Pizza may just be the perfect food. It's completely customizable, can feature all the major food groups, and can be eaten while sitting down or while your walking down the street enjoying the day. Plus, it comes in a variety of sizes. You can get a small one just for yourself, a medium one to feed you and a friend, a large one to feed your family, or in some cases, extra-large to feed 10 people. Some places even let you buy it by the slice if you don't want to commit to a whole one. There's thin crust, thick crust, deep dish, crust made from cauliflower, etc., etc. Whatever your tastes, it can be made into a pizza. With National Pizza Party Day coming up on Friday, May 20th, now seems like as good of a time as any decide which pizza joint in the Evansville area is doing pies right by letting you vote for your favorite.

History of the Pizza

bernardbodo
bernardbodo
loading...

When we think of pizza, we automatically think of Italy. However, according to History.com, even though it wasn't called "pizza," the concept of putting toppings on bread and baking it dates back thousands of years.

Pizza has a long history. Flatbreads with toppings were consumed by the ancient Egyptians, Romans and Greeks. (The latter ate a version with herbs and oil, similar to today’s focaccia.) But the modern birthplace of pizza is southwestern Italy's Campania region, home to the city of Naples.
Get our free mobile app

National Pizza Party Day is May 20th

SeventyFour
SeventyFour
loading...

Thanks to those culinary geniuses, the pizza has become a staple of get-togethers and used as a reward for a job well done. Who didn't love a pizza party at school? Heck, who doesn't love one as an adult? While Days of the Year.com doesn't credit any one specific person or event for creating National Pizza Party Day, they do say the day was created as more of a celebration of pizza itself as opposed to sharing it with other people and is celebrated on the third Friday of May, which this year falls on the 20th. While eating pizza alone is all well and good (and sometimes preferred), it is nice to share it with others. I mean, look how happy those kids are in the picture above. Pizza made those smiles happen.

Who Makes the Best Pizza in the Evansville Area?

Canva
Canva
loading...

When it comes to getting a pizza in the Tri-State, there are no shortage of options. There are places where you can dine-in and enjoy a pie while watching the game on TV, and there are places where you simply walk up, get the pizza you ordered, and go home (or somewhere else) to eat it. But, who's doing it the best? That's for you to decide right now.

After a long search around the different cities and towns of the Tri-State through Google, I found the following 55 restaurants to compete for your votes. But, before you find your favorite and submit your ballot, there are a couple of things I want you to know.

  1. You will not find a single national chain pizza restaurant on this list. While some have multiple locations around the area (and in some cases, beyond), they are all 100% owned by people who live here.
  2. Pizza is so popular, you can usually find it on menus at a variety of restaurants. For the purpose of this competition, I went with locally-owned restaurants where pizza is their main thing. So, it's possible you love a particular restaurant's pizza, but their not on this list because they also do burgers, steaks, chicken, and pork dishes.

With that said, it is possible I did miss your favorite pizza place in my search. If that's the case, feel free to write them on the bottom line in the blank marked, "Other."

NOTE: Voting closes at 11:59 PM on WEDNESDAY, MAY 18TH. The top 10 restaurants based on the results will be revealed sometime on Thursday, May 19th. That will give you the opportunity to plan which one you want to go to on the 20th to celebrate National Pizza Party Day. 

May the best pizza win!

[Sources: History.com / Days of the Year.com]

LOOK: Food history from the year you were born

From product innovations to major recalls, Stacker researched what happened in food history every year since 1921, according to news and government sources.
 

More From WDKS-FM