One year later, one last bracket, one more time... #TheCrustBowl

The Boy—who’s less and less a “boy” these days—and I began these food brackets almost exactly one year ago. And it evolved into something more than just figuring out which burger tasted better or which chicken sandwich had the most cluck for the buck.

It became a thing to look forward to in the early days of the quarantine, when there was nothing but nothingness on the horizon.

It was a bit of the ol’ service journalism, sure, but it was also more time with my son. And anyone who’s got a teenaged kid—or been a teenaged kid—can tell you that becomes a scarce resource as time goes on. As time goes by.

So, in thinking about how to celebrate the anniversary, we settled on the kind of fast food that’s available in almost every town, big or small. All over the world. Pizza.

BUT. As was the case with burgers and chickysandos, this had to be ordered from chain establishments within our delivery radius.

Sure, if you’re in LA, you know the secret five or six places to get a decent pie. If you’re in NYC, you’re never ordering from a chain because the spot on the corner—no matter where in the city you live—is far better.

But if you’re anywhere else in the country, odds are, one of the eight places we’ve bracketed is where you get your pizza.

The Rules: Plain cheese pies only. Try for an equivalent crust whenever possible. Instead of every other day—as was the case with earlier brackets—we’re going every Friday night. This bracket yields lots of leftovers and no one should eat two pizzas four times a week.

TONIGHT’S #THECRUSTBOWL MATCHUP: @PapaJohns
vs @pieology. I haven’t had the former in decades and never tasted the latter.

Size isn’t everything. The biggest Pieology pie runs 11”. Whereas Papa John’s will blast 18” of prefab Italian right into your face.

THE WINNER: Pieology. The biggest difference was the sauce. Pieology decided to season the sauce with more than just hate: I could taste the oregano and rosemary, while Papa John’s was a too-sweet tomato.

Who knows how deep Pieology will go, but they’ve handed the smackdown to Father Jonathan.

UP NEXT IN #THECRUSTBOWL: California Pizza Kitchen vs. Little Caesar’s.

Thanks for coming with us on this last ride...