I tried the signature pizzas in New York, Chicago, Detroit, and Philadelphia, and the best slice was the one with no cheese

Every Friday night, my family would order a cheese pie from the local pizzeria. The hot cheese, the thin layer of sauce, and the thinner crust are all wrapped up in my childhood memories.

But as I grew up, I wondered if my favorite New York slice would hold up against the other types of pizza across the US. When I traveled to three cities — Philadelphia, Chicago, and Detroit — I decided to try their signature pizzas to see if they could hold their own against New York's famous pizza.

When I bit into the slice, I loved the sweetness of the sauce and the moistness of the thin crust. The cheese, though hot, was also filled with flavor. There's just something special about being burned on the chin by a steaming hot piece of stringy cheese when you first bite into a New York slice.

I realized the beauty of a New York slice is in its simplicity.

A tomato pie most resembles a New York Sicilian pizza, which is rectangular with a thicker crust. However, with a tomato pie, the sauce is much thicker and there is no cheese except for a small sprinkling of Parmesan. It's also recommended you eat the tomato pie when it's cold or at room temperature.

Although this pizza seemed completely bizarre to me, I went to Sarcone's Bakery in South Philly, which is considered one of the most famous tomato pie makers in the city.

The pizza cost me $25.

When I took my first bite, I was startled by the room-temperature pizza, but somehow it worked. The crunch of the crust was perfectly complemented by the flavorful sauce that, surprisingly, seemed to be enhanced by its low temperature. Without the burning and stringy cheese in the way, I could taste every perfectly seasoned note of the sauce and bread.

The crunchy crust and the thick sauce were a match made in heaven.

Even though the tomato pie was missing what many would call an essential ingredient, I thought the tomato pie was perfect. The lack of cheese let the other ingredients really stand out.

Deep-dish pizza is typically baked in a deeper pan so the crust is high, leaving room for a chunky sauce and lots of cheese.

After talking to a few locals in Chicago, I decided to try the deep dish from Lou Malnati's, which has locations throughout the city.

I thought the pizza was the perfect size for one person, but there are different sizes for larger parties.

The crust was crispy and buttery, but I thought the sauce and cheese left a lot to be desired. The sauce had large chunks of tomato, which I personally don't love, and I thought it lacked seasoning. As for the cheese, it tasted like packaged string cheese to me.

"We take a lot of pride in our ingredients, and the quality is important to us," Natalie Levy, the pubic relations manager at Lou Malnati's, later told me. "That's one of our most important values."

Lou Malnati's deep-dish pizza had a great crust, but the sauce and cheese made this pizza a miss for me.

Detroit-style pizza is typically deep-dish, rectangular, and topped with Wisconsin cheese.

According to locals, there is only one place that does Detroit-style pizza right: Buddy's.

The pizza came with four slices of Detroit-style pizza.

When I bit into the pizza, I instantly loved the flavor of the sauce because it packed a punch, while the crust was buttery and crunchy. However, I noticed there wasn't much sauce on the pizza. In fact, the cheese covered all of the pie and the sauce was only smeared in the center.

However, I loved how the cheese crisped up on the edges of the pizza, making a crunchy piece of heaven.

Before this journey, I would have said the most important ingredient in a pizza is the cheese, but I quickly realized the sauce can make or break a pie.

The tomato pie was the clear winner for me. The crunchy crust, flavorful sauce, and lack of cheese really made this pizza stand out amongst the others.

The New York slice made me the pizza lover I am today, and it will always be close to my heart — even if it's been bumped to second best.