Di Fara's, the pizza place 12 blocks from my ancestoral home in Brooklyn, N.Y. and one of the absolute best places for pizza by the slice in New York City (hence anywhere in the universe), is now charging $5/slice...and getting it!  I completely understand why.

Di Fara's is the pizza place around the corner from my high school's football field where we went before and after practice.  It was a block away from the Avenue J station on the subway and so was a place I  had to walk by at least a few times a week when it wasn't football season.

Back then Di Fara's charged the going rate -- 15 cents for a slice and 10 cents for a small coke -- and had people waiting in line.  According to the New York Times, even though there are a bunch of other pizza places nearby (trust me on this) or, in economic terms, ample substitutes at lower prices, the lines still exist at Di Fara's even at these prices.

I wonder what a small Diet Coke goes for these days.

As I've said before, I consider pizza to be a basic food group.  Because of that, I believe GQ deserves a Pulitzer for its article, "American Pie."

Hint...Make sure you look at the slide show.

I've already admitted that I consider pizza to be a basic food group, so you'll understand my excitement when, while in LA last week and with the tremedous help of a client with connections, got a last-minute reservation at Pizzeria Mozza.

All I can say is...if you get a chance, go.  You can always sit at the counter or bar without a reservation.  It's absolutely worth it.

As I've said before, I consider pizza to be a basic food group and am in a seemingly constant search for the best in whatever city I'm in.  But sometimes, like last night, when it's frigid cold outside (wind chill near 0), I have no energy after a very long day, and all I want to do is stare at the television, Dominoes becomes tolerable.  I decided to stop on the way home.

What happened next sounds like an episode of Seinfeld.

This was a simple order: a thin crust veggie pizza, half no cheese.  My Beautiful and Talented Wife (The BTW) prefers the no cheese part.  I explained it carefully to the person behind the counter and he repeated the order...twice...to make sure he got it right.

With what appeared to be his tongue firmly in cheek, Matthew Yglesias yesterday on his blog called me out because I had asked CG&G readers for pizza recommendations.  He called it a "blogging gambit" and "tactic" to increase the number of eyeballs on Capital Gains and Games and then immediately added a paragraph about pizza that encouraged his readers to provide their own recommendations...which they did all day long.

Matthew...How about we plan a series of Pizza Public Policy (P3?) get togethers with readers at some of the places around the country everyone has recommended where we can talk politics and pepperoni?

Before anyone thinks the headline above must be a cute title to a budget/economic/financial/political post of monumental importance...it's not. It's really just about pizza.

I'm one of those people who considers pizza to be a basic food group. This all started when, along with my Beautiful and Talented Wife (The BTW) and friends Joyce and Dana, I decided that the perfect end to our annual hiking trips would be the best pizza we could find in whatever city we were in. This year it was Gaspares in San Francisco, a place with pizza that ranks so high that months later we still talk about it in almost religious tones.

So finding not just good but truly great pizza is now a mission and The BTW suggested getting recommendations from CG&G readers. Her reasoning was as sound as could be: "You can't tell me," she said, "that some of the comments you, Andrew, and Pete get are not written after lots of pepperoni pizza and beer."

Please...No California Pizza Kitchen recommendations. And I really don't want to get into that age-old argument about whether Sally's or Pepe's is the best pizza in New Haven (For the record, I wasn't impressed with either).