back in the saddle. the pizza eating saddle.

I'm back. I have gainful employment again starting Monday, I passed my thesis defense and earned my master's degree, and though he's not really well, my grandfather is out of the hospital. I feel I can write again without it feeling frivolous.

Oh geez, but there is so much to catch up on!

I have 4 things to tell you all about: the Food Wars DC episode, Denver pizza, hot pockets (yes, hot pockets), and Comet pizza (and ping pong!).

Hold me to it, I'm gonna start here with the Food Wars.

So, back in February during Snowtorious B.I.G., the Travel Channel came to DC to pit Jumbo Slice against Pizza Mart in Adams Morgan, to see who had the better ginormous slice of pizza (they double as bedsheets for those too drunk to make it home). You can see my original review of a DC jumbo slice from Pizza Mart in my very first pizza blog endeavor here (it's pizza number 3). I'm sad that I missed this moment in DC pizza television history due to the snow. Pizza Mart, my choice between the two, did come out on top, and Carla of Top Chef fame (my all time fave Top Chef, too) chose the winner. It was a good slice of tv, and I recommend checkin it out.


Now. Look forward to the other posts over the next few days. I promise.

need to update

I have stuff to write about Denver and the pizza I ate there, and I have photos to post, but I've not really been feeling up to it lately. I got laid off unexpectedly on Tuesday, and it's been a really ugly mess. The situation is kinda complex, and I'm really bummed out. I'm also frantically searching for a new job. Also, my grandfather is in the hospital, which I can't even think about right now without getting very upset. So, due to all around blah-ness, I'm taking a short pizza blogging break.

Pizza fun fact of the day

In Scotland chip shops, they serve a dish known as deep-fried pizza. It is what it sounds like, and more! Not only is the pizza deep-fried (both battered and non-battered varieties are available, with the battered type going by 'pizza crunch'), but then it's served with french fries--and the fries are often stuffed inside the pizza like a pizza and french fry sandwich--and smothered in brown sauce.

I...want it?


Check the wiki article for it here



On a different note, I'm headed to Denver this afternoon for the AWP conference. Hopefully while I'm there I'll get to eat some local pizza. How will Denver pizza compare to DC? We'll have to see...

ZOMG!

It's National Deep Dish Pizza Day! According to Answers.com, National Deep Dish Pizza Day was established "to celebrate Chicago deep dish pizza—originated by Uno’s—and the efforts by Uno Chicago Grill to bring deep dish pizza to the entire United States. The original restaurant, which opened in 1943, began serving deep dish as a way to make sure hungry families could get a “real meal” when it came to pizza. Up to that point, pizza was hardly more than a snack. Annually celebrated on the anniversary of the day (Apr 5, 1979) that the first restaurant outside Chicago opened (in Boston, MA)."

Uh, so clearly some PR preson from Uno's had their hand in this (and in the writing of that "answer") but hey! It's a pizza holiday! Go eat some deep dish (and yes, I'll recommend Armand's--or you could go all the way to Georgetown to eat at an Uno outlet, but why would you want to?) .


Big thanks to Ernie (see previous post) for bringing this to my attention.

Chicago-esque...

Happy Easter!

I desperately need to take my mind off the gobs of candy I've eaten today, and writing about pizza seems like a good way to do that.

So. I went on a date Friday night. A pizza date. And what was extra exciting about this pizza date was the fact that my date, Ernie, suggested a pizzeria that I'd never even heard of--a totally off my pizza radar restaurant! It was called Armand's, and was in Silver Spring (though, it's a mostly local chain). I was quite impressed with my smooth-voiced (really, he had a very nice voice) and stylish date's ability to find a place that I didn't even know existed. That's what's so magical about pizza--there is always new pizza out there to discover. I was also impressed with my date's thoughtfulness in bringing a camera along as a surprise, since he felt photos were missing from my blog. However, you'll notice that there are no photos here yet. He's not emailed me them... yet. He says he's forgetful. Maybe he'll read this and remember. Right?

