Your Favorite Pizza
- Thread starter quick dog
- Start date
Obviously I won't know how dire the situation is in Sac, but I'm frequently perplexed over the utter lack of options for people in L.A. who like Chicago-style deep dish pizza. There are two restaurants within about five miles of me that have "Chicago" in their name-- one only serves Sicilian-style pizza (the cashier didn't even know what Chicago deep dish pizza was), and the other serves your standard deep dish pizza that looks exactly like Numero Uno (this after I verified with a person on the phone there that they make Chicago-style; she was obviously clueless too). I ended up going to www.chowhound.com (which BTW is a good place to find restaurant recommendations from your average Joe, although any Sac coverage is buried under an all-encompassing California section), and I found out that (seemingly) the lone restaurant in L.A. proper closed early this year due to flooding issues. To get what I want, I'd now have to travel about 100 miles round trip to get one. So the only viable option is to order them online from Chicago and have them shipped out in dry ice (too bad I don't have a freezer though).
Aside from that, the best places I've found for pizza are the small, independently owned mom-and-pop joints that look like holes in the wall and survive on word-of-mouth. Sometimes it takes some searching, but the search ends up being worth it most of the time. I have a co-worker who loves pizza but who's content with Dominos and Pizza Hut every single time. If he lived in a small town with few resources, then that would be fine. But it drives me a little crazy with him because he lives in L.A. with *hundreds* of options to find some really good pizza, and he denies himself the enjoyment of searching and experimenting and settles with the most mass-marketed swill available.
Anyway, apart from the choices mentioned here, the Chowhound website would be a good place to ask as well.
Aside from that, the best places I've found for pizza are the small, independently owned mom-and-pop joints that look like holes in the wall and survive on word-of-mouth. Sometimes it takes some searching, but the search ends up being worth it most of the time. I have a co-worker who loves pizza but who's content with Dominos and Pizza Hut every single time. If he lived in a small town with few resources, then that would be fine. But it drives me a little crazy with him because he lives in L.A. with *hundreds* of options to find some really good pizza, and he denies himself the enjoyment of searching and experimenting and settles with the most mass-marketed swill available.
Anyway, apart from the choices mentioned here, the Chowhound website would be a good place to ask as well.
VF21 said:
Having never been in Chicago, I must ask the following question...
What IS Chicago-style deep dish pizza exactly? What makes it so different from other pizzas? Or is this just another one of those Chicago things?
What IS Chicago-style deep dish pizza exactly? What makes it so different from other pizzas? Or is this just another one of those Chicago things?
Think of Chicago-style more as a pie. A layer of dough is formed inside the pan, and the ingredients you want in your pizza are placed over the dough and generously filled close to the top of the pan. Another layer of dough is placed over the ingredients, and this layer can be covered just with sauce or sauce and toppings. While it's a deep dish pizza, there isn't much of a crust (hence there's a big difference between regular deep dish and Chicago-style). It usually necessitates a knife and fork and is thought of as more of a meal than your traditional pizza. As far as I'm aware, that was the reasoning for its creation. At the very least, I think it's a nice change-up from the usual stuff.
bdouble013 said:
As a pizza delivery driver for Pizza Hut at the moment I concur that Pizza Hut is the best pizza...althought I to am sick of it.
Although I get a big discount from the store, or sometimes no cost at all (whispering)
, I also had enough of too much pizza. Occasional specialty pizzas maybe good once a week.
We actualy still have a shakys in the Fresno area... need to get over there! I have had Pizza in NY and Chicago both and yup I prefer the NY style. Here in the "Big NO" we have a couple decnet mom and pop places, most of which are astep ahead of the chain crap that passes for Pizza. I have very strong opinions on Pizza (imagine that me with a strong opinion) If it has some kind of white sauce on it, it is not Pizza. It might be good, but it is not Pizza. If it has pineapple, or pears, or any other fruit on it (except tomatoes) it is not pizza. So was does a rabid vegitarina like me crave? Olives, sun dried tomatoes, wild mushrooms, capers, onion, pepers (hot and sweet) and it better have plenty of garlic, oregano and basil. The jury is still out on artichoke hearts, I like them but I am not sure if they belong on a "real pizza" And if I make it my self I always add veggie peperoni and Canadian Bacon.
slugking50 said:
Me too!!! I grew up on Skakey's.
:sniffs:
I havent been to really any of the mom and pop places in town..... The Chains I like Mountain Mikes Combination(Or Everest), Papa Johns BBQ Chicken.
