Pizza and Mobsters

Today I had some pizza in Minneapolis, the name of the place was "New York Pizza by the Slice". "by the slice" was something I had to get accustomed to. It seems that most pizza places outside NYC (with the exception of chains /franchises /etc) only sell pizza by the pie, so places that sell by the slice usually have "by the slice" in their name or somewhere in their signage. In New York there are very few places that only sell by the pie and such places will usually have a sign on the door "no slices". (I can only think of one place, Grimaldi's in Brooklyn, that doesn't sell slices.)
So what made this place "New York Pizza"? In one corner of the place there were photos of yankee stadium and other yankess memorabelia. One wall had various pictures of NYC tourist spots like the Statue of Liberty, the Twin Towers, the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, Central Park. On the same wall were two pictures of Italy, one of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the other of a bridge over one of the canals in Venice. Yes, pizza as we know is derived from an Italian food by the same name, but I am not sure it originates from either Pisa or Venice.
One entire wall was devoted to pictures of characters from various mob movies such as "The Godfather", "Goodfellas", "The Sopranos" etc.... Yes, I get that these movies were set in New York, and that the characters are of Italian descent, but I've never seen anyone in a mob movie eat pizza (I have not watched the sopranos), so "what gives?".
New York is not all about pizza either. New York is about every kind of food whenever and wherever you want it. When I was down in Kansas City, Janey said to me "You New Yorkers, every time you leave New York, it seems as though you are afraid you're gonna starve to death!". It's true. In The City, you never have to walk more than 3 blocks at any time of day or night and you can get a fresh bite to eat. We're not talking about chips and pretzels. We're talking hot sandwiches, salads, tacos, gyros, and so on. Everywhere else I've been, eating takes planning, especially if you are at the mercy of public transportation. In some cities it is impossible to eat after 10pm, or if you can you must drive for 25 minutes to some bad chain sort of place.
While New York is not "only about pizza", some places are known for certain things. Kansas City - barbecue. Minnesota - the walleye fish. Wisconsin - beer, cheese and sausage. Wisconsin is a funny place. Drive down any street or highway in the USA and you will see signs at gas stations that say "GAS - BEER - CIGARETTES", in Wisconsin they say "GAS - BEER - CHEESE - CIGARETTES". "Say Cheese :-) "
At the end of the year I will be in Seattle, known for good coffee and its smoked salmon. I'm looking forward to it.