So Good » Pizza http://www.sogoodblog.com An absurd look at the world of food Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:52:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Great Lake is the Greatest http://www.sogoodblog.com/2009/11/17/great-lake-greatest/ http://www.sogoodblog.com/2009/11/17/great-lake-greatest/#comments Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:55:41 +0000 Cary http://www.sogoodblog.com/?p=3081 On a rather nice evening in Chicago a couple of weeks ago, my life is changed by two pizzas.  It is at Great Lake, named by Alan Richman in a GQ article as the best pizza in America.

Great Lake

Pizza has been a large part of my life, as you can tell by my posting history.  Today I don’t want to strictly speak of pizza, but of pizza expectations.

The Rolling Stones once wrote, “You can’t always get what you want.”  And Charles Dickens once wrote, “WTF?  I went to this pizza joint in Andersonville and tried to order a pepperoni pizza and they wouldn’t make it for me.  So much for my great expectations!”  A blessing and a curse, people are curious about this small pizza joint because of an article in a men’s magazine.  That’s it.  Of course, a lot of people just skimmed it, which is, well, quite evident from the behavior of customers I witnessed.

1. If you want a pepperoni pizza, go to Domino’s.

One guy who sits down near my group of friends is threatening to do just that.  He’s incensed.  He read that stupid article in GQ and wants the best pizza in America, damn it!  The staff sighs and points to the chalkboard, where 3 pre-determined pies are available for order.  On a given night (depending on the availability of fresh produce and meat), there is usually a veggie pizza, a meat pizza and a white available to order.  All are $20 plus a pizza.  They don’t make pizza on demand.  The guy gets up with his girlfriend (who is hilariously mortified) and leaves.  The waitress shrugs and tells us it happens at least three times a night at this point.

2. If you want a short wait, go to Pizza Hut

If you go to the Yelp page devoted to Great Lake, most commenters complain about the wait.  Waiting half an hour to forty five minutes for a pizza is, seemingly, forever.  Hmm…why don’t we look at home-made pizza recipes online and see how long they take to cook?  Well, most recipes have a pizza cooking for 20 to 30 minutes.  So, wait.  Because the GQ article predisposes you to the idea that the wait is long, waiting a completely normal amount of time for a pizza to cook is too long?  A freaking Digiorno takes 23 minutes, for christ sake.  You’re here to eat quality food, not a fucking Marie Calendar’s Insta-meal.  Waiting an extra 15-20 minutes never killed anyone.  Unless you’re insane and under the assumption that eating uncooked pizza is great.  Or you eat raw dough.  Weirdo.

3. If you want to make snap judgements

Go to Yelp!  There are millions of them!  In fact, I’m thinking I should start combing the catacombs of the webbernet looking for the worst and most obnoxious Yelp! reviews out there.  You know the ones I’m talking about:

Karen M. – This place sux!!!  My mom’s pizza is SOOOOOOOOOOOO much better.  And the service was trble.  Awful.

WHO GIVES A SHIT?!  You don’t go to a restaurant to eat your mom’s pizza.  And as I will point out in the upcoming weeks, the reason it doesn’t taste like your family meals is because YOU SPENT AT LEAST FIVE YEARS BEING EXPOSED TO THE COOKING IN YOUR HOME.  You build up a natural affinity for your mother/father’s cooking (as long as it doesn’t suck butt), and it tastes specific and wonderful.  It should.  But when you go out to eat at a specialty pizza shop like Great Lake Pizza expecting everything to be traditional and just like home cooking, you should just cut yourself some slack.  Stay home.  Order in from Sarpino’s, they have those trucks and their fliers are everywhere!  Kick back and enjoy your perfectly bland experience as you watch reruns of “Farscape.”

Because heaven forbid that anything is new or different!  You might just have to complain to an online review site and potentially ruin other people’s experiences with completely groundless claims of mediocrity.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that Great Lake is a fine pizza establishment with wonderful pizza made with farm-fresh produce and meats.  Just order it for pick up if you’re a pansy and can’t wait a bit.

