GQÂ reports, “In mid-October, well before the allegations (of sexual harrassment) started to break, GQ sent correspondent Chris Heath, senior editor Devin Gordon, and food critic Alan Richman to Seventh Hill in Washington, D.C., the best pizza joint in town, to have a Sunday-afternoon pizza party with the GOP’s surprise front-runner. Within minutes of sitting down, we discovered one reason why Cain has done so well despite crossing so many lines: No matter what blunder or offense pops out of his mouth (and plenty do), it’s awfully hard not to like him.“
Alan Richman: Do you eat pizza as much as people say you eat pizza?Â
Herman Cain: No, because I’m very particular about the pizza that I eat. Godfather’s is still a premium-quality product, and I cannot always find that. It’s got to be as good as Godfather’s or I won’t eat it.
Alan Richman: I know you’re the reason for the success of Godfather’s, but did you make the recipe?
Herman Cain: No, no, no. The guy who started it is named Willy Theisen. He started it in 1973, as a single-unit store in Omaha. His recipe was real simple. He wanted it to be Chicago-style, which meant big crust and very tangy sauce. And what he did was, he bought the absolute best ingredients. Because you have different quality pepperoni, different quality hamburger, different quality sausage, different quality cheese. He just put the best-quality products on the Godfather’s pizza.
Alan Richman: I understand that you like lots of meat on your pizza. Is this true?
Herman Cain: Yes.
Alan Richman: We won’t do it today, but we’ll have to argue about this one day, because I’m a crust man.
Herman Cain: You like a thin crust?
Alan Richman: I like a crunchy crust. You just want the meat piled on?
Herman Cain: No, no, no. We balance the ingredients to achieve what we call “a harmony of flavor.”
Alan Richman: This sounds like a Republican platform.
Herman Cain: [laughs] We don’t just throw stuff on there. We actually test, “Do you have too much sausage? Too much beef?” Because we want to balance the flavor out. So it is more scientifically developed than it might appear.
Chris Heath: What can you tell about a man by the type of pizza that he likes?
Herman Cain: [repeats the question aloud, then pauses for a long moment] The more toppings a man has on his pizza, I believe the more manly he is.
Chris Heath: Why is that?
Herman Cain: Because the more manly man is not afraid of abundance. [laughs]
Devin Gordon: Is that purely a meat question?
Herman Cain: A manly man don’t want it piled high with vegetables! He would call that a sissy pizza.
Chris Heath: Are there Democratic pizzas and Republican pizzas?
Herman Cain: Nope, nope, nope. It’s like a good idea: if it’s great pizza, it transcends party affiliation, just like a good idea—like 9-9-9. [laughs]