Anyhow, so, the atmosphere was a nice blend of "dive" and "mom and pop" restaurant, and my seat looked like a throne/church pew. Awesome. The place specialized in "Chicago Style" deep dish.

So. Chicago pizza. I've had it. In Chicago. Many times. I know...how it really should be. Relatively thin crust (all things considered) made with a bit of cornmeal (mmmcornmeal crust), and then just tons and tons of sauce, toppings, and cheese. Then, when served, the waiter serves up the first slice with flair, managing all of the cheese in a graceful swoop. Armand's...doesn't quite have it down. The crust was too thick (common error with chicago-style wannabes) and the server DID serve the first slice, but maybe not with the flair of a Chicago slice server. He did do a good job though, and truth be told, sometimes you don't want the glitz and showmanship, right?

The pizza, overall, was very, very good. The crust, though not exactly right, was very tasty. It surprised me, since normally I don't like really doughy crusts (hi, pizzeria paradiso...). The sauce was good--a darker sauce, without being too sweet--and the toppings (mushroom and onion) were generous and fresh (no canned mushrooms here). The cheese was glorious (they could have made a commercial about it in 1987, it was so glorious indeed. ). Overall, it was a great meal. I was impressed. And, on the rare chance that the urge for deep dish pizza were to strike me, I'd return. But, I mean, I do have a bias towards thinner crusted pizza. I like it when I can eat ungodly amounts of pizza. Deep dish is too filling for my inner glutton to be satisfied. I only ate 2.5 slices. I need to eat like, a whole pizza to feel like I've done a good job...

The rest of the evening was special. It involved awkward times with singing pirates. You may think I'm making this up, but I'm not. Singing pirate awkwardness aside, it was a good night though. I hope I have pictures to add to this post soon.

Pizzeria Paradiso is a Pizza Paradis-NO!

Over spring break, I coordinated with Adam P. (who is guilty of saying "za"...sigh) to have a "pizza happy hour" at Pizzeria Paradiso.

Pizzeria Paradiso has a reputation in DC as being "upscale" and "high quality" "artisan" pizza. They also have a great beer selection, and are somewhat beer-snobbish. I'm down with beer and pizza snobbery, to be honest. I like both of these things in both their highbrow and lowbrow forms. Anyhow, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Pizzeria Paradiso has a happy hour special where beers are half price, all appetizers are 5 dollars, and all pizzas are 9 dollars. Seemed worth checking out.

Upon actually arriving at Paradiso, however, I quickly realized something: while the beer special was indeed worthy, the pizza and appetizer specials were incredibly lame...for most of the pizzas, the special saved you between 35 cents and 1 dollar. Wooohooo! Thank God for the beer specials, otherwise I might have rolled my eyes and come back another day.

So, yes. As I said, Paradiso has this reputation for being snobby and excellent. But, I hate to say this...I wasn't impressed. There are several reasons for this, but I am going to outline the two major issues that I had.

1) The crust. I can appreciate regional variations on pizza. A New York style will be thin and floppy; a Chicago-style deep dish, yet still thin crusted, much like a pie; and Detroit will be a thicker deep dish and square in shape (caramelized edges, y'all.) But Paradiso didn't claim to have a regional style--they just claimed to have good pizza. In fact, according to their website, they claim that their main concern is the crust, "We opened Pizzeria Paradiso so we could make the kind of pizza we longed for but couldn't find in the DC area, the kind of pizza where the crust was the most important part."

Look, I agree. The crust IS the most important part. But Paradiso, if I may say so, your crust wasn't what I want in a pizza. Your crust was tasty, it's true. But it didn't seem like a pizza crust. The dish you served me tasted more like a foccacia--pillowy and thick and doughy. Very, very bread-like. Very, very heavy. Tasty, but not pizza. Very pizza-esque.

