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Posted: 2004-09-21 06:00pm
by Darth Garden Gnome
I'm pretty good with Little Caesars, thank you very much. Cheap as hell, plus by buying it I'm supporting the home team; Mr. Ilitch, who owns the Red Wings and Tigers, owns Little Caesars as well.

Posted: 2004-09-21 06:30pm
by Fire Fly
RedImperator wrote:"Authentic" pizza is extremely rare and not readily available outside of Naples, Italy. Good pizza, in the United States, is not to be found in any place not widely settled by Italians. I'm sorry, that's just the way it is. Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Buffalo all are good pizza towns. Chicago is good but the style is different from the east coast. Everywhere else I've had pizza, it's been somewhere between bad and atrocious. Avoid, especially, pizza made by Mormons. Ugh.
Pizzas by Mormons? That's a new one...what's it like?

Anyways, the real good pizzas can only be found where it was first started: Italy. Honestly, they really do have the best pizzas, that or any place settled by Italians. I find Boston and NYC to be the best places for the real good pizzas, in the US. Otherwise, pizza anywhere else is just your basic standard pizza crust with marinara sauce and toppings.

Posted: 2004-09-21 06:33pm
by Imperial Overlord
My parents recently returned from a trip to Italy and they second that recommendation. They cannot say enough good things about it.

Posted: 2004-09-21 06:36pm
by Hotfoot
Best pizza I've ever had comes from my hometown. I've been all over, Chicago, New York, Philly, Seattle, and while I have found some excellent pizzas, I've yet to find one that tops my local pizza joint. Their deep dish pizzas are incredible (the name is a little deceptive, as it is not "traditional deep dish"). Even though I don't live in my hometown anymore, I still have the phone number for that pizza joint memorized, just in case I'm stopping by to visit my parents. :)

Posted: 2004-09-21 07:06pm
by RedImperator
Joe wrote:I'm not entirely sure what you mean by authentic pizza; is there some kind of special ingredient that makes it "authentic"? Besides, taste is more important.
"Authentic" Neopolitan pizza has a very strict list of ingredients and instructions. It has to be made with goat cheese. It has to be cooked in a coal fired brick oven. Shit like that. There are maybe five places in the United States that make it like that, maybe less.
Fire Fly wrote: Pizzas by Mormons? That's a new one...what's it like?
There was cornmeal in the crust. Honest to God cornmeal--I could taste it. And the sauce came out of a Prego jar. The cheese could have been used as weatherstripping, and the whole thing was dripping with grease.

This was sold, in a restaurant, as Authentic Italian Pizza. And to top it off, I'm pretty sure the flag they painted on the wall was ORANGE, white, and green.

Re: Pizza

Posted: 2004-09-21 07:29pm
by Dalton
Bertie Wooster wrote:
Dalton wrote:Holy crap, my cousin works there. The one on Jericho Turnpike, right? Ever had Martino's in Elmont?
:lol: Yup, the one on Jericho Tpke. The perfect place to have dinner after an afternoon at Jones Beach. I always bring back a sicilian pie home with me because I've never had a sicilian pie that comes even close to what Umberto's has. Their regular pizzas are great too.

Haven't been to Martino's yet, though.
Haha, small world. I've never had pizza there; we usually get Martino's, which, by the way, is on Hempstead Turnpike just west of the other Umberto's (King Umberto's on Hempstead and Covert). It's in the Genovese (Eckerd?) shopping center across from McDonald's, if you know where that is.

Posted: 2004-09-22 10:28am
by Zoink
Found this:
http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Pizza wrote: Authentic Neapolitan pizza ('a pizza Napulitana)

According to Associazione vera pizza napoletana, genuine Neapolitan pizza dough consists of flour, natural yeast or brewer's yeast and water. Further the dough must be kneaded by hand or with an approved mixer. After the rising process the dough must be formed by hand without the help of a rolling pin or any other mechanical device. Baking the pizza must take place on the surface of a bell shaped, wood-fired, volcanic stone oven. The oven temperature is between 400°C and 450°C and the pizza is cooked for approximately 2 minutes. It should be soft, well cooked, fragrant and enclosed in a soft edge of crust.

