[Photograph: Meredith Smith]
In the realm of pizza taxonomy, the pizza kingdoms are round or square, followed by phylums of thick or thin. While almost everyone has experience with round pies, the square varieties are a little more elusive. Most are regional specialties that are well-rooted in Italian-American communities, but they don't have as much reach as their round counterparts. In fact, in Ed Levine's 2005 book Pizza A Slice of Heaven, it says that the executive editor of Pizza Monthly, the leading pizza industry magazine, had never heard of Grandma slices. New to me in the past year was the onion and breadcrumb topped Sicilian slice, better known as Sfincione, which Scott Wiener turned me on to. Sicilian slices have a lot more presence, but Italian-bakery pizzas, somewhere in between Sicilians and grandmas, often get overlooked. Even among pizzas in bakeries there are regional varieties, like the ones out of Philly. Those that are up on their pizza varieties almost certainly have some allegiances to the various square styles that are out there, that means you Slice'rs. So, of the square styles, which is your favorite?
About the author: Meredith Smith is the Slice editor. You can follow her on Twitter: @mertsmith.