]]> http://www.sogoodblog.com/2009/11/17/great-lake-greatest/feed/ 1 Next Brilliant Idea? Pizza In A Cone! http://www.sogoodblog.com/2009/07/07/brilliant-idea-pizza-cone/ http://www.sogoodblog.com/2009/07/07/brilliant-idea-pizza-cone/#comments Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:48:13 +0000 JT http://www.sogoodblog.com/?p=2853 Pizza Cone

When it comes to food, I am very open-minded.  I will give just about everything a try.  But as Dirty Harry once said, man’s got to know his limitations.  Enter, the Pizza Cone. 

I know that the sharp folks in R&D think that America wants food “on the go” and “quick to prepare” (and yes, I did make air quotes just now) but is this really the answer that we have been looking for?  Also, is the unconventional cone shape for the pizza supposed to give a space-age feel that is supposed to distract people from thinking that it is an open-ended hot pocket?  And don’t even think of saying ‘pizza of the future’ either.

We have all tasted microwaved pizza, and we know the results.  This idea?  Not so good.

And as we all know, nothing says ‘winner’ like a pizza from a vending machine.  Barf.

Pizza Cone Vending Machine

H/t to Eat Me Daily for the scoop.

]]> http://www.sogoodblog.com/2009/07/07/brilliant-idea-pizza-cone/feed/ 10 Your Pizza is Awful http://www.sogoodblog.com/2009/05/14/pizza-awful/ http://www.sogoodblog.com/2009/05/14/pizza-awful/#comments Thu, 14 May 2009 17:55:47 +0000 Cary http://www.sogoodblog.com/?p=2526 Human beings are territorial creatures.  Always have been.  Which leads me to my next point:  YOUR PIZZA IS AWFUL.  No, really, I don’t like the pizza where you’re from.  Be it New York City, Denver, Los Angeles, it’s not my pizza.  It’s yours and it’s terrible.

pizzas

(Photo via Dan Perlman)

How do you feel, reader?  Angry?  Hurt?  Kind of fat when you think about how much pizza you’ve consumed?  Well, you’re not alone.  Since the dawn of pizza (or time, whichever came first), people have made it their business to proclaim their regional pizza the greatest in the world of worlds.  A lot of this amounts to pride in their hometown, which isn’t a foreign concept to me.  Growing up in upstate New York, outside of Utica, I ate two kinds of pizzas: circular thin pies and thicker square pies.  I naturally gravitate towards the former, probably because I don’t feel bloated after two slices of the thick pie.

When I lived in NYC, I worked near an amazing shop called Koronet that had GIANT slices for a buck fifty.  That’s not bad when you’re broke as shit out of college.  Now I live in Chicago, and although the allure of a thin slice of pizza exists, it is a dream not made for this reality.  Getting pizza by-the-slice in Chicago is a rare thing.  Not an impossibility.  But people prefer getting a pie, and I can’t say I haven’t conformed my taste to Chicago’s style.

I haven’t been to California yet, but I’m sure I’ll hate their pizza.  Freaking pear on pizza?  If I want pears, I’ll eat a goddamn pear.  If I want pizza, I’ll be as close-minded as I damn well please about it.  Give me meat or veggies on that pizza, preferably both please.  Otherwise, get your terrible Wolfgang Puck-endorsed toppings out of my personal space.

Ah, that felt great.  Now I would like to give So Good readers the chance to do the same.  Vote on your favorite regional pizza, and use the comments to either lambaste someone else’s pizza, trumpet your own pizza’s superiority, or just criticize me!  Fun for all ages!  Also, make sure to watch the results.  I will be insulted if California-style beats Chicago or New York.  California, consider yourself pwned.

NYC Pizza – giant tombstone slabs with a minimal amount of sauce and cheese.  They are giant and cheap, and they usually come by the slice.

Chicago Deep Dish Pizza – a true goliath that starts with crust, then finishes with cheese, toppings and sauce in that order.  More of a casserole than pizza to some, heaven to others.