The classic types include and their respective toppings are:

Marinara or Napoletana: tomato, olive oil, oregano, and garlic.

Margherita: tomato, olive oil, fresh basil leaves, grated parmesan cheese, and fior-di-latte (mozzarella made from cow's milk) or mozzarella di buffala. Said to have been created by Raffaele Esposito in 1889, with the toppings in the colours of the tricolor flag of Italy, and named for the wife of King Umberto I of Italy, Queen Margherita of Savoy.

Formaggio e Pomodoro: tomato, olive oil, and grated parmesan cheese. Basil leaves are optional.
Good pizza. But IMHO, to say "pizza" should only refer to that type risks being a little pompous. There are plenty of non-Italian ingredients that taste good when baked on bread, a whole variety of personal tastes, and "pizza" has become part of the english language. To bad pompous italian purist chefs; I'm keeping the Montreal-style smoked meat on mine! ;)

Posted: 2004-09-22 10:43am
by Col. Crackpot
Zoink wrote: Good pizza. But IMHO, to say "pizza" should only refer to that type risks being a little pompous. There are plenty of non-Italian ingredients that taste good when baked on bread, a whole variety of personal tastes, and "pizza" has become part of the english language. To bad pompous italian purist chefs; I'm keeping the Montreal-style smoked meat on mine! ;)
Montreal-style smoked meat? on pizza? I dunno that sounds kinda funky.
As far as smoked meat in Montreal goes, Reuben's on St. Catherine is teh ub3r.

Posted: 2004-09-22 12:01pm
by Aeolus
phongn wrote:Chicago Deep Rish is great; NYC is great too, but I like the deep dish style better.
I've never really been a fan of Deep Dish pizza. I like a thin crispy crust. Altho when I was in college in Denton. Thier was a place called the flying tomato I liked thier deep dish pizza.

Posted: 2004-09-22 12:19pm
by TrailerParkJawa
There is an independent pizza place near my house called "Premier Pizza" they are pretty good. They have a second shop over in the RiverMark shopping complex (for you South Bay folks).

If you want a quick, cheap slice, then Costco can't be passed over.

Posted: 2004-09-22 12:54pm
by NeoGoomba
Dalton wrote:Nobody makes a pizza like a New York Italian.
Why thank you :P


I love extra garlic on pizza, so usually I add my own to it. And sometimes I get a craving for BBQ chicken pizza, which I usually buy instead of make. Making dough balls from scratch and freezing them is not so much fun (aka I'm too lazy most of the time), so, I hate to say it, I usually buy dough.

Posted: 2004-09-22 01:38pm
by Captain Cyran
Western New York has the best pizza in the nation. The rest of you pretenders can kiss our collective asses. :P

As for good pizza, soft but not too greasy. Plenty of cheese and sauce. Slightly chewy crust.

Re: Pizza

Posted: 2004-09-22 02:06pm
by Slartibartfast
Exmoor Cat wrote:This should stir up some debate. What constitutes a good pizza? I've seen some wierd ones out there, including chicken curry pizza (little more than a modified naan bread). Thin crust v pancrust v stuffed crust? Any reccmoended pizzerias? Just what is an authentic pizza?
The only "authentic" pizza is Pizza Margarita, with tomatoes, parmesan and that green leaf thingy, which represents the italian flag or sumthin. Other than that, any other pizza is "custom made" but of course some recipes were more popular and stuck.

Posted: 2004-09-22 02:14pm
by CDiehl
The "green leaf thingy" in question, I believe, is basil.

Posted: 2004-09-22 03:28pm
by LordShaithis
There are three levels of pizza, and these are the best in the Metro Detroit area:

Drive-through/fast food: Little Caesars

Delivery: Mickey's, little place near my house

Sit-down: Buddy's, where I'd still eat even if I were king of the world

Posted: 2004-09-22 03:41pm
by Exmoor Cat
I once had a massive 18" pizza in a restaurant in Nova Goriza, Slovena (A classic town with aninternational border down the middle). STill isthe best one eaten so far.

Pizzas are a licence to print money though if you think about it.

Posted: 2004-09-22 04:43pm
by Slartibartfast
CDiehl wrote:The "green leaf thingy" in question, I believe, is basil.
It could be. My kitchen english isn't that good.