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Don't be surprised: Las Vegas makes list of top pizza cities

Discussion in 'Restaurants & Buffets' started by schwaiguy, Aug 14, 2013.

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  1. schwaiguy

    schwaiguy High-Roller

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  2. grosx2

    grosx2 Have fun storming the castle!

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    San Diego has the best pizza in the US? LOL.
     
  3. 44inarow

    44inarow VIP Whale

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    Not to be too much of a New Yorker here, but... you've got to be fucking kidding me. And Boston at #3, above both New York and Chicago? I don't even have the proper emoticon for this.
     
  4. Kickin

    Kickin Flea

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    Here is the TripAdvisor press release for the survey: http://www.multivu.com/mnr/57962-tripadvisor-america-s-top-10-cities-for-pizza

    The devil is in the details, and that's where you see how ridiculous their ranking methodology is...or at least the title of the survey claiming "top pizza cities".

    Here is how what they said:
    The obvious flaw in this is that from their website, they are sorting cities by average ratings for their pizza places. So each city is essentially measured against its own benchmark. If Southern California has crap pizza (I'm not saying it does), but San Diego has the best pizza in SoCal, all the pizzeria ratings there will be high because that's the comparison most people will have. Likewise since NYC or Chicago have so much good pizza, and so many pizzerias, the average rating is going to be lower because everyone ranks things based on comparisons in NY or Chicago.

    The other funny thing is in TripAdvisor's own press release, the only quotes they use for people who ranked San Diego and Las Vegas as top pizza places both claim certain pizzerias in those cities are just like New York/Brooklyn pizza......so wouldn't that mean that NY pizza is what they're looking for?
     
  5. 44inarow

    44inarow VIP Whale

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    Well, beyond the rankings methodology, I'd argue that the fundamental problem is basing anything on what TripAdvisor users, as a group, say...
     
  6. egelston2

    egelston2 Low-Roller

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    Trip advisor also said that St. Louis has the best Philly Cheese Steaks.
     
  7. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    A few years back the New York Times had the best pizza being in Phoenix.
     
  8. dust10b

    dust10b Tourist

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    I'm from San Diego, and I've had Fillippi's many times. Definitely not the best, if amount of cheese on the pizza where the only determinant, they'd take the pie.
     
  9. ardee

    ardee It's only money.

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    Any survey that doesn't have NYC as the top place for pizza is just flat out wrong. Period.
     
  10. Kickin

    Kickin Flea

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    If I'm reading the right article, they were reporting on the single best pizzeria according to a competition held by Serious Eats and Slice (two good blogs in my opinion). http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/15/its-pizza-oscar-for-bianco-says-rachael-ray/?_r=0

    Its a place called Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix run by a Bronx native who apparently insists on making every pie himself and the line for the place can run for hours. I can completely believe the single best pizzeria can be anywhere.

    But the Tripadvisor survey is talking about overall cities best for pizza, and its really silly especially when they equate the good pizza in places like San Diego and Vegas to New York pizza. Its like me saying NY has better Thai food than Bangkok because the Thai food here is as good as I can get in Bangkok.

    Also basing it on the average rating people in those areas give their pizzerias is so flawed. For instance no one would disagree that generally speaking LA has better Mexican food than NY. But if New Yorkers gave the average Mexican restaurant here 3.5 stars and people in LA gave the average Mexican restaurant over there 3 stars, then they would rank NY as having superior Mexican food. But in reality, LA will just have a lot more (so a wider range) but people there will also be more critical of Mexican food since they have so many good options, any less than stellar option would get very low ratings.
     
  11. smartone

    smartone VIP Whale

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    This article got an amazing amount of conversation in our office today, as most of us are frequent travelers to Las Vegas. We're surprised as well... but we all agreed the world doesn't just revolve around New York, Philly, Boston and Chicago!!! No doubt they're incredible, vibrant cities full of great food and entertainment... but geeze-louise the people in those places think the rest of the world doesn't exist.
     
  12. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    Too much obsession with the wholly nebulous concept of "best." We all throw it around, hopefully some comes within a viable, plausible context, but in most instances it works best as so much water-cooler fodder.

    As for the veracity of Tripadvisor, VMB, whatever, it's only as good as the inputs. And what are the inputs? Folks like all of us. Everyone is qualified to state what he or she thinks is the best ______ that he or she has experienced, but that's far from "best," and it gets farther and farther from "best" the lesser the skill set and the breadth of hands-on personal experience.

    It's impossible to say what's best if one hasn't experienced every iteration of what's being rated, and then when comparing across time and/or space, and accounting for variations from day to day ...?

    It sure is a lot of fun to talk about.

    I address this in a few of my books, when I've given an ordinal rank to something or other. Mostly I like to deal with favorites (and hopefully why). But people sure like rankings.
     
  13. Kickin

    Kickin Flea

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    I think you pretty much missed the point. It has nothing to do with thinking the world revolves around certain cities. Its just that the rankings aren't making apples to apples comparisons. Why were you guys surprised? Tripadvisors users in Vegas and San Diego are ranking their pizzerias higher on average than tripadvisor users in New York and Chicago are ranking theirs on average. That's what the survey is actually saying, so the entire title is completely misleading.

    How much stock would you put in a ranking that put Cleveland, OH ahead of Vegas as "best casino destinations"? Just because the average rating of the casinos in Cleveland on a site like Yelp for instance was higher than the average rating of casinos in Vegas on Yelp?

    You have a similar problem if you go to tripadvisor or yelp and sort by rating. At the top you'll get a places rated 5-stars but only have a handful of reviews, while something ranked 4.5 stars with 1000 reviews will be below them. But the latter is probably much better.

    This is before even taking into account the silliness of those tripadvisor users singling out their favorite pizza in Vegas and San Diego as being great because they taste like NY pizza, guess that went right over the heads of the editors at that site.
     
  14. JWBlue

    JWBlue VIP Whale

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    Flippin' Pizza in Encinitas (northern San Diego) is some of the best pizza I have eaten.
     
  15. hammie

    hammie VIP Whale

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    They all missed it

    Everyone knows the best pizza is in New Haven, Connecticut, Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana. :poke:
     
  16. schwaiguy

    schwaiguy High-Roller

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    I was actually thinking the discrepancy was due to more Southern Californians posting on yelp. I didn't investigate.

    Regardless, I can make a right and go to Vegas or make a left and go to Phoenix. I never went to Bianco because I was under the impression that you needed a party of 6. The menu always struck me as far more Italy than Bronx.

    I actually expected it to be like Due Forni. I went there (Due Forni) and knew it was good. However, my palette was not sophisticated enough to appreciate the subtlety.

    schwaiguy
     
  17. bardolator

    bardolator Lifelong Low Roller

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    According to 100% of those polled, I make America's second best pizza. First place was Luigi's, which (remarkably) is located in my hometown. Imagine number one and number two both in the same city.

    I also make the best scones, not just in America, but in the world. Same poll.
     
  18. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    And what is "pizza"?

    (Bard, I hear you rock the lutefisk, too.)
     
  19. Bubbavegas

    Bubbavegas VIP Whale

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    I believe this is the emoticon you were looking for :vomit: this list is such a damn joke and it's not even a funny one.
     
  20. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    Note to self, eating pizza anywhere but New York or Chicago is vomit-inducing.

    Check.

    Is what they serve in Chicago even pizza?
     
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