Curdistan: Pizza by the Slice

To a New Yorker, the phrase "by the slice" after "pizza" is entirely redundant. It's not only the standard unit of sale, it's a well-documented economic indicator of when the price of a token is about to go up. Wisconsin however has barely heard of the concept.

There are three ways to get a pie in Oshkosh. The first is buying frozen from the supermarket. The selection at even the small supermarkets is larger than the entire freezer section at a NYC market. Then there take-and-bake stores, both chains and local. I guess this offers the illusion that it's healthier, since you apply your own home-made heat. Finally, there are a ton of pizzerias for eat-in and delivery, our favorite of which is Glass Nickel. Red's makes a good thin crust. But really, with as much pizza as people eat up here, you would think there would be a few places that really serve up a perfect pie. I've found nothing yet that matches the best pies from Manhattan and Brooklyn. And the offerings here are mostly deep-dish style; nothing really looks like a New York pie.

But in the last month or two something new has come to Oshkosh -- pizza by the slice! Polito's was opened by an Italian guy from New York, and the slice looks and tastes like what you would expect: crispy crust, good sauce and the right shape and size! (There was already one chain in town that serves by the slice, but it's a fast-food style rectangle and it sucks.) It's still not perfect but it's the best we've found.

It helps to pretend they don't actually offer a mac-and-cheese slice.

How has this place managed to make a dent in the mindshare of hungry Wisconsinites? By challenging their competitive-eating manhood! They offer a 28lb "monster pizza" for $50, and if you and a buddy finish it an hour you win $500! The local newspaper (a crappy Gannet rag which admittedly has not much else to cover) ran a continuing feature on the various attempts to win the prize, all of which ended in failure. Until last week, when the prize was finally won by a pair of Army soldiers, who were competing against their fellow Marines and Navy men. USA!