All things pizza

My attempt to create an eternal thread and this is what I came up with!

Anyway, what is your preference, what is the best you have ever had, and PLEASE share any great recipes, including dough, that you may have!

My preference is thin and well done, with a crispy well flavored crust, light on the quality cheese and with a natural tomato flavored sauce. For toppings I prefer the simple garlic or mushroom pie. If the meats are top notch I will go with sausage. The anchiove is a lost art in pizza that I have disposed of as never to be tasted again.

The best I ever had was off the beaten path in "real" Pisa, in Italy. On a very hot day in July my family, a group of 14, stumbled in and consumed 12 of the best pizzas that I have ever tasted and seen. So thin, so crispy, so sublime that my 9 year old consumed her entire pie! Spectacular...I had mine with speck and a fresh egg on top...simply spectacular.

Very nearly as good, but a complete 180 from the Pisan (which was very Neopolitan) pizza is The American Flatbread Co. in Waitsfield Vt.:
As "Vermonty" a place as you might ever enter, they turn the bakery floor into a restaurant and bar on weekend nights and bake your pizzas in the wood burning bread oven on the same device that warms you! Just check out the menu!

I have dined there many a weekend night while free heel skiing at Mad River Glen and drinking Long Trail Ale. Simply spectacular. Check out their whole site:http://www.americanflatbread.com/restaurants/waitsfield-vt/

As for recipes...I have never succeeded in making a good pizza, I think I have bad water for it.

In Hoboken, and I strongly recommend this, it is possible to walk down Washington Street and sample some outstanding Pizza.

Start at Benny's for their huge slice, with a tangy tomato sauce. Benny's is not a crispy slice, but it is oh so good.

Then go down the block and cross the street to Giovanni's where they serve a smaller, crispier, cheesier slice.

Then cross the street and go down a block and a half to "Pizza Republic", formerly Filippo's, and get a nice large slice, crispy, cheesy, and with a good flavorful tomato sauce.

In Jersey, you must, repeat, MUST fold your pizza in two while eating it. The use of forks and knives to eat pizza is strictly verboten,

Just want to begin by saying that my favorite topping is pineapple

Though I’ve mostly had American pizza, I’ve also had Italian pizza, which surprised me because I couldn’t pick it up and eat it.
However, having pizza in Japan is an experience. It’s more-or-less American style pizza with really odd ingredients: Shrimp and broccoli pizza, corn pizza, tuna and mayonnaise pizza, salmon and mayonnaise pizza, tomato and prossuito pizza, bacon and asparagus pizza…

The list goes on. I’ll post a photo of a menu if I can find a good one.

What's the world coming to when a guy from NY has to go to Vermont for pizza???

Next thing you'll tell us is that you found a better calzone than House of Pizza and Calzone on Union St. in B'klyn.

When I was in Italy I ate more pizza than everything else combined. The stuff was fantastic! I really didn't plan on it but everywhere you went there was a pizza and it was better than any place I've had it before or since.

I love a drop of olive oil in the dough when I make it. I love olive oil full stop!

I usually make mine with proscuitto, tomato sauce, chilli (without chilli, it's not pizza), garlic of course, green capsicum, mozzarella, mushrooms, onion and sliced tomatoes.

I add some olives sometimes... Pizza is great!

DunEdinRanger said:

In Jersey, you must, repeat, MUST fold your pizza in two while eating it.

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Well, duh, how else would you eat it?

ouch said:

What's the world coming to when a guy from NY has to go to Vermont for pizza???

Next thing you'll tell us is that you found a better calzone than House of Pizza and Calzone on Union St. in B'klyn.

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I'm not a fan of Calzone...too heavy. The standards of NYC are excellent pies...Patsy's (uptown), John's, Grimaldi's, Lombardi's, but none of them or any other I have had was as good as the pizza I had in Pisa. The Vermont pizza is so good, and so different, while still being a traditional pizza it stands out above a standard pizza as one of the best I have ever had.

kongjie said:

Well, duh, how else would you eat it?

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You can double decker it!

Brodirt said:

... The anchiove is a lost art in pizza that I have disposed of as never to be tasted again.

...

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The closest I ever got to anchovies on pizza was all those Popeye cartoons when I was a kid that made fun of anchovies. One got the impression that they were ... if a 6-year-old could understand the concept ... an aquired taste.

There are so many styles of "pizza" that "best" becomes a difficult concept. I have a preference for the NY "street style" slice - foldable, drippy goodness.

