SoMA
Favorite Pizza:Lou Malnati’s
(in Chicago)
Hood: Hayes Valley
Favorite Pizza: Little Star
Hood: Potrero Hill
Favorite Pizza: Patxi’s
Hood: Russian Hill
Favorite Pizza: Little Star
Patxi’s and Little Star tied! Although Patxi’s had the better sauce and Little Star had the better crust, in overall ranking the two pizza giants were absolutely tied. So in a strange turn of events, the rivalry for best deep dish in SF can go on uninhibited. You’ll just have to go out and decide for yourself.