I love Pizza. Ill eat just about any kind of Pizza... Except with Sour Cream.... That sounds just nasty
:sniffs:
I havent been to really any of the mom and pop places in town..... The Chains I like Mountain Mikes Combination(Or Everest), Papa Johns BBQ Chicken.
I love Pizza. Ill eat just about any kind of Pizza... Except with Sour Cream.... That sounds just nasty
The worst pizzas that I ever didn't eat were in Sonoma and Vienna. The Sonoma version was overlain with an inch of dried-out mushrooms. The Austrian version was covered with canned cut-corn. They called it "American Pizza". In both pizza places I think that had eastern European refugees smoking hashish in the kitchens. Very unusual places.
It's had to beat a good, basic, pepperoni and black olive pizza.
Steve's Pizza's Greek Pizza with pesto sauce is pretty darn good, especially since it's a vegetarian pizza. Pretty good.
That Chicago style pizza sounds interesting. Any suggestions of where to get a good one? A mama-papa place would be preferred.
It's had to beat a good, basic, pepperoni and black olive pizza.
Steve's Pizza's Greek Pizza with pesto sauce is pretty darn good, especially since it's a vegetarian pizza. Pretty good.
That Chicago style pizza sounds interesting. Any suggestions of where to get a good one? A mama-papa place would be preferred.
There's still a fair amount of Shakeys in L.A., but it ain't like it used to be. I last tried their pizza about three years ago, and it was average at best and looked and tasted nothing like it did when I was a kid. Not to mention it was ridiculously expensive (probably to compensate for all of the families coming in to take advantage of their lunch buffet). But I guess it's an allright place to go to if you want to take the whole family along, keep the kids entertained, and take advantage of the buffet or whatever special deals they have.
Re: Better Off Dead. I was so psyched to see this come out on DVD and then so disappointed to find out it's a bare-bones release (no audio commentary or other extras). Friggin' Paramount. You'd think they would treat a cult film a little better to appease the die-hard fans. They have to be the worst studio when it comes to providing extras for DVD's. Even the DVD for the sort-of sequel One Crazy Summer has an audio commentary (with Savage Steve Holland, Bobcat Goldthwait, and Booger from the Nerds movies).
Re: Better Off Dead. I was so psyched to see this come out on DVD and then so disappointed to find out it's a bare-bones release (no audio commentary or other extras). Friggin' Paramount. You'd think they would treat a cult film a little better to appease the die-hard fans. They have to be the worst studio when it comes to providing extras for DVD's. Even the DVD for the sort-of sequel One Crazy Summer has an audio commentary (with Savage Steve Holland, Bobcat Goldthwait, and Booger from the Nerds movies).
http://imdb.com/name/nm0035664/
Boogar is over 50 years old !!??!
but he's had plenty 'o work. He's doing fine. Its not as if he was ever likely to be given many chances as leading man material.
COMING TO A THEATRE NEAR YOU-----
its BOOGAR as AQUAMAN
Boogar is over 50 years old !!??!
but he's had plenty 'o work. He's doing fine. Its not as if he was ever likely to be given many chances as leading man material.
COMING TO A THEATRE NEAR YOU-----
its BOOGAR as AQUAMAN
Continuing the BOD thread hijack: during some middle-of-the-night browsing I stumbled upon a couple interviews done earlier in the year regarding the movie. The interviewer seemed just as pissed that the DVD offered no extras, so he actually did something about it. One interview is with writer/director Savage Steve Holland and one is with Dan Schneider AKA Ricky AKA that guy that was also in Head of the Class. Finally we get some actual insight into the film, but unfortunately not all of it is positive.
http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/cat_better_off_dead_tribute.html
Nice to hear about the cast reunions at Holland's Super Bowl parties. But the stories about Cusack are depressing and made me feel really bad for Holland. I can't watch either film the same way now, especially One Crazy Summer.
BTW the interviewer states that part two of the director's interview is "coming soon", but it's been awhile now and I wasn't able to locate the second part on the website anywhere. I'm gonna drop the guy a line and see what's up.
http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/cat_better_off_dead_tribute.html
Nice to hear about the cast reunions at Holland's Super Bowl parties. But the stories about Cusack are depressing and made me feel really bad for Holland. I can't watch either film the same way now, especially One Crazy Summer.
BTW the interviewer states that part two of the director's interview is "coming soon", but it's been awhile now and I wasn't able to locate the second part on the website anywhere. I'm gonna drop the guy a line and see what's up.
To contenue the hijack... thanks for the link. BOD has been one of my faves for years, and I am a big Cusack fan. Yeah it kind of sucks that he was not happy about the film but when you see the stuff he does on his own like Tape Heads you can see how his style is not as much absurd as it is over the top paradoy. Oh well good read!