Well funny thing is that I'm eating New York-style pizza from an S&R while I read this lol

I can agree that pizza is not a meal since as you said it doesn't pair nicely with rice (are you East or Southeast Asian lol), but I disagree that it can only be paired with another pizza or that you don't feel full after eating one. A slice of New York pizza is dinner enough for me, perhaps because we Filipinos are more used to smaller ones lol (where we would eat 2 or 3 slices before we're satisfied). I paired the pizza I had earlier with french fries, and I eat the salad during and after I ate the pizza, not before.

TLDR idk what these Americans are cooking lol