2.) The sauce. Paradiso also brags about their quality sauce which uses only imported tomatoes from Italy. When they say this on their website, however, I take it to mean that they only use that one type of canned tomatoes, not that the ONLY thing in their sauce is canned tomatoes. But, alack! That's what it tasted like: diced canned tomatoes spread on thick foccacia like dough. You're killing me Paradiso! I shouldn't be able to taste the metallic taste of tin can lingering in the sauce in every bite!


So, yeah. In my pizza quest, I won't be returning to Paradiso for their pizza alone any time soon. Maybe I'll return for the beer though. Maybe.

pizza weekend in nyc

I kind of wanted to title this "let's eat some pizza in Neeeew YOOOORRK!" in honor of the girl at the gelato place last night who was getting DOWN to the Alicia Keys song...which, for the record, isn't that good. Jay-Z helped her out with that one.


I am currently sitting in my brother's living room in Saddle Brook, NJ. I've pretty much eaten pizza exclusively since getting here yesterday afternoon. There was a scoop of gelato, a cup of coffee, and a cheese sandwich at Murray's (http://www.murrayscheese.com), but everything else has been pizza. Really. It's sickening. I love it.


I arrived at my brother's yesterday afternoon (much later than I'd hoped to arrive, due to being foiled by daylight savings time...grrr.). We headed straight into the city for some shopping in SoHo, and made plans to meet up with Anne for dinner. Before finding a neat segue into the pizza, let me talk for a minute about shopping in SoHo.

So...look, it's typical, it's not particularly hip, etc, but every single time I'm in New York, I end up in SoHo cos I love Uniqlo and Muji way too much. 19.50 for the best fitting jeans ever? Yes please. Seriously, between those 2 stores, I got new sneakers, jeans, 2 cardigans, socks, a notebook, my favorite candles, travel accessories, and more...for under 100 dollars. And all of it just fits so right. Sort of obsessed. Go Japan. Nick, fortunately, shares my passion for these two stores. I love that my brother is a man who shops.

Anyhow, after we Uniqlo'd and Muji'd it up, we walked down Bleeker Street singing the requisite Simon and Garfunkel song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5UY1t47TNY) to meet up with Anne and Steve at John's. Classic Village brick oven place. It's good. It's really good. In fact, it's not worth comparing it to other pizzas I've eaten up to this point this year (yes, there have been better pizzas in the past. But not yet in 2010). We were seated in a very cozy window booth, and it was one of those "historic" booths--everyone's name all scratched into it, etc. Anne, much like me, is a bit of a pizza purist--she prefers a good cheese pizza. I'd forgotten that Nick gave up meat for Lent, and so, much to my benefit, it turned into an all vegetarian pizza night. We got a large cheese and a large mushroom between the four of us, and none was wasted, that's for sure. We devoured those pizzas.

The crust was a dream: blistery with that nice charry taste, thin, chewy, crisp...mmm. The sauce was also well done--brightly flavored and very authentically tomato-y, not sugary or bitter, and perfectly distributed (I hate heavy handed sauce). The cheese was just a plain cheese, not fresh mozz slices, and it was also distributed in perfect balance. The mushrooms...were good. I don't know. I think that they maybe could have been more generous, but they were fresh mushrooms, so that's a plus. The cheese was, for me, the winner between the two, but both were very, very good. However, John's pizza reminded me of one of the greatest plights I face every time I eat truly good pizza. And in fact, this plight could indeed be the hallmark of a great slice for me. You see, when the pizza is just right and when the crust is really just that perfect balance of thin, crispy, chewy goodness, I get into the following trouble. You see, when it comes to food, I'm very impatient. I need a bite of that pizza as soon as it's set down, and I almost always burn the roof of my mouth on that first bite. And then, with the roof of my mouth all tender...it gets scraped by those sharp edges on that perfect, perfect end crusts...a truly good pizza, therefore, brings me both deep pleasure and a little pain. It's earned. I like that. Anyhow, after eating 5 slices (yes, 5), I was in serious need of some gelato to sooth my scraped up mouth. Really people, gelato is the only solution.