California-Style Pizza – usually akin to NYC pizza, but with hilariously off-beat toppings like pear and Gorgonzola or Mango Tandoori.

Sicilian Pizza – popular in the aforementioned Utica, NY, this pizza has the same cheese-first-sauce-on-top approach of Chicago, although it employs pecorini cheese with anchovies or endives.

New Haven-Style Apizza – weird New England pizza, oh, excuse me: apizza.  That’s not a typo, even though the spell-checker tells me it is.  They call it apizza, and sometimes they don’t even put cheese on it.  SACRILEGE.  It’s essentially NYC-style thin crust, sometimes served with clams.

St. Louis-Style Pizza – yeast-less-thin-crust pizza that is crispy like a cracker, sweet Sicilian-influenced sauce and an interesting choice for cheese: the tangy Provel.  Cut into squares they refer to as “Party Cut.”  Yeah, I’m giggling too.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.


]]> http://www.sogoodblog.com/2009/05/14/pizza-awful/feed/ 22 Susan Boyle: The Pizza http://www.sogoodblog.com/2009/05/04/susan-boyle-pizza/ http://www.sogoodblog.com/2009/05/04/susan-boyle-pizza/#comments Mon, 04 May 2009 21:01:37 +0000 Eick http://www.sogoodblog.com/?p=2476 Yes, a Susan Boyle themed pizza. The Scotsman reports that a bakery in Scotland called Sayers, has created the “Olive Boyle” pizza as a tribute to the exceptional skill of Susan Boyle in the categories of  singing and acting really socially awkward .

boyle-pizza1

Good lord that’s one hideous looking pizza. Now I understand the use of black olives to make her hair.  I also understand that some people like black olives. But I ask you: do you really like black olives enough to eat that many in each bite? I submit that you do not.  So just to re-cap about the pizza:  A) Looks horribly disgusting, and B) most likely tastes equivalent to shoving an entire can of black olives into your mouth at once.

But what makes the article about this new pizza absolutely awesome is this quote from the bakery’s product development chef, Toby Thorogood:

“There are photos of Susan Boyle everywhere and I started thinking how much she looks like a pizza with that round head of hers.”

Lets go through the list of reactions one might have had when they first viewed the Susan Boyle YouTube clip. For some, their reaction was “wow, she has a beautiful voice.”  For others it was, “what an inspiring story.”  But for Toby Thorogood, the reaction was, of course, “that lady’s head looks like a pizza.”  Nice.

]]> http://www.sogoodblog.com/2009/05/04/susan-boyle-pizza/feed/ 8 The “Green” Pizza Box http://www.sogoodblog.com/2009/04/29/green-pizza-box/ http://www.sogoodblog.com/2009/04/29/green-pizza-box/#comments Wed, 29 Apr 2009 21:08:07 +0000 Eick http://www.sogoodblog.com/?p=2454 Amazing no one thought of this before.

H/T to Asylum.

]]> http://www.sogoodblog.com/2009/04/29/green-pizza-box/feed/ 6 Domino’s Bread Bowl Pasta http://www.sogoodblog.com/2009/04/28/dominos-bread-bowl-pasta/ http://www.sogoodblog.com/2009/04/28/dominos-bread-bowl-pasta/#comments Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:13:30 +0000 Eick http://www.sogoodblog.com/?p=2442 Domino’s recently unveiled a new pasta product: Bread Bowl Pasta. Yes, pasta PLUS a bowl made of bread.  Talk about carb overload. Robert Atkins must be rolling over in his grave. (Note: the pasta is available without the bread bowl as well…but where’s the fun in that?)

dominos-bread-bowl-pasta

There are 5 types of pasta available:

  • Three Cheese Mac-N-Cheese – A blend of two cheddars and mozzarella tossed with penne pasta and baked.
  • Italian Sausage Marinara – Penne pasta tossed with  Italian sausage smothered in marinara sauce and topped with provolone cheese.
  • Chicken Alfredo – Cuts of  all white meat chicken and penne pasta baked with creamy Alfredo sauce.
  • Chicken Carbonara – Cuts of all white meat chicken, bacon, onions and mushrooms mixed with penne pasta and baked with creamy Alfredo sauce.
  • Pasta Primavera – Baby spinach, diced tomatoes, mushrooms and onions mixed with penne pasta and baked with creamy Alfredo sauce.

