"Your Mouth Lights Up"

Most people know that for truly great pizza you should head for Naples — or Chicago. But Baghdad? Yes, you can occasionally escape the chaos and carnage of the Iraqi capital in one of its unexpectedly good pizza restaurants. Taking our cue from the mangled English slogan of one such joint — "The secret is in the test" — our team of six American soldiers and three Iraqi civil servants set out to find Baghdad's best pie.

First stop: Al-Sa'ah, the famous eatery in the Mansour district, next to the house U.S. forces bombed back in April in...