Before moving on to my next pizza, I need to pause to give Anne some credit here. You see, Anne really was the one who inspired me to make this pizza resolution and start this pizza blog, because Anne has told me in the past that, since moving to NYC for law school, she's been on a pizza quest, seeking out the best in New York. Every time I've stayed with her, we've gone out to try the most hyped up pizza joints, and visited some of the big classics. Together, in January of 2008, we went to Lombardi's (New York's original pizzeria), and found that, though it was good, it was perhaps not the best. She encouraged me to walk several extra blocks out of the way late one night when I needed a slicem in order to go to Famous Joe's on Carmine at Bleeker, even though I passed countless places en route from her dorm on Mercer (worth it. best slice, easily).Two summers ago, we trekked all the way out to Coney Island to go to Totonno's...which still stands as the best pizza I've ever had, made even better by the fact that we rode the Cyclone and walked around the boardwalk after the pizza. I really hope that Totonno's won't be changed too much by the fire that happened there last spring. That'd be heartbreaking. But anyhow. What I'm saying here is that Anne really deserves major props for being my inspiration in this blog, and the queen of the NYC pizza quest, and my sister in pizza eating adventures.


Anyhow. Today, in order to celebrate spring break, I did one of my favorite things...one of those things I rarely get the opportunity to do. I went into the city this morning and spent the entire day just walking around exploring by myself, window shopping and eating. Due to a slight train mishap, I didn't get to the city until 11am (note to self: when in Secacus, asking "Does this train go to Penn Station?" is a real gamble. The man was correct when he said "yes" but...he meant Newark Penn Station, not New York Penn Station...durrrr). But that was okay, because that meant I arrived at Famous Joe's at the perfect time--right after the opening rush was done, and they'd juuuust pulled out a fresh cheese pizza. 2.50 can buy you happiness. It really can. It's just such a perfect slice! Not too greasy (but...greasy enough to be just a liiitle sinful), floppy enough to fold, but still perfectly crisp. Great sauce, great balance. Just damn. good. pizza. Plus, I love that the parm, red pepper, salt, and pepper available all came from the CVS next door. Nice. Go there people. It's worth it. I could have eaten 2 slices, easily, but I decided to pace myself in order to allow me other treats throughout the day.

I walked all over the village, NoHo, SoHo, and into Chinatown today. I just walked and walked and walked. I turned down every interesting looking side street. I tried to go down streets I'd never been down. I went into little stores and galleries I'd never been into. I avoided all chains. I went into many eyeglasses shops--all of which were out of my price range--and tried on many awesome frames (I need new ones). I stopped in coffeeshops for cups to go. It was windy, grey, and rainy, but...man. Best day ever. I did a big loop, more or less, so that I could end my day at Murrays for the aforementioned cheese sandwich (with jalepeno coleslaw, chips, and a drink), before catching the train at West 4th Street station. Next trip to NYC, I'll aim to do a different chunk of the city. I need a day like this in Brooklyn too (I've been wanting to get to CB I Hate Perfume for FOREVER!).

Once home, Nick called and said he wanted to pick up a pizza for dinner cos it was easy. No complaints here. Yes, I can have pizza for the third time in 24 hours! Sounds fantastic! We got a margherita pie from Donnagios, which is this place up the street from his apartment. Um. Not a winner of a pie. I guess cos it was a margherita rather than a regular cheese pizza, they were trying to be fancy, but the sauce wasn't right. It tasted like spaghetti sauce--it was dark, sweet, and really thickly applied. Too much. The crust was decent, but the over all experience was low on my list for the weekend. Too bad. It really didn't stand a chance though, when you think of it...I'd just eaten some of the known contenders for best pizza in New York, and...well, this is just some joint up the street in Saddle Brook, New Jersey. I mean, Jersey! Poor New Jersey. It always loses.