WalletPop is reporting that tomorrow, April 29th, you can get a free bread bowl pasta lunch between 11 am and 2 pm at all participating Domino’s stores.

]]> http://www.sogoodblog.com/2009/04/28/dominos-bread-bowl-pasta/feed/ 9 Eick Makes Me Try Things: Pizza Zing http://www.sogoodblog.com/2009/03/14/eick-makes-me-try-things-pizza-zing/ http://www.sogoodblog.com/2009/03/14/eick-makes-me-try-things-pizza-zing/#comments Sat, 14 Mar 2009 20:53:09 +0000 Cary http://www.sogoodblog.com/?p=1850 The other day, I received a small cardboard box in the mail.  A small sticker affixed to the side told me to expect “Pizza Zing!”  I was, as one would expect, excited.

pizza-zing

Idea:  Take the Big Three pizza toppings from any NYC pizza-eatery (Parmesan cheese, oregano, red pepper flakes) and combine them in one easy-to-use container.  You now have Pizza Zing! And yes, if you didn’t know what the Big Three Pizza Toppings were, you’ve never eaten New York City pizza.  And if I may go one step further, if you reveal this to a native New Yorker, you will most likely be pelted by shoes.  Beware the truth, it hurts. Like thousands of New York City shoes, raining down from the heavens.

Presentation: It’s essentially a modernized Parmesan cheese container, as it should be.  Its ridiculously bright yellow and red color scheme makes me think about eating pizza, which is strange.  Perhaps this container has a hypnotizing effect? So yeah, bonus points for making me wonder if I’m getting programmed a la Manchurian Candidate.

Favorite Visible Catch-Phrase: FLAVORFUL HEAT!  Oh wow.  LOVING THIS CATCHPHRASE.  Let it roll off your tongue.  Use it as your Facebook status.  Let’s get together and create the new meme: FLAVORFUL HEAT. Just as one can apply Pizza Zing to any food, apply Flavorful Heat to any situation or person. Trust me, this is the new FAIL.

Taste: We made an incredible mistake in ordering a deep dish pizza from Edwardo’s, one of the great Chicago deepdisheries. Myself and my companions applied vigorous amounts of Pizza Zing to the pizza, making sure to fit the word ZING! into the conversation as much as possible. This was fun. However, I would not advise one to apply Pizza Zing to top-of-the-line pizza products. It’s powerful stuff, and the 7 spices completely overwhelm the 2 “hearty” cheeses the bottle advertises.  I mean, throwing red, jalapeno and cayenne pepper into the spice-blend is one thing, but adding in habanero as well? Overkill in my honest opinion, especially for those with an aversion to truly spicy seasoning. Remove the habanero, and lazy people every may indeed rejoice in a spice combo that will aid in pizza-loving.

The Verdict: While spicy and flavorful, Pizza Zing lends itself to the frozen pizza crowd.  On a Tombstone, Digiorno’s or Red Baron, this topping would help kick the flavor up a notch. Will it replace my Frank’s Hot Sauce or Sriracha hot sauce? No, probably not. But if you’re jonesing for those pizza seasonings, and find yourself bereft of a local shop that sells slices, Pizza Zing is right up your ally.

]]> http://www.sogoodblog.com/2009/03/14/eick-makes-me-try-things-pizza-zing/feed/ 8 Bacon Cheese Pizza Burger http://www.sogoodblog.com/2009/02/22/bacon-cheese-pizza-burger/ http://www.sogoodblog.com/2009/02/22/bacon-cheese-pizza-burger/#comments Sun, 22 Feb 2009 20:51:26 +0000 Eick http://www.sogoodblog.com/?p=1732 An enormous burger patty with two large meat pizzas serving as the buns.  Also includes eggs, bacon, colby and pepper jack cheese.

bacon-cheese-pizza-burger

Via Buzzfeed and No-Name247.