That being said, the single best pizza I have ever had in my existence was the white clam and bacon pie at Pepe's in New Haven. It was a life-changing moment.

Scotto said:

That being said, the single best pizza I have ever had in my existence was the white clam and bacon pie at Pepe's in New Haven. It was a life-changing moment.

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As I sit here entering the calories from the 20 teeny spelt pretzels I just ate as a snack, it occurs to me that if I simply hadn't eaten all those Sally's, Pepe's and Modern Apizza pies in New Haven I wouldn't be dieting right now...

I have had so many different types of pizza; I could not tell you what the best is. For me the execution, not the particular style is most important. Certainly the New York style is up there with the best and wood fire is nice. I just wanted to note that I can still get the pizza I grew up with at the Stained Glass Pub in Silver Spring Maryland. With a thick square curst, lots of great sauce and cheese, big hunks of sausage and canned mushrooms, this is not gourmet fare, but it brings me back to my youth of so long ago. I thoroughly enjoy it every time I go! There used to be 3 places. There was Pop's Pizza, Trolley Car Pizza and Stained Glass Pub. They all did the same style. The Stained Glass Pub is the only one left!

Dave

Mmmm... Pizza!

One of my favorites is on the grill. We recently discovered a great way to keep the crust from burning, while getting the rest of the ingredients to cook properly.

Thinking about a pizza night on Friday now. Mrs. kzoo1 will approve!

Thin crust, real tomato sauce, real basil, garlic, veggies, and meats! Plus a little wood smoke for flavor. Man, I wish they were easier to make from scratch!

After a week in Rome, pizza was never the same. I still make it for the family, but how I would love to have some of that roman goodness again. Very thin, crispy, almost minimalist, but oh so good! Food, wine and coffee in general were excellent. American pizza pales in comparison.

Growing up in the D.C. area, I'm sure we didn't get anything that comes close to the NY goodness (although my friend's mom - 1st generation Italian, from Brooklyn - made good homemade). Some places there that I still like today when I go back are Ledo's (original near UofMD on University Blvd., but now they have a fair number of locations), and Armand's Chicago Pizzaria (the original I think is on Wisconsin Ave.). I also liked the buffalo pizza at The Brickskeller at 22nd and P Streets in D.C. (with an outstanding beer selection!).

When I lived in the Chicago area there were a couple places that were fairly good, but I don't recall the names. I don't think I managed to hit any of the really good/famous joints.

Campisi's here in Dallas is about the only local stuff I really like (kind of similar to Ledo's). There's a little shop near my house (Rockyano's) that makes a good pizza in a pinch (better than the chains, anyway).

I usually like the thicker crust (although Ledo's is fairly thin, but I've been eating it on and off for 40 years), with at least the same thickness of stuff on top. Mostly meats, but veggies are okay, too (sorry, no olives or onions).

The (only) two things I do miss about living back east are good pizza and a decent deli.

I had a Pierogy Pizza in Latrobe and then ran a 5 Mile race after that.

It felt like I had a brick in me, but it was worth it because that was just outstanding.

My Three bests, though I have had many .. from NYC to SF, the Windy & the Motown, the Queen City (not a pizza town), and the North Coast

1) Frankies - North Olmsted Ohio - thinner but much cheese style, vaguely NY but not, he has a spice that I have never tasted elsewhere, some sort of mutant fennel or something, to die for ..

2) Patsy's up in Manhatten, can't recall the address, old style thin NY pizza. Last time there the guy at the next table was saying he hadn't been in 30 years & he had tears in his eyes

3) Tomatoes Apizza, Farmington Hills Michigan - legend has it the guy went undercover in New Haven to learn the secrets, brought them back here with a Coal Fired Oven, the White Pizza is well ..

4) An extra, homemade grilled

Any neighborhood pizza that isn't a chain is a valuable community resource, I have grown to dislike the McPizzas over the years, even with two of the Founders being from Motown .. or perhaps it is that whole homogenization trend that they epitomize.

kongjie said:

As I sit here entering the calories from the 20 teeny spelt pretzels I just ate as a snack, it occurs to me that if I simply hadn't eaten all those Sally's, Pepe's and Modern Apizza pies in New Haven I wouldn't be dieting right now...

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Are you a transplanted New Yorker?

Best is definitely a difficult label to put on Pizza. There are so many varieties, styles, flavor combinations etc. As for a specific restaurant I will say this is one of my all time favorites.