Best Pizza This Side Of . . . !

. . . the street:

In the debate over who is the purveyor of the tastiest pie, tempers often get hot enough to singe the palate.

On either side of Garretson Avenue in Dongan Hills, two giant banners claim to have a definitive answer to this highly subjective question.

“World’s Best Pizza” boast the signs draped in front of Goodfellas Old World Brick Oven Pizza Restaurant and Il Pomodoro, located about 100 feet from each other on Hylan Boulevard.

Both state they won the honor in the “non-traditional” category of the 2009 International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas.

“We can authenticate Goodfellas; they won the contest,” said Linda Keith, who organizes the expo — perhaps clearing up the confusion for the hundreds who drive by the proclamations every day.

The March expo drew more than 6,000 pizza-business people from across the globe, and top culinary judges selected winners from 120 contestants in the “traditional” and “non-traditional” pizza competitions.

“Il Pomodoro is very passionate, I know that. But, no, they did not win,” said Ms. Keith.

They did, in fact, earn a slot as a finalist in the Eastern Division, a division won by the team from Goodfellas, who went on to sweep the contest and win $10,000 in prize money for its seafood-laden creation, “crustacean sensation.”

On closer inspection, Il Pomodoro’s banner does contain the disclaimer. The word “finalist” is written in looping, diagonal script over “2009” but hardly visible without searching for it.