]]> http://www.sogoodblog.com/2009/02/22/bacon-cheese-pizza-burger/feed/ 18 Pizza Delivery Fail http://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/12/17/pizza-delivery-fail/ http://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/12/17/pizza-delivery-fail/#comments Wed, 17 Dec 2008 14:00:34 +0000 Eick http://www.sogoodblog.com/?p=1586 Via Slice and Failblog.

]]> http://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/12/17/pizza-delivery-fail/feed/ 2 Ordering Pizza Hut Pizza…in a Local Pizza Shop http://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/12/15/ordering-pizza-hut-pizzain-a-local-pizza-shop/ http://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/12/15/ordering-pizza-hut-pizzain-a-local-pizza-shop/#comments Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:19:40 +0000 Eick http://www.sogoodblog.com/?p=1577 Pizza Hut has apparently decided to make a foray into the world of viral videos, enlisting Mediocre Films, the makers of the popular “Retarded Policeman” YouTube series.  Apparently associating with a company whose top videos use the term “retarded” isn’t really a concern of Pizza Hut, as they’ve had Mediocre Films produce three videos for them.

One of these videos is titled, “Kicked out of Pizza Place.”  As of this morning it has received almost 200,000 views in about 5 days.  The guys at Mediocre Films do good work – or I should say, they do funny work.  They have quite a few funny videos and the guys they use in their films are likeable and good at what they do.  The two guys that appear in this video for Pizza Hut have an amusing banter between them, similar to the guys in recent Sonic ads.

The premise of the video: a guy goes and sits in local pizza shops, then calls up Pizza Hut and has a pizza delivered to him while in another pizza shop.  The video is amusing although the premise is a little assholish – hey local pizza shop owner, I’m gonna order a shitty pizza instead of your own pizza! Haha!  While it’s nice to see Pizza Hut go a little cutting edge, there is essentially no brand visibility or even brand awareness in the ad.  Pizza Hut isn’t mentioned, and you only know he’s ordering a Pizza Hut pizza if you recognize the uniform of Pizza Hut delivery drivers. Check it out:

]]> http://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/12/15/ordering-pizza-hut-pizzain-a-local-pizza-shop/feed/ 5 This Might Be a Bit TOO Agressive http://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/12/04/this-might-be-a-bit-too-agressive/ http://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/12/04/this-might-be-a-bit-too-agressive/#comments Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:52:52 +0000 Eick http://www.sogoodblog.com/?p=1560 I mean, I like meat, but whoa. This is just too much. Lamb on a pizza? That’s a new one for me….

Via Food Beast.

]]> http://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/12/04/this-might-be-a-bit-too-agressive/feed/ 6 Papa John’s Fan Base Surging on Facebook http://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/11/19/papa-johns-fan-base-surging-on-facebook/ http://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/11/19/papa-johns-fan-base-surging-on-facebook/#comments Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:38:33 +0000 Eick http://www.sogoodblog.com/?p=1512 If you’ve been reading So Good for a while, you could probably speculate that Papa John’s wouldn’t be my biggest fan. After all, who knows how much money the company lost after So Good broke the Papa John’s/Lebron James/Crybaby story.

But where I criticize companies for boneheaded moves, I also praise them for a job well done, and Papa John’s has been working some magic in the last three days with their attempts to build up the number of Papa John’s fans on Facebook, surging from around 10,000 fans on Sunday, to more than 164,000 at the time of this post. Damn. How could anyone possibly increase their fans on Facebook that fast? Well, it’s because of an offer for FREE pizza:

Hey everyone loves something free right? Not hard to get someone to click a link to become a fan if they know they are getting a free pizza out of it. Bargain shopping and coupon websites and blogs were abuzz and Papa John’s added 120,000 fans in the first 24 hours of the offer.

