The square is still beyond compare.

The Go! Magazine and the Post-Dispatch held a bracket contest to determine the very best pizza in this pizza-happy town, and the winner (perhaps unsurprisingly) was Imo's Pizza.

Now in its 52nd year, Imo's has nearly 100 independently owned and operated locations throughout the region, across Missouri and around Kansas City. Area residents apparently cannot get enough of its crackerlike crust, sweet sauce and hot Provel cheese.

The key, said co-founder Margie Imo, is the chain's consistency.

"For 52 years we've been doing the same thing. We've had people who grew up with us. They raised their kids on our product, and they've just enjoyed it," she said.

"We try hard to live up to our customers' expectations. We try to give them what we look for."

The contest was in the format of the NCAA basketball championship. Sixty-four area pizza parlors were seeded and pitted against each other (out-of-state chains were disqualified). Readers picked their favorite of each head-to-head match up.

In the end, it came down to two finalists, Imo's vs. Joe Boccardi's. Imo's won handily.