Di Fara’s pizza on Avenue J in Brooklyn is nothing like the pizza at La Notizia, Salvo, or Da Michele in Naples, which are nothing like Frank Pepe’s in New Haven, Patsy’s in Harlem, Buddy’s in Detroit, Totonno’s on Coney Island, Delancey in Seattle, Anthony Mangieri’s Una Pizza Napoletana in San Francisco, or Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix.

Enzo Coccia, a globally celebrated Neapolitan pizzaiolo, altered my pizza reality when he made me stare at a naked truth I had not confronted directly before. “Pizza is not the same as bread,”