Of course with all things “free” there is a catch – to get a free medium cheese pizza, you have to first make an online pizza purchase.  As the board of the Facebook fan page proves, even when you offer something free, someone is going to bitch – a lot of people feel that saying “free pizza” is deceptive, because it’s really buy one get one free, and are also complaining because the offer says “free medium pizza” but then they limit it to a medium cheese - then again, maybe these people are just morons and don’t know how to read fine print. Either way, there are some amusing comments left on the fan page:

Really super lame “offer.” No longer a Fan.

i gotta buy a pizza to get a pizza?? cmon…i woulda bought a pizza anyway, cant we just get a free pizza without a catch??????

BOOOO… FALSE ADVERTISING!! They kept going on and on about a free pizza if you join this group. Come to find out, you have to BUY a pizza in order to get one for free…. They should have said it was a Buy one get one free offer!

free cheese?? u kidding right?? WOW, thanks Papa john…i love me some cheese.. /sarcasm

Ok, is this a free pizza or a BUY ONE, get one free deal? It better be FREE!!!

Can’t please everyone all the time.

With over 164,000 friends, Papa John’s Facebook fan page now has more fans than Domino’s (141,000) but is far short of Pizza Hut (386,000).  Overall, a smart promotion and very impressive effort by Papa John’s who have suceeded in adding more than 150,000 fans in less than 3 days.

]]> http://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/11/19/papa-johns-fan-base-surging-on-facebook/feed/ 1 Obama’s Favorite Pizza to Arrive in DC http://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/11/14/obamas-favorite-pizza-coming-to-dc/ http://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/11/14/obamas-favorite-pizza-coming-to-dc/#comments Sat, 15 Nov 2008 01:17:46 +0000 Eick http://www.sogoodblog.com/?p=1502 In February, when news of Barack Obama’s eating habits and favorite foods were scattered, sparse, and damn near impossible to find, So Good scoured the internet in order to put together a post on Barack Obama’s favorite foods.  Since that time, I’ve seen the post widely cited in stories about Obama’s favorite foods, from blogs to the Wall Street Journal.

Now comes the news that the owner of Italian Fiesta Pizzeria, cited in So Good’s post as one of Obama’s favorite restaurants, has been invited to DC to serve up pizza during some of the inauguration festivities. Check out a report below on the news that this pizza joint has hit the big time:

]]> http://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/11/14/obamas-favorite-pizza-coming-to-dc/feed/ 0 Newman’s Own Branching Into Pizza http://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/10/23/newmans-own-branching-into-pizza/ http://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/10/23/newmans-own-branching-into-pizza/#comments Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:21:06 +0000 Eick http://www.sogoodblog.com/?p=1418 Newman’s Own is expanding beyond salads and snack foods, and have introduced new Thin and Crispy frozen pizzas. They will be test marketing them in five places: New England, Albany, NY; Milwaukee, WI; Minneapolis, MN; and Charlotte, NC. Additional test markets will be added in 2009, with a national launch planned for 2010.

There will be four different types of pizza offered: Supreme; Four Cheese; Roasted Garlic and Chicken as well as Uncured Pepperoni.

]]> http://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/10/23/newmans-own-branching-into-pizza/feed/ 3 So Good in Washington Post Express http://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/09/19/so-good-in-washington-post-express/ http://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/09/19/so-good-in-washington-post-express/#comments Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:28:01 +0000 Eick http://www.sogoodblog.com/?p=1311 Update: As Claudia points out in the comments, So Good was ALSO cited in the Express Blog Log a week or two ago. Specifically, on September 8th they quoted the post of one of So Good’s new contributors – Baraf’s post on the new breakfast options at Starbucks. Congrats to Baraf! I’ve also added the quote they pulled from her Starbucks post and placed it below. I suppose that makes 5 appearances in the blog log for So Good now!

Our 4th time being picked up by the Washington Post Express blog log. Thanks for being a regular reader Mr./Mrs. Blog Log editor guy/gal! And thanks for deeming my posts, in particular my rants (about pepperoni pizza in this case), worthy of a Blog Log appearance!

]]> http://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/09/19/so-good-in-washington-post-express/feed/ 2